Ran into my neighbor after his garage rewire and he convinced me those push-in wire connectors aren't always bad

He showed me how he used them on a 15-year-old house and his multimeter read perfect continuity every time, and now I'm wondering if my soldering obsession has been overkill for simple DIY lighting swaps.

3 comments

3 Comments

sean_torres711d ago

Wago connectors are fine for lighting circuits (just match the wire gauge) and way faster than soldering.

the_alice1d ago

Whoa hold on, soldering isn't overkill it's just a different beast for different jobs. On lighting circuits with low current draw, those push-in connectors are perfectly fine as long as you've got solid contact and the right wire gauge. But what happens when that connection sees a bit of vibration from a ceiling fan or someone bumping the fixture? Soldering is permanent and won't wiggle loose over time, but a push-in can develop a little gap after years of thermal cycling. Have you ever checked one of those connectors after five years under a load that's barely within the rating to see if resistance crept up?

faith_carter1d ago

@the_alice saw a spark tester article that said push-ins fail most under vibration load.