Hades, Stovokor, take your pick. If you get the references you have some at least reasonable Theological and pop culture education.
The bad place...
Why?
Even though as far as I can tell, NEC calls for 14/2 Romex for a 15 amp light circuit. For some reason my county, when my home was built, required 12/2 for a standard light circuit, 12/3 for a 3 way with a traveller etc...
Now my guest bathroom box I went to do the install of the Zen22 for the light fixture. It appears that for some reason, for this 2 gang box, I have 4 lines run into it.
So there are already 4 grounds, and 4 neutrals tied into the wire nuts and bundled, and no room to add jumpers to branch these off...
Simply put, the wire nuts are just not big enough to fit 5 12ga wires into...
I am unsure of how to reconfigure the wiring to be safe, and in code, so...
Added to list of work to be done by my electrician...
They come in many different # of connectors. If ordering on Amazon, beware cheap knockoffs that may/may not be UL rated and may/may not actually meet the 400v+ electrical spec... I stick with the authentic Wago ones, myself.
I've NEVER had a wire come out of one of these accidentally (unlike wire nuts).
Solder the 5 safety grounds together (bare copper). I use a wide gas pliers to twist them together. Now without needing a nut on them you might be able to get larger wire nuts (meant for 5 x #12). I think they are blue or gray but not sure.
Another idea is: (if legal in your county) run #14 from the 5 wire connections to the receptacles/switches. I'm assuming currently they are #12.
With all the money you’re going to end up handing over to an electrician, I’d tie the hot and load together, put in Smart bulbs, a Lutron Smart Bridge Pro, and drop Picos over the wall box. You save money over hiring the electrician, and you’ll then be free to configure the Picos however you want, and put them wherever you want. Picos are around $15 for the remote, $25 for a kit with the wall plate
Is there a reputable place to buy these? At some point I picked up a bunch from Amazon and as far as I can tell they aren't knockoffs (not sure how I'd know). But I'm always wary of buying these sorts of name brand things off Amazon as you never know what they might ship you.
If you look at Amazon they sell versions not made by Waco. These are CE approved but not UL approved. There is a big difference. I'm a little old school when it comes to electrical connections, however if I were to try the level locks they would have to be UL approved. CE isn't even close to UL.
If wires come out of a wire nut, it's because they were not properly twisted before placing the wire nut, that is often the problem with amateurs that think they know what they are doing! The wire nut is only a physical device that compresses the already twisted wires and insulates the exposed wire, it's not a twisting device (use flat head plyers for that).
Yes, true. It is especially troublesome if you are trying to put stranded wire and solid wire in the same wire nut without soldering... Not that I would ever do that of course.
Do the Wago connectors take up more room in the box than wire nuts? Any issue with that? It sounds like there is a wago model that is a little smaller. Which one is the smaller unit?
Do you find you have much use for the two position devices? The set offered on amazon has more 2 pos devices than any other part. Seems I would prefer 3 and 4 pos units even if I had to leave one un populated every so often.
I worked for many years for a automotive OEM. One of the largest failure rates are electrical connections. Of course there is more movement and thermal change in a vehicle, but I learned electrical connections are much more complex than one would think.
I cannot provide any antidotal information on either Wago or wire nuts, except I've never seen a wire nut fail and wire nuts have been around for many more years that the Wago style.
I have seen the push in connections on the back of receptacles fail. And I realize they are not the same design as the Wago.
Conceptually in my opinion the wire nuts have a large advantage...the surface area of the wire to wire contact is much greater than the Wago style connection. Are they sometimes difficult to remove...YES. However I look at this as a good thing. The internal toothed spring expands around the wire and results in constant grip of the wires. I understand Wago has a spring as well, but because current must go through the Wago spring I believe the risk of failure is much greater. Again IMHO.
BTW I don't like o-rings in plumbing connections as well. Sharkbite and others will never be in my walls.
