Calling electricians...what is this?

[MongGrel]

Have never used or seen one, but it does make sense.

 

[twinrider1]

I can only imagine it comes down to it being faster to install, so labor savings offset the increased cost of the parts.
Sure they may be better, but I'm not aware of a problem with traditional wire nuts coming loose.

 

[Mike64]

Honest question, do you not twist your wires together before you install your wirenut? There's no way that push-ins should ever be stronger mechanically or conductively than a proper wirenut connection.

Conductively, I'm not so sure. Assuming this new-fangled connector is well designed (to ensure good contact with all the inserted wires), I think I could easily be convinced that the overall connection is electrically more reliable than just twisting several wires of any serious gauge together... And as for "mechanical strength", do I even want to know in what application you're relying on wires twisted together with a nut for any serious "strength" to begin with?

 

[bruceb]

A good wire nut, properly sized for the amount of wires going into it, can be a bit better. But it does depend on pretwisting the wires, which can be hard to do when you get to 3 or 4 of them. The bests wire nuts have the little ears to make it easier to get them nice and tight. There is also a slim chance (and I have seen it happen) that a wire will pull out of a wire nut. This can not happen with the item discussed in this post.

 

[edro]

The OP's push in style are not at good as a perfectly made pre-twisted traditional wire nut, but it is very difficult for your average Joe to do that perfectly.
These are tough to screw up. Simply strip to 3/8" and push in until you can see the conductor in the window.

Not as cool as the Wago 222 or new 221, but a hell of a lot easier to use than standard wire nuts.
https://www.google.com/search?q=wago+221
The Wago 221 and 222 series are great for solid and stranded, whereas the OP's product does not work well with fine stranded conductors.
Wire nuts are notoriously bad at connecting stranded to solid conductors, especially in the homeowner application of ~22-18AWG stranded to 10-14AWG solid (light fixtures, etc).
Wago Lever Nuts are amazing in this application.

 

[Fritzo]

Thanks all. I'm trying to troubleshoot a 4 way switch, and I wonder if that's the culprit. I've replaced all 5 switches and still have an issue where the lights won't work if that switch comes into play.

 

[edro]

I think there is always a combination that doesn't work when you use 4 switches to control 1 light circuit.
I could be wrong though.
My house is the same way. I have 4 switches and there is always a combination of the 4 where it doesn't work.

 

[bruceb]

If you are trying to wire a 4 way switch you need to properly identify the switch terminals.
See the diagram below for how to id the terminals. One set of wires will be from one side of the junction box and the other set will be on the other side.

 

[pcgeek11]

A good wire nut, properly sized for the amount of wires going into it, can be a bit better. But it does depend on pretwisting the wires, which can be hard to do when you get to 3 or 4 of them. The bests wire nuts have the little ears to make it easier to get them nice and tight. There is also a slim chance (and I have seen it happen) that a wire will pull out of a wire nut. This can not happen with the item discussed in this post.

There is lots of debates on this among electricians and wire nut manufacturers. Most electricians I know do pre-twist, some do not.

If I only have three wires I usually do not pre-twist.
Four wires and I do as it makes installing the wire nut easier.

 

[Red Squirrel]

3 and 4 way can be tricky if it's already installed, as it's hard to know what wire is what. I find it helps to expose them all, turn power back on and then troubleshoot with multimeter. Takes a bit of trial and error.

 

[bruceb]

4 way switches are not tricky, if you learn how to find what wires are what.
From 1 of the cables to the first 3 way switch the Black and Red wires will
go to say the T1 Pair of Terminals .. From the other cable to the other 3 way
switch the Black and Red go to the T2 Pair of Terminals. In most installations
the Neutral is continued through all the switch boxes. It is usually wired with
power from the breaker, coming into the first 3 way switch, then the Travelers
and Neutral go through the 4 way switch and onto travelers over to the last 3
way switch. From that last 3 way switch Neutral and Hot wire go up to the light
fixture.

 

[midwestfisherman]

I'm not sure what it is but, don't let the NSA know that you've found it!!