7 FATAL Wiring Mistakes Most DIYers Don't Know They Are Making | Most Are Guilty of 3

Summary

The video covers common wiring mistakes DIYers make, including not properly twisting wires before capping them, overloading or using the wrong size wire nuts, and improperly connecting solid and stranded wires. It advises pre-twisting wires before adding a wire nut to ensure a tight connection not reliant on the nut itself. It also recommends using name-brand wire nuts, noting the size and number of wires they can handle. For solid-stranded connections, it suggests ensuring the stranded wire is slightly longer and wraps the solid wire when twisted. It also demonstrates issues with push-in Wago connectors coming loose.

Takeaways

• 😲 Most people improperly twist wires together, risking a loose connection over time.
• 😤 Always follow manufacturer instructions for twisting wires with wire nuts.
• 😊 Pre-twisting wires before adding a wire nut creates a tighter connection.
• 😡 Using the wrong size wire nut can overload it or make connections loose.
• 😱 Stranded and solid core wires are commonly connected poorly.
• 👍 Properly secure stranded wire longer to wrap solid core wire when using wire nuts.
• 😨 Wago connectors get accidentally opened when pushing into boxes.
• 😫 Wago connectors with too much or too little wire exposed can lose connection.
• ✅ Use the built-in strip gauge on Wago connectors.
• 🤓 Making proper wire and device connections avoids electrical issues.

Q & A

What is the most common wire connection mistake made by DIYers and electricians?

The most common mistake is to simply twist on a wire nut without properly twisting and connecting the wires first, relying solely on the wire nut to make the connection. This can lead to a loose connection that fails over time.

Why is pre-twisting wires before adding a wire nut recommended?

Pre-twisting the wires before adding the wire nut forms a tight joint between the wires so they are connected even if the wire nut comes off. This provides support and ensures good surface contact between the wires.

What should you do if a wire nut seems too small or too large for the wires you need to connect?

Refer to the wire nut packaging, which provides a bar graph listing the exact wire sizes and quantities that each colored wire nut can accommodate, including minimums and maximums.

Why is connecting solid core and stranded wires tricky?

When twisted together, stranded wires tend to slip below solid core wires rather than wrapping tightly together. Special care must be taken to position the wires correctly before adding the wire nut.

How can Wago lever nuts simplify connecting solid and stranded wires?

Wago lever nuts don't require the wires to be twisted. Flipping the lever secures the wires neatly in place without one slipping below the other.

What common Wago mistakes should you avoid?

Avoid stripping too much or too little insulation. Use the built-in strip gauge for the right amount. Also cover levers with tape when pushing into boxes to prevent wires releasing accidentally.

Why might a voltage detector show power flowing but a device not turn on?

If insulation is not stripped back far enough in a Wago connection, you may read voltage but not enough current flow to power the device.

What should you do when installing receptacles and switches?

Refer to the video linked at the end for tips on avoiding mistakes when installing receptacles and switches and how to do it properly.

What are some key things DIYers should keep in mind when making wire connections?

Always follow manufacturer instructions, pre-twist wires when possible, use quality wire nuts suited to the wire gauge and quantity, and take care when mixing stranded and solid core wires.

Where can I find more tips on properly connecting wires?

Check the linked video near the end for mistakes to avoid when installing receptacles and switches. Also leave comments with any questions!

Outlines

00:00

🤔Common wiring mistakes DIYers make

The paragraph discusses common mistakes DIYers make when connecting solid core wires, like not twisting wires properly before capping them, overloading wire nuts by putting too many/large wires in them, and using the wrong size wire nut. It explains why these are problems and demonstrates what can happen, like loose connections or wires falling out.

05:01

🔌Choosing the right wire nut

The paragraph explains how to read wire nut packaging to determine what sizes and quantity of wires are compatible. It also advises using name brand wire nuts over generic ones since they do a better job twisting wires.

10:03

👷‍♂️Connecting solid and stranded wires

The paragraph focuses on the common connection between solid core and stranded wires, explaining why it often fails. It demonstrates the wrong way to do it with wires next to each other and how stranded wires easily pull out. The right way is twisting stranded slightly longer before capping.

Keywords

💡wire nut

A wire nut is a small plastic cap that screws over electrical wire splice connections to protect them. Wire nuts play a key role in the theme of the video, which is focused on properly connecting electrical wires. The video discusses mistakes and best practices for selecting and installing wire nuts to secure solid core and stranded wire connections from coming loose over time due to vibration.

💡pre-twisting

Pre-twisting refers to manually twisting together the exposed ends of two wires before securing them with a wire nut. Pre-twisting helps form a tight joint so the wires depend less on the wire nut itself to hold them together. The video advocates pre-twisting wires as a best practice for a durable connection.

💡solid core

Solid core wire refers to an electrical wire composed of a single solid metal conducting wire. Solid core wiring is commonly used for permanent structure wiring. The video discusses best practices for connecting solid core wires, such as to a stranded fixture wire.

💡stranded

Stranded wire is composed of smaller metal wires bundled together. Stranded wires are more flexible and are often used for fixtures. The video focuses on properly connecting stranded wires from fixtures to solid core permanent wiring to avoid loose faulty connections.

💡lever nuts

Lever nuts, also called Wago connectors, are push-in wire connectors where the wires are inserted in ports and secured by flipping down a lever. The video covers lever nut wiring mistakes like leaving the levers up and pushing too hard on wires when inserting in electrical boxes.

💡strip gauge

The strip gauge is a marker on wiring devices indicating how much insulation to strip. Lever nuts have built-in strip gauges. The video explains the importance of following strip gauge guidance to avoid issues like insufficient wire contact or exposed live wires.

💡connection

Electrical connections join wires and devices together to complete circuits. Improper connections are a major theme, including loose connections and overloaded wire nuts failing to properly join wires.

💡insulation

Insulation refers to the plastic/rubber coating around wires. The amount of insulation stripped off is important for proper connections. The video covers issues from too much or too little insulation removal.

💡overloaded

Overloading refers to putting more wires or larger wires into a wire connector than it is designed for. This can lead to loose connections with wires pulling out easily despite appearing initially secured in an overloaded wire nut.

💡vibration

The video explains that wires vibrate from electrical current, and loose connections can slowly pull apart over time from the vibration. Proper technique like pre-twisting helps secure wires despite vibration.

Highlights

Connect wires properly by following manufacturer's instructions

Twist wires together below wire nut for tight connection not relying solely on wire nut

Pre-twist wires with pliers before adding wire nut for extra tight bond

Use correct size wire nut for wire gauge and number of conductors

Wire nut packaging lists size capabilities - follow guidelines

Stranded and solid core tricky - strand slightly longer, quality wire nut for best wrap

Wago lever nuts good for stranded/solid connections

Secure Wago levers when pushing into box to avoid disconnection

Tape Wago levers down for extra security

Strip insulation properly based on Wago gauge

Non-contact detector only checks power - use multimeter to validate voltage

Good connections critical for wires and devices like receptacles, switches

Follow all manufacturer install instructions

Check connections by pulling wires - should not pull out easily

Match wire nut size to conductor size and number

Transcripts

we are going to be going over some of

the biggest mistakes that diy-ers and

yes some electricians make when

connecting wires together and of course

we'll be going over how to properly

connect them together and also some

better practices so let's go ahead and

Jump Right In let's go all right so

because this is the most common

connection that's made we're going to

start off with solid core to solid core

so what the majority of people do when

they're connecting wires together is

they'll take their two wires they'll put

them up next to each other and then

they'll just take their wire nut put it

in on top and then they'll just tighten

it down to where they're getting some

resistance and then they'll call this

good well the problem with this is while

these two wires are up inside of the

wire nut they are connected currently

this was not done by the manufacturer's

instructions but when you only just

barely twist it on you're not going to

get that connection and you could run

the risk of it being actually a loose

connection and over time one of these

wires just being able to fall out so to

give you a demonstration while nobody's

going to be in your wall pulling on your

wires wires do vibrate due to the

current flowing through them and that's

why eventually they can fall out over

time if you don't have a nice tight

connection using a wire nut this is what

can happen so while both of these wires

were connected underneath of this wire

nut the problem again is the

instructions were not followed as to how

they should have been installed and we

were completely relying on the wire nut

in order to make the connection and hold

these wires together so if you're not a

believer in pre-twisting let me show you

at least what the manufacturer says it

should look like when you just use the

wire nut to twist it on you see how the

two wires are up next to each other now

that's a solid cord and that's a

stranded but it's the same for the solid

core where you're going to have them up

next to each other and then you want to

have this nice twisting going on down

below the wire nut and the reason for

that is this so let's go ahead and put

the wire nut back on and let's twist

this on per the instructions we saw on

the packaging

all right so as you can see I've got

some nice braiding going on down below

the wire nut not only are you going to

get support holding the wires together

down here below but if we take this wire

nut off or for whatever reason this wire

nut was to just fall off once we take

the wire nut off as you can see due to

us twisting it the way that we did it

has formed a joint between these two

wires to where they are essentially

fastened together they are not relying

on the wire nut to hold them together

they are completely braided together

underneath of the wire nut so you know

you're going to have a really good

connection and again there's no way that

they are just going to fall apart so

this is a good and acceptable method but

let me show you what is a more preferred

method by many electricians so this is

what a lot of electricians will do they

will strip just a little bit more

insulation off than you normally would

they'll take their lineman pliers and

they will do what I've already referred

to but they will do what is called

pre-twisting and and the reason that

they do this is again they know that

this is going to form a nice tight joint

to where those wires are not depending

on the wire nut to hold it together and

you know that you're going to have

plenty of surface contact between the

wires and also by doing this before

putting the wire nut on they're able to

verify that they do in fact have a very

tight bond between the wires and then

just cut off the top

that's when then they would take a wire

nut and then put it in on top so in this

case with pre-twisting the wire nut is

primarily used as an insulator to make

sure that those hot leads don't touch

anything that they shouldn't and while

these wires don't necessarily need the

help of the wire nut holding them

together it does still help to reinforce

that nice tight Bond underneath of the

wire nut now this mistake is one that I

see almost all the time and that's using

the wrong wire nut for the job so in

this case I've got this yellow Ideal

wire nut and I've got four number 12

wires and what somebody will do is

they'll take wires that are too large

and the quantity is too many for the

wire nut that they're using but they

will somehow find a way to be able to

shove all those wires up into that wire

nut like so so we've got all of our

wires nothing's just falling out but I

can guarantee you that this wire nut is

way over loaded and one of these wires

is going to be extremely easy to pull

out and there it is that one right there

the first clue that you're overloading a

wire nut is it's going to be very hard

to get all of the wires to actually see

up inside of the wire nut and then once

you get a wire nut on you should always

give the wires a pull and if you've

overloaded a wire nut more than likely

you're going to get the result that I

did where this one was able to be pulled

out extremely easy now on the flip side

of that somebody might be using one of

these bigger blue wire nuts and say they

have two 12 gauge wires well they'll go

they'll put their wires up into the wire

nut they'll go and they'll tighten it

down as you can see they're not just

falling out but with any Force at all

pulling on one of these wires they're

just going to fall right out so the

minimum size that can go in this blue

wire nut is 12 gauge wire but with a

minimum of at least three wires and it's

incredibly easy to know what your wire

nut is capable of almost on every single

package that you can buy in the store of

wire nuts they're going to have this bar

graph on the back back or sometimes it's

on the side that's going to list exactly

what size of wire will fit in that

particular color and that kind of wire

nut and then also the quantities of that

size and then it's going to give you the

minimums and the maximums of each of the

different wire nuts on the packaging now

I'm about to get into a really important

tip so don't go anywhere but really

quickly if you could do me a huge favor

if you're finding value in this video so

far if you could hit that thumbs up

button right down below or leave me a

comment down in the comment section

about what you think about it it really

does help the video out to spread out to

other people and hopefully be able to

help them out as well I really

appreciate it let's get back into it so

this next one is an incredibly common

connection that has to be made and

that's between solid core and Stranded I

would say that this is probably the

hardest one to get right and probably

one of the most common ones to fail so

most of the time you've got your solid

core wire running throughout your house

and then you might be installing like a

light fixture or ceiling fan and almost

every time they're going to come with

this stranded wire and with the fixture

they usually include some sort of crappy

wire nut like this one here which

oftentimes are not necessarily designed

to help promote twisting the wires

together underneath of the wire nut so

what most people will do is they'll take

their two wires and they'll just put

them up right next to each other and

then they'll take their crappy wire nut

and then they'll put that in on top now

this is where it's really not that

uncommon that we see issues pop up so

let's twist this wire nut back off and

as you can see while we had the two

wires up next to each other when the

wire nut was being put on you can see

that that stranded wire is now down

below the solid core wire and this

almost always happens and is why it's so

important to make sure that you follow

the instructions because the

instructions would have told you to do

something a little bit differently and

so while we might think that we have a

good connection here because we tighten

it on pretty tightly it's really not

that hard for that stranded wire to just

be pulled out of there and as you can

see on the stranded wire itself it never

even tried to make an attempt to wrap

itself around the solid core wire so the

easiest way that this should be done is

if we take our two conductors here we

want our stranded wire to be a little

bit longer than the solid core wire at

our starting point before we get the

wire nut put on so now let's go ahead

and instead of using a crappy wire nut

like this one it's always better to use

a name brand wire nut like this one

that's made by ideal because they just

do a better job of wrapping the wires so

let's go ahead put those in there and

tighten it down

and like we've done before we want to

make sure that we keep tightening it

down to where we have some nice winding

going on down below the wire nut all

right so we got a little bit of nice

winding going on down below the wire nut

there's just no way that that wire is

ever going to be pulled out of that wire

nut it's getting support from the

winding here below the wire nut and then

let's go ahead and take the wire nut off

and you see this time the stranded wire

is right on up there as long as the

solid core conductor is and it's also

attempting to wrap itself around that

solid core conductor for the most part

you will probably never have an issue

with this connection here but especially

when it comes to connecting stranded to

solid core another really good option to

use would be these Wago lever nuts here

and these are great especially for this

circumstance because you don't have to

worry about those wires being Twisted

together and while these can be

incredibly easy to use we're going to go

over some mistakes that I've seen and

some of the issues that come with those

mistakes and then also how to fix them

so of course the way that these work is

they've got these levers on them that

you just flip up in order to insert the

wires into the ports here so we'll go

ahead and insert our wires once the wire

is in there you can just flip it down

and now at this point these wires would

be ready to be pushed back into a box

and that's where I've seen a huge issue

come in is when people go to push these

into the back of the box all they're

focused on is trying to get all their

wires into the box sometimes it can be

difficult to do there have been

instances where these levers get caught

on wires and because you're pushing so

hard it will pull the lever up and

unbeknownst to the installer they think

everything is connected and they're

ready to install their new device when

really one of their wires is not secured

at all and can just fall out so it's

really important that when you go to

push these into the back of a box I like

to put my fingers over the levers as I'm

pushing it back into that box and I

won't take my thumb off of those levers

until I have my wires placed the way

that I want them to now another option

that can be taken is to take some

electrical tape and just wrap it around

the Wago making sure that you're going

over those levers and this way the

levers can't be pulled up even if you

wanted to the next mistake I see being

made is people will go to install their

wiring so we'll just go ahead and push

those into each of the ports flip down

the levers now those wires are connected

but as you can see we've got too much

insulation removed from the wires and

this can be dangerous in a box to where

it could lead to arcing this is an

unsafe installation here that could

actually lead to a fire conversely I've

seen where somebody's removed far too

little insulation from one or both of

the wires then they put their wires into

the Wago and while nothing's exposed out

here and everything seems to be secure

and we probably won't have any fires

that start from this I'll show you what

can happen all right so we've got our

connection made and this Wago here and

this is the wire where not enough

insulation was cut off of it so what

will happen is somebody thinks that

they've installed everything properly

they'll turn their circuit breaker on

maybe they'll take a non-contact voltage

detector and just see if they've got

power there which look at there we've

got power going to that conductor there

but then they wonder why when the

receptacle that they've connected to

this wire or the light switch that's

connected to this wire why things don't

work they're not getting power to it or

maybe it's just working intermittently

well while this non-contact voltage

detector tells us that hey we've got

power here let's use a Multimeter and

see what's actually there so again our

non-contact voltage detector is telling

us that we've got active voltage there

but when we go to test it with a

multimeter

it's showing that we're only getting

like four and a half volts so you can

have active power flowing through the

wires and your non-contact voltage

detector might tell you that you've got

power flowing through it which you do

but you do not have enough voltage or at

least a consistent enough voltage

depending on how the wires are to power

up the things that you're wanting to

power so how can we avoid these problems

all together well if we flip it over

here to the side on these wagos you'll

see there's a strip gauge right here and

as long as you strip off the insulation

to be as long as this strip gauge is

showing then you know for sure that

you're stripping off the proper amount

of insulation and guaranteeing a good

connection so obviously in electrical

it's very important to make sure that

you're making good connections and that

isn't just with wires it's also with any

devices that you're going to be

installing such as receptacles or light

switches so if you'd like to learn more

about some of the biggest mistakes that

are made when installing those devices

and of course then also how to better

install them I'll post a link to a video

right over here here if you click on it

now it will take you directly to it if

not I hope that you found value in this

video and if you did if you could do me

a huge favor hit that thumbs up button

right down below and of course if you

have any questions or comments still you

can leave those down in the comment

section and I'll catch you all in the

next one see ya