What is some of your Pet Peeve's

[ultrarunner]

I believe marine environment exposure to the elements is a factor…

I’ve installed a fair amount of irrigation and always copper L pipe to the ball valve and wire nuts sealed with liquid rubber.

Some are more than 30 years in the field with no issues…

Helped a friend troubleshoot and each wire nut connection was badly corroded…

A long time ago I soldered first but found liquid rubber worked well.

Brother lived in a Alfa Gold fifth wheel for years with generator, washer/dryer, etc. and never any electrical issues…

 

[WinterDeere]

Check the voltage and amperage rating of those automotive connectors. A lot of automotive connectors are not rated for 120 VAC.

True, but I thought we were talking about tail light and running light wiring on RV's, not site wiring.

Either way, the point remains the same. There are 120V connectors that could similarly reduce failures, assembly time, and debug or reconfiguration time, if harnesses were built on harness boards with good connectors, rather than connecting pigtails with wire nuts in a system that's vibrating it's way up and down the highway for thousands of hours during its service life.

I spent the first several years of my career in robotics, designing and building custom assembler and test automation robots. Then I spent the last 15 years of the "working for the man" part of my career designing very large scale industrial amplifier systems. Both had miles of wiring in each system, all assembled on pegged plywood boards called wiring boards, and fully-connectorized.

At both jobs, each of our system types were built at a rate of usually just 5 to 25 systems per year, so probably even lower volume than an RV manufacturer. Even so, connectorized pre-assembled harnesses were the way to go, to eliminate wiring errors, and to facilitate easy component change-out and repair, over the years the system would remain in service.

 

[lilranch2001]

Do they have a UL recognized or listed symbol on them? If so, they meet code if they are used as intended, stated by the manufacturer in their product cut sheet. Got a part number?

I probably have some in a bin somewhere, but I don’t have the box anymore. I haven’t used them in 20 or 25 years since I found out that they’re not supposed to be meeting code.

 

[jjeff]

I believe marine environment exposure to the elements is a factor…

I’ve installed a fair amount of irrigation and always copper L pipe to the ball valve and wire nuts sealed with liquid rubber.

Some are more than 30 years in the field with no issues…

Helped a friend troubleshoot and each wire nut connection was badly corroded…

A long time ago I soldered first but found liquid rubber worked well.

Brother lived in a Alfa Gold fifth wheel for years with generator, washer/dryer, etc. and never any electrical issues…

I'll stick to using stranded copper and no wire nuts for anything that moves.

 

[jjeff]

I'm really interested in the weygo connectors didn't know much about them until this thread, thanks. learned something new especially like the inline ones. I guess to add an extra level of protection and some will consider it an overkill on the connection you could add a little dab of electrical grease on each of the conductors ends and heat shrink the inline connector?

 

[BackRoad]

I read some negatives on the Wago push connectors a while back, but don't recall the details...their lever connector seems to be well received.

I've got a couple of packs of the push type and used a few, though my perception was there wasn't a lot supporting physical connectivity between wires. They just seemed less 'connected together', as if actual conductivity might be marginal versus using wirenuts.

 

[jjeff]

Snow drift question but are wago connectors pretty universal for different types of wire gauge? Can you connect a thicker wire gauge with a thinner gauge? Previously used step down type crimp connectors especially the yellow to blue ones. Sometimes 2 different gauge bullet or blade connectors provided the wiring can handle the current in it. (Most rework is for low voltage wire feeding led lights anyway. Anyways I'm pretty sold on wago for connecting solid and stranded wire especially over using wire nuts, and no more soldering and heat shrinking. despite the higher prices compared to wire nuts. This may help remedy my 4 letter word frustration shade tree electrical repairs.repairing OEM f-ups Lol thanks again.

 

[ultrarunner]

I used a lot of these working in Austria… very secure but I found a little more precision needed removing insulation plus time to screw down the set screw.

 

[WinterDeere]

Snow drift question but are wago connectors pretty universal for different types of wire gauge? Can you connect a thicker wire gauge with a thinner gauge?

Each one has a relatively wide range of gauges, such that it's hard to imagine many scenarios they won't cover. One of the most common versions handles AWG 18 to AWG 12 in stranded wire, and AWG 20 - 12 in solid wire.

My only gripe with them is always having to have, and then know to use, the right hole count. How many times have we all added "just one more wire" to an existing connection in a junction box? Anyone who has twisted a few thousand (tens of thousands, for me?) wire nuts, knows how to wrap another wire onto an existing bundle, when using wire nuts.

Wire nuts are great for things that only get touched once every 30 years, like most residential wiring. The only real problem with them is that most use them incorrectly. The insulated part of the wires should be twisted together a full 2-3 turns prior to even entering the wire nut, and in removing old work, I routinely see evidence that most electricians and DIY'ers are unaware of this.

 

[jjeff]

Since I'm still peeving about RV wiring I think some current and future problems could be somewhat mitigated if manufacturers at least made an attempt supporting the romex and other wiring they use every 12-18 inches. With cable ties? And making an attempt to put grommets everywhere it passes thru a wall. And support the freaking junction boxes with decent backers not just screw them into the Card board like wall sheeting they use on the interior. I tell everyone including family they look nice inside but it's far from the durability homes have for cabinetry, fixtures etc.