Nice video. Never make fun of Chinese manufacturing. They pretty much own the market in terminal blocks which is what these are, minus the screws. If they set their minds on something they can dominate it by having prices that are 1/4 of the competition. If they get those UL listed or european approved they will compete.
It really depends on your definition of "Chinese manufacturing". Sometimes it's just a subcontractor making product for a different company with high standards. It could even be a Chinese division of a company like WAGO. Or it could be a company competing only on the lowest price, which might take a ton of shortcuts to meet that lowest price. Or possibly a Chinese company that tries to meet high standards. There's been a certain amount of ridicule of "Chinesium" or products that seem to be based on the absolutely cheapest manufacturing and support. I think we've seen some of that her with parts that aren't finished nicely. The (likely) solid copper bus bars aren't anything like the tinned copper bus bars that WAGO or Ideal use. You can look through a lot of the ad copy or instructions and see various amounts of spelling and/or grammatical errors in English. They might slap on a CE label, which only means the manufacturer claims that it meets European safety standards.
What is the amperage of the insulation resistance when set to 1,000v? Would a larger amperage not eat through those fake wagos? I think a 2.5mm cable can take 26a, so do you think the fake wagos could handle the same current? Be interesting to see if they could. I mean the metal might take it but could the insulation? I do agree with staying with British wagos though. Always better to be safe then sorry.
It is not terribly hard to replicate one of those. But manufacturing them in consistent quality is the issue. I've seen terrible stories regarding those spring-loaded connectors to melt at low current (~16A) while being rated for 32A. 99% of those connectors will be fine, but sooner or later people will come across that 1% if they use enough of those.
I got some of these "not fake wago, fake wago" when I seen Big Clive review them. They were exactly the shape I wanted and they were only going in quick hobby projects anyway. :D Good to see all the other types. I find the 3 individual wires to 3 individual wires to be my common use-case. Not once have I wanted to connect 1 wire to (4?) others. Maybe that is just me. Surely the colours are just to show that blue goes to blue, red goes to red. Not to denote the type of wire that goes in. And as for the slop on the lever, I would want that. The leaver is just there to lift the gripping part of the connector, if the lever had no slop in it, it would mean it's not letting the connector grip as tight on to the wire as it could do.The lever itself is not the thing holding the wire.
The multi way ones are useful in lighting circuits and industrial control applications....but I would only purchase them from an electrical wholesalers for the exact reasons Mr Ward describes
Yeah, I got some for quick hobby project use, too. Usually 3 or 5 volts and temporary patching together. Usually 3 individual wires to 3 individual wires or 2 to 2. Sometimes in place of alligator clips, that sort of thing. I've found them very useful. Never used them for line voltage or permanent installations.
Red blue is a common standard for line/neutral in France and several other countries China seems to use yellow/green/red for phase black/blue for neutral and greenyellow for CPC
I disagree. Wire nuts can be horrible, but if they are good quality and the right type, they can be very good. In my experience, a properly made splice with a wire nut is more reliable than a Wago lever nut. The only problem is that in order to use a wire nut, you have to twist the wires together first, which can break old wiring that has become brittle. I use Wago connectors for temporary connections, old wires (to avoid breaking), and situations where it is difficult to use a wire nut. Wago connectors have the advantage of being easier to connect and disconnect, but wire nuts, if used properly, are more reliable.
@@skyem5250 These old hands are beginning to struggle with wire nuts when there are more than two wires; I use them for #12 and bigger wire. Where I really enjoy the Wagos is in installing Shelly, Sonoff, and other IOT devices in boxes. But I limit those to 2 or 3 amps max, so #16 or 18 is even possible.
@@johncrunk8038 I don't trust cheap IoT devices, so I wouldn't want to have them installed in such a way that I can't easily unplug them if something goes wrong. Also, if you have a 20A circuit using 12AWG wire, you have to use 12 throughout. The only time I can think of where you can splice different gauge wires is if one is permanently attached to a device (for example, a dimmer with 16AWG wires). I'm 90% sure that's an NEC rule, but sometimes NYS adds additional rules. Also, in addition to being of questionable quality, almost none of those cheap IoT devices are compliant. They make tools specially for twisting wires and putting a wire nut on. I don't know how good they are, but you may want to do some research about those if you do a lot of electrical work.
These actually seem quite well designed and made. A current test would have been very informative since that is the area where weaknesses in manufacture etc. would most likely have shown but so far I have not seen anything that would put me off using them - at least within my own properties. I think we need a follow-up test on these John.
There does seem to be some anti-Chinese bias going on here that seems somewhat unjustifiable. Both in this test, and one or two you've done in the past, the components have passed every test you've thrown at them, and yet still negativity hangs in the air. I don't know whether they are, but it wouldn't come as the biggest shock to discover the much lauded Wago connectors were also made in China - many many things that we DO use with confidence every day actually are. The Chinese will produce whatever you want; if you want rubbish they'll produce rubbish. If you want quality they'll produce quality. They are very capable of either.
You're right Phil, WAGO do have manufacturing plants in China. These are most likely either reverse engineered, or simply from the same factory. The springs are strong, they grip the cable well. The contacts are copper. The insulation resists over 15 times the rated voltage. I couldn't understand the issue with the colour of the levers - I thought it was to show that they're wired straight through more than anything else, especially as no two countries seem to have the same colour coding anyway. They don't look too bad to me...
The current test would be nice. I think these might be suitable for mobile home 12VDC installations, as the spring contact seems to be sturdy. Would the Author of the channel like to give a comment on that kind of use?
@@eelipiirola5132 I came to this video from another video where he did test the current. not much different from a wirenut. they are all made from plastic and bits of metal.
Really, stupid video. If you are gonna criticise a product you should point out the fault. Just because they are made in china doesn’t necessarily mean they are bad. Although, most of electrical items are indeed made in china. Next time you test something get the original ones too and then come to the right conclusion. Not just your opinion because opinions are like a...... we all have one. Thanks
@@mixologist4hire Well i wouldn't put it that strongly. I simply suggested a comparison with the Wago's - where they are made didn't enter into my argument! Lots of factories produce top quality and "ecomony quality" on the same line.
Peter Jones I appreciate the fact that you have taken your time doing this video and in my experience using wagos and so called wago clones I can only see little difference between them apart from price. To compare something you need to have both items then you can give a professional opinion on the findings. Thank you anyway!
Sure, but at that current both connectors were destroyed (~5 or 6 times the rated current). I'd call them equivalent based on that test. I'd only definitively call one better than the other if that test were repeated a number of times and gave a consistent result one way or the other.
So - well made, fit for purpose connectors, capable of handling mains voltage. I'll use them with confidence and not be put off by your (anti) Chinesium bias.
And we will all find a use to connect two pairs of wires, 3 wires and even 4 wires together 5:28 I don't know what planet JW lives in to not find any application for a wire-joining terminal block/strip DOH.
You do not think from an engineering point of view. Items size,shape,materials, are all calculated and is for a reason.China isnt on the same page with really anything but making money let alone our electrical codes.
I wouldn't use them on a customer's property and would not use them on my own therefore. It is my sincere belief that China deviates from material integrity with the purpose of undermining every society in their quest for dominance. I don't trust anything out of China. ( From 40 years experience in the building industry )
i love these pass thro not wago wagos. very very handy when troubleshooting auto-electrical stuff, i woutldnt trust one in a wall, but id certainly use them for low current lighting and absolutely love them for my work (all low voltage stuff) and for prototyping my gadgets (again low voltage stuff) .. bought a load after mikeelectricstuff video on them.
Hi John, I find your dry humour so funny. You are about the only person that makes me laugh. Particularly the video on the Southern Electricity book. Keep them coming I love your videos. Technically brilliant and so funny.
Completely useless video. Its bad because made in China. Wagos also made in china. What would happen if original wago connector and catches fire ? Nobody will blame you because they are original from china not a copy from china
Not really any use for home audio / speakers because you don't need to terminate those. The audio device already has output terminals and the speakers already have input terminals....
I got some with Brown, Blue, Yellow, levers, 3 way straight thru, they are ideal for making quick test leads for mains powering equipment under test, they work quickly for temporary connections and insulate well enough... You can also get 9 into 3, 6 into 3, 4 into 2 etc all coloured correctly and can work for lighting...
JW sees absolutely no need for connectors that can join two wires together. 5:28 I have no idea what else you'd use wire connectors for, but he thinks he's the expert so that's that.
Far from destroying the standards applied to these “Chinese “ connectors you have demonstrated that they are fine, maybe not as useful as others but certainly no better or worse than other countries, just because an item comes from China does not automatically mean its inferior, branded connectors from a “western” company could be defective as well, nothing can be 100% guaranteed as not going to fail, I will stick to buying from the best source for my hobby budget and leave you professional electricians to prop up the over inflated prices charged in the western world.
@@johnmusgrave3179 The big difference is in the blame game you don't get the blame if there's problems due to you choosing the cheep Chinese option. (even if it was just as good) If it were a genuine Wago or something they couldn't really expect more from you and would blame Wago instead.
I really like you and your videos, John.. But. At the start of the video, first 4m or so, you imply these are crap. Because they are Chinese made of Chinesium. Then you test them with over 3000v and they pass with flying colours. Then you repeat you wouldn’t advise using them. Then you throw in what I think is the most salient point as a sort of after thought: That the consistency of the quality might not be great. It’s sort of a video looking for a problem that you don’t find. But, anyway,because it’s China (and China is always bad??) people shouldn’t use it. Is that about it? I take the point, of course, about using obscure manufacturers products, but so very many things people have in their homes these days comes from China, yes a lot is crap, but other stuff is decent quality. With plenty of fake CE stickers, most properly certified. House burning down and insurance implications and using a proper Wago or a Chinese one - I’m not buying the implied threat of prosecution. Especially if due diligence can be shown. Sorry, but I try to give objective feedback. My comment is as rambling as this video :(
Despite their passing some rudimentary tests, I would not risk using the Fake Wago (can we call them Fuego?) connectors for line voltage in any permanent installation which houses life or livelihood. That said, these would be great on the test bench, in prototyping, and anywhere else that Wagos would be cost-prohibitive. The pass-through connectors in particular look great for clipping to the bare ends of wall-wart power supplies to allow quick swapping of different connectors.
Good test. I feel happier using these for non critical applications. Would be fair to test a proper Wego connector to see if they perform as well. It would also be useful to test these when the plastic has been heated up as breakdown will occur at lower voltage. Given the type of plastic is unknown it would nice to know how they perform on this test. I would hope they are V2 rated Polycarbonate but I doubt it, probably just ABS.
I saw the big clive review and they seem ok all things considered. Still though I refuse to use them for mains voltages. There is no telling how they handle heat and cold and them being in a place that is not easily seen like inside a J box is scary. They are fine for low volt stuff though I am sure.
Rather nice for hobby/speakers/car stereo/bench test rigs then. The colour codes are at least...varied. (Seems to be a recurring theme on these imports)
Im struggling with your assessment, you say if you put a Chinese one in and it fails you will be responsible but are you not responsible for a Waco one if that also burns down the house? Are you saying using a 'proper' one gives you some sort of extra legal protection? You show how stressing the these Chinese connectors with considerably more that they would expect under any normal circumstance but you dont show how a 'proper' one would perform in the same situation. I dont really know what you are saying or showing with this rather long rambling video? Dont get me wrong I dont disagree, Chinese ones are questionable but many 'proper' ones you will find are made in China and equally 'proper' ones are not 100% perfect, nothing is. I just feel this is a very biased appraisal of a product
Iy you put proper ones in they will have been marked as having passed the relevant standards, and the manufacturer would be responsible. These are not so marked, and so you would be responsible.
So I have discovered recently while working on some rather poor imported machinery. Spent nearly $5000NZD putting right some of the more obvious errors and omissions. And there will be more yet. Not the smartest purchase that customer has made. The welding of the steel has to be seen to be believed.
@@johnsimpson8263 In my opinion it is not very smart to use green as a colour for a line conductor. Could be confused with the green/yellow striped for the PE. The european colour code is designed that way that even colour blind people can distinguish between the different colours: -L1: brown -L2: black -L3: gray -N: blue -PE: green/yellow striped
In China, the "standard" way to splice wires is to twist them together and cover that with PVC tape. I'd propose that all of these are better than that. Installing earth wires is nearly unheard-of, so the 3-wire products use colors for 3-phase (and not twin/earth). Wiring used green/yellow, sometimes blue/red, and things are supposed to be trending towards blue/brown for single phase.
So, in conclusion, they pass with flying colours but not recommended? I bought a load of these in different varieties, some which come in singles but clip together. It amuses me that you say that you cannot imagine any use for them as they were inline connectors yet the moment I saw them for sale, I knew that I would never buy another 'chocolate block' terminal strip again after 40 plus years of using them. My only criticism of them, compared to 'chocolate block' is that apart from the 2+2 into 2 variety, there are no screw holes to fix them down with. However, the newer versions have probe points which, I suppose, makes up for the absence of metal screws to use for testing purposes.
I just got some of these orange grey ( 2 terminal) connectors for 12v small solar system use. They don’t hold at all. 🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️Trying all kinds of gauges, between 28 and 12awg with no luck … did you try the tug test on yours? Did the connectors hold wires? Man, I wanted these to work at least for testing but I dunno.
Away from the comparative safety of standards and regulations you find twin and earth cable in all kinds of colours and worse still the conductors are steel flash coated with copper! So yes that copper looking conductor might not be what it appears to be - chinesium as JW would say!
So if Toolstation is selling chinese connectors is still my responsibilities for burned house. Do you think Wago will take that responsibilities ? I dont think so....Always electrician is GUILTY.
You can say your using 1000 volts or 3000 volts. Doesn't prove your point because you don't have the currant. I could have 50,000 volts in my hand and not feel it. These examples have no use that I would ever need.
In China, all of the buildings' electric wirings and connections are likely using these sorts of wire connectors. Perhaps, there is something we should be concerned with.
random8number I haven’t seen any wagon din rail ones like the ones in the video, they do some weird ones that look like they are for a very specific purpose with a lever but they are very expensive.
The problem with Chinese manufactures doesn't seem to be the manufacturer going cheap it's the proliferation of fakes and even fake fakes. The good news is many Chinese manufactures will happily sell small quantities directly. I've had brilliant service from a Chinese connector manufacturer. Two week turnaround on an order under USD1000 and made to order. Elsewhere I'd be asked USD1,000 in setup costs.
I would like to have seen a genuine Wago stripped down and treated in the same way. I had my doubts when these came out years ago and stuck to the terminal blocks that we all knew best but have used them only in the last year or so and have to say they are actually pretty good and time saving. I wasn't aware of a test probe hole in any of them but then I never looked or needed one. Just to confirm, I only used the Wago ones to date. The cheapo Chinese ones probably OK for a hobby electronic project but even then I would still buy the genuine thing. Good vid 👍👍
I'm a year late to the party but I have an observation. The genuine Wagos are approved for use in the US, Canada, and the UK, as opposed to the Chinese knockoffs that aren't. The knock offs are CQC approved; Chinese Quality Control. I use Wago all the time. I love them.
@@jwflame I'd be worried about corrosion resistance. The springs *could* be cold-formed stainless steel (which becomes attracted to magnets after cold working) but probably aren't. The conducting strip *could* be copper but could be something prone to corrosion with a very thin plating of copper that is porous. They *could* be fine. But if they'd been designed conscientiously they'd have had sensible colour codes on the levers. So probably whatever crap they could get away with. Which means eventually the springs will corrode until they snap, or the copper plating will lift off. Then again, if they're Chinese Wire Connectors maybe they work really well with Chinese Wire. That thin, shoddy, copper-plated non-stainless steel crap. It's possible. But unlikely.
looking forward to seeing a video of those under load. you should test the resistance as that will cause heating up. also maybe with a bit of moisture over time the resistance might change.
I accidentally bought some Chinese "Wago's" via e-Bay. I noticed, just in time, that they didn't grip standard 1.5mm2 conductors. They pulled out without any effort so I suspect the would have had unacceptably high contact resistance. May have been OK with 2.5 but I sent them back!
It would be interesting to know where WAGO has its connectors manufactured... as a rule, many companies only have their administrations in western countries and their products all come from the country of Xing Ping Fing
Countries previously known for making low quality copy goods include Japan and Germany. You're completely correct about the quality/repeatability/liability issues if importing these yourself, but I think I'd steer clear of "chinesium" labels. It promotes isolating and "othering" people, and there's more than enough of that about already...
They have funny colors as leads in chine do come in those odd color combinations(not to be trusted of course) i have bought leads from there and on set actually shorted out inside the wire jacket 🤣( under controlled environment of course) ......am surprised they dont make ones displaying Euro standard(brown,blue,green/yellow) colors or North American and Japanese Black White Green ones if theyre trying to market internationally.... as quick connect testers (as in on a direct wire light fixture bench testing), sure id use them for convenience ....for permanent in wall use .... it will definately give me some paranoia🤣🤣🤣
the chinese markings are 入 (input) and 出 (output). that was quite a large amount of samples here and since no connector was observed failing, it is maybe too early to conclude. it is hard to even tell which company we are talking about, since there are several ones producing these. also, when buying on b2c platforms, the vendors are often traders who won't mention the original manufacturer name. one other thing is that borders work both ways: chinese companies do risk their reputation in china. also, any chinese buying an authentic wago part could think: "these westerners only send us crap, they won't be held responsible if our house burns". now this video is incredibly useful, and i am sorry to see you even got hurt in the process of shooting it. huge thanks, you have a new subscriber.
14:30 I'm thinking wherever I've tried that it's usually hurt as the screwdriver slips and stabs me. After the cut at 14:40 our very own JW is sporting the signs of his sacrifice, left hand index finger. Ouch!
The specifications tell that these are 32A 400V. The current is quite large so perhaps you really should do the current test. I believe they pass but you never know. I purchased these too and they are quite nice for the very cheap price but opening needs quite much force. I’m going to use these only in low voltage systems, not in mains as the regulations here in Finland are very strict. These have CE-marking but it doesn’t tell anything about the security as everybody can add it. But these have CQC marking which approx equals CCC marking which is quite good. Not as goos as, let’s say FI which is the Finnish safety laboratory marking and the best in the world, but tells something anyway. That’s why I believe that these pass 32A test too.
Black red and blue are colours for 3-phase lives in the USA. Black and white for single phase, and three phase is black red and blue with neutral being white.
You can use them with your multimeter test probes to connect them to other wires. i.e. low voltage.... for home wiring, use the authentic WAGO connectors. Use them for low voltage hobby connections. For the Chinese models.... It doesn't matter how good they are, they can even be better than the WAGO, but they are not approved, so if something happens, they would fall under suspicion. Great video.... Just pretend you are James Bond listening to "Q".
I suppose these connectors are O.K. for experiments (the three-way ones would make a good "poor person's Safebloc") or for a temporary installation (e.g. completing a ring final from which a socket faceplate had been removed, to allow the use of power tools for construction work), but I'm not sure I would want to trust them long-term in a ceiling void. The 4-way ones would be good for line, switched-line, neutral and earth, or on a two-way switched lighting circuit. I'd actually like to see a reputable manufacturer's version of the 3- and 4-way connectors. They would be useful for extending a cable run.
the ones with red/blue or red/black/blue tabs would be the colors of north america's 3phase system. so those would be destined for the north american market.
I think the symbols on that black connector are (roughly) "exit", "enter", "enter", "exit". At least, those characters are what appear on "exit" and "entrance" signs. I don't know anything about Chinese wiring practices, so I don't know if they have a technical meaning or if it's just the equivalent of writing "in" and "out".
You are mentioning insurance inspectors, are there any known cases where branded connectors has A) been the cause of fires or similar failures and B) where the maker of the connector has been found liable. Pure statistics tend to indicate there will always be _some_ percentage of a product that is substandard...
