16 gauge solid core vs 14 gauge solid core (and Wago connectors)

[Alan Anderson]

If you're having trouble using the Wago and Weidmuller connectors, it's probably because you're not using them properly. I find them simple, easy, and reliable. The only time I have any problems with them is when someone has bent, twisted, or otherwise mangled the wire after stripping it.

[MrForbes]

If we could make it so that the one student trained to connect wires well, is at all the meetings all night long, we would probably have fewer problems with them. But we end up having several students work on wiring, and usually it's a new thing to them. It just takes one wired installed not quite up to snuff, to knock out the robot.

Of course, we had the same problem when there were screw type connecters on the power distribution system back in 2008.

[MrRoboSteve]

Data point from one CSA:

Power connection issues I see a lot:

screw terminal loose -- speed controller, old PDB, circuit breaker
wire too big for Weidmuller terminal at RIO, comes out
bad crimping or incorrect use of solder connection
Anderson power connector not fully engaged

Power connection issues rarely seen:

wire loose at wago connector

[MrForbes]

Originally Posted by MrRoboSteve

Power connection issues rarely seen:

wire loose at wago connector

We've had at least two of them since we got our robot running. But it is easy to avoid...if you understand how the connectors work, and do the things recommended in this thread to make sure the wires are prepared and installed properly.

[wireties]

Originally Posted by Alan Anderson

If you're having trouble using the Wago and Weidmuller connectors, it's probably because you're not using them properly. I find them simple, easy, and reliable. The only time I have any problems with them is when someone has bent, twisted, or otherwise mangled the wire after stripping it.

Preferring something else over the Wagos is a serious POV. We don't have too much trouble with Wago terminals but I'd feel better using screw terminals on the robots. My little company builds racks of equipment used on ships and planes for the Navy and Air Force. These are high vibration environments (like the robots) and Wago-like terminals are not allowed and for good reason. Tinning the wire, twisting the wire or using solid core wire is also not allowed but certain ferrules are allowed.

[cgmv123]

Originally Posted by wireties

These are high vibration environments (like the robots) and Wago-like terminals are not allowed and for good reason.

Wouldn't constant force clamping terminals (like the Wagos and the Weidmullers) be better in high vibration environments than screws that can vibrate and come loose?

[GeeTwo]

Originally Posted by cgmv123

Wouldn't constant force clamping terminals (like the Wagos and the Weidmullers) be better in high vibration environments than screws that can vibrate and come loose?

It's a matter of maintenance vs build-and-forget. If you're going to inspect and maintain the wiring every once in a while, the screws stay tight, but you can't really see if the W/W connectors are staying tight. If you build and then let things go, W&W are probably more likely to hold the wire because of the connector angle while the screw is more likely to come loose.

The tie breaker in my book is that if you use ring terminals, unless a screw rattles its way completely out of the threads to fall onto the deck, the wire isn't going anywhere.

And OBTW, the earlier responses on Home Depot and Lowe's were spot on.

[wireties]

Originally Posted by cgmv123

Wouldn't constant force clamping terminals (like the Wagos and the Weidmullers) be better in high vibration environments than screws that can vibrate and come loose?

Good question - they are really kind of screw-clamp mechanisms so they are under tension and can't vibrate loose (within specs). Also the area of the connection from the terminal to the wire is larger, much larger.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

The WAGO style connectors do a pretty nice job in industrial environments but need additional wire management as part of the installation. Screw terminals don't require wire management but do benefit from this added step.
I installed control wiring inside our transmitter more than ten years ago. The transmitter was supplied with these compression type contacts. What I didn't like on those was the need to have a special tool made just for those terminals. We used #22 for most and up to #16 for the higher current requirements as specified by the manufacturer. All was stranded wire. I would guess that I wired somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 connectors over seven racks. Most of them had 10 to 20 contacts. The control cabinet has a panel that pretty much fills the rack. There has not been one failed connection. While the transmitter is firmly attached to the floor, we are on the 100th floor of Sears Tower. The building moves, a lot, and we are running cooling water through the final amplifier cabinet at 25 gallons per minute. There is not as much vibration as on ship but there is as much as an industrial installation in a factory.

[JDL]

Wago's are the way things are going in industry. Constant tension, vibration resistant, eliminates under or over torque and stripped or cross threaded screws.

Get your ferrule crimper ready and stock up on tiny flat heads.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

In rereading the thread, I should add this.
The WAGO terminals on the PDP are designed for stranded wire or WAGO ferrules. The manufacturer states that solid wire should be derated as the contact surface is reduced. The current handling ability of #14 solid is the same as #16 stranded due to the reduced surface within the contact. Tinned, stranded conductors should be derated even more. Depending on the person who performed the tinning operation, a #10 tinned stranded conductor could have the same current capability as a #16, un-tinned conductor. If you tinned your power wiring prior to inserting in the PDP and have a problem with motor performance, this is the first thing to replace.