After smelling a funny smell I eventually found this melted mess in a ceiling fan junction box. I fixed it, but am concerned if there is something else I should be worried about. Any advice appreciated.
My guess is one of those connections was loose or corroded. A loose connection presents as high resistance and the voltage drop over the connection is dissipated as heat.
2 Likes
What’s the breaker size for that branch?
What gauge wire is it?
Hard to tell from the photo, but copper or aluminium?
I’m guessing that’s the receiver for the remote control? Was that tucked up in the junction box above the fan? It looks like what got hot was a wire-nut connection and not the doohickey itself?
+1 on the copper or aluminum wiring question.
If it’s joining copper to aluminum house wiring, you’re lucky… that should be pigtailed properly.
From what I am reading I think you are probably right. It was opened about 6 months ago when the fan remote quit working maybe a wire was knocked loose then. I am switching over to the uline connectiors to avoid using the plastic caps in the future.
2 Likes
It is all copper no aluminum. Not sure about the other questions but I will ask my neighborly electrician and see what he says. Thanks
Nothing wrong with wire nuts but I’m in the “twist the wires tightly before screwing on the wire nut” camp (as opposed to those who use the nut to twist the wires).
I’ve decided to give Wago 221 lever nuts a try for a while. My first experience with using them to LED retrofit fixtures in the garage makes me think I’m going to like them in general use. And while they are UL listed as 20 A connectors, I’ve seen video of them torture tested to 60A without failure.
1 Like
Germans are stereotypically exacting, yet when I look up info on WAGO’s 221 series, when I can find it, I find no less than 3 specs: 24-14AWG, 24-12AWG, and/or 20-10AWG. Further reading suggests SOME variants offer 20-10AWG. Check. What’s the story on whether the “standard” variant can handle 12AWG? Makes one a bit nervous if one’s installing on 12AWG wires. Still nifty products. Must suppress cheap-ass urge (tough when one has handsfull of wirenuts @ $0.00 immediate out-of-pocket) and give them a whirl at some point…
If I had to guess I’d say they were not properly together. Ie the one wire was not making full contact with the other full length of wire.
1 Like
Yeah, and not cheap, nor generally available last minute at the hardware store, but I remind myself that I’m a low volume user, and they are under 50 cents each. And initially appear to be worth every penny of not needing to hold all wires even to twist them together with pliers. And not needing to trim an inch or more of pigtail away every time I work in a box is a bonus. Not needing to have all the wires ready at once is a bonus. That they grab wires individually, so a two conductor version is clearly a safe cap for a wire being capped for future use. I sense plenty of advantages to be found as I dig into a couple of triple switch boxes where I have been intending to change out switches and timers.
The set I started with is this:
3 Likes
I liked the WAGO that came with my Big Ass Ceiling Fans. They were super easy to use. I went with the uline option because they are cheaper and available at both Home Depot and Lowes.
How do you like the Big Ass fans? I’ve been curious.
Awesome great fans could not be happier. Only drawback for me is they do not support Apple Homekit, so for now I am stuck with Alexa.
1 Like