- [Gordon] Coming up.
We put some live conductors into a bucket,
check out all these part numbers,
and we show you a hack with the WAGO 2773 connectors.
Today. We're looking at this the WAGO gel box
and specifically how you use it
with the 2773 range of connectors
that we haven't seen on the channel before.
- Okay. Looking at your table, you've gone connector crazy
and it looks fantastic should we bring the camera in
and look at the gel box.
- Yeah. Let's have a look at the gel box.
First. It is really quite a simple concept.
You've obviously got our WAGO connector.
So this is the 2773 connector here.
You basically just place it inside with your conductors
and you snap it shut to make the joint - the gel joint.
Now, we have seen other gel devices before
so this is not a silicone-based gel.
- Okay. Yeah.
- Very important. So that does improve the stability
of the connector over a long period of time.
So it's not silicone based,
the gel molds itself around the connectors very easily,
but it's not as sticky
as some of those other sort of silicone gels we've seen.
So let's just have a look at actually the gel here.
It's quite interesting.
So I can actually, oh yeah, pull the gel out.
Yeah. So, you know, it's a solid, solid-ish, you know
it's moving around, but I can actually get that
back into the box
- [Gary] and none of it's left on your fingers.
- [Gordon] Yeah. And there you go.
Fingers are still clean.
- So when we think
about using these in applications, can you
give us some examples where we'll be using the gel box?
- Yeah. So I mean, low voltage, or
safety extra low voltage lighting systems are ideal.
I've got an example here.
We'll show you how to make up a little while.
We have connected this led strip.
- Right.
- Which is 24 volts through the box.
Now, if you're going to use them say
in a mains application, so you might, you know
a lot of say bollard lights and things like that
where you might get condensation, you would have to be
inside some other form of electrical enclosure.
- And I see a lot of that on social media, don't you?
You get an IP-rated box, fill it full of connections
and fill it full of reporting gel.
- Yeah. And obviously that gel
sometimes it's two parts, takes time to cure and is, yeah,
and can be quite expensive actually
when you do it as well
- It's simple isn't it?
Make up your connections, close it down.
- It's really super quick and stay tuned to the end
of this video because we'll show you actually
how quick that is and you know -
- By dropping it in a bucket full of water when it's live?
Okay.
- That's how we like to do it.
- So I think we need to look at it being used.
Do we, should we use it with solid conductors first?
- Yeah, let's have a look at solid conductors.
- So you got to strip back your conductors first,
then what length are you going for?
- Yeah. So these are 30 millimeters, a little bit longer
than you'd have on the two to one, which is 11 millimeters.
So I've just set the depth stop there.
Okay. And on these connectors handy little
it's a handy little guide on the connector itself.
So you can check that you've got the right length.
Now here's something people may not know,
you obviously push it in there
now you see that clear window there, Gary?
- [Gary] On top?
- [Gordon] Do you see the clear window?
Yep, when it's pushed in properly
you should just be able to see the insulation
and no copper in that tiny little window there.
- That's a top tip that isn't it?
Obviously we see the copper at the other end.
- [Gordon] Yeah. So that's nicely pushed
into the right place.
- [Gary] Right. Okay.
So you're going to do all of the conductors.Yeah?
- [Gordon] Yeah. So I prepared them all up
and now it's a case of putting it in the gel box.
So just simply press them into place, hinge the lid over.
I'm just going to snap those connectors on the side.
There we go that's our IP X8 connection finished.
- So you can see from that can you
where this will have to go into another enclosure.
Obviously we've got the outer insulation
from the actual conductors exposed.
Also you can enter it by just opening it up.
There's no key or tool
in order to enter the actual gel box itself. Is there?
- Yeah. That's it.
Then just as we're passing on, they're obviously
solid conductors in the 2773 series.
Obviously they're easy to put in.
You can actually remove a solid conductor
by twisting them and pulling them out.
- [Gary] Okay.
Is there a recommended number of times you can do that?
- So far you can do that 20 times with a solid conductor.
And obviously, you know,
you look on there, it's actually, yeah, it's amazing.
You can actually see where the connector's bitten into that.
And I know, yeah.
A lot of our viewers
in America still struggle with the concept
of these when compared to the wire nuts, Gary.
- They certainly do.
Okay. They'll catch up eventually.
Well, if you want to catch up, I think we ought to look
at the part numbering system you've got laid out down for us
and I recommend anyone who wants a good copy of it
you can screenshot the next bit.
- Here we go. Let's have a look.
- [Gary] So where do you want to start?
- [Gordon] So here's our gel boxes.
So they come in three sizes.
So 207-1331 all the way to 207-1333.
That's obviously the bigger box.
That's the smaller box.
There is another range of boxes to accommodate
the 2216 series.
So that's obviously -
- [Gary] For a slightly larger one, isn't it?
- [Gordon] Yeah. For up to six millimeter conductors.
And that's how I begin to decipher the way.
I got part numbers, Gary.
Cause along here what I've done is, is sort of show
some examples of the 221 series
that you can fit in that box.
We've got a fantastic video on that.
If you haven't seen it, that explains all of that.
So I won't dwell on that for too long.
And then down here, we've got the 2773 series
which all of these take a four millimeter conductor
and you can see all fours down there.
- [Gary] So if there was a sixth there it'd be up to 6 mil
okay.
- Yeah. And then obviously the number here is obviously
the number of conductors it can take down the end.
So what I've done here is there's obviously the smaller box
can take two of these to conductor versions.
- [Gary] Right.
- [Gordon] One of the three, where if we go up to possibly
the larger box can take four of the two conductor versions,
or this is, this is our working out.
This is not the official WAGO data sheet on it.
Now obviously you could mix and match this.
You could obviously have combinations of two and three
or two and four, depending on obviously what type of system
- [Gary] I'm just admiring your work now
so if people want to screenshot that.
They'll probably want to grab it at that point there.
- [Gordon] Well, you know, I love a part number.
- You do love a part number.
- So we've seen it with solid conductors.
- Yep.
- Obviously we can use fine stranded conductors.
And you think there's a little bit
of a little bit of a hack or a cheat here?
- Well, yeah.
So no, you can use stranded conductors or class two,
sort of like your typical conduit cable.
- Absolutely. Yeah.
- Fine stranded conductors, you know, on the data sheet
it doesn't officially say you can use them
with the 2773 series.
Of course you can with the 221s that'll take anything.
- [Gary] It will do, yeah.
- But there is a little hack, Gary,
to be able to use these with stranded conductors
class five. Let's have a look at that.
- [Gary] So, you know, we love a ferrule on the channel.
How is this going to be a hack then, Gordon?
- [Gordon] Okay. So now you wouldn't think
you could use stranded classified conductors
with these 2773 series connectors,
but in fact you can, if you put a ferrule onto them, Gary.
- [Gary] Okay. And again, those ferrules
are the right length.
That was a bit of luck as well as he didn't have to
trim them back.
- [Gordon] Yeah well, they have to be the length
obviously you'd have on a solid conductor
which is 13 millimeters.
So I'm using this with this IP-rated led strip
for outdoor use.
Again, a lot of these come with prepared ends
and you need to somehow join two wires together.
So I think obviously using these, these WAGO connectors
in the gel enclosure is an ideal solution for that.
So again, push them through now, obviously the connector's
got the four millimeters square conductor,
as you will not get that if you're using a ferrule
because obviously the ferrule
and the plastic end take up some room at the end.
- [Gary] Okay. Yeah. So you wouldn't get formalin
because of the extra metal cracking the ferrule
- Crack and prepare them, put them into the connectors
push them into place, click the lid shut.
And that's our outdoor led system protected to IP X eight.
- [Gary] And what voltage would that be at?
Twelve? Twenty four?
- [Gordon] Twenty-four won't strip this, Gary.
So SLV, we don't have to worry about another enclosure.
- We're going to tease you just a little bit longer
before we put the gel box into water
which is just down there.
But I want to see what's in your hand first, Gordon,
let's have a look at that.
- [Gordon] Well let's just check out some of the details
on the 2773 connector as there's a lot of markings on there
and sometimes that confuses people a little bit,
particularly when it comes to current ratings.
But before that let's have a look, there's obviously
approvals for all sorts of parts of the world, including UL
for the U.S. to keep our American friends happy
and NEC which is Europe and the PSE, which is Japan.
Now they have a completely different current rating
to the rest of the world that fits their electrical system.
But when it comes to Europe, obviously we're up
to 450 volts, 32 amps and all of the connectors
in this range will take a four millimeter conductor
into there. So stranded or solid.
- Okay. And we said about the ferrule
would just probably have to be smaller
- Yes, for fine stranded, yeah.
- Wow. Can we, can we, can we tease you out any longer
Gordon?
- Well, Gary, time to bring out the buckets.
So let's just hold it there.
Do not try this at home.
- [Gary] Well, it only seems fair that I hold the camera
once again, Gordon, cause this is going
into a bucket of water, I think.
- Yeah, well, let's just see how good these gel boxes are.
So prepared some ends there, flexible cables here
we're back to the 221 series connector here.
So again, exactly the same principle, press them into place.
- [Gary] Okay. And then we're going to liven this up,
aren't we?
- Yeah, do not do this at home
because obviously this should be inside another enclosure
but we're going to liven in this up.
We're gonna attach a led high bay to it
and we're just going to put it straight in the water.
So I've made the end up there ready
and see the gel ready to go.
We're going to let -
- [Gary] We're live now.
So I'll just step back a little bit
- [Gordon] Okay we'll tap one spring in it
- [Gary] Good luck.
- [Gordon] Here we go.
- [Gary] And we're in.
- [Gordon] Straight in. Yeah.
So they're just sloshing about, so this is X eight
and obviously we haven't got a deep enough bucket to
mimic X8 or enough pressure.
So I'd probably suggest this is a 67 test
just give it a good slosh around there.
But yeah, the high Bay light is still lit
and we haven't tripped any breakers off, which is great.
- [Gary] Well I'll knock the power off then
before we open it up and have a look on the inside of it
- [Gordon] Let's just have a look here.
So again, you don't need a tool to do it.
So that's another reason you would put this inside
another box for main's watch look, look at how
that's squashed around those connectors straight away.
- [Gary] Yeah.
- [Gordon] And yet by magic I can just peel it away.
- [Gary] Okay. And then you're back in with the connectors.
- [Gordon] Yep.
- [Gary] Bone dry as well.
- [Gordon] Yeah.
- [Gary] Can I now reuse the gel box?
- [Gordon] So the advice on WAGO is, no
these are one time only use because some
of that gel could migrate onto the conductors
and may not give a reliable connection a second time around.
- Much to everyone's great disappointment.
Yes. No harm was done to Gordon Routledge
during the experiment.
But of course it wouldn't, would it?
because these have been extensively tested to
be submersed into water.
The gel box is fantastic isn't it, Gordon?
- It is.
Yeah. That's a great solution.
I'm amazed how actually, well, yeah, just straight away
it goes around the connectors and forms that IPX 8 seal.
So that is a good, obviously yes.
We've said this isn't IPX eight.
It's a bucket.
But it's a, it's a good start.
Obviously. I think if you've used these connectors
we'd obviously like to hear from you. Wouldn't we, Gary?
- We would, we always want those comments below.
Is there any top tips when using WAGO connectors
that maybe we haven't said in this video
and you'd like to add those into the comments.
Is there somebody in the comments struggling
and you know the answer
could you answer that for us as well?
We'd like that wouldn't we? Less comments
for us to answer as well.
As always please leave those below
and he'll try and get back to as many as he can.