I want to replace an existing outdoor duplex outlet at my house. The house was built in the 70s and has aluminum wiring. The outlet is at the end of the circuit run, so the aluminum wires are directly connected to the outlet terminals (no pigtail). Note that I cannot find weather resistant (WR) CO/ALR outlets. So, when I replace this outlet, am I better off connecting the aluminum wires to the terminals of a new non-WR CO/ALR outlet, or using a new WR outlet with AlumiConn connectors and copper pigtails? I've seen other posts on this site that ask a similar question for indoor applications…and the highest rated answer says that CO/ALR is a better solution than AlumiConn. My application is outdoors, though, so a consideration of my question is weighing the WR vs. non-WR for outdoor use against CO/ALR and non-CO/ALR for aluminum wiring.
Wiring – New CO/ALR vs AlumiConn connectors for outdoor outlet
outdoorwiring
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Best Answer
Alumiconns wether screw type or wire nut will be safer, and better than going to a non co/alr fixture. The fixture would need to be a GFCI fixture or protected by a GFCI device upstream
note not to be a pain but this fixture would normally require tamper resistant features most internet electricians don’t keep up on that. There are many listed alumacons most are purple and wire nut or screw type they both do the job converting to copper for a non listed co/alr device.