scudrunner77

I picked one of these up a while back. http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXHDJ2&P=ML

I'm a big fan now! My Hobbico field charger was kicking off one of my RX batts right away but I knew the battery was not fully charged. So I plugged the RX batt into one of my GWS receivers and then plugged the voltwatch 2 into that. There are 4 green LEDs, 2 Yellow LEDs, and one red one. My battery showed the second to last green LED, BUT when I bounced the battery litely in my hand the LEDs would go off like a Christmas tree, all the way to red. Strange thing is that now I cannot duplicate this (sounds like some of the cars I work on[:@]) Anyways... my charger gave me a red flag, but this little $10 gizmo saved me from ruining another plane due to this battery. I say that because I'm pretty sure this bad boy was in the Hornet the last time it went down, and was in Combatpigg's GLH and that larger delta that went in that day too. Wish I would have seen the pattern sooner [&o]

combatpigg

My Feedback: (3)

I've been burned by shoddy packs too, so I would rather build my own. This way if there is a bad connection, I have only myself to blame. Too bad that building your own packs doesn't save much money up front, but it might save you down the road.

scudrunner77

I opened up the pack and took a good look at the solder and welds.. did not find anything wrong there. I had the plug in a channel next to the plug for the voltwatch and it was real tight there, but when I moved it over a channel it was very loose and I was able to get the low voltage reading again by just barely moving things around. This explains why my volt meter read ok because I stuck the probes on the exposed part of the pins on the side of the connector. So being able to check the connection live was really the only way I would have caught this....

Dukester

My Feedback: (31)

I like to build my own packs also and have had a few sockets that seems loose. You can try just pulling the sockets out of the plug and give the little contact in there a small squeeze to tighten the pin fit. Or just replace the plug with a new lead.

Duke

combatpigg

My Feedback: (3)

One of the pitfalls of flying the way we do, is plugging and unplugging batteries all the time, usually in a hurry too, to get ready for another round of combat. I would be happy to have a 2 wire whip that is hard wired to the RX power bus hanging out of the case, and then terminate the whip with a heavy duty pin connector and of course change out all my batteries to the same HD connector. Same goes with the servos, just have 3 conductor leads hanging out of the RX case, and simply twist splice and shrink tube insulate those connections. The pins on the circuit card are a high failure rate item, they're just held to the board with tension and a dab of solder to the foil traces.

scudrunner77

Well guys what do you think of these little connectors. http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXDKA2&P=ML

I just soldered one up the other night for one of my Lipo battery connectors. They might work real well in the app that CP is talking about. Hard wire a small lead to the RX and then use the Deans for the batt. The fit is very tight... They make 3 pin as well if you want to get crazy and redue all your servos... http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXKX41&P=7

BMatthews

I've thought about the idea of no connectors like CP is suggesting for the small stuff as well. Remove the header off the Rx board and just solder in some 3 inch pigtails made from servo lead wire. But my thoughts for joining the servos on are a simple 1/8 inch long overlap solder joint. Twisting the wire needs more room and you can only do it a couple of times before the strands start breaking. Far easier to just strip the last 1/8 inch and tin them and then use a simple lap joint for joining the ends. I short length of heatshink and it's done.

And on the truly small parkflyer gear used for tiny electrics and 010 stuff it'll save you a few precious grams as well as making the gear more compact. It's quite the wakeup call to realize that with today's miniature gear the connectors are now one of the most bulky items.

combatpigg

My Feedback: (3)

Upon further review............I'll bet 1/4 of my crashes are related to bad connections. Are DEANs' connectors any better than stock? I've seen some pretty ugly DEANS connector installs that turned me away [:'(] from trying them.

Dukester

My Feedback: (31)

The Deans connectors themselves are very good and stay tight after a lot of use. Installing them is simple as long as you are careful with the iron and don't over do the solder.

Duke

combatpigg

My Feedback: (3)

That's encouraging, DUKE. I'm not sure if it was DEANS' or not, but I've seen a connector kit at the LHS, crimper and all, but the price was in the $70 range if I remember right. A guy would have to be good and fed up with crashing before buying one of these kits!

scudrunner77

CP- there is no crimping with the Deans. Just solder your wires on and shrink a short piece of shrink tubing over each wire. Pretty clean set up really.

Dukester

My Feedback: (31)

Just have to remember not to overdo the solder. Tin the wire, tin the connector pin, then just a small dab on the iron tip. Touch all three items together and as soon as the solder runs, you're finished.

Duke

scudrunner77

Dukester that's pretty much how I do them... In fact I was soldering one up on my speed controller on lunch today. Nice, clean, easy set up if you ask me..

combatpigg

My Feedback: (3)

A battery with an intermittent fault should be dealt with like a traitor or spy in the military, blindfolded and shot!! [>:]!!

scudrunner77

I'll keep him bound and gagged until we meet again.... did a lot more harm to your airforce then mine!! Then you can have your way with'm