Joe Nagy

My Feedback: (3)

Hi Everyone;

Greetings from the really hot 'Valley of the Sun'.

This spring, after about 45 yrs in RC, 60+ yrs destroying Balsawood, I am getting into Brushless Electrics, and am acquiring a bunch'o'stuff: motors, mostly AXIs, a few E-Flites, and a few eRCs, + ESCs from 10 to 90 Amps, JETIs, E-flites, + others + Batteries. I find I need to do some soldering of connectors: some motors come with little brass bullet type connectors, one Mtr/ESC/Bat from a LHS came with Dean's T-type connectors to solder up. Listening to fellow members at da Field, there seems to be an on going Ford vs Chevy debate re Dean's and Traxxas connectors. So, I need to make a'nudder decision as what do I buy; I am going to have to solder anyway, regardless; so I thought I would throw this little thread item out to you fellow experienced electric flyers in 'the great id of da net' to discuss and possibly make recommendations for me. I have a very old Wellar soldering gun, with lots'o'miles on it, and think I can solder OK,.....?.....or should I farm this connector job out to professionals?

Will close for now, thanking you all in advance for reading, and for any guidance/advice, etc., that you can provide, best regards from Glendale, Arizona,

Joe Nagy.

Glacier Girl

My Feedback: (4)

Hmm, hadn't seen the Traxxas versions before. Looks like they took a little from Deans and a little from the EC3/5 plugs to come up with another option.

Deans was the one for a long time, but unless you were good with soldering you stood the chance of overheating the housing and deforming the connection. Not good.
Also the spring on the Deans can have a nasty habit of pulling away from the tab and boy are you in world of hurt,if it gets pushed out of place when plugging the connection together, and it shorts out. Also you had to add heat shrink to each solder point. And for some they can be a real bugger to unplug.
They've been copied by the Chinese, and sometimes you can get connectivity problems when mixing the two. I've used both and have no problems with either.

The EC3/5 and such had a better idea of being able to solder the wire to the tab, then after it cooled down you could plug it into the housing. I've yet to wear one out, but it would take nothing to tweak the springs on the tab to get back to a tight fit. Also soldered correctly, you need no heat shrink. Dependent on amp load you would use either the 3 or 5 or so on. Easy to unplug.
Again used em, no complaints.

Then there is the Anderson Power Poles. Mostly used on bigger stuff. Wire can be soldered or crimped to the tab, and then slipped into the housing. Available in different amp capability.
Housings will connect together in your choice of orientation. Easy to unplug. Housings can be cut down if weight is a concern. Ditto, no problems in using them.

Bullets, used a lot on really big amp draws. Again, easy to solder, no housing per se. You have to heat shrink the connectors. Pretty easy to unplug. Again I use em, work fine.


As for the Traxxas, only down side, okay maybe two as I only took a quick peek at them, use a similar spring as the Deans to hold tension. Not sure how longevity would be on them, and if they could be tweaked if they loose tension. And lastly I didn't see an amp rating, on them but they list up to 12 gauge wire, so guessing more for lower amp set ups.

And yes there are others out there. Like Tamiya, seen a lot on r/c cars. These are only good for low amp set ups, and they are a poor choice as they have connectivity problems due to the design.
You may see them on some of the basement type airplanes, were common on the ones with the round cell packs before lipos came to the fore front.


Best advice I can give you is look at what you plan on flying. Pick one type that will handle all of them, and stick with it. Otherwise you end up like me with more freaking adapters for charging and flying then you can shake a stick at.

Certifiable

For most small models, the EC3 connector has worked better for me than Deans. The reason is that soldering takes place AWAY FROM the plastic housing and I can use my preferred high heat, high strength 96/4 silver solder, a MUCH, MUCH better connection than standard 60/40 lead/tin solder.

I only use a 40-watt minimum temperature controlled soldering station. The soldering station and type of solder and SOLDERING SKILLS is far more important than the Deans vs. EC3/EC5 debate anyway. I prefer doing the connectors myself as I do a better job than the factory in most cases and I worked as an electronic repair guy for many years. I am picky when it comes to soldering and a lot of what I see out of China leaves much to be desired.

Jetdesign

My Feedback: (8)

I use Anderson Powerpoles for my battery to ESC connections. They are a crimp fitting which technically is a better joint. I use the appropriate ratcheting crimp tool to ensure perfect crimps every time. The whole process of stripping a battery and ESC and applying the connectors takes less than 5 min.

The housings work with 3 different size connectors, and the connectors cover a range of wire from 18 up to 10 gage. So they are good for anything bigger than a foamy (a bit big of a connector for a foamy, but not to say you 'can't' use it). For reference, I fly a 10S setup pushing upwards of 3000W through these connectors; they can handle a lot of power. You will see that some of the 'arm safe' plugs are made of Powerpoles. Note that these are rated at 600 volts (45A at 600V = 27000 Watts; don't be discouraged by the amp ratings.
http://www.radicalrc.com/category/Pl...ing-Switch-297
http://www.powerwerx.com/anderson-po...owerpole-sets/

boberos

Hi Joe,

Missed you at Punta Gorda last Feb but we talked about you anyway. Shoulda been there for the vintage fly in.
I use mostly red Deans ultra or sometimes their clone version.
Chinese are pushing the yellow XT60 connectors which also work very well.
A lot of Chinese Lipos have the XT60 already soldered on.
No one I know uses the Traxxas. Have never seen one in use in ON or FL.

Bob

Joe Nagy

My Feedback: (3)

Hi Bob, and Others';

Greetings from the very warm Valley of the Sun.

Well, re Connector Choices, it pretty well looks like the Battery suppliers have made my mind up for me. I have purchased about 18 3S Lipos in various sizes, mostly from Hobby People in California, and a few from LHSs. the small/very small Lipos from HP have the little JST connectors, larger ones have Deans; the ones from LHS, eFlites I believe have the nice EC3 connectors. So I have made the decision to use the JSTs for da lil bats and Deans for the bigger bats. I have set up a new soldering station and purchased the necessary connectors for the Bat/ESC conversions. + have set up my new [Electrics are completely new to/for me] Lipo/Bat charging station in a corner of my living room consisting of a Hitech ePowerBox50A power supply to a Hitec H-4 charger. So I am just about ready to go electric bigtime.

& No Bob, could not make Punta Gorda in Feb, although my Florida home is in nearby Englewood; in flying over to Fl in June '13 had a serious ear problem on landing, pressure realted...?....don't know, had severe earaches, completely lost hearing in both ears, LS ear never recovered, RS did, but only had about 10% hearing. So, short story longer, after several months with hearing aid specialists, and Doctors, [had been wearing H-aids in both ears for many years], underwent Cochlear Implant surgery for the LS ear just before Xmas, and just 2 months ago, dittos for da RS ear. So, I find out that I am one of about 24 double Cochlear Implant recipients in the state of AZ. Have just been spending a lot of time with Doctors: Hearing related, + many others.....Note: dis growing old is just so much fun, I almost can't stand it! Actually, am feeling pretty good now, can hear very well, although electronically not naturally, it's a bit different, but I can hear. Plan on getting over to FL soon, and will watch for the VRCS meets.

I will close for now, and thank all those who contributed to this thread, as I mentioned before, Lipo electrics are all new to me, an old timer into RC since '69 with over 125 glow motors....like know my way around da block, but electrics, a total blank, and I have received a lot of help, and appreciate same. Best regards from an Old Timer in Glendale, Arizona,

Joe Nagy.

boberos

Good choice of connectors Joe,
Hope you make it to PG this winter.

Bob