i got my new lipos a little while ago and i have a question about them. they are the turnigy lipos and they have a "bullet-like" style connector on them. the charger i ordered with them doesnt even have that connector. would it be better to just cut off the connector (one wire at a time of course) and replace it with a deans plug? i do like the connector thats on thee now but i dont even know what its called or i would possibly consider switching.

You can replace them with deans if you want, deans are good.

okay. i run deans on everything else so it will make it easier.

my question would be:why wouldn't you change them out????

i just ordered 2 of these.
http://www.hobbycity.com./hobbycity/...0mAh_2S1P_20C_

and plan on putting traxxas connectors on them. is there anything i should know about doing this?. my first time with lipo's.

the generic term for the connectors is EC3 I believe. If you already know how to solder the most important part is to completely finish one wire and get heat shrink on it BEFORE you even cut the other wire. Doesn't matter which you do first. This is to eliminate the possibility of a short circuit.

For traxxas connectors remember not to get any solder past the line or you'll have trouble fitting the tabs back into the housing.

those are the EXACT same batteries i bought. i got 4 of them. havent got to run them yet. ill pick up some deans tomorrow.

I have Deans an everything.

I offer the following for what it may be worth to those wishing to standardize on a VERY GOOD connector:

I converted everything to Deans for many years. Before I ran something new, I'd convert to the Deans connectors. However, I hated the problem with Deans in getting them apart for charging, using in other cars, planes, etc. THEN, I discovered Power Poles. Same no resistance connections as Deans BUT they come apart without busting fingers and nails! From the first encounter with Power Poles I loved them. I ordered 100 sets of Power Poles two years ago, converted EVERYTING to them, and never looked back - they are fantastic and don't even require soldering!!

the connectors on those batteries are designed for helicopters.. I purchased a bunch of these from Hobby City and they came that way.. for car use I cut them off and put on Deans plugs... I'm not sure of the name of them, but EC3 sounds correct.. I think Losi is starting to use them now on some of their electric brushless stuff.. They work but you will have a harder time finding connectors for them at the LHS if needed...

those turnigy connectors are insane though, 4mm bullets in a casing. great if you are running high voltage, they'll out perfrom deans and traxxas.

but they are rather large, i'm using them only on my ezrun setup and they work great. i do have a bunch of different charger leads for different connectors though, so it's no biggie.</p>

Connectors are not really designed for a particular application. Sure more heli guys probably use them but that's just because they've been using lipos longer. Connectors are just connectors, you can use any low resistance ones you want to. From the specs I don't believe the EC3 are as good as deans, traxxas or power poles but they are definitely a great improvement over the "tamiya" ones.

deans are great we been using em for over 20 years, for real high amp draw situations you may want to hard wire instead.

Where is the cheapest place to get deans at other than hc

Better yet, use TRX connectors!

Those connectors are not EC3. Those are 4mm bullet connectors.

HC got away from EC3. Their connector of choice on the smaller batteries is the XT60 connector. For the bigger ones, it's bullets.

This pic shows XT60 (yellow)and EC3 connector (blue)

[img]catalog/imageNA_sm.gif[/img]


These are the bullet connectors that are on the larger packs

[img]catalog/imageNA_sm.gif[/img]

Ha! might as well use tamiya plugs. TRX plugs suck... I have melted a few together using 4cell lipos. Never melted a deans plug. Whoever said they were having trouble pulling the deans plugs apart... That happens when you heat them up too much with a soldering iron, it causes the blade to move slightly, then bind when you connect them. That is the ONLY flaw I have discovered using deans. I used to run EC3 plugs, but barely any hobby shops stock them.. and I always managed to lose the damn brass inserts.

Anyone know how to remove the bullet connectors from the red casing? When I got my lipo I had to dremel the casing to get the connector out, unfortunately on my first try I did not know how far to dremel so I accidentally sliced some of the bullet connector. I would have liked to keep the bullets undamaged for some other usage in the future.

I use Castle's 5mm bullets. They are easier for me to pull apart and put together but there is the risk of shorting them out if you don't heatshrink them properly.

I don't know man, I think you need to use that Testers in a little bigger room!

Um, you do know they are both rated for the same amperage, right?
Also, if you measure the contact on the TRXs is larger then the one on the Deans, but the Deans use both sides of the contact which works out to be about the same size as the TRX, so in reality they should both melt at the same time.