Batteries What Battery Connector Do You Use?

[Westy]

I use DEans and Ec5 and Ec3 connectors.

The great things about hte EC series connectors....

1. you can solder out of the plastic then pop them into place
2. you can reuse them ..... simply pop the bullet out of the connector...... I use a small punch and give it a decent THWACK .... one shot at the right pressure.... works every time once you work out the actual pressure required.
3. much more bite in the connection than a JST connector (which is what caused my first and only servo power down crash on my 600.... chucked a set of Ec3's on it and all good ... never looked back.

 

[stokke]

I used Deans when I got into the hobby - I really struggled with the soldering. After a while I switched to EC3 due to the easy soldering job. I use EC5 on my 600 (just as easy to solder LOL)

 

[Tony]

EC3 and EC5, the only difference is one is 3mm bullets and the other is 5mm bullets. For those that don't know.

 

[stokke]

EC3 and EC5, the only difference is one is 3mm bullets and the other is 5mm bullets. For those that don't know.

I didn't

 

[coolgabsi]

Callsign:

I have heard about that.. But I have read many people running deans and drawing 100A and also doing 15A bursts on them. My Motor does a max draw of 100A (I think) I forget.. but.. It should be ok..

 

[callsign4223]

As long as you feel comfortable with it, that's what matters.

 

[Whirlybird]

I use the XT-60's. The yellow ones do tend to be tight (not a big problem as a little wiggling and they come right off). But my main ones are blue colored XT-60's I got from A-Main Hobbies. These are alot easier to take apart. I know others have complained, but this is my experience. They are also easy to solder. I plug the side I'm soldering into it's opposite partner, which is mounted in a vise. This way the metal connectors don't move around if they get too hot. Don't forget the shrink wrap . . . been there, done that

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BTW . . . Since they use 3.5mm bullets, I don't think I'd use them in anything demanding more current than a 500 sized Heli

 

[xokia]

Just a suggestion for those that find soldering difficult or you think you heat the connector up to much. Buy yourself at least a 100 watt soldering iron. I use one of those instant irons. Where you pull the switch and the tip instantly heats up. I was a tech before I became an engineer and have tons of years of experience soldering crap. Metcal or hakko Irons are prefered when soldering electrical stuff but too expensive for the average DIYer. But for wires a big hefty instant Iron works best. It should only take you about 30 seconds from when you pick up the iron and get the joint soldered. Any longer then that and you are just dumping heat into the connector instead of the joint. Also use 60/40 tin/lead rosin core based solder.

 

[coolgabsi]

As long as you feel comfortable with it, that's what matters.

I took your advice and went and tested some in my telecom lab at work.. I had a deans lying in the car I had just bought. .. Lol the spring blew up in 130A on 44.4 V

Taking all off and putting in EC5 on all...

I love deans on my small batteries and rx packs

But my big heli batteries will go on EC5's now!!

Had a big pop and my boss came in thinking I blew a radio lol

Fly safe!! have fun!

 

[Whirlybird]

Nice when those things surprise you like that Gaba uch: I was assembling a Heathkit Dual Trace Oscilliscope and didn't realize that I installed a power supply electrolytic backwards . . . took off like a rocket in front of my face when I powered it up After new underware and a new capacitor, I got it right

Callsign called it right Best to over compensate

 

[xokia]

I took your advice and went and tested some in my telecom lab at work.. I had a deans lying in the car I had just bought. .. Lol the spring blew up in 130A on 44.4 V

I think a better test for these connectors is to measure in watts. Your test this was 5772 watts!
I use deans in my savage and the ESC is capable of 150 amps. I'm running 2 3S batteries in series. So around 3.3k watts. If you have some more deans connectors and the test equipment this would be a valuable test for all of us. Not many of us have that kind of equipment. I have $500k oscilliscopes/logic analyzers but not a power supply capable of those currents and voltages.

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I was assembling a Heathkit Dual Trace Oscilliscope and didn't realize that I installed a power supply electrolitic backwards . . . took off like a rocket in front of my face when I powered it up After new underware and a new capacitor, I got it right

Try doing this with a tantalum capacitor they literally explode!

 

[coolgabsi]

I have to do a little write up for this pop that happened for the company.. Koreans don't like it I guess too much..

Ill see if I can do another one of these but it'll be a while.

It just blew the welding off the spring of the deans. The connector was extremely hot. Not burnt.

The whole lab floor knows Gaba popped something today lol heehee

This test I did was keeping 12cell LiPo pack in mind which I will be running. And my motor can pull 100-110A ..



To say the least I would have been HOT coming down probably not popped on my 700..

How I am confused is, Alan sabzo runs t plugs on his 700... And he does 3D... Why? Lol

Fly safe!! have fun!

 

[coolgabsi]

If anyone was in electronics school in the army, remember the charged capacitors being thrown at you to catch!!

PHAAAACK !!! Lol

Fly safe!! have fun!

 

[xokia]

The whole lab floor knows Gaba popped something today lol heehee

Yea I imagine the smell musta been real nice Completely understand the hesitation people tend to get testy when this expensive equipment is used for non work related things especially when things go pop.

I'm just guessing from your experience and my savage experience this connectors limits it probably in the 4k watt range.

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If anyone was in electronics school in the army, remember the charged capacitors being thrown at you to catch!!

Yea those are supposed to be strapped so they dont retain a charge. Nice one though, depending on voltage and capacity they can pack a serious punch!!!

 

[Whirlybird]

Try doing this with a tantalum capacitor they literally explode!

The electrolytic's case is what blew off due to the pressure buildup . . . It did make a loud enough "pop" to wake my wife and bring her down to the basement from the second floor at 2 am . . . She did not appreciate that . . . At least I did not have to do a writeup

That tantalum would definately be like a hand grenade

 

[murankar]

I have dealt with through hole assembly ans surface mount assembly, but never "let's see how much current this can take! " assembly or destruction.

I have never done electronics while in the military, all of my experience is civilian.

 

[Tony]

Gaba, when you did this, was it just the one plug, or did you plug it in to the other side? If it was just one connector, then that was a false test. you need both plugged in to each other. The spring on a Deans plug doesn't carry ANY current, it's only there to push the two plugs together in the plug. By you saying that you blew the spring off tells me that it wasn't plugged in to anything.

 

[Tony]

Alright guys, I have yet again come back to this thread because I have some money to burn in my hobbyking account and I need some battery connectors. I wish I had more money so I could get some batteries, but it is what it is.

I'm still torn on this. I have been a Deans user all of my Rc life. If you saw me pluggin in my car/truck/heli/plane, it was with a Deans connector. but, people have me thinking.

The EC3/EC5 are regarded to their ease of soldering. I mean, you solder a bullet onto a wire, then push it into the holder and your done. No heat shrink, nothing. but, unsoldering them becomes an issue. You pretty much have to FORCE the bullet out of the case, thus destroying the lock that was holding it.

XT60's are regarded because any battery you guy from hobbyking has this connector on it. New battery, no more chance of shorting out the leads when you go to change connectors. Tell the truth, you have done this. Got in a hurry, cut the wires, stripped the insulation, looked away just in time to see the two wires try to weld themselves together... Or, you try to cut both wires at the same time because, again, you were in a hurry lmao. Yeah, we have all done it. And we all learn from it. But with this plug, it's pretty easy to solder. It's pretty much a bullet connector that you are soldering the wire to, but one side of it has been cut off so that you can get better penetration for those that have weak or weaker soldering skills. Heat shrink has to be used as well to cover up the exposed components.

Deans have been my favorite since day one. They are by far the hardest for the new hobbyist to solder, but once you learn the tricks, it's a piece of cake. Just plug two of them together (which you should do with the XT60's as well), tin, and solder. Some people are saying that Deans are hard to get apart, like the XT60's, but I don't see that most of the time. Now, if my hands are covered in oil from the exhaust of an engine, then yes, it's hard. but it's hard to grip a screwdriver like that too.

Here is my dilemma, I have heard from another Rc'er that the cheap Deans (or T-Connectors as they call them, must have gotten sued) are too tight, much tighter than the original ones. However, I have a couple of these and have not found any issues. Tight is good. As I stated in the reply above, that silver spring is just there to push the brass prongs together, not to carry current. So I'm wondering if I should go ahead and get these. Hell, for $3.25 for 10 pairs, it's worth a shot. and seeing as I will not have any money out of pocket for these, it's even better.

what would you do?

 

[RandyDSok]

I've had good luck so far with the HK nylon T-connectors Nylon T-Connectors 10 Pairs (20pc)

 

[Tony]

That is exactly what I was thinking about ordering. From the USA warehouse though. But still need to check on the shipping from the intl. warehouse. It may be cheaper seeing as Parcel post is over $6.30 just for these.

Edit: It's actually cheaper to order from the Intl. warehouse. I put in an order for 10 pairs. Time to test them out. I'm thinking about ordering some of the other two as well so I can get some hands on experience with them.