Warren wrote:I bought a bunch of Anderson Powerpole 15/30/45 amp connectors, and the tool. I know the hotrod types here think they are too wimpy, but I see Ecospeed, and several others are using them. I don't plan to run more than 15 amps through anything, and the controller limit is 25 amps.
They'd be fine for anything under their rating. If you got the 15A version, that's at the limit, but if you got the 30 or 45A contacts, you're well within their limits.
Part of the problem I think some of those having melted PPs are seeing is the very thick wires going into the shells are not allowing the contacts to float inside them, and so they can't make flat parallel contact with the other end. They're forced to some angled contact, so only an edge or even a point is making contact, and the resistance is very high, so they get hot, and melt the shells. As soon as that starts happening, the amount of contact (if any) is a wild guess that probably changes with temperature.
My understanding is that putting a switch in this wire will allow shutting down the controller. Is this correct?
Yes.
Would the smallest spst toggle switch from Radio Shack be sufficient?
Yes. I doubt there is more than a quarter amp on that wire, worst case.
I will be putting a 30 amp spade fuse, in an Anderson inline fuse holder.
If you are sure that you don't want to ever pull more than the 25A controller limit for any length of time, 30A or less would be good. The idea is to fuse just above what your max allowable current should be, so that if it goes above that for any appreciable time it blows and saves your system.
If it's a FET short or motor short causing FET overcurrent, the fuse won't blow in time to save anything inside the controller anyway, so that doesnt' matter, but if it's a wiring short between controller and battery, for instance, or the short inside the controller, it'll save the battery and the wiring between fuse and battery.
Fuse ought to go as close to the battery as possible, so that any shorts to frame or elsewhere would be beyond the fuse.
This fuse holder setup actually fuses both the positive, and negative lines from the battery. Any pros/cons to running them both?
So there are two separate fuses? Theoretically, a short on either line would still blow just one fuse, so there's not really a need for two. But if your battery could theoretically get shorted to the frame at some place other than pack ends (mid-pack, for instance), having a fuse at each end could prevent a lengthy short between that mid-pack point and either end. Without a fuse on each end, the mid-pack short to the unfused end would go unchecked until something else burned thru.
CA suggests a switch after the fuse, to cut off power to the CA. Would a 20 amp, 125 volt, 3/4 hp, spst switch be sufficient, as long as I don't switch it while the motor is running?
Is that 20A at AC or DC? Need to be sure you rate it at DC, at the DC voltage you're using. The current rating ought to be higher than the max current you're going to be pulling thru the switch.
How about just unplugging the Anderson connector? Seems like it works pretty nicely. Would it be up to repeated connecting/disconnecting?
THey're made for lots of cycles, and are cheap enough to replace when you do wear one out. I disconnect/reconnect my PP and MP andersons for charging each time, so that's a minimum of one cycle per day. I also disconnect my 12V system's PPs at each stop on a trip, as I have no switch on that system, and don't want someone to accidentally turn on one of my lights and leave it on, killing the 12V battery. (I should put in a switch but time hasn't permitted).
With the little switch to the controller turned off, would there be any arcing when I plug things up.
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Probably, but you may not notice it.
