5.5mm barrel male to xt60 male cable suggestions sought

Hello,

I want to charge an ebike battery in a battery bag but I need a flexible replacement connector cable from the battery to the charger. I use a 5.5mm barrel male to xt60 male cable to connect a 36V Luna battery pack to the Luna charger. However the barrel end is very poor quality, mine broke recently, and the stiff heat shrink puts extra stress on the barrel end when I put battery and charger in the battery bag.

I've found some possible replacement cables but I am not an electrician and I don't know what to look for in terms of the thickness/grade of wire that would safely carry the 7A current. Can you advise if any of the following might be suitable as replacement flexible cables?

Amazon
Hobby King
Ebay

Thank you very much for your help.

I really wonder if any barrel is rated to handle 7 amps. Does it get warm or hot? I've had barrels get hot enough to unsolder themselves on laptops. Not a great choice for this application.

Alan B said:

I really wonder if any barrel is rated to handle 7 amps. Does it get warm or hot?

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I've not noticed the barrel heating up, but it makes a spark when it's plugged in. The charger gets warm in the bag. I have a 2A charger if you think this is a fools errand.

A quick google says a good quality 2 or 2.5mm x 5.5mm barrel connector is rated for 5A (lower quality versions can be less). Intermittent use at 7A is pushing it, but you'll probably get away with it.

Of the ones you listed I'd go for the ebay one, followed by the amazon one. the Hobbyking one looks to have significantly thinner wire. The outer diameter of the wire is only a rough guide as to the size of the conductor inside (some wire just has thick insulation, making it chunky) but it's a better guide than none.

I would check though if your battery can handle a 7A charge if it originally came with a lower-rated charger?

There appears to be 2mm and 2.1mm center pins/contacts in play within 5.5mm barrel connector family. Normally not a huge deal but if pushing the current limits (most barrels were never intended for more than a couple Amps) it may create high resistance and that could lead to more problems.

Is there a way to totally get rid of the barrel connector? I would use a pigtail wire coming out of the pack with a XT60 on the end.

fechter said:

Is there a way to totally get rid of the barrel connector? I would use a pigtail wire coming out of the pack with a XT60 on the end.

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Good question, I don't know but it seems a generic bottle pack that plugs into this cradle.

Unfortunately it looks like you'd have to do surgery on the battery itself to replace the barrel socket.

OK, looks like it would be better to just get a high quality plug and not mess with the pack. I've had good luck with the Switchcraft ones, but you need to solder the wires in the plug. I've also used ones from wall warts where I just cut off the plug and a length of wire and splice the wire. Sometimes a good wall wart with the right plug is as cheap as just a connector.

Here's a selection of plugs that are rated for 5 amps or more:

http://www.mouser.com/Power/DC-Power-Connectors/_/N-6g7moZscv7?P=1z0wxfcZ1z0vlpqZ1z0x8ggZ1z0x8gl&Keyword=DC+Power+Connectors&FS=True