Can I replace my charging connectors with crimp on bullets?

C

ClintBX

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Hi ESFMs,

Every so often, I get a flakey charge connector where I end up having to position the cable in just the right way AND make sure it doesn't get bumped while it's charging.

Right now I have this flakey XRL connector but I've had this problem with coaxials and RCA.

Both my soldering skills and my patience are poor. So, I was thinking, can I simplify by just having bullet connectors that I crimp on? Like that, if one flakes, I can just replace it without pulling out the soldering iron and hope that I did a good job.

Can this work? Is it safe?

Clinton
 
E-HP said:
Should be fine as long as you don’t mix up the polarities.
Click to expand...
Yeah. That's the danger - accidentally mixing up polarities.

That's why I use XT-90 anti-spark. You can get XT90 and XT60 connectors pre-wired. That way you don't have to rely on your soldering skills. Just use a crimp connector to connect to your old wiring.
 
wturber said:
E-HP said:
Should be fine as long as you don’t mix up the polarities.
Click to expand...
Yeah. That's the danger - accidentally mixing up polarities.

That's why I use XT-90 anti-spark. You can get XT90 and XT60 connectors pre-wired. That way you don't have to rely on your soldering skills. Just use a crimp connector to connect to your old wiring.
Click to expand...

Fair point. I can just get some tails. In fact, I just chopped off my XLR connector from a charger that recently died to adapt it to another charger that had a coaxial connector.

I'm not a fan of XT60/90 connector. I find that they get stiff and can be annoying to unplug.

As for the risk of mixing up the poles, I have a trick I use for my discharge connectors. I have one wire with a male connector and the other with the female connector so like that it's impossible to accidentally plug the wrong ones in.
 
I have liked andersons for many connectors, but particularly for charger plugs. The housing of the andersons prevents a lot of bending movement at the contact, and I have never, in 11 years of ebiking, had an Anderson plug fray strand by strand leaving you with bad contact, if not the wire disconnected entirely. So I like andersons for plugs you plug and unplug over and over a lot.

I've definitely swapped polarity, and killed chargers. So put the plug on, and then check again with voltmeter before use. :oops: Andersons can be set up in a pair, and after that you can't plug them in wrong. Just confirm polarity after you connect them. Make sure you don't put the red housing on the black wire I mean.
 
ClintBX said:
I'm not a fan of XT60/90 connector. I find that they get stiff and can be annoying to unplug.

As for the risk of mixing up the poles, I have a trick I use for my discharge connectors. I have one wire with a male connector and the other with the female connector so like that it's impossible to accidentally plug the wrong ones in.
Click to expand...

I use the XT90 as my main plug because I could get it with with an anti-spark feature and it can be oriented to source and load by using plug gender. I want both gender and polarity because my system is highly modular and I like to avoid problems up front as much is practical. I don't have problems with them getting stiff. But pick any plug you want so long as the connection has foolproof polarity - as your reversed gender approach would.
 
dogman dan said:
I have liked andersons for many connectors, but particularly for charger plugs. The housing of the andersons prevents a lot of bending movement at the contact, and I have never, in 11 years of ebiking, had an Anderson plug fray strand by strand leaving you with bad contact, if not the wire disconnected entirely. So I like andersons for plugs you plug and unplug over and over a lot.

I've definitely swapped polarity, and killed chargers. So put the plug on, and then check again with voltmeter before use. :oops: Andersons can be set up in a pair, and after that you can't plug them in wrong. Just confirm polarity after you connect them. Make sure you don't put the red housing on the black wire I mean.
Click to expand...

I assume your talking about the smaller power poles and not the big bulky ones that have the pair within one casing.

For charging needs, this could fine. For discharge connectors, I've had them pitting on me and the contact plates no longer meeting. I've always found Anderson power poles to be ambiguous. When they start failing, you can't see for sure where or how they fail because of the casing. And on some occasions, I've had the plastic connectors fuse together. But I guess there's no chance of that for charging purposes.
 
Did you mean: XLR connector?
I use NL4 connectors whose chassis connector is the same size as a female XLR chassis connector.
It has four connections that wipe on and off and I've yet to have a failure in the 8 years I've been exclusively using them for battery charge/discharge connections, limited to max 30A controllers.
The chassis connector uses crimped 0.163 QC connections and the cable connector uses screw-tightened capture types that are supposedly able to take 10awg cable, but I use dual 12awg instead (easier)
notice: no soldering needed.
 
ddk said:
Did you mean: XLR connector?
I use NL4 connectors whose chassis connector is the same size as a female XLR chassis connector.
It has four connections that wipe on and off and I've yet to have a failure in the 8 years I've been exclusively using them for battery charge/discharge connections, limited to max 30A controllers.
The chassis connector uses crimped 0.163 QC connections and the cable connector uses screw-tightened capture types that are supposedly able to take 10awg cable, but I use dual 12awg instead (easier)
notice: no soldering needed.
Click to expand...

Is this the connector your talking about? Charge AND discharge you say?
 

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yer google-foo is strong, grasshopper
china speakon f side.jpg
https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=41572&start=100 is where I tested all the fakes, or other manufacturers I could find at the time. Only one failed (and it wasn't the cheapest) Failed one disappeared from the planet...

I don't use BMS in my battery packs (for reasons) so the discharge connector is also the 'bulk' charge connection.
...however, I've changed all my power connections to NL4F so everything's somewhat compatible (not really) but mainly because it's near impossible to plug a connection wrong way in/out, unlike most connectors where one can temporarily force things the wrong way (bang and light show free of charge)
 
ClintBX said:
dogman dan said:
I have liked andersons for many connectors, but particularly for charger plugs. The housing of the andersons prevents a lot of bending movement at the contact, and I have never, in 11 years of ebiking, had an Anderson plug fray strand by strand leaving you with bad contact, if not the wire disconnected entirely. So I like andersons for plugs you plug and unplug over and over a lot.

I've definitely swapped polarity, and killed chargers. So put the plug on, and then check again with voltmeter before use. :oops: Andersons can be set up in a pair, and after that you can't plug them in wrong. Just confirm polarity after you connect them. Make sure you don't put the red housing on the black wire I mean.
Click to expand...

I assume your talking about the smaller power poles and not the big bulky ones that have the pair within one casing.

For charging needs, this could fine. For discharge connectors, I've had them pitting on me and the contact plates no longer meeting. I've always found Anderson power poles to be ambiguous. When they start failing, you can't see for sure where or how they fail because of the casing. And on some occasions, I've had the plastic connectors fuse together. But I guess there's no chance of that for charging purposes.
Click to expand...

I like Anderson powerpoles from 75G and up. Genuine Andersons connectors and housings, important because there is a lot of Chinese copies on the market. Here is the real one, note the shape and embossed marks:

image.png
 
The genuine Anderson's have contacts made from silver-plated copper, with the pressure coming from a stainless steel leaf spring.

The clones are often found to be zinc-plated aluminum, and the leaf springs rust...
 
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