Got it Running!! Cursed Anderson connectors..

Finally. Went for a short test ride right before dark here. Everything works except had to pedal back because of those flippin Anderson connectors.

I never had so much crap trying to crimp the connectors. You can get the wire secure, but then the crimped area has to be square & even for the terminal to fit into the plastic housing.

I probably spent 5-10 minutes per connector, after I ruined 3 of the terminals. Thank God I bought a bag of 25..

Then the d---m things don't stay connected to each other. I scotch taped one, and when I hit a bump another one in the battery box came loose.

ANYWAY - everything works, cycleanalyst, motor, controller.

Surprised my wife when it took off, completely noiseless.

It pulls the hills on both sides of our house fairly easily. Had the toolbox bungee-d to my rack with the battery loose inside, didn't want to go too far.

I'm in business !!

thats cool

sounds like you got some dud andersons, mine clamp together with such force i risk stripping my skin off when i go to disconnect!.

nothing like the surprise of someone who thinks its "just a bicycle", especially when you're running high voltage!

Congrats on the first voyage !

Andersons work very well when done right, i can strip,crimp,install housings on a pair under 2 minutes. I have not yet had one fail.

What crimp tool do you have on hand ?

I solder them because when you crimp them they don't fit in the housing properly anymore and then it's impossible to fully insert the inner bit in the housing...grr..

Hi

Good news on your ride, where did you get your Anderson connectors from? there are a load of Chinese copies on the Market that are really poor ( a lot of the Point-1 packs had them on).

I used to solder them but you don't need to, buy a decent crimping tool and they slide in the housings and hold the wire perfectly, I can strip and fit one in seconds, I buy them in packs of a 100 from here.

http://www.powerwerx.com

I use these crimps, they are nice and cheap and do a great job.




Another tip is make sure you get the little dowel pins as well, if you have 2 wires to pairs to connect (i.e. battery to controller) then slide the housing together and fit the dowel pin in-between the 2 of them, this makes them connect together so much better than having them on their own.

They only dont go in to the housing if you over crimp or fit too small a gauge wire, this causes the body of the crimp to skew off centre making it hard to get in, make sure your cable is a nice snug fit, if you are using smaller cable then it is wiser to solder.

Also its a good idea to put a little bit of Vaseline inside the contact housing as they will spark erode over time.

I only use the little 30A ones, I regularly pull 40A through them with no problems.

Good luck with the bike

Knoxie

I found that sometimes the body of the connector pin gets bent when you crimp them, causing them to not fit properly in the housing. You can bend them back, or just solder them and forget about crimping.

We'll wait for a more complete test ride and report!
You might have the most powerful ebike in all of Korea!

Congradulations on the maiden run!

I share your frustration with Anderson's. They seem to be well loved by many, but they are still an aluminum connector, and even when crimped and assembled correctly, I find them to be a pain.

Unfortunatly, the only real alternitive in wide use is Deans. Electricly, its a much better, lower resistance conection, and its much easier to see and feel if you have a good conection or not, But its an open, unsheilded design on one side, and it involves solder only, with no provision for crimping.

I use both right now, but I prefer Deans. I've never had a Deans fail. I've never had one get hot, I've tested my wireing with Deans installed and found lower resistance, But I've also had the batteries at 74 volts decide to arc across the plug as I was hooking them up with Deans. Its not a perfect solution.

I have the same GS type crimper Knoxie has and I believe I bought the contacts from Powerwerx.

How about a step by step with pictures of how to crimp the connectors? And what they should look like when finished?. I tried the rear crimp to start the tabs going down, and followed up with the front one. I consider myself somehwat detailed but Lord that was difficult.


Yeah bud, I think I have the only electric bike in this area, never seen one here.

Would have been more enthusiatic but getting over a cold. That was like the Phoenix on Star Trek's first contact.

Glad it's finally running.

Crimping the Anderson's with standard crimpers is an art that takes a little practice.

http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=359&start=0

cursed search feature.. had to browse thru 14 pages in the technical forum lol... 8)

http://www.prc68.com/I/PowerPole.shtml

this link i found quite useful when i first used the andersons - i only use the 30a ones too like paul and i have had no issues at all yet, they crimp really well (and i have the western radio crimps which are supposed to be poor).
i did have a few issues with the 45a ones but they dont have the round body like the 30a ones,these leave me a great crimp practically squishing the strands into a nice tight block,solid.


cheers


D

I crimp my andersons using an aftermarket crimper like Knoxies, and while most held, some connectors eventually stripped off and left bare wire ends. Now I ALSO get a little solder in there - a 100w iron to the back of the spoon, rest the solder wire against the base of the connector, and it quickly wicks up enough solder to fill the gaps in the barrel; I quickly use the crimping tool to suck the heat out of the wire. If the iron is hot, this is an extra 20 seconds, and I haven't had one of these come loose... yet.

-JD

Thanks Deecanio..

The link opened up a question I had, it states the finger of the plier type crimp presses on the solid side of the contact (not the split side).

I was positioning the finger across the split, trying to press both at the same rate. Maybe that's why I had so much trouble.

DK

hey DK,

glad that it helped - it showed me that i had the first couple upside down too.


cheers


D

I use one of these on my powerpoles. Butane Soldering iron

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062753&cp=&sr=1&origkw=soldering+iron&kw=soldering+iron&parentPage=search

I also daub a lot of flux paste on them. No problems.

I also have some problems with Anderson power poles.

Some things i have done; made little mini bungie cords (out of good rubberbands and plastic bottle cap) to hold the seperating connectors together,

For roll pins-I use appropriately sized tines from plastic forks; I dont like small metal roll pins around my battery stuff.

Dick

deardancer3 said:

I also have some problems with Anderson power poles.

Some things i have done; made little mini bungie cords (out of good rubberbands and plastic bottle cap) to hold the seperating connectors together,

For roll pins-I use appropriately sized tines from plastic forks; I dont like small metal roll pins around my battery stuff.

Dick

Click to expand...

BRILLIANT!!! Dude, the bottle cap bungie cord thingy is very clever indeed.

xyster said:

Glad it's finally running.

Crimping the Anderson's with standard crimpers is an art that takes a little practice.

Click to expand...

It's an art that I've mastered! After my first failed attempt, I searched online to see what they are supposed to look like(And the $50 tool you're supposed to buy to make them) and I eventually found a method to achieve the same basic shape while ensuring the wire is solidly secured. It's pretty easy now though it does take a little time(about 5 minutes or so for a pair.).

Anderson Connectors -
Sorry if somebody's already mentioned this, but I've found that if you hold down the spring in the connector body with some small needle-nose pliers, it's a whole lot easier to get the connector to push through and 'snap' all the way in. A whole lot easier.

I've had good luck crimping Andersons with a standard crimper...the secret is to place a small nail in the groove of the crimp and push down on the nail with the standard crimper, which will "roll" the groove edges inward as desired. A little more general forming with the crimper and it is ready to snap into the plastic body.
I saw a video somewhere of this technique and it really works...

Here is a visual of the nail tip for crimping them with regular crimpers...

http://wh7da.wordpress.com/2007/12/24/crimping-anderson-power-pole-connectors/