problem with anderson connectors? can't get them to click!

[RVD]

This is kind of an odd problem. I have watched a bunch of youtube videos and read instructions on how to crimp and set up anderson connectors.

i bought a crimp (tricrimp) and 45a anderson powerpoles.

i am trying to set up these connectors on my turnigy 6s 5000mah lipo packs. I cut off the 4mm bullets that it came with and installed the metal thing and crimped it. I am pretty sure that I crimped it correctly but when I try to put the metal part into the plastic housing, it doesn't actually click and make it to the end. The wire is 10awg and it looks like it's a tight fit. I thought maybe there was too much of the wire covering so I cut out some more of the outer sheath but that didn't help. In any case, when I try to push the wire into the plastic housing, the metal part almost makes it to the end of the groove where it should click but it doesn't quite make it there. I thought maybe I screwed up on the crimp so I cut it off and crimped another one but same problem. It's almost as if there's a small section in the metal part that is prohibiting it from going all the way to click.

Has anyone had this problem before? Wow, talk about frustrating...I thought this would be easy.

 

[amberwolf]

Sometimes it's just that the tip is misaligned and doesnt' feed thru the housing correctly. If it's perfectly flat relative to the housing, and right side up, but still won't go all the way thru, try pushing with a flatblade screwdriver (for the small ones, I use a jewelry type), with the blade pushing on the rear edge of the crimped tube of the contact.

If it still won't go, perhaps the crimp is not tight enough, or the wire in the crimp is too large for that contact size, and so the contact's tube is catching on the housing and preventing it from going thru.

 

[RVD]

ok after struggling with it for awhile, i ended up just re-crimping again and it seems to be ok now (it clicked into place). i'm just afraid that i might have messed something up by crimping again to make it tighter but it seems ok. i'll test it out some more tomorrow.

thanks.

 

[Alan B]

There is not a lot of room in there, make sure the crimping is done right, and the whole tube is crimped and the tip is straight. Some crimpers don't get it quite right.

 

[Philistine]

If you can spare $40 for the proper crimper it makes the world of difference in getting a proper crimp. When I used to crimp without the crimper I often would get bad fits, and then you wouldn't get the click. Its worth getting the crimper in my opinion if you are going to do a decent number of crimps, just to save wasted andersons which are not cheap.

 

[dogman dan]

With 10 guage wire, it can be hard to crimp it small enough to fit all the way in a 45 amp housing. I often cut off a few strands to get a tighter crimp.

You also need the right tweak down on the tip of the contact, if it goes in all the way, but won't catch the spring. Sometimes a housing needs the spring tweaked up too.

Those andersons work fantastic on 12 guage wire and under, but they are iffy on 10 guage in the 45 amp housing.

 

[FMB42]

Another crimping "technique" to consider is to continue to squeeze down on the tool for a good 15-25 seconds before releasing it. This can help reduce the "memory effect" that tends to "open" the crimp up after the crimping process.

 

[Philistine]

For 10 Guage (also for very small guage) I find it helpful to use a thin probe (I use a very fine allen key) to probe the blade into the housing until it clicks. I think Andersons even make a special tool for this, but that is ridiculous, any thin metal poking impliment will do.

 

[Ykick]

1st make sure the contact is not bent upwards in such a way that it can't grab the metal spring inside the connector and then use a small sharp pointed tool to push the contact all the way into the housing. And yes, 10ga can be iffy...

 

[Ypedal]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJTMKSuVI3U


[youtube]UJTMKSuVI3U[/youtube]

 

[Alan B]

Just a note that there are clone PowerPole connectors that may not work as well as the real deal.

 

[icecube57]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJTMKSuVI3U


[youtube]UJTMKSuVI3U[/youtube]

I like how Ypedal just whips out his youtube links....and it shuts down the whole thread lol... whats that... no one else has anything to say... thats what I thought... lol

 

[Ypedal]

if a picture is worth a 1000 words.. what's a video worth ? lol..

 

[Joe Perez]

if a picture is worth a 1000 words.. what's a video worth ? lol..

Value = duration of video (in seconds) x average framerate (in FPS) x 1000.

Pretty basic maths, really.

 

[StudEbiker]

Okay, I'm having a different problem, but while I have all the experts looking at a thread, I'll go ahead and ask. Is there some kind of system you guys use to make all your red/black Anderson connections go the same way?? The problem that I have is that I have several things that I like to interchange and have put Andersons on the ends of, but inevitably, one of the Andersons will be upside down (backwards?), so I end up having to slide one set of Andersons apart and reverse them so they will correctly mate to whatever I'm trying to connect to at the moment. I know there must be some simple way to keep it straight so that they will always match, but I haven't found it yet.

 

[Ypedal]

I stuck a reference pair of andersons to my workbench.. anytime i crimp new one's i make them to match my ref pair.. ! :wink:

 

[StudEbiker]

That's awesome!! Thank you! So simple.

 

[DT98]

I crimped my first anderson connectors tonight...the 45 amp connector using the "official?" tri-crimp tool and I got all the equipment from powerwerx so I assume they are the real deal.

I was surprised that the connectors are so easy to pull apart after you connect two of them together. I guess I'll wait and see how well they work after I power this project up.

 

[Ypedal]

when you slide 2 blocks together, there is a hole between them, jam something in there and they will not slide apart ( you can get the purpose built " roll pin " but anything the right size works fine.. )

 

[Alan B]

Okay, I'm having a different problem, but while I have all the experts looking at a thread, I'll go ahead and ask. Is there some kind of system you guys use to make all your red/black Anderson connections go the same way?? The problem that I have is that I have several things that I like to interchange and have put Andersons on the ends of, but inevitably, one of the Andersons will be upside down (backwards?), so I end up having to slide one set of Andersons apart and reverse them so they will correctly mate to whatever I'm trying to connect to at the moment. I know there must be some simple way to keep it straight so that they will always match, but I haven't found it yet.

I keep one pre-assembled glued together plug in my parts kit. Use it to mate every one to when I make it so they're all compatible.

 

[Alan B]

I crimped my first anderson connectors tonight...the 45 amp connector using the "official?" tri-crimp tool and I got all the equipment from powerwerx so I assume they are the real deal.

I was surprised that the connectors are so easy to pull apart after you connect two of them together. I guess I'll wait and see how well they work after I power this project up.

I use a drop of cyanoacrylate (krazy glue) between the red/black pair to lock the dovetails for one connector.

To make two connectors stay plugged a small hookup wire threaded through both holes and twisted works well. Or use SB50's they hold a lot stronger.

The metal roll pins are a bad idea, they work out and fall into the electronics or plug strips and sometimes make a plasma event. Steer clear of the roll pins.

The tri-crimp tool is a knock off of the West Mountain Radio crimp tool which is a knockoff of the Anderson crimp tool. Perhaps the tri-crimp knockoff has lost something. I have the WMR tool and it works pretty well, but it does work better if the pins are inserted a bit less than all the way so the end of the tube gets crimped, otherwise they sometimes don't snap in easily.

 

[Ykick]

I crimped my first anderson connectors tonight...the 45 amp connector using the "official?" tri-crimp tool and I got all the equipment from powerwerx so I assume they are the real deal.

I was surprised that the connectors are so easy to pull apart after you connect two of them together. I guess I'll wait and see how well they work after I power this project up.

It's good to be cautious and qualify things carefully. Particularly using any connector for Lipo brick series/parallel assemblies.

'just made a powerwerx order today and kicking myself forgetting some of these:


So easy to geek out with these things - here's one 'drilled a small hole for string to keep it handy for frequent connection:

And here's something I do with small tie wraps for very infrequent connections:


I'm sure ES could have an interesting thread of Anderson artwork - parallel blocks can get kinda fun, creative and unique.

The shape of the metal contact has something to do with how well it clips together so make sure it's reasonably straight when viewed from the side before sliding and seating into the housing.

 

[Xrain]

Why don't people soldier Andersons when they don't have a good crimper?

Just use a pen torch, and heat-shrink it well afterwards.


Also I found a good How-To guide on Anderson's site.
http://www.andersonpower.com/products/use.html

 

[bigisland]

What would be the best conectors to use with solder?
I want some seperate ones to go to lipo's
and some twin connectors for main battery cable? `

 

[auraslip]

I've said it way to many times, but andersons are horrible. Expensive, hard to properly crimp, prone to problems you might not notice until the housing melts, and have a very high resistance.

I can solder 6 bullets in the time it takes to crimp 2 andersons. And the 6 bullets cost less than the two andersons. Also the 6 bullets in series would probably have less resistance than the 2 andersons. Don't overestimate how much resistance can sap your power! Stock 14 or 16 gauge wire with andersons has near a 50w loss of power compared to 8 gauge wire and bullets.

About the only reason I can see for Andersons popularity in the ebike sphere is that they are fool proof, which means less returns for retailers.
Bullets are less user friendly once installed, but can made relatively fool proof too.