Wiring/Connecting/Terminating Materials Thread.

[The Mighty Volt]

Where do you get your wires, connectors, heat-shrink etc?

Do you prefer spade-ends to Andersons, what gauge of wire do you use for different applications.

Do you prefer silicon-tinned to regular wire?

How do you rate an Anderson in comparison to the bigger, fully insulated spade-ends? Does masking tape do as good a job as heat-shrink? What sort of solder do you use?

I have to say, I developed a notion that the Anderson Connector, and the Powerpoles, were the main and preferred form of connector.

Then I read some opinion from LFP, he thinks they are poor quality.
I received a controller from Lyen, and I have to say i was HUGELY impressed by the big beefy spade end connectors, male and female. I think they look and feel superior the Andersons.

I am also hugely UNIMPRESSED by the price of the Andersons, and how fidgety and awkward they feel. Cheap, plastic feel, compared to the beefier spade ends.

Heat Shrink Butt-Connectors- Does anyone here have an opinion these. They look like this:-

I am guessing that the cheapo bullet connectors are not a huge hit around here. That said, there are different grades. I found the ones on my Ananda and Cammy_CC hubs to be really cheap and cheesy. I soon replaced them with an inexpensive variety which I found to be much less prone to jamming and self-damage.

I am looking for a good grade of flexible copper wire....I see this Ancor Marine stuff is highly thought of. Also a bit expensive. What do you guys recommend?

Thanks.

 

[texaspyro]

I am looking for a good grade of flexible copper wire....I see this Ancor Marine stuff is highly thought of. Also a bit expensive. What do you guys recommend?

I have tested quite a few brands of audio power cables (in the 8 to 0 gauge range). Beware that many (even from name brands) are not what they say. Some were plated aluminum. Others were some mystery metal that had 3 times the resistance of copper.

One brand that stood out as being very good and VERY flexible was the Scosche EFX Flux cable. Copperfield Excelene welding cable was also very good.

 

[The Mighty Volt]

Thanks Pyro. As ever- good advice!

Scosche appear to be very much the low-cost high-quality alternative- I remember you recommending their capacitors!

How do you find the Andersons! I remember thinking they were the only way....now I have to say that a good quality spade-end is as good as anything.

 

[nicobie]

I'm still a fan of the cheap fake Deans. On my next build I'm going to try the new ones from Hobby King. They probably won't work better than the Deans but neither the male or female sections have exposed metal. This should help reduce shorts when messing around with them.

I think Andersens are too big and too easy to screw up when installing. They are pricey too.

As usual, I think LFP got it right.

 

[The Mighty Volt]

I'm still a fan of the cheap fake Deans. On my next build I'm going to try the new ones from Hobby King. They probably won't work better than the Deans but neither the male or female sections have exposed metal. This should help reduce shorts when messing around with them.

I think Andersens are too big and too easy to screw up when installing. They are pricey too.

As usual, I think LFP got it right.

AGreed. I found them too expensive and not suitable for an inexperienced user.

What crimp do you use, Nicobie?

Thanks for your feedback!!

 

[texaspyro]

Scosche appear to be very much the low-cost high-quality alternative- I remember you recommending their capacitors!

How do you find the Andersons! I remember thinking they were the only way....now I have to say that a good quality spade-end is as good as anything.

Scosche has a reputation for being fairly expensive (but some of their stuff is in WalMart). Their cable costs about twice what the cheap stuff costs... and is well worth it.

I have never really used the Andersons. A LOT of people swear by them. Some swear at them. They are pretty much the only game in town for the higher current stuff. If they were all that problematic then they probably would not be as universal as they are.

Most of my stuff has (real) Deans' connectors on them, but I don't usually run sustained high power. One problem with Deans is if you have to replace a connector on the battery. It is WAY too easy to short out the battery while soldering. The heat shrink that they ship with them can be rather crappy... tends to develop holes when shrinking which makes it even more likely that you will short out the pack when soldering. You really should desolder the wires from the pack first... not something that you want to be doing a lot. Also there is no strain relief.

 

[thedarlington]

could you guys post links to a cheap source for these? i too was thinking insulated spades, a couple people here also like these
http://cgi.ebay.com/2-X-4-0-mm-Gold-24K-Connector-Plug-R-C-RC-Battery-/150485095685?pt=Radio_Control_Parts_Accessories&hash=item23099c5505
dont really see what the big advantage of anderson over cheapie spade connectors is especially if u gotta buy some $40 crimp tool just to use them, dont even think about losing that thing

 

[The Mighty Volt]

Wow...those connectors look pretty cheap already!

Where are you Darlington?

There is a UK seller on eBay who is selling that stuff, bullet connectors.

 

[texaspyro]

I found another wire that tested very well. It is LinkWorks by Metra. Their 10 gauge wire actually has a resistance several percent LOWER than what you would expect with pure copper 10 gauge.

This is rather surprising considering that their car audio capacitors (both Tsunami brand and particularly the InstallBay brand) are highly over-rated crapassators (most are 1/3 to 1/5 their rated capacitance).

 

[amberwolf]

Regardng the Anderson problems, I suspect at least a portion are caused by the stuff discussed in various posts in the linked section of this thread:
http://www.endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=262088#p262088

 

[icekreme1002]

I am new to the e-bike game and have yet to use andersons or even set up my ride. lol. But I to am put off by some of what I have read about andersons.

I use XT60 connectors on my RC cars and love em! I noticed hobbyking started stocking the XT150's.
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=12887

These might be another good alternative to andersons and clip together in a similar config. Should hopfully be very low resistance in such a large connector to.

 

[shawn_1976]

Let me know if you need anderson connector. I work at the place that supplies most of Canada.

 

[The Mighty Volt]

Let me know if you need anderson connector. I work at the place that supplies most of Canada.

What do you do? Rob them and sell them on?

 

[tjason]

Howdy,
I have been wiring Lobster pleasure boats (marine electrician) for 20 some odd years. These are the folks I get wire, connectors and circuit breakers from. Good folks.

http://order.waytekwire.com/CGI-BIN/LANSAWEB?WEBEVENT+L03221D5890E910009B92062+M50+ENG


Yup, they have Andersons too.
TJ

 

[tjason]

Well that's annoying. copy paste error.

http://www.Waytekwire.com

TJ

 

[The Mighty Volt]

Thanks for that TJASON.

What were Marine folk using as connectors back in the Pre-Anderson days???

 

[ebkr]

Here is my new post about wiring...http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=21121&p=307668#p307668

And here is some info about Wiring/Connecting/Terminating Materials for Torontonians: [pre][/pre] http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=20917

 

[The Mighty Volt]

Here is my new post about wiring...http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=21121&p=307668#p307668

And here is some info about Wiring/Connecting/Terminating Materials for Torontonians: [pre][/pre] http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=20917

Thanks- I appreciate that.

 

[thedarlington]

so what makes simple cheap bullet connectors worse than any of these? what about using cat5 for other smaller cables instead of those stereo connectors?

 

[ebkr]

Bullet connectors heat up a lot, often to the melting plastic point. I've seen many bikes with melted isolation on these type of connectors. We even have been instructed not to tie them together so they are left freely apart and don't melt each other. Don't know about others, but they seem to be of the same kind. What we use now is just bolting together two ring terminals and putting them sometimes in the plastic enclosure that does not melt and keeps all phase wires well isolated and spread apart all the time.

 

[ebkr]

For batteries Anderson is all time best.

 

[thedarlington]

would this work? its for audio but it looks way nicer than andersons http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=104&cp_id=10401&cs_id=1040115&p_id=2943&seq=1&format=2

 

[texaspyro]

Nope, that would be a short circuit just waiting to happen. Plus banana plugs are seldom rated for more than a few amps.

 

[amberwolf]

And I doubt it would wait very long.

I am now getting direct experience with the much smaller 30A Anderson Powerpoles, vs. the 50/60A Multipoles I'd been using. I most definitely prefer the Multipoles so far; though they are larger and bulkier they operate with no noticeable warming up, and do not have any problems with coming disconnected accidentally. The Powerpoles are getting notably warm even though I am only pulling 20A thru them at max, and typically half that or less.

 

[ebkr]

Besides, that whole story is nowhere about the beauty, but about the strong and reliable good contact. I can't sometimes even unplug my new andersons, so tightly they sit in each other. Nothing can beat andersons except perhaps the dead soldered or bolted wires