Battery Connectors
 

I have been running Deans plugs on all my batteries for a while now. But I heard they are only rated for 60 or 70amps and I want to upgrade to something than can handle higher amps. I have some 5.5mm bullet plugs good for 150 amps and some 6.5mm rated for 200 amps. My question is how should I attached them as far as polarization? Females on the battery for both + and - and just be careful when hooking up the batteries, or male on the - and female on the +, or what? Any suggestions or anybody use bullets on there batteries and can share there experiences? I plan on making a non-conducting plug/cover for the ends to protect the connectors/batteries when on in use. Thanks.

I would be default put the females on the batteries. If nothing else, at least the positive wire should be female.

Only problem with bullets is I would be worried about accidentally shorting them against each other or something else. They dont seem very protected to me. Also depending on how you install them the possibility of accidentally hooking them up backwards. Take a look at the new Losi plugs. They are 5mm bullets with a nice plastic housing around them. I think they are called the EC5 connectors.

But seriously... I havent run accross a problem with deans and have no plans to change.


EDIT: These... http://www.impaktrc.com/product_info...oducts_id=3272

I ordered my self a bunch of ec5 connectors. They should be here in a couple of days. I can't wait to give them a try. Just need my MMM, soldering iron, bec and connectors to all show up.

Let us know how they work out for you.

The only thing I hate about the Deans is the difficulty in soldering a 10 ga wire to them :whip:.

That was my issue with the deans too.

Just after posting that last comment my EC5 connectors showed up and so did my Monster max :yipi: (MMM was sent about 2 weeks ago).

Now I just need my bec and soldering iron to turn up but I can do without. I have a CC Bec and 3 other soldering irons I can use.

My CC Bec currently has a deans plug soldered to the end of it. I am thinking that it might be a good idea to keep it on there. I might split 2 wires off the MMM battery leads and solder a deans plug to them so switching out the bec will be easier.

Edit: I just noticed that the bottom of one of the packs of connectors wasn't sealed properly so all the bullets are missing. Darn losi's shoddy packaging materials.

Yeah those Losi EC5 plugs look pretty good. I ordered a set and will try them out. Thanks for the info.

Anyone know what the EC5's are rated for?

What ever 5.5mm or 5mm plugs are rated for. I can't work out if these are 5 or 5.5mm. Anyone know how they are measured?

I.D. of the female I believe.

I personally really want to try out the EC5 connectors. My hobby shop stocks the EC3s but obviously those aren't sufficient.. My LHS is lame in the fact that they offer almost nothing for cars but all of the crappy horizon RTR stuff.

If I can find a good price on the EC5s though I'll pick up some for my 8ight.

most of the boat guys run 5.5s they claim the same thing about the amp rating of the Deans, I have pushed twice that many amps through a Deans abd never had a problem. I do agree that soldering 10 awg wire would be easier to a 5.5

I have been running deans for years, used them in some real powerful setups. From brushed stadium trucks to my lehner 2250 powered MGM esc'ed twinforce. They have never failed me, never wore one out either. I have pulled 124 amps at 6s lipo and no failure to deliver power, I'll stick with them till i know i need better.

We have to remember that even if our setups pull ~200A, it's only for a brief time. The average is MUCH less. Of course, the least amount of resistance is better, but unless you find the minimal voltage drop at really high current to be unacceptable, Deans are fine.

However, I do wish Deans would come out with a new set of plugs; something with a larger grip area and larger current capacity and still polarized/keyed. The regular Deans are good for smaller 10th scale cars/trucks for weight and size, but this is less of a concern in the larger 8th scale+ vehicles.

Yeah after I installed my MMM with it's big bullet plugs and updated my ESC to Motor plugs to 6.5mm bullets the Deans on my battery seemed a little small. Never really had any issue with the Deans, other than they are hard to get apart. But with so many expensive components involved (MMM, Neu motor, Neu Energy lipo batt, BEC, FASST rx, etc, ) I figured having better (amp rating) connectors couldn't hurt.

After running my truck last night with the ec5s, I like them. Heaps easier to plug and unplug. Once I get them on my eagle tree and make a charge lead so I can charge my pack back up I'll see how many amps I'm running through them, not that it will say anything but it will be interesting. They are really easy to solder too I think. You just have to be careful not to get solder in the grove the housing locks into.

It's just that I had an Eagle Tree system hooked up for some testing and I saw some big voltage spikes (160 amps) during my testing on the track. So it seemed to me if the motor is rated at 125 amps, the ESC can handle 150 amps and the battery can supply 100 amps constant it just seemed odd to have 75 amp plugs in the middle of all of this.

Remember, those are spikes that last milli-seconds. It's all about duty cycle. If you are pulling 160A for 100ms every 10 seconds (1%), and then 15A for the remaining 9.9s, that equates to 16.45A average. Most electronics/switches/etc have a burst duty cycle that they can run. As long as you stay within that range, all is well. Unfortunately, Deans do not publish that level of data so it's hard to tell, but they say their connectors have less resistance that equal length of wire, so you should be fine.

BrianG, thanks for the info and explanation. I feel better already. I already ordered a bunch of those Losi EC5 plugs, so I will replace the Deans on my batteries mostly for ease of use (getting the plugs apart).

U dah man

Does anyone have a photo of the insides of the EC5 connector? I have some Great Planes 4mm bullets which have a cutout that makes soldering SUPER easy...I was hoping the same was true about the EC5...

http://www.impaktrc.com/popup_image.php?pID=3272

Doesnt look like it has cut outs.

Just got a few of the Losi EC5 plugs today and I am liking them. I didn't realize how big they are, should be easy to pull apart and they look like they can handle plenty of amps. Here they are next to a male Deans Ultra plug.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...3/DSC04634.jpg

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...3/DSC04636.jpg

Rats, no cut outs...

"Cut outs"??

Oh yeah, somebody asked on another forum. The plugs are keyed (polarized) and can only be connected one way.

Sorry for posting without including a photo...have a look at this:

http://www2.gpmd.com/image/g/gpmm3114.jpg

You put the wire in the plug and you can solder right onto the wire. My problem with the other 4mm (and other size bullets) is that you stick the wire in then what? How do you get the solder in? It's a pain. Plus often if you tin the wire and the "hole" where you put the wire, it no longer fits.

Anyway soldering it up with these cut outs works like a champ and it results in awesome solder joints.

Using the kind with the cutouts is somewhat easier, and also allows for cleaner angled wire/connector setups (where the wire is soldered at an angle to the connector so the wire doesn't have to bend so much for certain setups).

However, using the regular kind is easy too if you do it right. Tin the "hole" about 1/4 to 1/3 full. Tin the wire. Use a vice or something to hold the plug in place. Then put the tinned wire into the hole as far as it will go. Apply the soldering iron. Once the wire and connector get hot enough, the wire will simply "sink" into the hole. Done.

What is the "little hole" on the side of most of the bullets without the cutout for?

I'm considering switching to those castle 6.5mm connectors but the difficulty in soldering them up has held me back.

i use it to add solder to the connector, but it allows you to run your connectors at a 90 degree angle

I solder the bullet plugs the same way Brian suggested and I think it's easier than soldering deans. As long as you've got melted solder and you push the wire into the hole you can't really go wrong.