Powerpole connectors - RC-Monster Forums

Megazone23 · **Powerpole connectors -** 02.27.2005, 02:36 AM

Has anyone used these? I was just reading an article about these in this month's issue of RC Driver, and I'm thinking about switching over to them.

I know a lot of people swear by Dean's connectors, but the article mentioned three things that really struck a chord with me:
1) You don't have to solder the connections (which for me is a good thing), and if done right, the crimped connections can be better than a soldered connection.
2) Once completed, the connectors are shielded by the housing. The connections (crimped or soldered) don't require shrink wrap for shielding, and since there aren't any exposed terminals, there's no chance of shorting anything by accident.
3) You can hook up the plug housing in different configurations so you can use these connectors for the batteries, ESC, motors, etc. without accidentally hooking up something where it shouldn't be, such as plugging the battery to the motor controller side of the ESC.

Any thoughts?

gixxer · 02.27.2005, 02:57 AM

the problem with powerpole connectors is that they are only rated for up to 30amps. so they would be fine if you are still running the titans but if you are going brushless they will not be good enough.

Megazone23 · 01:56 PM

According to the article, the standard housing that most RC modelers use can accommodate couplers rated for 15A (16-20 gauge), 30A, (12-16 gauge) and 45A (10-14 gauge). They also said that the coupler should be chosen based on the wire gauge and that the resistance of the contacts is 100 micro-ohms, or roughly equivalent to that of 0.6 inches of 12-gauge wire.

I also looked online and found that you can get housings in the standard Powerpole line that handle up to 180A.
Anderson Power - Standard Powerpole Family

So for brushless, here are the new questions:
1) What gauge wiring do you use?
2) How many amps should be accommodated?

In case you haven't guessed, I'm very interested in these connectors. :) The other nice thing about them is that if the housing needs to be replaced, you can actually remove the contact and just put it in another housing without having to replace the contact itself. Of course, that's assuming that the reason the housing needs to be replaced is not because the contact is rated too low for the application.

gixxer · 02.27.2005, 02:11 PM

never seen those bigger ones before. when most people refer to powerpole connectors (sermos) they are referring to the 30amp ones since they are sold at most hobby shops. as for wire i would go with 12gauge.

Megazone23 · 02:34 PM

So what kind of amperage should you expect from a brushless setup? I have an E-Maxx and would probably get a Warrior 9918 with a Feigao 9L.

Also, in another article about the HV-Maxx Brushless system, the author said he mounted the Duratrax Powerpoles on it and didn't have any problems. I understand that the Novak systems are considered quite a bit milder than what people on this forum typically run, but is it really that big of a difference?

I did look to see what the performance characteristics were for AWG 12 gauge wire, and it said that max amps for chassis wiring is 41A and for power transmission is 9.3A. Based on this, I think it would be safe to say that going with the 45A PP connector would be safe.

What do you think?

RC-Monster Mike · 02.27.2005, 06:54 PM

Personally, I use the dean's connectors. I have used the powerpoles without any issues, but I simply like the dean's better. I think the Dean's are rated for over 50 amps of current. I also use 12 guage wire for all my connections. Some of the bigger controllers actually have double 12 guage wire (120+ amp controllers). The Novak system is nice and all, but it won't pull the kind of power most of the setups on this board will pull.

Megazone23 · 02.27.2005, 07:46 PM

So what kind of amp draw would the Warrior 9918 / Feigao 9L system pull? Would the 45A connectors be sufficient? If so, I'd be inclined to go with the Powerpoles -- their design seems to be easier to connect/disconnect, and I like the fact that the pos and neg terminals can be separated.

RC-Monster Mike · 02.27.2005, 07:49 PM

The 45 amp power poles will likely be fine. If you are averaging more than 45 amps with 3300s, you would have barely 4 minutes of runtime.

Megazone23 · 02.28.2005, 02:16 AM

Maybe it might better for me to just bite the bullet and start working on my soldering skills.

I have a 40W soldering iron, is that sufficient for doing this type of work? If not, what would you recommend?

RCcarnut · 02.28.2005, 06:43 AM

A 40 watt is fine for deans plugs. They are tricky at first but after you get it down you can solder one on in less than 5 minutes easy. You need 4 sets of hands to do it is the problem lol. I use 2 plastic clothes pins attached to a 6"x12" piece of wood with coathanger wires. You will need something to hold the deans while you solder it and that's what the clothespins are for. You can buy things that works as extra hands but I have tried those and I like my homeade setup better.

For soldering batteries I use a 60 watt weller with a chisel tip , I had problems using a 40 watts on batteries. I had to hold the iron on the battery too long to get it hot and this made the whole battery dangerously hot. A 40 watt is actually better for deans though. My 60 watt melts the plastic housing, on the deans, really fast if I am not careful.

Soldering definately takes practice to do right but once you get it down it's simple.

Good luck

starscream · 04.26.2005, 09:38 PM

I've been using the Power pole (sermos) connectors for a few years now on all my emaxxes. The only problem is that I've fried a few packs conneting in series because I boneheaded my connections. You must be smarter than the batteries :rolleyes:
I run my maxcim N32 on my revo with 18-20 GP cells.
I get 30 minute run times on the gp3700's and 20 min's on the 2200's. It's nice not having to make funky serial connections like you would with deans.