Can anderson power poles handle MMM & A123 current flow??

[robr]

Hi Joe,

I am very satisfied with my MMM 2200 KV combo in my E-maxx. Run it with 6S2P A123 packs.

The only thing i do not like are the 6,5 mm bullet connectors.

I find them not ideal for the following reasons:
1. I do not have a good solution to sufficiently insulate the connections. When you connect male & female the heat shrink leaves a small stripe open between male/female part which I don't want. Possible sparking with each other or on metal parts
2. to disconnect it takes a little strenght = not so smooth. That affects the heat shrink on the connectors after a while also (comes loose)
3. they spark when connecting, which leaves marks on connectors
4. you can accidentely exchange minus and plus cables...

I was looking for other options which can handle the MMM currents.
The anderson power poles seem a nice option.

But can they handle the MMM current flows?? And if yes which size??
Are there other options??

Rob

[Joe Ford]

Hi Joe,

I am very satisfied with my MMM 2200 KV combo in my E-maxx. Run it with 6S2P A123 packs.

The only thing i do not like are the 6,5 mm bullet connectors.

I find them not ideal for the following reasons:
1. I do not have a good solution to sufficiently insulate the connections. When you connect male & female the heat shrink leaves a small stripe open between male/female part which I don't want. Possible sparking with each other or on metal parts
2. to disconnect it takes a little strenght = not so smooth. That affects the heat shrink on the connectors after a while also (comes loose)
3. they spark when connecting, which leaves marks on connectors
4. you can accidentely exchange minus and plus cables...

I was looking for other options which can handle the MMM currents.
The anderson power poles seem a nice option.

But can they handle the MMM current flows?? And if yes which size??
Are there other options??

Rob

Rob,

Hope you don't take this as "talking down". Not meant that way, although it's going to sound that way...there are several different sizes of Anderson Power Pole connectors. They have some that are made for 70-75A, but they're rather bulky (the ones in the same size ballpark as the Deans Ultra/Traxxas connectors are good for only 40A or so). No matter what connector you use your ESC should ALWAYS spark when plugging in your battery. The spark is your friend. That's the capacitors on the ESC charging up. If ever you do NOT see the spark, DO NOT RUN THE VEHICLE! Send the ESC in. Since you state you can mix up the + and -, I assume you have a v2 or v3 that went out with 6.5mm gold connectors on the battery and motor side of the ESC. If that is the case, you should not be plugging and unplugging directly from the + and - on the ESC anyways. There were wires included that had male 6.5mm gold plugs, use them and put a Deans Ultra male connector on the battery side wires. If you've got 6.5mm gold plugs connected to the battery that is VERY VERY dangerous as the only way you could have it wired and have it work with the ESC is by having two male connectors attached to the battery. If they touch each other, or the same piece of metal, they're going to dead short! This can cause a fire, or at the VERY least a LOT of smoke that STINKS. Also, constant plugging and unplugging of these connectors will eventually pull the female connector right out of the circuit board (and you'll be charged $80 if that happens). The little gap in between the male and female is fine...every one of my vehicles has this and I have never had an issue...and I have a "few" vehicles. ;) If you really don't want the gap, after you've verified your motor is turning in the proper direction, put another piece of shrink over the little gap...then no more gap. ;) Totally not needed though.

[robr]

Hi Joe thanks for reply,

Useful info on the sparking. Good to know that's normal and useful as a indicator.

No worries about dangerous situations here....;)
I am way too scared about the fact that the plus and minus of the batterie maybe could make contact. These batteries are powerful!! Therefore my worries about the shrink tube and the little gap... :o

My setup:
I have V3 of the MMM that came with no connectors on the red and black wire. On those MMM wires I put two male bullets.

The wires to the motor are connected with the 6,5 mm bullets and plugged into the ESC. I never touched them again after mounting the setup

The plugging and unplugging only finds place with the two wires from the MMM that go to the batteries!

I thought of using the anderson poles on that connection. I looked at Deans also but I thought they could not handle the current flow from the batteries to the MMM.

How much current flows maximal through one wire to the MMM?

My battery wires have female bullets. And I have a two Y-connections to connect the two batteries in parallel.

On the beginning of each Y lead there are two male bullet connectors to plug into the female connectors of the batteries and on the end of each Y-lead one female bullet connector that plugs into the male MMM connectors.

whether batteries are out of the car or in parallel connected into the car there is always a female end which has no danger of welding things together :)

I will make a picture of my setup to put it here.

Maybe this info is useful for the RCtech forum also?

By the way. I'm from Holland, what do you mean exactly by "talking down"? :)

Rob

[robr]

little bump...:O)

[markv]

"Talking down" essentially meant telling you things you already knew or should know and is often considered offensive even when it is meant to be helpful. In cases like this is definitely is not meant to be offensive.

As for the connectors, I don't think powerpoles are going to cut it with the currents you are likely to pull. I use powerpoles in most of my RC planes and smaller cars. On my 1/8 scale conversion and 40 size plane conversions I use Astro Zero Loss connectors. They aren't perfect, but they are very good and easy to use. The zero loss part of the name comes from the fact that they have the same resistance as 13 gauge wire so any current 13 gauge can handle these connectors can handle.

For reference purposes, I am running a 5s 4900 battery on a MMM with a Neu 1515/1y all bolted to a Losi 8ight-T. I use Astro Zero Loss connectors between the battery and the ESC with the Castle 6.5mm bullets used to plug into the ESC and Kontronic bullets from the motor to the ESC since I standardized on Kontronic over a decade ago. This setup handles the current fine and I have seen bursts as high as 170 amps. They were very short bursts.

[Joe Ford]

There are multiple sizes of the power poles...some over 200A continuous, but HUGE connectors. The 75A version will work, but not the 40A version.

[markv]

I see Anderson powerpoles in all sorts of applications. Our server room has large powerpoles that are bigger than a couple of my fingers put together and they are used for the redundant power in the room. Obviously these are not very good for anything smaller than large scale RC. I didn't want to confuse the issue since most RC stores, online or otherwise, only carry the 40 amp versions. Though I have even seen my electric lawnmower uses anderson powerpoles for the safety switch.

Here is more information than anyone ever asked for (Go to the source):
http://www.andersonpower.com/products/

[Jason - maxamps]

I actually run 6mm bullets on my 1/8 th scale packs and my Monster ESC's. Positive leads on the packs have the females on them with the negative leads the male bullets. I have the leads cut to different lengths and then the leads on the esc are also off set to match up. That keeps any thing from possibly hitting and shorting out. It's a simple and very affective set-up. I no longer have Deans melting off heat shrink because they were getting so hot and my wires are all cool to the touch as are my packs after a 20 minutes race. If set up correctly and safely bullet connectors are great for high current set ups. Now if some one would make a 6.5mm bullet type plug with a nice housing around it that was made for high amp 1/8th scale cars we'd have it made. Cough, cough, cough, get on that Joe!! LOL

Jason