Gold connectors

[Dave Towell]

What size and what type????

2mm - 2.5mm - 3mm - DEAN - etc, and which way round?

+/- batteries lead MALE or FEMALE connector?

And is it better to permanently fix motor to speed controller?

These may be simple questions but for someone new to electric flying they are all things you need to know and others may take as normal.

Any help would be appreciated.

[Tim Mackey]

Size depends on likely current taken - I use 2.mm gold up to around 30 Amp, and 4 mm after that.

Type - its up to you and your wallet. GOOD genuine deans are pretty expensive, but do have the advantage of being polarised, and perhaps somewhat neater. Heavy though for really small lightweight foamies. 

Polarity ?  Well again people have their preferences, but I use male on the battery positive, and female on the errr...negative The important thing is to standardise on YOUR chosen system, then at least connection to chargers and so on will be little easier.

FWIW if I was to be starting out again, I would probably use Deans. However with all the gear I have got, changing now would cost me an estimated £50 - £60 in connectors alone

Permanently connecting the motor to ESC is an option I use on several models. 

[Dave Towell]

Thanks.  at lest I've some were to start from. last thing i want is the thing frying its self, especilly in flight.

[martyn sharp]

Hi Dave I use Deans on all my conections so much easier IMHO and safer for me and its usefull when seting  up batterys together

Martyn 

[Dave Towell]

Just mentioned about the male / female issue to my wife. Her response was:-

"Oh I suppose its that way round because "us" women are negative about your flying or something!!!"

well I'll never forget that. so that way round it is then!

Thanks guys.

[birdy]

I use deans connecters, since you can't get the wrong polarity, and I would be very impresses if you accidentally shorted them. You can "hard wire" the motor, but if it is rotating the wrong way you are stuck!

[Myron Beaumont]

Apparently there are cheap "melting "types of deans --Beware ! Who is Dean anyway & what's so special about his connections ? Perhaps he's a politician =Mostly negative & a bit of positivity but so far apart ( maybe even poles apart )

[birdy]

Yes, you have to beware of cheap deans connectors; some melt when you try and do the soldering, and others just don't fit together. I had to buy some, and in my trainer it is really hard (to the extent I have to carefully use some pliers sometimes!) to push them together!

[Andrew Clarke 3]

sounds like gold connectors win then,as long as you are careful you will have no probs with them and they do stay together i have seen some dodgy connectors on some park fliers[wires pulling straight out of the connector and such]

[birdy]

I do not concur. I think deans are best, as long as you buy the genuinine thing.

[Myron Beaumont]

Birdy     " genuinine " ?  How can you tell without finding out the hard /expensive way  Me-I use 4mm  golds for everything & I have made it possible to fit my wattmeter in my motor home to read off " whats"going on all the time - Fascinating .Made up wiring harnesses for most electrical gear I possess ( thanks again Timbo -PLEASE stop putting ideas in my stree-ssed  out head)

  PS  I am now officially retired  don't you know !

[birdy]

Because the "genuine" ones cost alot more!

[Piper Cub]

Does anyone know what size the gold 'male' connectors are for Turnigy motors and where 'female' connectors can be bought from?

Ta.

[Bruce Richards]

These motors normally come with both male and female they are pluged together on the motor.

[Piper Cub]

This one didnt. Just has the male connectors on the motor leads. If poss, I dont want to cut them off and replace or solder direct to the ESC.

[Bruce Richards]

Are you sure the males are not plugged into the females?

If you do want to take them off then do not cut them, unsolder them. If you cut them off it can be difficult to tin the wire for re-soldering. There are many places to buy bullet connectors from Ebay to any of the electric flight specialists some of whom advertise on this web site

Usually the bullets are 3.5 mm but on larger motors they are 4.0mm

[Derek]

Be carefull using cheap copies of gold connectoors especially on high power set ups, the final connection which gives a hefty spark(unless you have a diode fitted)can melt these cheapies, my personel preferance are gold connectors as i find that a clean connection is nigh impossible with deans, once again as i use 50 volt packs this can confuse the ESC, having said that one of my wiring harnesses has deans but they are the first to be connected then the 5.5mm gold after touching the diode first, clean spark free connection every time.

The more modern ESC's i believe are fitted with an anti spark device?

[david Osborne]

That's interesting about the diode to prevent sparks. Please expand and give some more detail.

 I have always thought it a bit of a hazard those sparks on connecting to the ESC. The power flows to charge the capacitors on the ESC I would assume, therefore the bigger the power set up and ESC, the bigger the capacitors hence bigger sparks. I am no electrical / electronics expert but surely the ESC manufactures could come up with a low voltage circuit / switch to prevent this occuring on connection for the larger power set ups as with some of the smaller versions?

Also, while on the subject, is there any chance of the manufacturers marketing some polarised connectors like the EC3 items but with bigger (4 or 5mm) gold pins for higher power applications? and again, why do we have to resort to car battery isolator switches if we want to fit a switch. These are heavy and bulky. Obviously they need to carry the current and voltage so they cannot be too small but surely there could be a place for a version designed for aeromodelling so that fitting and space requirements are better catered for? In this day and age of H&S surely there is a market for any of these items that would increase safety within the hobby.

[Frank Skilbeck]

I've seen an article somewhere where on large ESC set up's the power is first connected via bypass which has a reistor in it, this charges up the capacitors more slowly, no spark, and then you make the main connection bupassing the resistor.

If you want an arming switch, some people use a deans plug in line with the second plug just shorted out and then plugged in to make the circuit live.

I use the deans copies from Hobby King and they've been very good, but you need a large soldering iron (50w min) and also it's best to connect the two halves together when soldering the wires on.

[Tim Mackey]

I am about to start fitting resistors as shown below in my larger power setups to prevent the sparking.

The required value is somewhere around 400 Ohm for a 6 or 8s lipo.

Ron V S linked to a good site somewhere about this.... but you will need to search for it via his posts, as I forget now.

[Tim Mackey]

heres the link ( I am too good to you guys! )antispark

[Myron Beaumont]

What a good idea    Why didnt I think of it ?  So obvious really

[Myron Beaumont]

PS  Just thought    Couldnt you just connect the main lead using a " hand held " resistor & then very quickly connect up "properly " as it takes a while for the capacitors to discharge ?

[david Osborne]

I really like the resistor idea, great. However, this shows that there is a relatively simple fix so why couldn't the ESC manufacturers build that resistor into the esc with a switch? With the switch in the "connect" position, then the power passes through the resistor to the capacitors. Switching to "power" would then take the resistor out of the circuit and almost instantly connect the main power circuit. I suppose it would be quite a chuncky switch but maybe it could be done with some elecytronic trickery? Perhaps we then come back to the "electric modeller's" version of the battery isolator I mentioned earlier. Perhaps a 3 position version. "off - capacitor charge- on" you could even make it rotary and be able to go from on to off so that you just repeat the cycle.

I had thought of using a deans as an isolator but this does not get around the fact that they have an amp rating close to the levels used for larger setups (60 to 80 amps I believe) (power needs to be considered also as this is where the heat comes from), hence my point about the larger polarised connector requirement, and you do not eliminate the spark.

[Piper Cub]

Bruce Richards wrote (see)

Are you sure the males are not plugged into the females?

If you do want to take them off then do not cut them, unsolder them. If you cut them off it can be difficult to tin the wire for re-soldering. There are many places to buy bullet connectors from Ebay to any of the electric flight specialists some of whom advertise on this web site

Usually the bullets are 3.5 mm but on larger motors they are 4.0mm

Oops! How embarassing. Yes, the 'female' connector was on the male connector but it was such a seamless joint I thought it was only the male one!