"Power Poles" Questions

[InitialVelocity]

I have some question regarding the "power pole" connectors.

1. I have heard that these have less resistance than soldering direct. Can this be true with (a) the best solder and (b) the best crimping method?

2. I have seen these being sold under a couple different names and manufacturers. (a) are they all the same? (b) Who has the cheapest? (c) which are the best?

3. What would be the best method of crimping the wire to the power poles?

Thanks in advance!

[PeTroL420]

I've never used Power Poles but I do know a little about them. These are highly effecient connectors that have close to the resistance of direct soldering but does have higher resistance. You don't crimp the wire to the connector, you have to solder it to get the best performance. If you can get your hands on Deans Ultra Plugs, I highly recommend those over the Power Poles because the Deans have LOWER resistance than a 1" piece of 12 gauge wire.

[tadium54]

I looked for the article that RCCA did a while ago concearning upgrading plugs, but I can't find it. I have used both deans and powerpoles. You won't be able to tell the diffrence between the 2. i think the diffrence is 0.0001 ohms or something. The deans can get warped during soldering, but you can fix that by putting the males and females together during soldering. Whichever you get will be better than tamiya plugs. Get whichever is cheaper. I would think that would be the powerpoles

[born2rc]

Well, to have less resistance than directly soldering (hardwiring) could not be true, because you have 4 solder joints instead of 2.

(phear the ansi diagram)

Hardwired: (= means wire) (* means solder joint)

[Battery]*========*[ESC]


Connectors:

[Battery]*====*[Connector]*====*[ESC]

more *'s = more resistance

[TEM]

Can we not turn this into a debate over resistance just yet. Lets answer the questions first....

Deans, powerpoles, R minus, direct soldering; no one can really tell the difference on the track. Most people don't even own equipment or know good ways of measuring resistance values of .00001 ohms! Benefits in Deans is that they don't come off as easily. Powerpoles can come off if you hit real hard! Tape them for the main! I still use them cause I still have a lot of them.

All the "powerpoles" from different brands are they same but they are rated by different current handling. ie, 25amp, 35amp, 75amp, etc, etc. I don't know who would have them cheapest, but they cost a couple bucks a set; plus or minus 30cents? Not worth the time searching for best prices.

It is difficult to get a 12gauge wire into a powerpole. You can do it, but you would need to slightly pry the contact tube open about .5mm to stick the wire in and then squeeze it back to size. Using a VERY HOT soldering iron, let the solder flow into the wire thats inside the contact. With a 14gauge wire it just slides in easily. Same idea, hot iron, let the solder flow in. Most people also could not tell the difference between 14gauge and 12gauge wires in racing. The ones that can are usually the result of bad wires or bad soldering. Too much of RC racing is religious!

Due to the fact that they are more difficult to install, I do not recommend powerpoles. I still use them cause I have lots. Not a popular commodity anymore. Go with the deans! They aren't that much more expensive.

[dalejrfan8]

I have deans and my only complaint is that they are sometimes hard to pull apart. From what I have heard deans are alot easier to solder and deans are much smaller than powerpoles. Either way both are better than tamiya plugs.

[TimisTim]

I always get a kick from people who say that deans are to hard to pull apart, geeeeez mabey your hands need the workout! :p (jk)

I read in a post the other day that a guy didnt want to run electric because it would take to much time to change the batteries!!! :eek:

Wait until he has to maintain his nitro!!!!! (what do you mean I have to tune it?) :rolleyes:

[Grizzbob]

As TEM said, let's not turn this into a Deans vs. Power Pole debate, let's just give the original poster the facts he needs to decide for himself... ;) That being said, both Deans & Power Poles(actually made by a company called Anderson, & ALL of the companies I know of that sell powerpoles under other names get 'em from Anderson) offer lower resistance than the WIRE they're soldered on, but they aren't really better than hard wiring for resistance, but there really is so little difference that it's not really worth mentioning. And as was said, crimping does not need to be done with powerpoles, & in truth would likely hurt performance(because soldering is most DEFINITELY a better connection than crimping). Also, while it's true that it is more difficult to use 12 AWG wirewith them, it still can be done(I do it all the time, using Deans Wet Noodle wire, just have to twist the wire after stripping the insulation as tight as you possibly can before GENTLY inserting it into the connector barrel). Just takes practice & patience. And about Deans being harder to unplug, some people actually like them better for that very reason(& I'll admit, I have had my powerpoles come unplugged on a few occaisions in serious collisions). And on that subject, I believe that's the BIGGEST reason why most sponsored drivers prefer to directly solder everything, it practically eliminates ANY chance of the connections coming undone in any crash(not to mention a tiny bit of weight savings on their cars, & believe me, they DO count every little gram of weight)..... :cool:

[Alun]

Hi,

I use deans plugs on my motors, powerpoles on my stick packs and corrallys (sp) on my saddle packs.

Im no demon on the track (B finals mainly) and must admit that the only difference Ive noticed between them is this

All better than crimping
All better than tamiya plugs
deans can be fiddly to solder


Ive noticed zero difference on a performance level, good or bad, even after putting plugs on my motors

All I'll say is try them all (spend more time than money) and stick with what you find easiest/best

[shadowghost1]

The reason I like Power poles is because I like how I can hear them snap in place. Every connector out there over time will become loose with usage but with PP's you can get that new connector feel by simple placing a small screw driver inside and bending the end up. RC Driver magazine (I believe March edition) has a three page review of Power poles.

[Cain]

I have run both the deans and powerpole connectors. Unless you feel your competition is such that direct soldering over these connectors is going to make the difference in winning, I would just use a connector.

As for which to choose, I use powerpoles exclusively for 1/10 scale racing. With powerpoles you can run the wire at the length you need, with deans, you have to run both wires to the connector. This can be excess wire in various cases. I like to have short connections as much as possible.

I also like the fact that powerpoles don't have an official male or female connector. You just buy them and use as needed.

Powerpoles also were easy to solder though 12 gauge wire can be more difficult to do. I usually just twist them in when I work with 12 gauge and it works great. Right now, 13 gauge seems to be my favorite wire to use with these. You can also open the connector a bit too.

As for them coming out in a hard crash, that is true, the connector doesn't hold as hard as a deans connector will. But, if your battery pack is flying out of your vehicle, I would rather it disconnect from the ESC before ripping that out as well.

I usually regulate the deans to 1/18th scale duty as I like how they solder for smaller wire. Of your deans are alittle tweaked, then can be alittle bit of work to get apart. Deans that don't have any damage however can come apart well. Another thing I did when starting out with the excess deans would use those as a connector for motor connections when I was changing motors frequently. Since they are smaller than powerpoles and both wires when to the same area anyway, they worked out well there. I direct solder now but if you prefer to get to your motors quickly and don't have access to a soldering iron all the time, its a good choice.

[b16crxturbo]

I vote for the Power Pole connectors, simply because they are MUCH cheaper and do not have a male/female. That aside, I don't really like that fitting the 12ga wires in them is kind of a pain.

The best place to purchase them that I know of is The Ham Stop. These connectors are used by Ham radio guys and are much cheaper through those sources than from hobby shops.

Here is the link, You can buy 25 pair of the 30amp for only 18.95, which if you ask me, is hell of a deal.

http://search.cartserver.com/search/search.cgi?cartid=s-3018&category=shop&keywords=power+pole&keywords_1=Anderson+Powerpole&keywords_2=Connectors&maxhits=10&go=Go

[guver]

Get the 45 amp ones for using 12 gage wire. The plastic is same, but the connector is bigger.