Bullet connectors with or without plastic casing?

[Timothy L]

I just finished building my first FE boat (a Seaducer34"). I used OSE 8mm anti/ spark connectors. However, I'm getting the impression that many folks just use 5.5mm or 8.0mm connectors with heat shrink but NOT with the bulky plastic casings. Shorts prevented by having battery leads a different length on the battery so the ends can never touch. Lots of FE pictures on the forum seem to NOT have plastic casings. Is that correct, or have I just got the wrong impression (dah!)? Thanks for any potential input.

[Panchothedog]

I don't use the plastic casings, just heat shrink on the back of the connector.
All of my boats run 4-5 or 6-s only. I've still screwed up a few times over the years and fried a few. Not interested in changing. To quote from your
post " BULKY ".

[NativePaul]

Personally I don't use plastic housings,as they are heavy, bulky and mean that you have to use an adapter to series packs together whereas without them you can just daisychain as many packs as you want with no extra wire or connectors, a gigged connector will be easier to plug and unplug too as you are doing them one at a time.

The plastic housings are safer as you can't accidentally plug a battery into itself (yes I've done it), and more convenient (if harder) as you connect both at the same time.

Cutting both leads to a different length is a non issue as any unconnected battery connector should be capped to prwvent shorts whether housings are used or not.

[Timothy L]

Paul and Pancho-the-dog -
Got it - Thank you for responding!