Best Connectors?

[forescott]

The hair dryer takes forever. Its not hot enough to work effectively. Home depot sells a micro torch in the tool corral that works awesome!

[Snowride]

Use these and you will have no problems. No shrink needed. Just solder and snap in. Easy to remove and re-use too. HK has em for a couple of bucks a pair. EC-5 connector

I agree. This connector seems to be the best way to go since it cannot be hooked up incorrectly and no need for shrink unless you really want to get fussy. As for shrink wrap method, the best and correct way is to use a standard heat gun.

[danielplace1962]

These inexpensive heat guns are perfect and will shrink the wrap tighter and more controllable.

$12.99

http://www.harborfreight.com/1500-wa...112-96289.html

[Krowbar69]

Thats the heat gun i have, and it works great!

[electric]

The heat gun looks like the way to go. I am using a butanne lighter, because the guy at the hobby store did it that way, and it work fine, but does leave some black residue. Works in a pinch though.

[BHChieftain]

Thanks! Haha, yeah I'm just starting to really get into this hobby. I've had my SV27 for a while now, but never really worked on it or changed anything. I would pull it out of the water, drain my NiMH batteries and the inside of my boat, and go for another run. Ahaha, I've learnt that that isn't a very good way of running it.

So on the ESC side it would just be opposite, correct? Red wire would be male, and black would be female.

It actually depends on how you want to wire up your batteries. The way I have it set up is

Battery: Female-Positive, Male-Negative
ESC-to-Battery: Male-Positive, Female-Negative
ESC-to-Motor: does not matter

By rigging the battery and ESC this way, you won't need any harness to run two packs in series-- just connect battery1 positive to ESC, battery 1 negative to battery 2 positive, then battery 2 negative to ESC.

HOWEVER-- it is very easy to inadvertently wire both batteries directly to each other for a massive short which is very dangerous... so you must pay attention when hooking them up. A foolproof way is to make the very first connection from one battery to the ESC-- then there is no way to short it out... (don't make the first connection one battery to the other battery.......)

Also, when you store or transport the batteries, you should wrap a piece of electrical tape to the connectors to insulate them so they won't accidentally touch each other and short.

Chief

[Shooter]

Use these and you will have no problems. No shrink needed. Just solder and snap in. Easy to remove and re-use too. HK has em for a couple of bucks a pair. EC-5 connector

If you have the room, EC-5's are a no-brainer! Excellent connectors. Not sure why everyone isn't using them...perhaps the cost.

[Snowride]

If you have the room, EC-5's are a no-brainer! Excellent connectors. Not sure why everyone isn't using them...perhaps the cost.

Can't be the cost unless you think $1.29 a pair is expensive. They put together a little differently than standard bullets as both the + and - wires from the battery get the female plugs. Here is a cool video showing how to solder them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qXKSghfWSQ

[forescott]

They are expensive here in the u.s. Around 5-6 bucks a pair. I always order half a dozen or so from HK when I order lipos. @ $1.29/pair.

[Rottenbelly]

Oh and I'm gonna order that soldering station I mentioned in my first post. It looks cool and I think it'll come in handy in the future.

Thanks for all the helpful tips Chief!

I was gonna say dont skimp on the soldering iron.
I thought i sucked at it.
Turns out i just needed a good setup. I have a Hakko 936, which is similar to the checkpoint station.
It makes it sooooo much easier. Even when soldiering heavy gage wires and big bullet connectors.

[domp444]

I agree. This connector seems to be the best way to go since it cannot be hooked up incorrectly and no need for shrink unless you really want to get fussy. As for shrink wrap method, the best and correct way is to use a standard heat gun.

These inexpensive heat guns are perfect and will shrink the wrap tighter and more controllable.

$12.99

http://www.harborfreight.com/1500-wa...112-96289.html

Thanks, that heat gun looks good enough. I'll try and get it, since I don't think there's a harbor freight anywhere around.

If you have the room, EC-5's are a no-brainer! Excellent connectors. Not sure why everyone isn't using them...perhaps the cost.

Alright, so it seems everyone is pushing me towards the EC5 connectors. I wish I knew when I ordered some lipos from HK last Monday. They seem to be out of stock though.

I did find these...

http://cgi.ebay.com/1-Pair-EC5-Bullet-Connectors-Plugs-Male-Female-Losi-/230489909169?pt=Radio_Control_Parts_Accessories&hash=item35aa44e7b1#ht_500wt_1156

[domp444]

I was gonna say dont skimp on the soldering iron.
I thought i sucked at it.
Turns out i just needed a good setup. I have a Hakko 936, which is similar to the checkpoint station.
It makes it sooooo much easier. Even when soldiering heavy gage wires and big bullet connectors.

Yeah the station should help a lot, it hold the wires and all the different plugs.

[BHChieftain]

If you have the room, EC-5's are a no-brainer! Excellent connectors. Not sure why everyone isn't using them...perhaps the cost.

After shorting out a 2 x 2S pack, I think I must agree.... but I have all my boats wired with 6mm bullets and have literally "burned" the wiring order into my brain so I probably won't switch over...

If I was developing a new fleet the EC-5 would be the way to go. Also safer for kids getting into the hobby.

Chief

[domp444]

After shorting out a 2 x 2S pack, I think I must agree.... but I have all my boats wired with 6mm bullets and have literally "burned" the wiring order into my brain so I probably won't switch over...

If I was developing a new fleet the EC-5 would be the way to go. Also safer for kids getting into the hobby.

Chief

Well my only boat right now is the SV27, and I'll have a Pursuit soon, so it's better making the switch now than later. All this stuff is confusing me! Ahaha.

I'm jotting down notes on some post its and it seems to be helping. I think I'm gonna go with the EC5 connectors.

[oscarel]

These inexpensive heat guns are perfect and will shrink the wrap tighter and more controllable.

$12.99

http://www.harborfreight.com/1500-wa...112-96289.html

And if you use coupon code 55004931 it comes down to $7.99. Coupon is good till 11/14