Need Advice Managing Castle 8mm Bulletts

[properchopper]

My P-Monos have been using 5.5's between motor & speedy. Everything runs reasonably cool except the motor-to-speedy 5.5 connectors. They've gotten hot enough to de-solder and with a bunch of P-Mono & one 4.5 min. Offshore race coming up I decided to go to 8mm Castles. Mark told me they're hard to connect together & disconnect. HOLY GAZOOMBA's !! Mating them took every ounce of strength my poor little fingers could muster (and then some ). I exhausted my entire vocabulary of obscenities and magic chants () getting them to mate and now I'm dreading trying to, if it ever comes up, getting them to release. I can just picture muscling them apart with all the grip I have, then POP, they realease and I'm holding a motor wire in one hand that I just ripped off the motor .

Any Ideas ? Magic incantations ?

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[Doby]

Pliers on each side...I have to do that with some stubborn 6mm's every now and then.

[MarkF]

After you connect them (better if you do this before soldering) take some pliers and twist them back and forth untill they get a little loser. This takes awhile to do but is better than crimping the male plug to make it looser. You know Tony your plugs between the controller and motor see less amps than the plugs between the battery and controller so it sounds like you have some bad solder joints or technique in the way your doing it. Also cheap solder doesn't help matters either.

Mark

[RaceMechaniX]

Tony,

Prior to soldering I sand mine with 600 grit and fit the plugs so they are snug but not impossible to pull apart.

TG

[properchopper]

After you connect them (better if you do this before soldering) take some pliers and twist them back and forth untill they get a little loser. This takes awhile to do but is better than crimping the male plug to make it looser. You know Tony your plugs between the controller and motor see less amps than the plugs between the battery and controller so it sounds like you have some bad solder joints or technique in the way your doing it. Also cheap solder doesn't help matters either.

Mark

I wish I had thought of the twisting thing before soldering. Makes sense. Actually I've never had the battery-to-controller joints de-solder. I'm using decent electronics store 60/40 solder 'tho I remember our conversation regarding this. I thought I bought 60/38/2 but it was 60/40. Will test this week. LMK what your schedule is.

[properchopper]

Tony,

Prior to soldering I sand mine with 600 grit and fit the plugs so they are snug but not impossible to pull apart.

TG

Thanks Tyler. In hindsight I wish I thought this out better . At least the super-tight fit should conduct well with less heat.

[Darin Jordan]

Thanks Tyler. In hindsight I wish I thought this out better . At least the super-tight fit should conduct well with less heat.

I wet-sand mine with 600 as well, AFTER I solder, to remove any flux and residue that might have been left behind.

[properchopper]

I wet-sand mine with 600 as well, AFTER I solder, to remove any flux and residue that might have been left behind.

If I ever get them apart, I'll give that a try. Thanks Darin.

[graill]

Sanding to fit is one thing i do also, but using connectors that big unless you are using suitable cable is overkill, you have other issues heating your connectors up. That said, People tend to shy away from electrical lubricants because they have little real knowledge of how they should be employed, education is your friend.

Any good dielectric compound, and no, dont get your head all unwrapped at the word dielectric, educate yourself before commenting folks. The product i use Dow corning DC4 (i also use loctite dielectric compounds) works great for hi amp to medium amp applications provides lube and moisture seal, used sparingly as directed not globbed on. for those monster hooks, 8mm to 12mm, use wet or dry 1600 and try to take as little of the plate off as needed,m used the lube on one side, usually the male, this would look like a dry application, meaning you do not leave deposits in any gaps, if you have then you applied to much. Once done use a nearly dry alchy cloth or carb cleaner cloth and wipe clean anything on the outside, the pieces will slide apart with some effort, but not to the point of you putting hammer through your boats hull.

[properchopper]

Sanding to fit is one thing i do also, but using connectors that big unless you are using suitable cable is overkill, you have other issues heating your connectors up. That said, People tend to shy away from electrical lubricants because they have little real knowledge of how they should be employed, education is your friend.

Any good dielectric compound, and no, dont get your head all unwrapped at the word dielectric, educate yourself before commenting folks. The product i use Dow corning DC4 (i also use loctite dielectric compounds) works great for hi amp to medium amp applications provides lube and moisture seal, used sparingly as directed not globbed on. for those monster hooks, 8mm to 12mm, use wet or dry 1600 and try to take as little of the plate off as needed,m used the lube on one side, usually the male, this would look like a dry application, meaning you do not leave deposits in any gaps, if you have then you applied to much. Once done use a nearly dry alchy cloth or carb cleaner cloth and wipe clean anything on the outside, the pieces will slide apart with some effort, but not to the point of you putting hammer through your boats hull.

Thanks Bro One boat has the CC 240 double wire thing ; the other is just a T-180. I'll be testing to see what difference the 8's make & post soon. I'm not gonna mess with pulling them apart for now.

[sundog]

Conductive grease (like what you use to connect aluminum house wiring to copper counterparts) is a good idea. Sanding the conductive gold plating is not. Twisting good, squeezing with pliers, not. 8mm good, 5.5mm not - IMHO. It's about time you made that change Tony. Welcome aboard. I suspect the only reason they cost what they do is the gold wash or plating on them. Truth be known, they only cost a few cents to manufacture. But are the best available. Akin to standing seam roofing - no reason it should cost more for materials, other than it does a better job at keepin the water out!

[m4a1usr]

Whoa! Slow down on any talk of sanding or changing the contact surface finish or surface contact contour. That is the absolute worse direction one could go. 8mm bullets are big boy territory but all this rehtoric about "making it easy" takes away from the very nature of what they offer. Thats minimal resistance due to maximizing surface contact area. Theres a reason they are hard to insert and pull apart.

Only someone new to 8mm bullets could comment about the difficulty. There is a reason they are hard to push together and pull apart. Get with it. Realize what they are. What they do. What they offer. You want easy connectors, get 3mm babies. Go big. Play big.

John

[Doug Smock]

They are supposed to sound like a tuning fork when you pull them apart fellas.

Growl a bit while you pull Tony. LOL

D.

[Make-a-Wake]

Heck, i've peeled back heat shrink trying to get mine apart at times..............they are a B*&@% !

[properchopper]

They are supposed to sound like a tuning fork when you pull them apart fellas.

Growl a bit while you pull Tony. LOL

D.

Doug, I tried pulling one apart. I held my breath & bore down hard.The sound was kind of growl-like only it came from deep down between the rear pockets of my trousers Good thing I just purchased some new laundry soap