Questions from a newbie...

[Chop]

A lot of veteran boaters might not want to be bothered paging through thread after thread of these questions asking about some very basic stuff. But I for one do not know a single person in the area the does FE boats. I have gained an immense amount of information from you generous people that contribute here. As smart as I feel, I know that most of you have forgotten more than I know.

I would like to see a generic place for us new FE boaters to post stupid questions, you know, things like “Which slot does the rudder get plugged into, #1 or #2?” I know that I could be inundated with reprimands such as “There is no such thing as a dumb question!” and I agree. I also have come to realize that “Dumb questions are easier to fix that dumb mistakes (cheaper too).” I for one, will use this as a place to post ongoing questions and not start a new thread each time.

Maybe we could post the question in this thread, in bold or underlined text, to make it stand out, or in the subject line of the response. Any ideas?

Let me go first:
How in the world do you solder the heavy gauge wire on a 4s lipo pack to those tiny posts on a Deans connector?

I recently purchased an Elite 4s 30c 4500mah lipo pack and the wire looks to be at least 10 gauge or even 8 gauge. Those fine wires seem to dissapate the heat quiclky.
Chop

[SJFE]

First flip that connector over so the polarity is correct. What are you soldering with? If it's under 80 watts I hope you have some time on your hands. Now that you have run to Radio Shack and bought a hot iron or 150 watt gun your ready. Tin both wires and terminals. Don't attempt to solder the positive wire to the inside of that terminal. Just use the out side. You have to be quick here so you dont melt the plastic. Get every thing setup so your wire is stable and close to the terminal. Heat the wire up then place it on the terminal. While that wires still hot heat the terminal and it should quickly weld up. Remember be sure the end of your iron or gun's tip is clean and tinned. Haveing a good connection for heat transfer is the key. Oh yeah do forget to have your heat shrink slid as far away from the heat as possible. It will be hard to get it over the soldered ends.
The easy way to get around this is to convert to 5.5 bullets. It's a little spendy but worth it.

[Chop]

I have some 4mm bullets, but since this is new to me I have not established anything as my standard. I’m not in a hurry so I can add those to an order to Steven or pick them up at the LHS. At 10 pairs for $19.50 I can afford the investment, if I have to pay for the batteries, I can find a way to pay the extra to do the connections right.

Thanks. (got to look into something better than my 80w soldering iron too!).

[SJFE]

I use a 150/250 watt 2 stage gun. It was like 30 bucks @ RS. Works great . Go with the 5.5's you wont be sorry. Polorize them by always using a female plug for positive and male for negative. You will never short a battery out. .

[10gauge]

SJFE has the right protocol. A 4S/30C/4500 LiPo can supply up to 135A++. That's why the leads are 8-10ga. Deans connectors are good up to only 60A. Convert all your high power connections to 5.5mm or 6.0mm Gold Connectors they are rated at 150A and 200A respectively. Furthermore, you'll have less electrical resistance with a 5.5 mm connector.

Make a chart or schematic diagram of your motor, NiMH or LiPo packs, ESC, Data Logger, etc. Decide on which type of connector, i.e. Male or Female, will go to the motors, batteries, ESCs, etc. Be consistent. Laminate this chart on your work area so that any time you buy a new part, you can standardize it to your existing equipment for compatibility. This will allow you the luxury of swapping parts from one boat to another. I can swap a different XL motors, Neu motors, and decide to change a 120A ESC for a 240A ESC very easily. For battery terminals I polarize the connectors buy choosing Male for the (+) and Female for the (-) terminals. This is an extra precaution for not hooking shorting out a part in hasty situations.

Here is a schematic of how I've setup my system with Male and female 5.5 Gold Connectors:

BL Motor (3M) ---- (3F) ESC (+)(F) ---- (M)(+) Battery
(-)(M) ---- (F)(-)

[10gauge]

The posting altered my spacing - the last line reflects the ESC/battery connection:
ESC (-)(M) ---- (F)(-) Battery

[Chop]

I expect it will be easier to hook up the Hydra 240 with the bigger bullets too.

[calcagno45]

Thats some good info. I didnt think about using the 5.5mm connectors instead of deans. And good choice to use a male and female on the battery, instead of 2 females. Eliminate the risk.

[10gauge]

SJFE, I didn't see that we were saying essentially the same thing about polarizing connectors... I should have refreshed my screen to see before posting my response. Sorry.

[SJFE]

Sok man no worries

[Diegoboy]

At the top of the screen, there is a link "tips & Info"
There is a wealth of info there including this video...

I hope it helps out!

[Doug Smock]

150w iron, nothing like rabbit hunting with a AK47. LOL

Fellas 5mm connectors can be soldered to #10 wire all day long with a 40w iron. Most pencil irons I've seen come with different size tips. The key to solder jobs that require more heat, is to use the larger tips. (more mass = more heat)

Doug

[Mich. Maniac]

150w iron, nothing like rabbit hunting with a AK47.

[Eyekandyboats]

i use a 80 Watt some times and on occasion i find it heats up to fast.
using 8G wire and 5.5 and 6mm BULLETS

[SJFE]

Depends on the equipment I bet. 80 watts may not always be 80 watts.