do I really need 5.5mm connectors

[lenny]

Just a FYI,
The 4mm plugs add more resistances to the setup than the 3.5 plugs do.
They Manufacturers are cutting corners to build cheap and that is why they use them.
Plus I do not think they care about it once they have your money.

[capnswanny]

Matey, here comes the famous motto ..... Burn and learn ......

lol....drwayne, forum whisperer

[TristanJones]

Matey, here comes the famous motto ..... Burn and learn ......

I was going to say it mate, but i thought I best leave it for you.

[jetnfast]

I've been happy with EC5's, highly reccomend them. I use them in my boats and EDF jet applications. The polarity of the connector themselves keeps things safe as well.

[J.W. Pepper]

Just a FYI,
The 4mm plugs add more resistances to the setup than the 3.5 plugs do.
They Manufacturers are cutting corners to build cheap and that is why they use them.
Plus I do not think they care about it once they have your money.

Hey Lenny,
I don't want to get into a long drawn out to do on this subject, but I think there's a bit of mis-information circulating on the net.

About 42 years ago I was in high school and took electronics classes, one of the first things we learned in the basics class was that electricity does not travel through wire, it travels over it. Ever notice that in high voltage / high current situations they use really large guage wire?? That's why.

Ever see a high end home stereo or one of those mega watt car stereos you can hear three blocks away?? They use this stuff called monster cable for the speakers, not the cheap puny stuff that came with the deck. I used monster cable when I installed my car stereo (it's not a 4-wheel boom box), I can jack the volume to almost full and the amp won't clip (aka: distortion).

Moving right along...
Everybody on this forum recommends 5.5mm bullets, why?? If I use the lessons learned all those years ago, then I would say it's because the larger surface area provides less resistance to the flow of electricity than smaller bullets. If that's true, then logically speaking 4mm bullets will create less resistance than 3.5mm bullets do. So I'm really curious why you say that 4mm create more resistance than 3.5's

As far Tristens claim that I'm going "burn 'n' learn"; believe it or not I've been at this R/C thing awhile. I've seen the vids on YouTube of peoples cars burning to the ground (mostly because of LiPo's, one of the reasons I stayed with NiMH so long), and heard / read all the other horror stories.

I do not have those issues because...
I use ESC's with a high enough current rating that there's plenty of overhead so it's not being pushed to it's limit all the time. One of several reasons why I've decided to follow Steve's advice and put at least a 120A ESC in my boat, if a good deal comes along on a 180, I'll go that route. Either option will yield plenty of overhead for a stock motor running on 4S.

I don't over gear my rigs in an effort to make them do un-reasonable speeds for the sake of doing a "hey look at me vid" for YouTube. I will not over prop my boat(s) either, I'm starting with an x440, smaller than stock, if all goes well, then I'll try a x442 and go from there.

I backed down the timing (less current draw = less heat) and keep an eye on temps with my trucks. Remember this thread??... http://forums.offshoreelectrics.com/...proboat-1800kv - you sent me the link, I promptly backed the timing down 11.25° on the Seaking 60A I was originally going to use, I will set the 120/180 there and happliy back it down more if needed.

I would really appreciate it if people would give me credit for having a brain. I don't know everything and never will, but I'm certainly not a moron either.

Peace

[Heaving Earth]

Whatever you use, just make sure you do a nice job soldering with a good hot iron.

[T.S.Davis]

You don't "need" 5.5's Especially for a spec/rtr boat. But you should want them as there is a performance gain.

About maybe 7? years ago Jay (Fluid) wrote an article for RCBM that compared the resistance of many common connectors. I don't think 5.5's were common then. He even went so far as to give examples describing the impact of that additional resistance. Don't remember the exact details but I never forgot the theory. More resistance = less speed. Holds true at any power level.

Since then we've also learned that the additional resistance increases ripple into the esc which "can" injure it. Less of a risk on low amp setups but still can happen.

[drwayne]

JWPepper.

No offense intended... Electrical theory from 1960's is same as 2010+.. the applicable understanding of that theory has expanded considerably.

3.5mm Vs 4.0mm resistance.. Lenny identifies that manufacture quality is a hazardous game..
US 5.5mm are a known low resistance unit compared many the generic imported varieties.

Poor soldering techniques are larger contributors to poor current flow than advice derived the skilled users here.

btw. 'Burn and Learn' was likely penned by Tesla................... we just plaguerise .

[lenny]

Hey Bruce or aka BILLY BARNACLE or aka J.W. Pepper,

You are schooled in electronics so do a test than.
Like I did,
Just set a boat up and use 3.5mm and take some temps and some gps speeds and timed runs with it setup that way.
Now do the same test with the 4mm, And than 5.5mm,
That is how I learned from testing setups.

Or you can burn and learn to.

[tlandauer]

Technically a 4mm bullet should be better than a 3.5mm bullet, but many here have reported just the opposite, and speaking from first hand experience I can say it really has to do with the quality of the plugs. I have observed the snugness of the Proboat 3.5mm bullets, they are made pretty well in general. Some of the 4mm male have a spring clip and they are not well made, falls off readily and they can not be doing any meaningful service to benefit the efficient conduit of electricity. I think when we refer to the quality of the plug here, the manufacturing tolerance between the male and female, another words how tight they fit ( it does matter, in the final analysis) has a huge bearing on the LONG TERM HAPPINESS of the end user!

[J.W. Pepper]

JWPepper.

No offense intended... Electrical theory from 1960's is same as 2010+.. the applicable understanding of that theory has expanded considerably.

3.5mm Vs 4.0mm resistance.. Lenny identifies that manufacture quality is a hazardous game..
US 5.5mm are a known low resistance unit compared many the generic imported varieties.

Poor soldering techniques are larger contributors to poor current flow than advice derived the skilled users here.

btw. 'Burn and Learn' was likely penned by Tesla................... we just plaguerise .

No offense taken, trust me. Contrary to what some people may think, I'm here to learn. And ya can't learn if you don't ask questions. Ask a dumb question and you'll get a dumb answer. So I tried to word my posts so they show that I'm trying to use past experience & logic to think things through, in other words no dumb questions.

And the past couple posts have answered my question(s). The reasons have more to do with quality control issues than technical limitations of the connectors either real or perceived. So now I know, learn something new everyday.

So who sells the best 5.5mm connectors?? I already replaced the PB 3.5mm motor bullets to 4mm, so guess I gotta snip them off and install 5.5's.

Fourtunately my soldering skills are not lacking, plenty of years experience; having a good quality Weller soldering station certainly helps. Also, I made a wood jig that holds the bullets still so I can use both hands for working. Sure, I screwed up about the first 6~8 bullets I did, but now that I got the hang of it, piece of cake.

likely penned by Tesla................... we just plaguerise... You guys aren't the only ones

Doc thanks to you and the other forum members who made positive contributions for taking the time to help me understand why my reasoning was flawed, ppreciate it.

[Skullcracken]

You don't need to if youre running stock. I've run mine o deans several months to lvc and never had problems.