5.5mm Contacts vs. 6.5mm Castle Creations Contacts? Anyone have a compare picture?

[kfxguy]

The castle 6.5's are not loose at all

[srislash]

The castle 6.5's are not loose at all

Nope, always snug

[kfxguy]

Nope, always snug

When I unplug them, they go "ching" like it has a ring to it. Lol

[Norwest]

Darin; you brought up the subject about changing connector to 5.5 from 6.5 which means you were concerned about the difference or you wouldn't have posted it, correct. Not causing trouble but that is how people read the posting, correct.

[Wetter]

I Love the 6.5mm CC Bullets.
they connect with authority!
JMO.

[tlandauer]

I am a sport boating guy and 5.5mm is all I use , my concern is the quality of these plugs. I remember the first batch I bought ( 2010-2011 vintage ) and boy, were they well made. The prongs were well aligned and goes in the female with just the right amount of "friction". That supplier discontinued the product and OSE had to make a change ( remember Steven asked us about our preference between the cup-style and the open/cut style), I found the quality dropped a notch. On some occasions I had to slightly bend the prongs out and that has to be done carefully as the alloy will not tolerate much reshaping.
Does anyone know if the difference in the COLOR of the metal means anything? The aforementioned plugs spot a "pale gold" vs. the older batch which had a "richer" tint of gold color---not that there is any gold to begin with, but the difference in the alloy is definitely there.

[Darin Jordan]

Darin; you brought up the subject about changing connector to 5.5 from 6.5 which means you were concerned about the difference or you wouldn't have posted it, correct. Not causing trouble but that is how people read the posting, correct.

My question was regarding changing from the 6 mm to 5.5mm. I wanted to compare, however, the 5.5 to the 6.5 in case going up to 6.5s might make sense.

I'm still working in Tony's camp at this point because it's surface area I want. I have ways of making sure the contacts stay tight. I keep a set of various sizes of nail setting punches that can be pressed into the hollow area at the center of the prongs to gently and evenly open them up.

[tlandauer]

"I keep a set of various sizes of nail setting punches that can be pressed into the hollow area at the center of the prongs to gently and evenly open them up."
Thanks for the ingenious advice!

[ray schrauwen]

I'm curious how people solder their male connectors. When I solder mine as soon as the solder fuses into the wire & connector I quench with cold water sponge. I'm noticing this is better than a slow cool which may keep the metal softer than quenching.

If you have to keep spreading the male connectors doesn't that mean their springyness is wearing out?

I certainly don't have anywhere near the accolades that Darin has that's for sure so, he has to be doing something right.

[tlandauer]

That is a good point, I never thought the prolonged heat will degrade the metal. And I am sure it doesn't take much to degrade. I will try to do that, I tend to leave the iron tip on for a bit too long in the interest of a good solder joint.
On the other hand, I had to re-size them when new. I just never thought of using nail setting punch, I used the "ball-end" of my L-shaped hex drive with mixed results. Going to the hardware store now...

[Wetter]

What's with the controversy the CC's now are the fit!
i have retro'd all my FE's with them.
you all think too much

[properchopper]

While assessing the contact area differences between 6.5's and 5.5's one needs to pay serious attention to the actual milling (stamping?) variations within each size (which I admit I overlooked in my previous math).

To wit :

two 5.5's with different milled contact areas :
DSC05797.JPG


Two more 5'5's with longer milled contact areas (and different hole size and "finish"):
DSC05798.JPG


several 5.5's with differing spring-barb construction/thickness:
DSC05799.JPG


two 6.5's with different milled contact areas :
DSC05794.JPG


This one is scary ; look closely & notice the tip has a ridge/wear pattern which is ALL that contacts the female :
DSC05800.JPG


Draw your own conclusions

[properchopper]

Oh No - More Info !

Just found some bags of CC 5.5's to add to the discussion

Calculated contact area in ascending order :

CC 5.5's : 120.995 square mm

CC 6.5's : 153.160 square mm

Long 5.5's origin unknown : 172.800 square mm


So in this case, the CC 6.5's have more contact area than the CC 5.5's (but not the more common/longer 5.5's)


BOTTOM LINE : When "All things Being Equal" isn't the case (and all else fails ): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeEs6e0FdwU


Tony

DSC05801.JPGDSC05802.JPG

[tlandauer]

Quality is everything, I would think in my application, the quality is more important than the actual contact area, but as Tony has demonstrated, a bit of scientific approach goes a long way to avoid potential problems.
By the way, I am not surprised the "ching" sound, they are Made in China ---it's ok, I am Chinese, I can make this joke!

[ManuelW]

A Ching Sound is usually a good sign, same for surface quality of the male connectors. The smoother and shiny the surface the better, a surface like in the last picture posted from Tony in post #42 is horrible and will drastically reduce contact area.

I get my connectors from here:

http://www.nessel-elektronik.de/Goldstecker/6_mm_Goldstecker/6_mm_goldstecker.html

The website is totally confusing, I'm getting the 6mm "SLIT" system for years now with great success. Never ever came a bullet unsoldered and people who know me know, that my boats dont run on love & good hope but mostly amp draw, sometimes serious amp draw.

Connector comparion done by Jörg:

http://www.eco-idc.de/haupt.html

Have a nice day,
Manuel