Deans Connectors

[Norman2]

Deans Plugs

Hi, The problem I encountered was not with th dean plug itself but the solder
connection itself done by the local hobby shop when I bought the batteries.
The guy said it was a bad solder job and he fixed it. Up to now no problems. I
still ordered the bullet connectors for the future (Just in Case). Thanks for your
help.
Norman

[Himalaya]

I agree Himalaya, but you will find we are in the minority.
All my FE boats started out with NiMh cells and low current draw brushed motors so all had Deans connections.
When I upgraded to brushless and Lipo I kept the Deans but planned to upgrade to bullets if the Deans showed any sign of getting hot.
So far even on my Feigao 8XL powered boats which draw between 75 to 90 amps the connections don't even get warm.
IMO if the contact surface is clean and the spring plates have good tension I think Deans are great and much less bulky than large bullet connectors.
So shoot me !
Graham.

Very true.
Actually Deans can do more than we supposed it could. My DF32 drinks 120A when running over 90kph, I feed it with two 6S packs in parallel, thus each plug takes 60A. Drive the mono back to find the AWG 10 silicone wires are hotter then the Deans plugs!

And they are cloned Deans"style" T plugs, genuine Deans can be expected to perform even better.(only when new, genuine Deans uses silver coated conductor at female end which always easily get oxide quickly, while the clones use gold at both ends)

Take a look into the connectors. Deans' spring plate pushes the whole area of the male blade onto the female, guarantees a solid surface area-contact. Bullet "tries" to have area contact but because the machining accuracy is impossible to be infinite, they(the male touching female's inside surface) generally only have line-contact or even worse dot-contact.

Watching a used male bullet, you can find the gold disapeared only at the "ring" line, shows only this area conducted electricity. Now watch a deadly used Deans, the gold disapears on a large area. and because of the larger area, the gold was worn out much slower than on a bullet. making Deans lasts far longer than bullets.

Further more, the Deans contact get pushed tight by the spring plate, it is steel. The bullet rely on the flexibility of it's body material, copper, which is known poor.

[AndyKunz]

Deans springs break, and the flat plates do not always seat well and create pits (leading to further degradation).

Not all bullets use copper to make a tight fit (and yes, they are very tight). Many use plated BeCu inserts which have a much better springiness about them.

Andy

[sjslhill]

I was talking to Jim Phelps the other day and he inadvertently plugged two 5,000mah packs together with 5.5mm connectors. Someone was talking to him at the same time when he plugging them in. He suffered 3rd degree burns on his fingers and the connectors exploded. Jim stated he was very lucky that the packs did not explode as well.

Something to think about when running these very high powered LiPoly packs in series.

Not saying you should use deans..that's not my point. Jim is a 25 year R/C'er as well as running a HVAC business. Point is, he is not some dufus.

[Meniscus]

Rather than cluttering up this thread and since the topic keeps coming up, here is a thread I started regarding some alternative options that have not been put in use yet in the FE RC boat hobby: http://forums.offshoreelectrics.com/...200#post100200

[domwilson]

Here is another post on this subject....http://forums.offshoreelectrics.com/...tor+resistance

[Jeff Wohlt]

If you want to run deans and run alot then change them out once a year. They are good to begin with and then they fade and resistance goes up. Soldering to these are probably the worse. Too hot and they melt the tab in the plastic housing. What I do now is insert the other end so they are kept aligned during soldering and I use homstats to hold the wire on the tab and then hit it until it melts and flattens down on the tab.

They are really too small for anything larger than 12 awg wire....even that is fat on them.

[domwilson]

That being said. Perhaps some of the problems people are having are not with the deans plugs themselves, but with the soldering connections made to them?

[Meniscus]

That being said. Perhaps some of the problems people are having are not with the deans plugs themselves, but with the soldering connections made to them?

I'm in this camp.

I truly believe that this is the case for a majority of the issues. Not all, but most.

[Jeff Wohlt]

yep...cold solder joints. I have had a few myself. You need about 3 arms to do it right. The reason I use the hemos so I do not move it and it mashes down from the pressure of the hemos.

[AndyKunz]

Cold or way-too-hot.

Andy

[Meniscus]

I was always taught that unless it is nice and shiney, you have to do it again. Also, none of this heat and reheat mess to add additional solder!

I have worked on a lot of electronics and have always used lower wattage irons to prevent circuit traces from peeling. I recommend making sure that the items being soldered do not move, you use a good tip on the iron, and get in and get out with no dilly dallying around. Also, I always store my irons with solder covering the tips. Call me silly!

[domwilson]

When I was a bench tech, we had a little jig that had two alligator clips that would hold your work while you soldered. They used to sell them at radio shack. It is similar to this...http://www.goldmine-elec-products.co...?number=G12810

[domwilson]

Whoops! They still do...http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...ductId=2104639

[ozzie-crawl]

deans can handle a fair amount of power if soldered rite but as geoff said anything bigger than 12 gauge is to big
here is a picture of one of my batteries with 5.5mm bullets check out the wire gauge would like to see that on a deans plug