Series Battery Lead

[dave_bosoxfan]

Hi there

I have purchased some batteries for my Gaui 550 and these have come with 4mm gold bullet connectors. Two female ones to be precise.
I need a series lead to connect the batteries together and nobody seems to make one. The closest I have got is a company called Overlander who do produce one but the order of the terminals are + and - on each connector so are no good for the batteries I have.
I have always used EC3 connectors and have an EC3 series lead but the wire used on the batteries is to thick to even go into an EC3 connector so I cannot change the connectors on the battery.
I have tried making my own lead but my soldering is BAD so and the 4mm bullet connectors are awful things to try and solder as there is a hole which all of the solder runs out of thus spoiling the connectors. I have a 50w soldering iron so heat should not be a problem but I find that I cannot get the wire hot enough to flow the solder before i even try to connect the wire to the connector.
I have had the Gaui for about 8 months now and still it is grounded (never flown, never even spun up!). If it was worth anything I would just sell it as I sometimes cannot bear to look at it.
Does anybody know where I can get a battery lead or a good place to sell rc equipment!!

Heres Hoping

Dave :(

[bobbybe]

well if you want to sell it you can always post it up in the for sale section of the freak... i've sold a couple of helis that way. however, you should at least get it up in the air first!! what kind of batteries are you using so we can get a better idea of the wire thickness?

[dave_bosoxfan]

Thanks for the reply,

The batteries are called Turnigy 3.0, 20-30C Discharge 3000mAh they can be seen at http://www.hobbycity.com/hobbycity/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=9265

They are cheap but I think they would do the job I need them for.

In regards to the thickness of the wire it says "10AWG 200degressC" on the wire itself if this helps.

Any other battery suggestions also helpful but as I have 4 of these I would like to get them to work.

Cheers

[zaw]

I switched to 4mm bullets I think they're very good connectors, you can probably dangle a 6s battery and fly around and won't become disconnected.

They're very easy to solder, the trick is to fee the wires thru the jacket then solder the bullets.

These connector's insulator plastics are much softer then EC3 so if you have a little over spill you can still lock in the insulator.

Other thing I like these connector are, there is no male/female, so you won't be left with a tons of one gender at the end.

You can also get the same connectors here in USA.
http://www.amainhobbies.com/product_info.php/products_id/17872/n/ProTek-R-C-40mm-Polarized-Zero-Loss-Plugs-1-Pair

For the same price you can get 20 at Hobbycity.

[mjdee14]

zaw...I "feel" your pain.....I have deans connectors on everything I own....and all the ne w batteries coming out of Hobby city have the new connectors....I heard deans sued HC and they had to stop selling them on their lipos......can't see why...

I had to replace two connectors last week with deans and it was not easy to solder 10awg wire....takes a LOT of heat. You could get some connectors and maybe some 12 g wire and make your series connector with that....

The 10 g is way overkill...look at the size of your wires on the esc....they are not 10 g.

Good luck....it is becoming a PITA with the new plugs....but I think they do handle more amps...

[PhillyD]

Yes Siree and Gents
http://helihobby.com/html/battery_connectors.html
Page 3 item 35 from the bottom of the page and about 52 from the top. I could not get to click the item to post a direct link. There is also another style on there around page 40.
Cheers

[Jerrymac]

..

I had to replace two connectors last week with deans and it was not easy to solder 10awg wire....takes a LOT of heat. .


Hey Mike, did you 'pre-tin' the wires before trying to solder them to the connector?
It makes it easier as the solder will actually make the heat transfer much faster.
Another thing I do when soldering a female deans on a lipo is to plug a male deans onto it to keep it from getting distorted from the heat. Just make sure that the wire ends of the male are insulated to prevent a short if it touches something.

[Mikej]

I have 2 soldering irons - a small one for detailed work, and a larger one for Deans etc. - the Deans need some "meat" to work quickly.

[mjdee14]

Hey Mike, did you 'pre-tin' the wires before trying to solder them to the connector?
It makes it easier as the solder will actually make the heat transfer much faster.
Another thing I do when soldering a female deans on a lipo is to plug a male deans onto it to keep it from getting distorted from the heat. Just make sure that the wire ends of the male are insulated to prevent a short if it touches something.

I pretinned the wires BUT 10 g is so big the wires cool off the solder before it can flow all the way through,,,,,,had to move the iron around several times......10g is just freaking BIG....

One of my buddies says he cuts it in half at the end.....I hesitate to do that...but how darn big are these wires going to get "OO"....??:bawl

[nexgen]

I wonder if you could spread the wires out a little bit and just stick the solder in there, then heat it up and get it to flow frim the inside out, sort of.

[mjdee14]

if they get any bigger we'll need a blow torch to melt the solder...!!

[Jerrymac]

Hmmm, might depend on the soldering tool that you use too. I have a "Snap-On" soldering gun that has a long thin tip on it that gets so hot the tip glows bright orange.
It will solder 12awg instantly, but takes about 1 or 2 seconds to get 10awg hot enough.

[mysticmead]

you can always switch to anderson power poles.... no more soldering