Battery plugs, etc.

Our club and a lot of private owners have adopted Power Poles. They are very reliable, compact, and light. I like the way you can configure their orientation and the fact that they are usable in cold weather (they don't seem to crack like the "Schleicher Connectors" some of us used to use).


On Tuesday, November 27, 2012 11:46:07 AM UTC-5, Don wrote:
Our club uses 4 pin jones plugs for battery plugs, 2 pins positive and 2

pins negative for redundancy. But even this is not fool proof after

passage of time: sometimes they need to be "wiggled" to connect and

they are getting hard to find now too. What kinds of plugs are other

clubs or commercial ops using? I'm not a big fan of the nylon molex

connectors. Someone recommended using PowerPole connectors. Any

experience with these?

I have switched my club and also my own glider to Anderson PowerPoles for power.

No issues with male/female connectors (unlike XLR). One criticism would be that they do not have strain relief on the cable insulation. But that's not been a practical issue. The other would be that they do not screw together to secure the connection (some aviation-grade connectors do), but that also makes is easier to connect/disconnect. So, practically, not a problem..

I will second (3rd, 4th, etc) the suggestion on PowerPoles. Very
robust, light, versatile two part hermaphroditic system. I use 15A
contacts. Currently proprietary so there are no knock offs which
makes them somewhat expensive per connection.

Safety - One reason that I like PowerPole connectors is not that they are simply polarized (nearly all connectors are) but you simply cannot make a disastrous reversed battery to battery connection as you can on some simplistic connector systems. Ask me how I know.
Polarity - There is a "standard" positive/negative orientation for power/ground that should be followed for compatibility with other ships. See http://www.wb3w.net/powerpoleinst.htm.
Crimping - This is one down side to PowerPoles as you should use a special ratcheting crimping tool that runs $30 or so. Watch for a used one on eBay. A regular crimping tool can deform the contact so it will not mate properly to the housing. But there is always soldering... ;-)
Build you own - I have a PowerPole multi-contact block at the base of my instrument panel that has all the power, communications and control wires, each using a different color to aid trouble shooting. See http://www.chicagolandglidercouncil....etterNov11.pdf. When I take the panel home for the annual winter refurb, I can hook up a battery directly to it (same connectors at each end) because I followed the "standard" polarity for the power/ground connections. The individual colored housings have a dovetail system to solidly connect one to another. Cool.

Here are some reference materials;

Crimping Instructions - http://www.wb3w.net/powerpoleinst.htm and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8ODI...eature=related
ChicagoLand Glider Council newsletter article - http://www.chicagolandglidercouncil....etterNov11.pdf
Shown in use on batteries in a "Soaring" article - http://aviation.derosaweb.net/batter...ingFeb2012.pdf
Manufacturer Site - http://www.andersonpower.com/product...onnectors.html
Vendor - http://www.powerwerx.com/anderson-powerpoles/

Good luck.

On Tuesday, November 27, 2012 1:25:42 PM UTC-8, David Reitter wrote:
I have switched my club and also my own glider to Anderson PowerPoles for power.



No issues with male/female connectors (unlike XLR). One criticism would be that they do not have strain relief on the cable insulation. But that's not been a practical issue. The other would be that they do not screw together to secure the connection (some aviation-grade connectors do), but that also makes is easier to connect/disconnect. So, practically, not a problem.

Anderson make clips that go over the PowerPole connectors to secure them in place. Its usually more hassle than its worth, although I think I heard of one pilot disconnected the battery when reaching over their shoulder and pulling stuff off the shelf. Common sense I guess, you need to protect that connection in some way, have it where it can't get unplugged.

If you are using PowerPoles please get a proper ratcheting crimper for them.. Quite often I've seen bad crimp jobs on these, either the crimps are not properly made onto the wire or the improper crimper deforms the connector (either that or the user bending the deformed connector back so it fits into the socket) in a way that the mated pressure on the contact blades is less than it should be and the connection more likely to undo or be less reliable. Cheap non-ratcheting crimpers cannot supply sufficient force to swage the connector onto wiring--the wire strands and connector will effectively fuse together with the metals swaged under such high pressure. One comparison of good/bad crimps is here http://www.etco.com/crimp-photo-gallery. You should also hopefully be using a high quality Tefzel insulated aviation wire with silver plated strands to help prevent corrosion (properly crimping that type of silver plated stranded wire into a silver plated connector as in the case of the PowerPoles connectors works just great). Resist the temptation to solder and/or crimp then solder a crimp connector, just not a good idea.

The genuine Anderson PowerPole crimper is expensive but probably well worth if for a club, repair shop or group of owners. http://www.powerwerx.com/crimping-to...powerpole.html

Some folks might be confused between XLR (aka Cannon) connectors and DIN connectors. Not sure, neither would be my preference. DIN can be fragile and XLR are just large and klunky. And cheap versions of both connectors can have corrosion problems.

Darryl

Using the IGC (backwards) RJ45 numbering scheme:

IGC standard RJ45:
1,2 +12V
3
4
5 RS232 TX
6 RS232 RX
7,8 GND

LXNAV v7 RJ45 PDA port:
1,2 GND
3 RS232 TX
4 RS232 RX
5 TTL TX
6 TTL RX
7,8 +5V

Hopefully I've messed up transcribing those. If not, it's certainly an
interesting
design choice.

+(1+n) for Anderson PowerPoles and RigRunner power distribution system.

Concur about the lack of stress relief on the wires but has never been a problem operationally in many years of service in several different gliders.

Ignore all those puny wimpy solutions and get one of these:
http://www.nadler.com/backups/DSCF1205.JPG

See ya, Dave "YO electric"

Add me to the PowerPole fans.

My solution to the strain relief was to double sided tape the battery side circuit (PP connector + FUSE) to the battery top so that the mating glider circuit is fully supported/protected by the battery top.

Additionally, since I have 2 batteries side by side, i used a pair of PP "blanks" to connect the two glider power feeds together so that I have a single harness to plug in. Send me an email if you want a picture.

I also cut the connectors off my chargers and put PP connectors on them too.

On Tue, 27 Nov 2012 11:46:05 -0500, Don wrote:

Our club uses 4 pin jones plugs for battery plugs, 2 pins positive and 2
pins negative for redundancy. But even this is not fool proof after
passage of time: sometimes they need to be "wiggled" to connect and
they are getting hard to find now too. What kinds of plugs are other
clubs or commercial ops using? I'm not a big fan of the nylon molex
connectors. Someone recommended using PowerPole connectors. Any
experience with these?


XLR connectors have never been designed for power supply. They are
professional audio connectors.
Anderson PowerPoles are perfect and versatile. Never had problems
with them, whether crimped or soldered.
Spring loaded silver plated contact conductance is excellent.
Much cheaper than good quality XLRs (Cannon, Neutrik, Amphenol…)
Much lighter. Less cumbersome.
I've seen battery short circuits caused by metal XLRs falling on them.
I've seen Libelle ailerons freezed by XLRs wedged up between the rods.
I know there is an (unofficial) standard way to do the pinning of XLRs
(at least in Europe), but there are 5 alternate possibilities to do it
wrong. I don't count the radios I've had to fix after faulty
polarizations (and lack of decent fuses).
Compared to the high grade quality of the mechanics, I don't
understand how they can sell 250K$ aircraft with non-professional
electronics.

Willy VINKEN D-KBAL - ON5WV

I second the vote for cinch - jones, available on line or wings and
wheels, 20+ years with no problems...superior for blind connections
under the panel, etc.

MM