Battery plugs, etc.

If your gliders are hangared or can be reached by wires, consider installing
bulkhead connectors inside and simply plug in the glider rather than
removing the batteries.

My glider came with Power Pole connectors for the main and tail batteries
but, adding a third battery, I was unable to find Power Poles locally. Now
I have a 4-pin bulkhead connector in the seat back bulkhead and, after
putting the ship to bed, I simply plug the chargers into the bulkhead via a
home made cable. Now everything is always charged when I go to fly.


"Don" wrote in message
...
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?

On Wednesday, November 28, 2012 9:53:33 AM UTC-5, Dan Marotta wrote:
I was unable to find Power Poles locally.

Two words: McMaster Carr.

On Wednesday, November 28, 2012 7:48:08 AM UTC-8, Evan Ludeman wrote:
On Wednesday, November 28, 2012 9:53:33 AM UTC-5, Dan Marotta wrote:

I was unable to find Power Poles locally.



Two words: McMaster Carr.

And http://www.powerwerx.com/anderson-powerpoles/

I got male and female bulkhead connectors at a local electronics shop.
Don't need to remove batteries as I did before installing the bulkhead
connector. With the power pole connectors, I'd have to address each battery
intependently.

The down side is that, to go on the road, as when we went to NV for the
ground launch weekend, I made an adaptor cable so I could remove my 14v
battery for charging in the hotel. Turns out that I have so much capacity,
that I didn't need to remove any batteries.

McMaster Carr is great, though pricey. I used them for miniature gas struts
for the front door of my LAK trailer. Saved about $250 over ordering from
Europe.


"Darryl Ramm" wrote in message
...
On Wednesday, November 28, 2012 7:48:08 AM UTC-8, Evan Ludeman wrote:
On Wednesday, November 28, 2012 9:53:33 AM UTC-5, Dan Marotta wrote:

I was unable to find Power Poles locally.



Two words: McMaster Carr.

And http://www.powerwerx.com/anderson-powerpoles/

I can't wait for spring....

I'm well aware of the fact that phantom power doesn't involve much current. Next time I'll put a bunch of emoticons after I write something like that to make it more obvious I'm not being serious As for the possibility of poorly insulated terminals or wiring being shorted out goes that just emphasizes that it's a good idea to design the battery arrangement to eliminate that possibility. I know of someone who a few years back lost a glider and trailer due to something falling across the battery terminals when he had it stored in the trailer during transit. It wore through the insulation as he was driving and shorted the battery, setting the whole works on fire.

XLR's wouldn't be my FIRST choice but they were already standardized on when I joined the club and they haven't caused any problems. My first choice would be MIL spec connectors (since we're talking about installing things on aircraft it would make sense to me to use aircraft hardware) if I were to do things from scratch.

By the way, if you want to see a really interesting mismatch in the audio world facilitated by the use of identical connectors for very different applications you should see how well it works out when someone connects a 1/4" speaker out from a Hiwatt custom 100 to a 1/4" input on a P.A. mixer!

On Thursday, November 29, 2012 10:51:39 PM UTC-8, wrote:
I'm well aware of the fact that phantom power doesn't involve much current. Next time I'll put a bunch of emoticons after I write something like that to make it more obvious I'm not being serious As for the possibility of poorly insulated terminals or wiring being shorted out goes that just emphasizes that it's a good idea to design the battery arrangement to eliminate that possibility. I know of someone who a few years back lost a glider and trailer due to something falling across the battery terminals when he had it stored in the trailer during transit. It wore through the insulation as he was driving and shorted the battery, setting the whole works on fire.



XLR's wouldn't be my FIRST choice but they were already standardized on when I joined the club and they haven't caused any problems. My first choice would be MIL spec connectors (since we're talking about installing things on aircraft it would make sense to me to use aircraft hardware) if I were to do things from scratch.



By the way, if you want to see a really interesting mismatch in the audio world facilitated by the use of identical connectors for very different applications you should see how well it works out when someone connects a 1/4" speaker out from a Hiwatt custom 100 to a 1/4" input on a P.A. mixer!

I keep the positive terminal of the battery isolated by applying a thick coat of hot-glue around the connected terminal and part of the wire. It avoids the possibility of shorting across the terminals and provides a bit of strain relief at the wire. It's easy to peel off when servicing is required.

I'm partial to the XT60 style RC connectors. Not as bulky as the powerpoles and great current capacity.

Craig

On Thursday, November 29, 2012 10:51:39 PM UTC-8, wrote:
/snip/
By the way, if you want to see a really interesting mismatch in the audio world facilitated by the use of identical connectors for very different applications you should see how well it works out when someone connects a 1/4" speaker out from a Hiwatt custom 100 to a 1/4" input on a P.A. mixer!

There sadly is something correlated between most musicians and basic electrical knowledge. And yes I've seen guitar amps run into mixing boards, 4x12 guitar cabs trying be run through (low power) instrument cables and folks getting zapped by faulty guitar and mic amp circuits/grounding (and blaming the "phantom power" for that). The last fun was a vintage valve amp catching fire in a friends band...

Darryl