Which connector?

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Skaxis

Skaxis

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Arrma RC's
  1. Fury
I've been out of R/C for a couple of decades (wow, that makes me seem old). BITD we only used Tamiya connectors. Sometimes they got hot and melted a bit. Now-a-days it seems that Deans Ultra plugs are the most popular. I've spent the past three days converting my small fleet of cars, up to 4 now with the addition of a Fury yesterday. This is what I think of Deans plugs: YUCK!

They're tiny which makes them difficult to unplug without yanking on the wires.

Speaking of wires, why are are attached only using solder? There's no mechanical connection like the crimping on a Tamiya plug. Sure, use solder but also have a mechanical connection on such a high use item.

Since they are small, they're a pain to solder up. I had to Jerry-rig up a rubber tipped clamp to hold the connector while I soldered the wires onto the tiny little tabs. It's just ridiculous.

The requirement of heat-shrink tubing to act as an insulator is also not wise. Heat shrink is great and all but it's not as good at insulating as say, oh I don't know, maybe wire insulation!

I like what HobbyCo has done with the design of the plug that they call a Star plug. I think I might re-convert over to these but they only address some of my issues.

Does anyone have any experience with the Castle Connectors? They look promising but I haven't heard much about them.
 
I think these Star plugs are an excellent step up from Deans.

starplug-800.webp
 
Rolex said:
I think these Star plugs are an excellent step up from Deans.

starplug-800.webp
Click to expand...

Are they made by Deans? I know they are sold as Hobbico Star connectors.

I like Deans (the Hobbico Stars I'm sure are good too) but for many of the reasons you've already mentioned have really taken a likely to the EC3 and EC5 connectors.

The ECx connectors look very clean, easy to solder, and the EC5 support very high amperage draw if you need that.
 
they look very similar to Deans, with the extra grip on them. I may look into the for future uses.
 
They are compatible with the Deans, so If you only change one end, they will fit the Deans on the other.
 
I even have difficulty with the stars connectors. When I try to remove them I end up just pulling the plastic cap off resulting in yanking wires.
 
I went with Star because of their compatibility with Deans. I can buy a chargers with Deans. I can buy a battery with Deans or if I go Duratrax Onyx, with Star. I only have to solder the ESC which is the case much of the time anyway. Having such a common plug, even if it's not the best option, makes "borrowing" a charger or even a battery in a pinch is much easier. If I were to go completely solder crazy and switch everything over I'd personally use the Castle Connectors.
 
I don't really have much occasion to solder, so I'm not any good at it, and I can't bring myself to sit down and practice soldering for those few times that I would need it. Having said that, I went with Anderson PowerPoles (aka Sermos) connectors, which use crimped connections, easily gripped connector housings, come in multiple colors, and are good in high-amperage applications. The best part about these connectors is that field repairs are a cinch and don't require AC power. When properly done, a crimped connection is just as effective as a soldered connection as the copper strands will deform when pressed against each other, increasing the contact surface area similar to the way solder fills in the void areas when you look at it in cross-section. I have these on my brushed E-Maxx, which used to eat Tamiya connectors for breakfast, and they barely get warm even on a hot Texas summer day. I also created a number of adapter pigtails with Tamiya, Deans, and 4mm bullet connections just in case.
http://www.powerwerx.com/anderson-p...s/1327-1327G6-pp15-30-45-colored-housing.html
 

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