[Elecraft] [K3] DC Power cable
ab2tc
Hi all,
I am looking to replace the DC power cable that came with my K3. It is
rather small gage and way longer than I need. I have found a candidate
replacement wire in my junk box which I think is leftover wire from
shortening the power cable from my IC-718 or IC-7200. It's at least 12 gage,
possibly 10, way heftier than the Elecraft cable. So all I need is a new APP
connector. Where should I look for a top quality connector? I will be
soldering the connection. I will not be spending the money for a crimper and
I am a skeptic about the claimed superiority of crimped connections anyway.
Vibration is not an issue in my shack installation.
AB2TC - Knut
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KF4VTT
Knut,
Elecraft sells them.
Part# APPCON on http://www.elecraft.com/order_form_parts.htm
http://www.elecraft.com/order_form_parts.htm
Several other vendors carry them if you want to buy in bulk.
http://www.powerwerx.com/anderson-powerpoles/powerpole-sets/
http://www.powerwerx.com/anderson-powerpoles/powerpole-sets/
73,
Doug KF4VTT
http://home.mebtel.net/~kf4vtt/ http://home.mebtel.net/~kf4vtt/
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Jim Brown
>Where should I look for a top quality connector?
I've converted all of my DC wiring to Power Poles, so I've put
together more than a hundred of these connectors. There are three
sizes of pins that fit the red and black shells used by Elecraft.
The small size is best for wires smaller than #18; the middle size
(most common) works up to #12, the larger size goes up to #8 (and
can be a very snug fit in the shell). I've always bought them from
hamfest vendors, but there are several vendors who advertise in QST
who sell them. They usually come in packs of ten, or ten pairs. I've
never crimped them, always soldered.
Remember that voltage drop is proportional to length, so shorter is
better.
73, Jim K9YC
ussv dharma
The darned thing keeps disconnecting.
HELP
Great Grandmaw Susan
If you don't change direction you WILL arrive exactly where you're headed!! Susan Meckley, Skipper W7KFI-mm AFA9SM USSV DHARMA
--- On Sun, 7/25/10, Jim Brown <j...@audiosystemsgroup.com> wrote:
Don Wilhelm
That usually means the APP was not assembled properly. Make certain the
blades are fully inserted into the housing. The blades must latch over
the spring fingers that are in the housing and it takes a good push with
a thin screwdriver or other tool to seat properly. When properly
assembled, it takes about a 25 pound pull to disengage them.
If you assembled your K3 from a kit, check the connector on the K3 as
well as the one on the cable - OR just check it anyway, there is always
a chance that a factory assembler did not push hard enough to lock the
blade.
If you mean that the red and black housings come apart, put a drop of
superglue on the mating surfaces and they should be tight. There is a
hole intended for a roll-pin, but often the roll pin comes out and gets
into places no metal should be, so if you do use a roll-pin, secure it
with a bit of superglue.
73,
Don W3FPR
Eugene Balinski
I am in the midst of calibrating my KAT-100 antenna
tuner. I have it all set up per the manual and have
started the process including setting the tuner to CAL and
running the RF from the K2 "backwards" in to antenna port 1
on the tuner with the dummy load on the tuner radio port.
Note, the antenna tuner was set up to antenna port 1
before I put it on to CAL.
My question is: What should the K2 be indicating for
SWR in this configuration ? When I press the "TUNE" button
on the K2, the SWR is showing "Hi SWR" then 9.9:1. I was
expecting a "pass through" to the dummy load with a 1:1.
Does the high VSWR on the K2 indicate a problem somewhere,
or should I just continue with the cal ?
Thanks es 73,
Gene K1NR
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Phil & Debbie Salas
Phil Kane
> If you mean that the red and black housings come apart, put a
> drop of superglue on the mating surfaces and they should be
> tight. There is a hole intended for a roll-pin, but often the
> roll pin comes out and gets into places no metal should be, so if
> you do use a roll-pin, secure it with a bit of superglue.
I have found that using the smallest size cable tie
a.k.a."Ty-Rap" (tm) through the holes serves to keep the
connectors together and the bodies from separating. Easy
enough to separate if needed.
-- 73 de K2ASP - Phil Kane
Elecraft K2/100 s/n 5402
Paul Kirley
tightly into the hole and cut off both ends. No risk of a short.
73, Paul W8TM
Don W3FPR sed:
If you mean that the red and black housings come apart, put a drop of
superglue on the mating surfaces and they should be tight. There is a
hole intended for a roll-pin, but often the roll pin comes out and gets
into places no metal should be, so if you do use a roll-pin, secure it
with a bit of superglue.
Tom Hammond
The pin inserts BETWEEN the RED and BLACK connector, NOT between the
PAIRS of them.
If your APP connector separated from the radio too easily, there's an
all too good chance that one of the (4) connectors is not fully
'seated' with its mate and is a fraction of an inch ahead of (or
behind) the other connector of the pair.
Another possibility is that (particularly on the power cable end) one
(or both) of the push-in connector contacts has not been fully seated
to the point that it has successfully (and completely) slipped over
the leaf spring in each of the plastic housings. It MUST LOCK over
the front of the leaf spring or it will not allow the 2-connector
assembly to seat properly.
If you wish, I can send you some illustrations of properly seated APP
contacts, but I can't send 'em thru the reflector (which doesn't
support file attachments OR embedded images).
73,
Tom Hammond N0SS
Brett Howard
But it should require 3-5 pounds (depending on what connector detent
style you have) of force before a mated connection separates.
~Brett (N7MG)
Don Wilhelm
You are correct, I read the wrong item on the data sheet.
But still, there are two of them on the K3 cable, and I just tested a
pair. It took oveer 8 pounds of weight to dislodge the connection.
The weight of a fully loaded K3 is 8.5 pounds, so you could not quite
hold the K3 up with the power cord, but the basic K3/10 should be able
to dangle on the power cord without breaking the connection (but, I am
certainly not going to try that with MY K3 :-) ).
73,
Don W3FPR
JIM DAVIS
Jim,
Something else that should be noted, and obviously not everyone is PERFECT is that the size of the
Wire-connector lug has to generally fit the gauge of wire that your using! I made that mistake for
whatever reason and we had to "RE=WORK" all of our power-pole connections within our JEEP!
Everything is now great but it's another "lesson learned" because we were in a hurry and trying to
do it on the "cheap!"
Jim/nn6ee
Jim W6LG
Anderson PowerPoles, wire and accessories can also be purchased from
www.hamcq73.com, www.NewHamStore.com and www.PowerPoleHQ.com.
73, Jim Heath W6LG K3 #629
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ussv dharma
This is off topic, but can anyone access Winlink.org? I have tried for days and cant....is it here in Hawaii, or is Winlink down?
It works via ssb/pactor, but cant get the web site.
Great Grandmaw Susan
If you don't change direction you WILL arrive exactly where you're headed!! Susan Meckley, Skipper W7KFI-mm AFA9SM USSV DHARMA
--- On Mon, 7/26/10, Jim W6LG <ham...@gmail.com> wrote:
> From: Jim W6LG <ham...@gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Elecraft] [K3] DC Power cable
> To: elec...@mailman.qth.net
ab2tc
Entering this in a browser works fine here:
Now to the original topic, thanks to the many who responded with sources for
the powerpoles. I decided to order a few from Elecraft since I was ordering
another filter anyway.
AB2TC - Knut
ussv dharma wrote:
>
> Aloha Peoples:
> This is off topic, but can anyone access Winlink.org? I have tried for
> days and cant....is it here in Hawaii, or is Winlink down?
>
> <snip>
>
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Edward R. Cole
I was using a heavy-duty (#10) power cord with power-pole connectors
with my K3 and the weight of the wire would pull the connector
loose. One of the connectors was pulled off the wire (which was
crimped by the mfr and not soldered) so it is in my "to be repaired
bin" and I made a lighter power cable (#14) with the 15amp power-pole
connector supplied with the K3 kit (since I have only the
K3/10). But to ensure it will not be pulled, I tywrap the cable to
the back of my radio table which I have lined with ordinary peg
board (fiber board with an array of holes for inserting hangers). I
just loop the tywrap thru two adjacent holes and tie the cable to the
board at several points over to the 13.8v power distribution terminal
strip (bolted to the peg board).
In fact all my station wiring and permanent coax runs are secured to
the peg board. It helps to control the "rats nest" effect.
Hope that helps!
73, ED - KL7UW
PS: My website is down temporarily but I have photos of the peg
board/wiring on there.
------------------------------
Message: 2
Date: Sun, 25 Jul 2010 10:15:48 -0700 (PDT)
From: ussv dharma <ussvd...@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] [K3] DC Power cable
To: "elec...@mailman.qth.net" <elec...@mailman.qth.net>, Jim Brown
<j...@audiosystemsgroup.com>
Message-ID: <34809.8...@web65715.mail.ac4.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
The power pole connector cable I recd with my k3 has no place for a pin.
The darned thing keeps disconnecting.
HELP
Great Grandmaw Susan
73, Ed - KL7UW, WD2XSH/45
======================================
BP40IQ 500 KHz - 10-GHz www.kl7uw.com
EME: 144-QRT*, 432-100w, 1296-QRT*, 3400-fall 2010
DUBUS Magazine USA Rep dubu...@hotmail.com
======================================
*temp
Edward R. Cole
tested the resistance to separating the mated connectors and it sure
doesn't take much to disconnect them (certainly could not support the
weight of the radio). They are either commercially built cables or
ones that I assembled. The ones I built definitely snapped into the
shell (extremely hard to extract and requires using a small
screwdriver to pry up the metal connector to release).
Power-poles do not offer sufficient resistance to disconnecting in my
opinion. The professional made cable is plugged into the factory
installed connector on the back of the K3. They come apart
(disconnect) if I move the radio.
The only connectors of this style that I have seen to have a strong
connection were on marine HF radios (SEA222) and were physically
larger (blue in color). They were rated for 45amp and were a bitch
to pull off the radio. But not so these red/black power-poles.
This is "exactly" why they are not favored for certain commercial use
(never found in aviation). I'll bet not used by military.
I will only use them on radio equipment that is subject to being used
in different locations and/or require compatibility to other ham
radio installations (field day, etc.). I'm sticking to using barrier
terminal strips for my permanent wiring and threaded mil-spec
connectors on equipment that is subject to
movement/vibration/dust-dirt-moisture.
73, Ed
my opinion shaped by 45-years experience in mobile two-way radio
-----------------------------
Message: 12
Date: Sun, 25 Jul 2010 19:08:13 -0400
From: Don Wilhelm <w3...@embarqmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] [K3] DC Power cable
To: Brett Howard <br...@livecomputers.com>
Cc: "elec...@mailman.qth.net" <elec...@mailman.qth.net>
Message-ID: <4C4CC3DD...@embarqmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
Brett,
You are correct, I read the wrong item on the data sheet.
But still, there are two of them on the K3 cable, and I just tested a
pair. It took oveer 8 pounds of weight to dislodge the connection.
The weight of a fully loaded K3 is 8.5 pounds, so you could not quite
hold the K3 up with the power cord, but the basic K3/10 should be able
to dangle on the power cord without breaking the connection (but, I am
certainly not going to try that with MY K3 :-) ).
73,
Don W3FPR
Brett Howard wrote:
> Thats 25 pounds of pull to pull the metal bit out of the plastic bit...
> But it should require 3-5 pounds (depending on what connector detent
...snip...
AB3EN
"power-poles do not offer sufficient resistance to disconnecting in my
opinion. The professional made cable is plugged into the factory
installed connector on the back of the K3. They come apart
(disconnect) if I move the radio. "
I use a small tie wrap that goes through the roll pin holes in both
connectors and holds them together until I cut the tie wrap. Quick easy and
fool proof ( and I should know about the fool part).
Dan AB3EN
-----
Dan AB3EN
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Eric Swartz - WA6HHQ, Elecraft
this list and others. (Sort of like the CW/Non-CW tes threads etc. ;-)
Searching the list archives for the word 'APP' at
http://www.elecraft.com/elist.html will yield a plethora of APP information.
73, Eric WA6HHQ
Elecraft List Modulator
---
On 7/26/2010 12:38 PM, AB3EN wrote:
> "power-poles do not offer sufficient resistance to disconnecting in my
> opinion. The professional made cable is plugged into the factory
> installed connector on the back of the K3. They come apart
> (disconnect) if I move the radio. "
>
> I use a small tie wrap that goes through the roll pin holes in both
> connectors and holds them together until I cut the tie wrap. Quick easy and
> fool proof ( and I should know about the fool part).
> Dan AB3EN
>
>
> -----
>
> Dan AB3EN
>