LiFePo battery pole covers?

[s go]

Hello all..since the battery topic is open, I was wondering if anyone had any good suggestions for covering the poles & fuse & connector cables for our 12v batteries? There are some for sale by specialists but can be expensive. I susually cover the whole mess with tesa or duct tape, but was thinking lithium style shrink wrap for a change? maybe a cheap 3d cover print?

Thanks, Alex 

[Richard Pfiffner]

Solder and Cover With Hot Glue

https://www.craggyaero.com/lifepo4_battery1.htm

Richard

[John DeRosa]

There seems to be two general schools of thought on connecting to the terminals of the batteries that we use;

• "Faston" connectors (also called spade, quick, slide, tab connectors)
  •   Pros 
    • Easy to crimp onto the wires 
    • Easy to insert onto the battery terminals
    • Easy to move to a new battery
  •   Cons 
    • Does not cover the terminal to help prevent shorting of the battery terminals
      • Solution: Use heat shrink or hot glue to cover ALL of each terminal
    • Can fail either at the crimp or by being inadvertently pulled off of the battery terminal
      • Solution:   Make a strain relief with electrical tape to attach the wires to the battery nearest to the terminals

• Soldering Wires directly to the battery terminals
  • Pros 
    • Nearly a perfect low-resistance electrical connection
    • Much more difficult for the connection to separate from the terminals
  • Cons 
    • Does not cover the terminals to prevent shorting of the battery terminals.  
      • Solution:   Use heat shrink or hot glue to cover ALL of each terminal
    • Heating up the battery terminals can cause damage to the battery. If you do this then ...
      • Solution:   Use a high wattage iron (50W)
      • Pre-tin both the wire and the terminal before 
      • Heat up the terminal for very LEAST amount of time.

Your mileage may vary.

- John (OHM)

[Richard Pfiffner]

Faston also vibrate loose after several years especially in power planes and motor gliders.

Richard

[Mark Mocho]

Soldering directly to the terminals and covering with heat shrink is bulletproof as far as making a positive connection, but it makes swapping to a new battery in an emergency (dead battery and the cumulus are poppin') more difficult.

There are spade terminals with a plastic cover over the metal end, but heat shrink works fine.

[Moshe Braner]

When that Faston connector gets loose, remove from the battery tab and squeeze it lightly with pliers and it'll get tight again.  If you squeeze it too much you'll need to pry it open with a small screwdriver.

For a bigger challenge, and to change the subject:  Try dismantling a Powerpole connector after you've snapped the metal tongue over the metal spring.  Yes it is possible, with a small screwdriver.

So, talking about battery connectors, the nice thing about standards is that there are so many of them to choose from, eh?  But I've been slowly migrating to Powerpoles.  There are reasons why they took over as the standard in the world of ham radio.  They are somewhat expensive and a pain to wire up, but sure work nicely once set up.  Before putting such together, be sure to look up the standard orientation, known as RRTT: red on the right tongue on top.

[Charles Mampe]

I solder and use "Goop" which is sorta a thickened RTV instead of hot glue.

As to female Stakon/Faston/quick disconnect, even when new I squeeze the closed end of the connection a bit. This leaves the opening larger to make an easy connection but the fit gets tighter as it's inserted.

Our fuses are a preassembled housing with a wire out each side and a cover over the fuse. The fuseholder gets Gooped to the top of the battery.

As to the system connection, I use Anderson Powerpoles/Sermos connectors. They get soldered NOT crimped onto the wire. Started used them in battery RC cars, the added to sailplanes.

To keep them from slipping apart on each end I usually run a small tie wrap through the hole between the black and red. Yes, they sell a small rollpin, too hard to deal with though.

[John DeRosa]

Anderson PowerPole connectors ROCK! 

• Positive "snap" connection which resists disconnection
• They use wiping (silver) contacts which cleans off any corrosion at every insertion.
• They are hermaphroditic so you can't get (ugh) connect one battery to another (positive to negative). 
• They individual housings positively dovetail and lock together 
• Allows building unlimited contact bundles beyond simply two contacts (red/black). 
• Rated up to 45 amps using the same housing (depending on wire and contact sizing). 
• Lots of accessory parts to enhance use including bus "bars".

https://powerwerx.com/anderson-power-powerpole-sb-connectors

- John (OHM)

[John DeRosa]

Charlie,

About your comment "Yes, they sell a small rollpin, too hard to deal with though." 

Yep, those roll pins held with a needle nose pliers have a habit of launching themselves into outer space.  

But there is a very simple tool you can buy that makes inserting the roll pin dead easy.  See https://www.ebay.com/itm/224592426698.

- John (OHM)

[Charles Mampe]

John, thanks for listing for others.

I know the tool, losing the pin is also a hazard, thus what I do.

[Moshe Braner]

"They are hermaphroditic so you can't get (ugh) connect one battery to another (positive to negative)."

- I think John meant that you can't connect them in reverse polarity.  (Once assembled correctly!)  You *can* connect battery to battery, exactly because they are "gender neutral".  Connecting one battery to another is usually not useful - see other thread :-)

I never use the "roll pin".  Once two wires are attached to the connector halves, they don't tend to slide relative to each other.  But you can always put some glue in the hole intended for the pin.

John: why solder not crimp?  Supposedly crimping is more vibration-resistant.  That said I usually solder not crimp.  In the case of Powerpole connectors, crimping makes them wider and then they may not fit into the plastic housing.  If you're planning to crimp then use the smaller (15 amp) type metal piece.

[John DeRosa]

Moshe,

I mentioned about the plugging two batteries into each other 

and that this being a bad thing because my club used to use an 

automotive type rubber covered two-pin non-hermaphroditic

automotive type connector.  

These connectors are quite robust and cheap but had the unfortunate property 

that someone hooked two batteries together positive to negative. I found this had

happened once and all that was left afterwards was a melted pile of insulation 

and two very dead batteries. We were lucky we didn't burn the hanger down 

probably because these were SLA batteries and not lithium!

After that incident we switched to ID-ten-T error proof PowerPoles 

which, as you mentioned, you can only plug two batteries together positive to positive and 

negative to negative which may not be all that great of an idea depending on charge levels

but is decidedly less likely to be deadly!

- John (OHM)

[Eric Greenwell]

I always crimp, using a ratcheting crimper designed specifically for the 15/30/45 amp contacts. The crimper does not widen the contact, and they slide easily into the plastic portion. It's the TRIcrimp from PowerWerx: https://powerwerx.com/tricrimp-powerpole-connector-crimping-tool

[Charles Mampe]

I'm cheap, if I ever to change a wire in the blade, I just unsolder the wire.

Either way works effectively.

[*Eric Greenwell1*]

The contacts and housings are available on Amazon, very reasonably priced - cheaper than from Powerwerx, and apparently good quality. There are also cheaper crimping tools, but I've "amortized" mine over a couple decades of soaring, so the cost per crimp is low 🙂

[christopher behm]

https://a.co/d/0M3QwKQ

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From: rasp...@googlegroups.com <rasp...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of *Eric Greenwell1* <engre...@gmail.com>
Sent: Friday, January 17, 2025 6:36:50 AM
To: rasp...@googlegroups.com <rasp...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [RAS_Prime] Re: LiFePo battery pole covers?

 

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