I’ve used Power Poles for some years. I have a proper crimper intended for PP. Color coding is very useful. I think the complaints about them are due to two things: (1) improper crimping of the contacts and (2) heavy gauge wire. The PP15/30/45 use the same plastic housing while changing the size of the contact. A wire gauge suitable for 30 to 45 amps is quite large physically and puts a great deal of mechanical strain on the plastic connectors. So, when such a gauge of wire moves (or doesn’t move), it tends to disconnect the plastic housings. If the connections are from one set of wires to another, a two prong plastic jumper plug can successfully hold the four connectors together through the mating holes in the pair during movement. The problem is that when one set of connectors is mounted in a chassis, it is often not really possible to use a two prong plug (or Ty-Wrap) to physically hold them together. Move the chassis and if the wire doesn’t want to follow, you get disconnected. Two solder lugs mounted to the chassis and a few small Ty-Wraps will fix most of this “heavy wire” issue. Jim Robbins N1JR PS: Make up a pair of PP with an LED to test your future PP builds.

No, there are more problems. Being non-gendered that apply connections mistakes like connecting to power sources together. Could you imagine how bad it would be if all power connectors were not-gendered? then you could connect two wall AC mains outlet together. Kind of a problem if there were out of phase (US 120VAC wiring is like that) Bad enough that it allows tow DC power supplies to be connected. What is is good for is it you are in a hurry. non-genet connections were invented for firemen so after laying dow 300 feet of hose that NEVER find the have it backwards and have to flip a 300 foot hose end for end. Ive done this a few times with outdoor AC extension cords. There is an advantage to gendered connectors. Typically the source are female and you can't plug two outhouse together by mistake. If you need N-way connections yo make and test the power harness before hand. That said I do have some power pole cables. They work good for 12VDC lead acid battery type stuff. But NEVER use then for exotic battery chemistries. Fires are not good. and it WILL happen if you use PP on Lithium type batteries, an accident waiting to happen. On Thu, Jun 22, 2017 at 7:11 AM, James Robbins <jsrobbins@earthlink.net> wrote: > I’ve used Power Poles for some years. I have a proper crimper intended for PP. Color coding is very useful. > > I think the complaints about them are due to two things: (1) improper crimping of the contacts and (2) heavy gauge wire. > > The PP15/30/45 use the same plastic housing while changing the size of the contact. A wire gauge suitable for 30 to 45 amps is quite large physically and puts a great deal of mechanical strain on the plastic connectors. So, when such a gauge of wire moves (or doesn’t move), it tends to disconnect the plastic housings. If the connections are from one set of wires to another, a two prong plastic jumper plug can successfully hold the four connectors together through the mating holes in the pair during movement. > > The problem is that when one set of connectors is mounted in a chassis, it is often not really possible to use a two prong plug (or Ty-Wrap) to physically hold them together. Move the chassis and if the wire doesn’t want to follow, you get disconnected. > > Two solder lugs mounted to the chassis and a few small Ty-Wraps will fix most of this “heavy wire” issue. > > Jim Robbins > N1JR > > PS: Make up a pair of PP with an LED to test your future PP builds. > _______________________________________________ > time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com > To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts > and follow the instructions there. -- Chris Albertson Redondo Beach, California

One thing I love about them is that you can create odd geometries. All my ham gear, and generally anything I own that's 12V has APPs in the OC Races standard. All lead acid sources are also same. I could see using a different geometry for lithium batteries and the stuff that goes with them, and different colors, like black and orange or black and yellow to differentiate three and four cell packs. They aren't the solution to every problem, but they are pretty slick. I use big powerpoles on my jumper cables. The other end is standard clips. My battery has a permanent pigtail. So I connect to the dead battery, then plug in which makes the connection safely away from either battery. -----Original Message----- That said I do have some power pole cables. They work good for 12VDC lead acid battery type stuff. But NEVER use then for exotic battery chemistries. Fires are not good. and it WILL happen if you use PP on Lithium type batteries, an accident waiting to happen.

My AU$0.02 worth, evidently trading less than the Greenback right now... Coloured PP shells. Yup, I'd already seen this issue, I'm using PP's on traction driver packs (totally unrelated to this list, but run with me, they're DC), the input - "hot" - would be a *red* shell, and the output - "cold" - would be *black*. Your main strapping *from* the traction batteries or alternator would have a matching red/ "hot" plug. Motor supply straps would have the black plug. I was indenturing to be a telephone linesman many years ago. I'm only just a little rusty on my 10 pair. Don't ask anything over a 20 pair please, I'd need to be quite inebriated for that... just my luck, I'm putting an Aria 130 PABX with two 25 pair Champ sockets back together soon... I actually ran into PP's for the first time in amateur radio work, we had repurposed commercial band gear into the UHF CB band here in Oz for public safety during a remote off grid orienteering event. That was all *deliberately* KISS - myself, the linie, my adopted brother, the electrical engineer, and our adopted uncle, another electrical engineer. Between the three of us, we'd see about as much FUBAR you could cram into that amount of combined working life. I found them damned reliable compared to a cigarette lighter plug, and I was yet to encounter Merit plugs, commonly used in dual way fridges here in Oz when I lived off grid for a while. I can think of an occasion where you'd *absolutely need* a non-gendered connection, but its so almost uniquely specific to my work I'm loathe to mention it here. Its also a single pole. A coloured PP isn't a proof against your lithium chemistry storage turning into a fireball, yes, you're correct. But it might give pause to the operator, and prompt them to *double check* before throwing the knife switch, which was my intention. Now, does anyone know much about RCDs and dual pole DC circuit breakers that'd kill the supply in case such a situation arose...? Over to you! On Fri, Jun 23, 2017 at 4:09 AM, Chris Albertson <albertson.chris@gmail.com> wrote: > No, there are more problems. Being non-gendered that apply > connections mistakes like connecting to power sources together. > Could you imagine how bad it would be if all power connectors were > not-gendered? then you could connect two wall AC mains outlet > together. Kind of a problem if there were out of phase (US 120VAC > wiring is like that) Bad enough that it allows tow DC power supplies > to be connected. > > What is is good for is it you are in a hurry. non-genet connections > were invented for firemen so after laying dow 300 feet of hose that > NEVER find the have it backwards and have to flip a 300 foot hose end > for end. Ive done this a few times with outdoor AC extension cords. > > There is an advantage to gendered connectors. Typically the source > are female and you can't plug two outhouse together by mistake. If > you need N-way connections yo make and test the power harness before > hand. > > That said I do have some power pole cables. They work good for 12VDC > lead acid battery type stuff. But NEVER use then for exotic battery > chemistries. Fires are not good. and it WILL happen if you use PP > on Lithium type batteries, an accident waiting to happen. > > > > > On Thu, Jun 22, 2017 at 7:11 AM, James Robbins <jsrobbins@earthlink.net> > wrote: > > I’ve used Power Poles for some years. I have a proper crimper intended > for PP. Color coding is very useful. > > > > I think the complaints about them are due to two things: (1) improper > crimping of the contacts and (2) heavy gauge wire. > > > > The PP15/30/45 use the same plastic housing while changing the size of > the contact. A wire gauge suitable for 30 to 45 amps is quite large > physically and puts a great deal of mechanical strain on the plastic > connectors. So, when such a gauge of wire moves (or doesn’t move), it > tends to disconnect the plastic housings. If the connections are from one > set of wires to another, a two prong plastic jumper plug can successfully > hold the four connectors together through the mating holes in the pair > during movement. > > > > The problem is that when one set of connectors is mounted in a chassis, > it is often not really possible to use a two prong plug (or Ty-Wrap) to > physically hold them together. Move the chassis and if the wire doesn’t > want to follow, you get disconnected. > > > > Two solder lugs mounted to the chassis and a few small Ty-Wraps will fix > most of this “heavy wire” issue. > > > > Jim Robbins > > N1JR > > > > PS: Make up a pair of PP with an LED to test your future PP builds. > > _______________________________________________ > > time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com > > To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/ > mailman/listinfo/time-nuts > > and follow the instructions there. > > > > -- > > Chris Albertson > Redondo Beach, California > _______________________________________________ > time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com > To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/ > mailman/listinfo/time-nuts > and follow the instructions there. >