Re: Pre-Made Anderson Battery Cables
 

Hehe, a good guess at the URL would probably be better than Google in this case.

http://terminalsupplyco.com/

Re: Pre-Made Anderson Battery Cables
 

When you assemble those bad boys, here are some tips.

Dont use the wire supplied in the KOP. It is super brittle and breaks down very quickly.

Upgrade to some super flexible 4 gage. Best decision we ever made. It flops like spaghetti, you can dump a whole lot more current through there, faster. Another advantage is that it doesn't get hot as quickly. And its pretty.. :)


When you make the connections to the Anderson prongs, tin the ends of the cable. After doing that pour solder down into the connector until its full. Keep it hot, and stick the cable in. Then use a pair of ratcheting crimper's to crimp it tight. After that, stick some shrink tube on the beast and assemble.

Just my two cents, we did it on all 6 of our batteries this year, and will never look back.

If you would like pictures or other help, let me know.

Re: Pre-Made Anderson Battery Cables
 

Using so much solder on the connection is probably what's making it brittle and breakable. It's better not to tin it at all than to do it badly.

Re: Pre-Made Anderson Battery Cables
 

I am going to agree with Alan on this one. No wire that is tinned should be crimped. There is no way for the tool, connector and wire to form in the right dimension or cross section to allow the contact to insert and remain in place in the connector. If you solder the connection after you crimp, then only add enough solder from the contact end, to fill the space between wires and contact. Stop as soon as it appears that solder is flowing under the insulation. This keeps the wire from becoming stiff and brittle as the wire leaves the connector body. Be careful to prevent solder from contaminating the mating surface of the contact. And never use the alligator clips to attach the charger to the connector for battery charging. All this does is scratch the mating surface.

Re: Pre-Made Anderson Battery Cables
 

I never said anything about the solder joints being breakable. Im talking about the actual wire itself.

We have never had one of our connections fail using this method, and I once used one as a joint for my tow strap when I towed a go-kart out of a bog with my truck.

Re: Pre-Made Anderson Battery Cables
 

I'm going to have to differ with some of the advice presented in this thread.

I am a proponent of only crimping these connectors, using the proper crimping tool. If the wire is old, you should brush it bright to remove any tarnish using a stainless steel brush. If you solder, you should crimp before you solder in order to get a good mechanical connection before applying solder. I do not use solder on any of the crimped contacts we use in our robots, and I do not recommend it.

You should not use heat shrink on the contacts that go into the red housings. We learned not to do that when we found the heat shrink interfering with the spring loaded mechanism one year, producing an intermittent contact in some circumstances. The housing itself provides all of the insulation you need.

Eugene

Re: Pre-Made Anderson Battery Cables
 

The shrink tube only interferes if done incorrectly.

Re: Pre-Made Anderson Battery Cables
 

On the other hand, if everything is done correctly, using heat-shrink tubing on the connection serves no purpose.

Re: Pre-Made Anderson Battery Cables
 

Not true at all. It helps prevent cable flex near the joint of the connection - one of the main causes of connection's breaking down.

Re: Pre-Made Anderson Battery Cables
 

It's likely that the "breaking down" you're warning against from cable flex is because you've made the wire too stiff by soldering it. If you crimp the connection properly, without saturating it with solder, it shouldn't be a problem.

Re: Pre-Made Anderson Battery Cables
 

Many teams have asked us to provide a completed Anderson Power Products battery cable. So... we now have one available at AndyMark.

We are in process of buying the correct tooling to crimp the APP and Molex contacts to the wire. This product should be available by Jan. 1.

This Battery Cable is listed on our Miscellaneous Items page.

Enjoy,
Andy

Re: Pre-Made Anderson Battery Cables
 

Once again, AM has offered a good product at a good price.

I am especially glad to see that Andy and Mark are investing in the correct tooling for the crimps. FRC robot inspectors and field staff have witnessed quite a few poor battery cable connections, usually made by teams that could not afford or did not have access to the correct crimp tools.

Re: Pre-Made Anderson Battery Cables
 

"AndyMark: We're more than just Shift" :)

Re: Pre-Made Anderson Battery Cables
 

Yet another amazing product from AndyMark. If you add up the cost of the APP connect, wire and terminal and then factor in the cost of the APP crimper it is very expensive. Thanks for offering a great product at a great price.

Re: Pre-Made Anderson Battery Cables
 

Nice! Andy and Mark does it again with special AM insulated ring terminals.