pic: Anderson motor disconnects
 

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Where do you get the small Anderson connectors? we wants them!

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The Robot Marketplace has them... we bought a bunch in 2006, but ended up not using them. Reportedly, the Poofs have had problems with the little Andersons; however, I haven't heard of anyone else having major issues. Personally I'd rather just use standard barrel disconnects. Easier to find, and there isn't any real functionality loss (well, you lose the ability to slide them together into blocks, but that is pretty much useless unless your make your electronics board removable like 842, 118, 116, and whoever else does it).

Re: pic: Anderson motor disconnects
 

With the smaller andersons, they suffer from a few easily fixed problems-

Crimping the wire into the contact may not work. I've had a few pull out, including one right before a match. I ended up jamming the wire back in and taping it in place for that match. Fixed it for the next fight by crimping and soldering. A lighter crimp and a decent solder joint works better for them, anyway, as it won't warp the contact as much.

If you have problems with them coming apart, there are either these-
Blok-Lok PowerPole Clamp's for the 15, 30 and 45 amp powerpoles

The other, cheaper, easier solution is to wrap the connection between the two connectors in electrical tape. Not sure exactly how legal that is, but I don't see a reason it *should* be illegal.

Re: pic: Anderson motor disconnects
 

I used them on our electronics board last year and I really liked them. They were really useful to separate different systems and to trace my wiring. The only hard part we had was trying to figure out how to hook them up at first, but we figured it out pretty quickly.

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I absolutely love the smaller Anderson powerpoles! Just remember the convention if you're looking into the connector: "Tongue down, hood up, red on left, black on right!"

And the gold fans? Did you guys take out the blades and paint them? Is that within the rules, or would that be modification of an electrical component? Either way, they do look cool:yikes:

Re: pic: Anderson motor disconnects
 

We had major issues with these in 2006. We had all our motors using Anderson quick disconnects, all properly installed, crimped, soldered, etc. We had intermittent contact issues on numerous occasions, even after totally replacing the crimps. Eventually we decided it wasn't worth the hassle, and went back to using standard connectors.

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It sounds like a silly question, but were the contacts fully inserted into the housing? If not, that could cause the contact issues you had as the contacts will not be in the right position and even able to pull out completely.

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West Mountain Radio sells an excellent crimper for the PowerPole 15/30/45 amp series, worth it's weight in gold.

Don

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Yes, they were.

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The powerpoles are a bit pricey for my liking. I think you're better off with the usual spade connectors.

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I've had to use pliers to many time to get the spade connectors apart. i use these when ever i can. and mcmaster has them.

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Cory-
I am not sure why you had problems with these. We have been using them for years. Provided we assemble them with some care, we have never had problems with them and they have been very reliable.

-dave



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We aren't sure either. We never took the time after the season to pursue why they weren't working correctly for us. I'm sure if we did, they'd be fine.

I didn't mean to put anyone off to using them. Clearly others have had good experiences. Just to be very, very careful with how you assemble them.

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Something about my life experiences with vehicular electrical systems makes me think that putting a ring terminal on the end of the motor wires, crimped and soldered, would be the most reliable way to go. This requires designing the robot around this concept, though! like putting the Victors next to the motors, and fully accessible.