Re: pic: Anderson motor disconnects
 

My team has used Anderson Power Pole quick disconnects since I joined and we use the 45 AMP ones. You can get those at Allied Electronics if you don't like the sites listed by the people that posted above me. These are very reliable but you have to be careful with two things. One is that IF you solder, you make sure that you don't get past the crimp. If you get even a little bit of solder past the crimp than it has a possibility of causing problems snapping in. The second is that you have to make sure you hear the "click" noise. If you didn't I'd a) make sure that I inserted the pin correctly and b) grab a pair of needle nose pliers and try to push the wire forth. If you still can't get it in I would recommend crimping on new leads.

Also I recommend to ANYONE who is doing something like this to use ring connectors. It may be a bit painful to unscrew and then tighten the screws back in but overall it will be worth it when it comes down to troubleshooting a problem because that eliminates one important variable: a bad connection.

Pavan.

Re: pic: Anderson motor disconnects
 

thank you for all the responses we printed them out and are now haveing an intense debate.

Re: pic: Anderson motor disconnects
 

Being able to remove the boad makes it much more versatle and helps if there's a need to break it down in the pits.

Re: pic: Anderson motor disconnects
 

Cory et al,
There are few things that can get you into trouble with these connectors. 1. You don't use the prescribed crimper and the barrel becomes oblong. The wires can then turn the contact inside the housing preventing full contact with the mating connector. 2. Rough handling has caused the contact to become deformed so that it cannot mate with opposite connector. 3. Any of the above in combination with a poor solder job will make you think the contact is fully inserted (since it won't pull out of the block) when it is not. 4. A deformed block will prevent full contact alignment.
The only fully inserted contact is one in which the end of the contact has slipped over the spring steel that is captive in the block. A very distinct "click" will be heard when the contact is fully seated. Although there are several manufacturers of a look alike connector, they are not compatable. Do not mix!
We have used these for many years. You will find them on our crab drive modules of past years (i.e. 2003 and 2005). Since they have the ability to snap together to build multipin connectors, we have used them for arm attachments in the past as well. Last year's arm used a block of 10 contacts as I remember.

Re: pic: Anderson motor disconnects
 

Al,

We made very sure that we paid attention to all these issues you mention. As far as we could tell, we installed them 100% correctly. We've never gone back to try again, and see if maybe we just had a bad batch, or some real bad luck, or something.

Re: pic: Anderson motor disconnects
 

Ok, we should try and get together sometime and see if we can figure out what went bad.