Quote:
Originally Posted by rich2202
We have fried our share of Dlinks because of reverse polarity of the power connector. Any thoughts on putting a diode in the power cord to prevent current in the event of reverse polarity?
1) Anything in the rules that would prevent that (alter the power path, custom circuit to supply power, etc.)?
2) Is the voltage drop across the diode a problem? I think Schottky diodes have a 0.40 volt drop.
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I wouldn't recommend it because it could cause problems and I'm uncertain of the legality BUT I do have a suggestion for you. Don't use bare wires or rely on the often hard to see striping on the radio power cable. Use Anderson Power Poles on the ends of the wires and then run pigtails back to their respective ends (barrel jack pigtail for the radio and 24/22 AWG pigtail for the other). We then "key" the Anderson powerpoles differently based on 12v or 5v power. We haven't had any issues with blown components since we started doing this.
EDIT: To be clear, we use both red and black APP connectors to identify the polarity.