Due to my poor planning, the electrical board is way to far from the battery moun to reach with the stock wire lengths. We have plenty of spare connectors, but i dont want to waste them. Also, since there is no easy/ reliable way to soldier the 6AWG wire i am running out of options. How do you take the anderson power connectors apart, so we can re attach a longer section.
Thanks
Marcus
hope this helps…
You can use a screwdriver.
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showpost.php?p=303962&postcount=23
Marcus,
Unless you have the correct crimp tool for an Anderson connector, do not do this!
I am assuming that you have no “special” tools: Go to your local Lowes or Home Depot and get a wire nut sized for 2 * 6AWG and extend the wires that way.
Regards,
Wire nuts are not something i would recommend using. Powerwerx sells contacts for the SB50’s that do not require a special crimper (you can use the standard crimper that used to come in the kit a few years ago). The anderson contacts that come on the 6 ga wires from the kits require a special roll crimper. It would be far better to crimp a ring terminal on the two wires you need to connect, and then put a bolt through it and heatshrink them than using a wire nut. Also, with a good enough soldering iron you should be able to solder the connection. All our 6 ga connections are soldered, using a team member’s metcal iron.
Splicing in new wire, joining two ring terminals by bolt, or using wire nuts is a very low quality way of doing this and I would not recommend it. Also, the special crimper is not required for making the conection. Put the contact in a vise (lightly, just enought to hold) and then heat it up with a torch, (we have used a full size propane torch, but a butane pencil torch may work.) Then fill the “cup” with solder about 1/3 of the way. Then “tin” your wire with solder. Then heat up the “cup” again and drop the wire in, and feed in more solder until it just is about to overflow. This works great if it is done right. Just don’t clamp the vise on the contact and don’t het it up so much the contact surface gets burned.
Marcus,
If you go here…
http://www.powerwerx.com/techdata/assembly-anderson.pdf
you will find all the data you need for these connectors including how to disassemble and solder. Although all of the splice methods outlined above work they introduce one more failure point in your robot. Since this is primary wiring, I recommend you remake the cable and connector with the lengths you need. We remade some just last night using the 5900 high detent contact. One of our ratchet style crimp tools did a nice job on crimping the body around the #6 wire which we followed with a solder job using a large tip 45 watt iron. Remember that a good soldered connection is one that starts as a good mechanical connection.
You can also check out the family brochure at http://www.powerwerx.com/techdata/SB50-family.pdf
Just to explain better (since I did this 3 times to put them on our battery connectors) and I found it very hard to push in if you just soldered on top of the connector.
You get two people and a small screwdriver. One person goes to the front end and pushes the pin up off where it is, the other pulls out on the wire. It should pop out pretty easily. Then what we did was cut the wire as close as we could and drilled out the copper wire that was left within the clip (we use a small bit and afterwards the rest just fell out). We then drove a small flat head screw driver between the (now empty) clip to widen it a little bit. We then stripped a 6 gauge wire pushed it into the empty, widened clip (not quite as easy as it sounds). Then we crimped the clip (more of squeezed it with a pair of pliers) and soldered the wire to the connector. Then just push the connector back in and you’ll feel it pop in. Now just do the same thing with the other side and you’re done. :yikes:
If you have any questions or I didn’t explain myself, feel free to ask. 