[NSRCA-discussion] Fw: bullets

Wed Mar 30 11:13:37 AKDT 2011

Oops - sent to Verne only.

Earl
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "ehaury" <ejhaury at comcast.net>
To: <verne at twmi.rr.com>
Sent: Wednesday, March 30, 2011 2:08 PM
Subject: Re: [NSRCA-discussion] bullets

> Verne - that'd get one's attention! (Must have been a heck of an arc.)
>
> If one "leads" with the perpendicular buss the spring can catch on the 
> opening of the mating connector and be pushed into the other buss. I've 
> not done this, but I hear that the spring is instantly vaporized 
> generating the colors Mike described. Also mentioned was that it felt sort 
> of like grabbing the arc of a welder. All this is generally prevented by 
> leading with the parallel connector which provides a favorable angle for 
> the perpendicular spring to enter the opening without catching.
>
> Earl
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: <verne at twmi.rr.com>
> To: "General pattern discussion" <nsrca-discussion at lists.nsrca.org>
> Cc: "ehaury" <ejhaury at comcast.net>
> Sent: Wednesday, March 30, 2011 1:22 PM
> Subject: Re: [NSRCA-discussion] bullets
>
>
> The final straw for me on the Deans Ultra's was when a leaf spring blew 
> off from the arc one time when I was connecting a battery. It was 
> dangerously close to shorting out on the other contact. You've never seen 
> a wire cut off a connector that fast!
>
> Verne
>
>
> ---- ehaury <ejhaury at comcast.net> wrote:
>
> =============
> Let's leave the DWT alone!
>
> I'll chime in with a different perspective on connectors though. As
> mentioned, there can be a good deal of variance with bullets. Providing 
> good
> tension isn't easy and maintaining it over repeated use is even more
> difficult. Some designs work better than others and folks experiencing 
> good
> service have done their homework. Bullets are also easy to solder to heavy
> gauge leads.
>
> OTOH - I've very good service from the Deans Ultra. The attractive part of
> the design (to me) is that they're simply buss bars held together with
> spring tension. The surface area of the bars is way more than we need for
> contact and the thickness is plenty for handling the amps. They do get a
> little nasty looking on the ends - but I haven't found that to 
> significantly
> reduce contact area or function. In cutting the "female" side apart after
> 1000+ flights I found no degradation of anything except the entrance end
> where the arc occurs, the wear pattern demonstrated full contact. They are
> more difficult to solder leads to and can easily be ruined in the process.
> If the plastic is melted allowing the bar to become misaligned, full 
> contact
> will not be achieved.
>
> Also , either connecter will benefit from an occasional cleaning with a 
> good
> contact cleaner.
>
> Great to have choices!
>
> Earl
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Ronald Van Putte" <vanputte at cox.net>
> To: "General pattern discussion" <nsrca-discussion at lists.nsrca.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, March 30, 2011 9:15 AM
> Subject: Re: [NSRCA-discussion] bullets
>
>
> I am definitely not going to argue with Verne on this one.  He's had
> more experience than I do on this subject.  However, if somebody
> wants to debate the "downwind turn", let's get started.  <vbg>
>
> Ron
>
> On Mar 30, 2011, at 8:42 AM, <verne at twmi.rr.com> wrote:
>
>> FWIW, the 5.5 mm connectors I used were of the slotted variety. I  ended
>> up abandoning those after discovering too much variance from  one
>> manufacturer to the next and sometimes within the same  manufacturer. I
>> had connectors that ranged all the way from too  loose to make a good
>> connection to so tight that you couldn't put  them together. The bulge 
>> you
>> mention in the 4mm connectors is  actually the "spring" that compensates
>> for slight tolerance  variances. I agree that there's not as much contact
>> area as the  slotted type, but it comes down to how much is enough? From
>> my  experience, the 4mm work just fine without the hassle of trying to
>> find connectors to match what you've already got on all your  batteries,
>> charge leads, and so on. It gets a little pricey to  start all over and
>> I've done it twice. With the 4mm, I just add as  I go without a hitch.
>>
>> Verne
>>
>>
>>
>> ---- Ronald Van Putte <vanputte at cox.net> wrote:
>>
>> =============
>> I have gotten these "no bulge/slotted design" connectors from two
>> sources:  HobbyKing and BidProduct.  You have to look at the pictures
>> carefully to see that they are the "no bulge/slotted design".
>>
>> I really like BidProduct for acquiring large quantities of the
>> smaller items, like connectors, extensions and hardware for my small
>> hobby shop.  Many items can be purchased with free shipping.
>>
>> Ron
>>
>> On Mar 30, 2011, at 4:09 AM, Houdini76 at aol.com wrote:
>>
>>> Ron, what brand of connectors has the no bulge/slotted design?  Do
>>> you use 4, 5 or 6mm?
>>>
>>> Rob
>>>
>>>
>>> In a message dated 3/29/2011 8:01:08 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
>>> vanputte at cox.net writes:
>>> Good stuff Verne.
>>>
>>> I have noticed the difference in bullet connector design.  I used
>>> to buy 3.5mm bullet connectors which had a "bulge" in the center of
>>> the male part.  Recently, I noticed some 3.5mm bullet connectors
>>> which had no "bulge" in the male part.  They push into the female
>>> part because there's a chamfer on the tip of the male part, which
>>> compresses the slotted male connector so it will fit into the
>>> female part.  The big advantage of this design is that virtually
>>> all of the connector is mated with the other half, unlike the ones
>>> with a "bulge", which have significantly reduced contact area.
>>> Then I noticed that you can buy this same design in 4mm, 5mm and
>>> 6mm bullet connectors.  My opinion - these are far superior.
>>>
>>> Ron
>>>
>>> On Mar 29, 2011, at 6:30 PM, Verne Koester wrote:
>>>
>>>> Jerry,
>>>>
>>>> I started out with Deans Ultra’s. They worked fine but didn’t wear
>>>> too well. The arc from connecting them together was really chewing
>>>> them up. Then I switched to 5.5mm bullets. Those worked great and
>>>> the arc did damage where it didn’t matter. The problem I
>>>> discovered later was when I needed some more. Not all 5.5mm are
>>>> created equal and I ran into some serious fit problems from one
>>>> batch to the next. I noticed that most of the Europeans were using
>>>> 4mm bullets. These are made a little different than the 5.5mm
>>>> and     have more “spring” in them so the tolerances don’t have to
>>>> be so close. Like the 5.5mm bullets, the arc damage happens on the
>>>> very tip which is not part of the actual electrical connection.
>>>> I’ve been very happy with the 4mm bullets and will be starting my
>>>> third season with them. BTW, I never noticed any power changes
>>>> from the Deans to the 5.5’s to the 4’s. Hope this helps.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Verne Koester
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> From: nsrca-discussion-bounces at lists.nsrca.org [mailto:nsrca-
>>>> discussion-bounces at lists.nsrca.org] On Behalf Of Jerry Stebbins
>>>> Sent: Tuesday, March 29, 2011 5:29 PM
>>>> To: Discussion -NSRCA
>>>> Subject: [NSRCA-discussion] bullets
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> All E's. What size bullets have you settled on for your packs/ESC
>>>> connections? Seems like something that would sorta get
>>>> standardized after a lot of 70A usage. I have heard from 3.5 to
>>>> 6.0. Would think it would work itself out to support the nominal
>>>> max. I that most see. I am sure 3D needs all they can get but for
>>>> AMA/FAI patterns seems like it otta round off pretty close for
>>>> most using 5s packs.
>>>>
>>>> Thanks ahead
>>>>
>>>> Jerry
>>>>
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>>>
>>> =
>>>
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