HobbyKing XT90 plugs

[anotherkiwi]

Are the HobbyKing XT90 plugs a good choice for replacing Anderson plugs as a battery connection?

I want a standard plug at the controller into which I can plug my two battery leads. As I will be ordering from HK I thought I might as well buy there and these are the plugs on my battery packs and series cable.

 

[awol]

Are the HobbyKing XT90 plugs a good choice for replacing Anderson plugs as a battery connection?

I want a standard plug at the controller into which I can plug my two battery leads. As I will be ordering from HK I thought I might as well buy there and these are the plugs on my battery packs and series cable.

I use XT90 and think they are better for regular connect/dissconnect's than Anderson's. Unless your good at soldering to the thick battery wire though I would suggest the small cables which change from battery style plug one end and XT90 the other.
Also you can leave the controller plug as Anderson as you won't need to disconnect that one and make a seriel lead with XT90's the battery ends as they are the only ones you will be disconnecting from all the time.

 

[anotherkiwi]

OK thanks just what the doctor ordered. It is for swapping between the Li-ION bottle battery and the Lipo pack at the controller end of the battery leads. I think my big soldering iron is up to the task, my soldering technique may be a little rusty on the big stuff after all those years of fiddly electronics

 

[trex]

anderson for me. Impossible to make mistake.

 

[anotherkiwi]

I know what you mean but the day I fry a controller or worse a battery because I plug in backwards (because I have 3.5 g alcohol in my blood for example) I deserve it...

 

[Nealh]

XT's not a problem as long as you solder the polarity correctly they cannot be connected in correctly.
XT60's and 14awg is more then ample in most cases for our usage, we are unlikely to pull 60 amps let alone half of that. The main reason for the larger XT90 is for the RC heli boys who pull huuuge amps with their multi rotors. We can make 10s 6ah battery last 45 - 60 mins or so they on the other hand only get 6 - 9 mins worth out of them and that is with 40 or 60c discharge. I find the XT90 too bulky and use XT60 on all connections.

 

[anotherkiwi]

Thanks once more!

 

[awol]

XT60's and 14awg is more then ample in most cases for our usage, we are unlikely to pull 60 amps let alone half of that.

Oops,I've just checked my purchase history and it is XT60 I bought too.
One thing I found with them though was they were initially a bit stiff to connect/disconnect and needed to gently rub the end of the plug with sandpaper to loosen it a bit.
I do find Andersons easier to solder and make though.

 

[trex]

I crimp all my cables, piece of cake to work with andersons.
Andersons have flat contact area, very repeatable pulling force, producing pratically no spark whatever the power.

 

[shemozzle999]

I prefer EC3 connectors for several reasons.

As the connectors are supplied loose you cannot melt the body if excessive heat is applied when soldering as you can with XTxx's .

You can prepare the cable one at a time i.e. strip, tin and trim to length the wire ends so that they exactly fill the connector when soldered leaving no bare wires exposed, thus not requiring heat shrink tubing.

When soldering you can plug the male and females pins together and clamp one end in a vice then solder the other having two hands free to do it.

What initially puts people off these connector are that the pins are a very tight fit in the body and it takes a lot of force to insert them into the body of the connector this can easily be overcome by pre heating up the body in boiling water before trying to assemble.