Deans are killing my fingers!!!

jes1111

Active Member
I feel your pain. The REAL Deans can be tough to pull apart because of the smooth housing.
Some of the Deans Copy cats have little ridges on them which really helps, but I don't trust them.
Try this:
Take a pencil soldering iron, get it nice and hot and use the sharp point to make some VERY SMALL indentations on both sides of the Deans housing.
Works GREAT. Now there is much more grip and they pull apart way easier.
Or just use a better connector that doesn't have any of the problems that the Deans design has, and many advantages - like Anderson PowerPoles. :)

http://www.powerwerx.com/anderson-powerpoles/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcLXn1zcB08
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o31iuOcQ-jo
 


Chalagi

Member
The real deans male and female will cost more tham that and then you have to deal with the soldering. I gave up and deans a couple of years ago flying T-Rex's.
 

kloner

Aerial DP
the real ones are $3.99 a pair, $5.99 for the 2 pair packs at the local hobby shop, $.99 a pair at servo city...... They all work fine at this level..... soldered right they slip apart.....
 

kloner

Aerial DP
and this is just my fpv packs. Also got another group like this of 3d plank lipos,,,,

i.php
 

jes1111

Active Member
Well, I only gave the Powerwerx link as an easy place to learn about the range. You can buy them from Mouser and many other electronics sources much cheaper, but you have to be familiar with the range to order the right individual parts.

But I don't think one should be sensitive to price on connectors. Along with bearings and soldering, the connectors are right up there at the top of the list of "how to make a reliable multirotor". A few extra dollars on truly good connectors (that are used widely in industry) should repay itself many times over.
 

jes1111

Active Member
Much quicker to fit than any of the soldered types, so long as you get the proper crimping tool. So re-plugging all your batteries should only take a couple of hours, Kloner ;)
 







jes1111

Active Member
Wow! I'm amazed that someone would come up with such an ingenious solution just to make a poor connector usable! ;)

I just don't "get" Deans at all. Where's the advantage? What outstanding quality do they have that makes them worthwhile? Ease of soldering? No! Current carrying capability? No! Lockable? No! Stackable? No! Keyable? No! Mountable? No! Colour codable? No! Industry proven? No! ... so WHY?

In fact, the combination of any soldered connector with flexible multistrand wire is a PITA - the solder soaks down the length of the wire, under the insulation, thereby making the first section of your wire either side of your "compact" connector stiff (and therefore fragile).
 

kloner

Aerial DP
everything you say no to i dissagree with. Totaly easy to solder, just gotta know how, all it involves is plugging it into a plug and solder as a group, not single... super simple, did 7 batteries last night in 3 minutes, max

i run 60 amps the whole pack, never had a brown out, in fact if it's limiting it, thank god cause my flights are short enough

totaly stackable and there super simple to make series/paralel adapters with. They solder to themselves super easy

Color, the red and black wires not enough? i'm so used to looking at positive and negative it's like wiping my but to put them together right. Only plugs on a pack i fry are the balance plugs from charging in not enough light

Industry Proven, Are you kidding? I bet theres been 10's of millions if not 100's of millions of em sold. If there not working it's cause they weren't plugged together when they were soldered, super simple, any solder jig has the plugs built in, pretty much an industry standard. As of 3 years ago when deans threatened lawsuits to everybody cloning there design, every pack you bought came standard with deans

You need a new solder iron if those really are your problems. My tip weller has the solder wet throughout within 15 seconds, my 400 watt gun has it soaked out in 3-4 seconds. Man, what work

personally i wouldn't want something crimped only, it breaks wire not done properly and leaves the chance of a loose wire getting uncoiled from the strand and able to hit the apposing side. I make every wire to length on everything with crimp on servo ends, there all soldered after crimping because ive had the wires do so..... every wire, whole builds, times alot

Although if i was drawing a considerable amount of amps and needed these, they'd be my first choice but to say there the only thing that works is being a ostrich with your head in the sand. might be all you use, but man, i'm talking millions of deans are in service, have been for years and work fine

I used to not get it... think i lost two models to brownouts from bad plug soldering, but dude, your talking to a guy that's had 12x 600 or bigger helis and litteraly 50+ planks in the last 6 years.... Every single one had a deans on it..... even back in the late 80's when i raced cars i had deans plugs, different but none the less......
 

jes1111

Active Member
I understand all your defense - they work for you and you're obviously very skilled in using them. But I didn't say that Anderson's are the only thing that work :)

I'm a very recent entrant to the RC world - never done anything but MRs. So I looked at the full range of available connectors and have gone hunting for the pros and cons by reading forums as well as buying/trying many of them. Starting from a clean-sheet, so to speak, Anderson PowerPoles get my vote as the most effective and the safest choice. My comments about Deans were not to convince you to change but rather to alert other readers (now and in the future) that one of the best connector systems available is from outside the RC world, so they might not know about it and understand its advantages.
 

kloner

Aerial DP
you went the right way for what your doing.... no doubt. an x8 carrying heavy loads is gonna need something solid and dependable and that's awesome. The problem i have is the crappy site doesn't just say use this on 12 gauge wire up to x amps and this is everything you need to do 10... i see it say $11.99 a pair, theres 30 to choose from, etc.


I'm gonna need some when i get my x8 going shortly so trust me, your my guy i'll be asking to help figure this mess out

to the OP, heres how deans are when there right.


most of these guys especialy with a 450 in the avatar are hitting a max of 20-25 amps cont on 3s....... there just not int he same league and don't need much than what the lhs has for stuff like this. I'm at the end of that line now and it took me a year start maxing out the plugs with a 450 by constantly holding up at a 45 degree angle for minutes on end
 
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kloner

Aerial DP
heres a sweet example of how easy they are to get apart, 2:04 was a lipo departure. This was my very first quad flight ever... was so pissed, took 2 weeks to get new motors and props back then,,,,


sometimes you wish they were harder to seperate when your around em enough
 
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