Why don't more people use Dean/Traxxas connectors?

ESK8 Electronics
1

I have seen that most of the builds here show banana connectors or some other weird battery connectors to the ESC. Why aren’t Deans connectors more popular?

2

I’m pretty sure a lot of the people here use either deans connectors or xt60 connectors, but you can use whatever you want as long as it can handle the current.

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3

So that’s what those are. I never saw them before.

4

In my experience, Deans are difficult to solder. Xt60 or xt90 are considerably easier to solder correctly.

5

Yeah I do not know what you are talking about, there is a way to solder correctly and I don’t feel that deans are exceptions. Just my opinion,

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6

Hobby King wrote in the product description

7

I use Deans connectors on all my builds simply because they are so compact.

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8

i exclusively use 5.5mm bullet connectors with 10 gauge wire, and 4mm bullet connectors on 12 gauge wire. This is purely a personal preference, as all of these connectors mentioned above are just fine. Here’s why i do what i do:

  • i needed to settle on a standard for my builds, so i chose the one i was currently using already.
  • i prefer individual connectors on each wire over paired wire connectors for cable management reasons. sometimes its neater in the box to run pos and neg lines down opposite sides.
  • they’re cheap and i have a bunch of them already
  • soldering isn’t something i mind doing, in fact i rather enjoy it, so filling up a wire cavity with that cheap crap lead free spool i’m trying to get rid of works out great for me. Sure as hell can’t do smd shit with it, so lets fill holes with it instead.
  • i just bought some nice crimps that havn’t arrived yet, so in the past i didn’t want to bother with connectors that require quality crimping since i didn’t have the tools.
  • a lot of ESCs use these 5.5s battery side and 4s on the motor side, but @onloop 's motors use 5.5s as well, so modifications have to happen anyway
  • they don’t take up any more space in the box than the actual wire itself. On a 10 awg wire with a 5.5mm connector, it might add an additional milimeter to the total diameter of the wire. Once its taped or heat shrinked over, it leaves things clean and polished.

downsides:

Only downside is the possibility of wires flopping around and shorting. Keep the leads taped as you’re working on things and its not an issue. I’ve only arced and sparked once, and of course it had to be right as my wife was walking by with the baby, so clearly it happens all the time and i should be careful and don’t burn the house down.

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9

ummm are we talking about battery connectors or what?

10

I like 5.5mm bullet connectors. Easy to solder and big enough. XT60 I can’t be as maneuverable with the wires but XT60/XT90/EC5 aren’t bad either. Those would be my second option.

I tend to use 4mm HXT series connector for a series connector since they seem to be the standard for most RC lipo packs.

11

I use deans on all the internal connections for my build, and they’ve been rock-solid. Yes, they require a little bit more soldering skill than xt60 or xt90. I’ve had no issues with them at all though. I took some time to practice soldering them. They are cheap, reliable, and above all else; small! xt60s were too big for my planned build, and the xt90s I bought were both giant and also really hard to disconnect. I also like that they are foolproof in terms of making the right connection when plugging them in; I don’t trust myself to have batteries with separated connectors!

Like @longhairedboy and @claudiofiore88 mention, just choosing one connector type and sticking with it is half of the battle.

12

I did use Deans connectors on my build, but switched them to the xt90 antispark connectors because I was tired of the spark. I’m about to put together Benjamin Vedder’s Antispark circuit. If it works well I might switch back to Deans, but xt60’s and xt90’s are WAY easier to solder IMO.

13

I use deans connector to make them a little easier to solder I drill holes it the tab just lage enough to put my wire through IMO it makes the connection stronger as well.

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14

I am the minority! I use traxxas cuz they handle the current, theyre easy to solder and i have a whole lot of them :slight_smile:

I now use xt60 eff traxxas

15

is there any housing for 4mm bullet connectors? like EC5 i see theres for 3.5 but will those fit on the 4mm connectors? same question for CE5, will they work on 5.5mm connectors?

16

i think you can buy coupled housings for 5.5mm bullets but i don’t use them. Instead i heat shrink the individual connections.

17

HXT4mm

… or just heatshrink