Anderson Power pole connectors? Good?

[Bigjim]

I've been looking for quality connectors for electric work on the boat and most items I can get in the regular stores are average at best with average results.

I have been looking for connectors that are removable and stumbled across these Anderson connectors:

https://www.samkear.com/hardware/bui...ibution-center

They seemed ideal online. So I bought a set with a special crimping tool. I'm building a solar power array and need to be able to disconnect the wires when storing the array. Nothing I've found until now had much promise. These connectors look like a good choice. Does anyone have experience with them? Or have another product to recommend?

[tkeithlu]

Anderson connectors are the standard for portable 12V DC wiring. If you are using them where they are exposed to salt spray, I recommend a tiny dab of conductive grease on each connection.

[slug]

I don’t know your application or fittings

For small electric fitting I alway use WURTH

They supply industry

The catalogue has millions of fittings

WURTH also has a large dealer network

If WURTH is in your town have a look

Section 3 Electrical—Page 106

[Sternwake]

I make wide use of Anderson Powerpoles with the 45 amp contacts. The 15 and 30 amp plastic housings are the same, its just the contacts inside which differ, and only where they crimp upon the intended wire size. They, 15/30/45, will all mate with each other.

Larger size/amperage Andersons are not called 'powerpoles', but they do use the same stainless steel leaf spring design, pushing the U shaped hook contacts tightly together. The 75 amp might be an exception, the housing is much larger but same general shape as the 15/30/45

I can and do regularly ask the 45's to pass 40 amps for hours on end, they get only slightly warm and barely any warmer than surrounding wire. While the 45's say they can use wire as thick as 10AWG, I feed them 8awg, just destranding them at the crimp point. I no longer bother with anything but the 45 amp contacts, even when I use them on 18awg or thinner, but that is rare, usually 8 or 10awg.

I have started my engine through a Pair of 45 amp Anderson powerpoles in parallel and could not feel any heat coming from that relatively brief ~180 amp load. After watching the video below I decided I could do so without wasting the connectors.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeTTw9i8WEc

The special Anderson crimper is almost a requirement for the 45 amp contacts, and one can still mess these up as the contact's 'wings' need to be tilted slightly towards the crimper's hinge before inserting the wire into the contact withint he crimp dies. The plastic bit on the special crimper is only for depth control of the contact. Kind of idiot proofing the method. I believe standard 'buttcheek' crimpers can be used, but have not tried them. The special crimper accepts all sorts of different dies, and one can buy 'anderson' dies, but these do not appear to come with the plastic portion which holds the U shaped hook of the contact while crimping, which with enough practice can be considered unnecessary, only helpful.
If one already has a ratcheting crimper with the 'buttcheek' dies, they can likely get away without the special anderson crimper, but might have a few unideal crimps that cause some misalignment of the contacts within the mated housings.

I am a bit of belt and suspenders and maybe another belt type of guy, so after crimping, I tend to tilt the U hooks up, and cover the seam and the end of the stranding with some solder for good measure and quickly wipe off any flux residue.

8AWG wire insulation will not fit inside the housing, so I take a razor blade and with it inserted into the housing until the insulation stops it, cut the insulation into a tapered square shape so that it can be pushed inside and make the 'click'. If done well, this can prevent moisture entry from this end.

Anderson powerpoles are not waterproof connections, but can approach that ideal with some shoogoo on the wire insulation end and stuffed with Dielectric grease on the mating ends. They can be pulled apart pretty easily, sometimes too easily. The roll pin that locks the dovetails together are 2.5mm, and there are easily lost and overpriced locking devices which bridge these holes and hold the connector together. I often use blue painters tape to lock them for any given temporary task.

One can orient the contact position differently compared to the next guy via the dovetails on the housings. While the wires can be flexed to move around to get the dovetails to align as desired, its best if one develops a method where one where there is no stress on the wire insulation and copper stranding beneath when the dovetails are mated. I like to keep the red on the left and crimp it first. You'll understand once doing it.

I guess their patent ran out as there are a bunch of powerpole Clones on the market. I have tried a few, both unknowingly and knowingly. They mate fine side by side or end to end with the Originals, and some of the clones seem to require more force to connect or disconnect than the originals. Some of these clones also come with boots for the plugs and the roll pins or locking devices, but otherwise are not significantly cheaper than genuine Andersons. I have no issues using the clones I've tried so far from both Amazon and Ebay, and when they come with the connector boots or roll pins or locking devices, well those are always handy.

Anderson does sell versions with silver coated contacts instead of tin.

My only Anderson PP failures have been from my errors. I did not get the special crimper at first, just used other crimping dies to try and get a proper looking 'buttcheek' crimp, and often did not destrand the 8AWG enough, and the contact was able to be pulled off the wire either immediately or with several heating cycles. The other failures are separating the connector with one hand caveman style, and breaking off the ends of the plastic housings after hundreds of cycles.

I do cut off MC4 connectors and use Andersons instead. I always try to face panel away from sun when connecting or disconnecting, and use the locking clip when there is danger of disconnecting under load especially on the controller to battery portion of the circuit but disconnecting a panel from controller under load is not desirable in my opinion either, and I try to avoid it.

The little locking clips are so darned expensive for what they are I have ordered a bunch of 25mm long 2.5mm roll pins and plan to make my own locking clips with some hardwood or perhaps just use a twist tie.

My only regret with Anderson powerpoles is not having gotten the special crimper earlier, and by not adopting the Anderson powerpoles sooner as my widespread connector of choice. I used to use the 12v SAE connectors which were extremely problem prone, and would get scorching hot passing 25 amps over '10 gauge' but SAE guage is 6 to 12% thinner than AWG too.

The only powerpoles to generate excessive heat were those I assembled on 8AWG before acquiring the special crimper, and I still have many in operation from that time.

If one does solder over the crimps, make sure to not allow any solder to approach the U shaped portion of the contact where they are hook together, and do not use too much or it will inhibit inserting the contact within the housings.

I am impressed that such a generally small cross section of copper that makes up the business end of the connection, can pass 40+ amps for so long with little heating.

The other popular connectors are the XT60 or 'Deans', which have to be soldered. These are a much cheaper option, but more prone to human error when assembling them. I have no experience with them. I looked hard at them when I decided to phase out the problem prone SAE 12v connectors, but chose Andersons, and after several years, no regrets, other than not acquiring the special crimper sooner, and not employing the Anderson's sooner.

I pretty much employ them everywhere, even in places where they will rarely be disconnected, like at the blower motor of my vehicle. I like being able to use a RC style 'wattmeter' inline to see how much voltage is reaching the connector and how much amperage the device is drawing at different voltages.



Lots of clones of these devices too. Some of them come with 8AWG leads.

Anderson powerpoles are not perfect, but I believe them to be among the top products available for their intended task. Human error has been their only downfall in my experience, and I've outlined my mistakes so hopefully others can avoid them.

[Jammer]

Originally Posted by Bigjim

Does anyone have experience with them? Or have another product to recommend?

I have used them extensively both professionally in land mobile radio systems and for my own purposes. They're some of the best available -- genderless, small, easy to assemble, easy to connect, easy to disconnect, reliable. They can be assembled into multi-contact assemblies when necessary. Great product all around.


As noted upthread, you do need a suitable crimp tool, and they are not intended to be weatherproof. There are inexpensive aftermarket crimp tools. I have this one, works well: https://powerwerx.com/tricrimp-power...-crimping-tool


For an environmentally sealed connector of similar size, you could use the Weather Pack terminals. They are widely used in automotive applications, under the hood and in the exposed part of the chassis:


https://www.delcity.net/store/Weathe...09164.h_809165


They are not as convenient to use however.




I use the Anderson SB50 connectors for the connection between my outboard motor and its battery. They handle larger wire sizes and higher currents:


https://powerwerx.com/anderson-sb-connectors-sb50-50amp


There is an environmental boot for these that provides modest protection against weather and spray:



https://powerwerx.com/anderson-36055...al-boot-source

[Discovery 15797]

Anderson powerpoles are excellent connectors and I use them exclusively on all my amateur radio gear.

I would not recommend them for external connections exposed to weather. They are not designed for that environment.

If you are looking for quick disconnects for your solar arrays I would highly recommend MC4 connectors. They are designed specifically for solar cables and specifically intended for exposure to the elements.

https://www.custommarineproducts.com...onnectors.html

[Uncle Bob]

Originally Posted by Bigjim

I've been looking for quality connectors for electric work on the boat and most items I can get in the regular stores are average at best with average results.

I have been looking for connectors that are removable and stumbled across these Anderson connectors:

https://www.samkear.com/hardware/bui...ibution-center

They seemed ideal online. So I bought a set with a special crimping tool. I'm building a solar power array and need to be able to disconnect the wires when storing the array. Nothing I've found until now had much promise. These connectors look like a good choice. Does anyone have experience with them? Or have another product to recommend?

Hi, have used them for a number of jobs over the years and only have one thing to say about them, bloody brilliant!

[ikanode]

I agree with the positive comments above. I've had good luck with them outdoors and in a greenhouse but haven't had them in a salt water situation.

The only improvement I'd like to see is some sort of strain relief especially for smaller wires. I wrap electrical tape around the wire and then partway over the connector to move the flex point away from the connection.

[ayates]

I really like these, and use them exclusively (so far) for connections that are protected in some fashion (i.e. in cabinetry, etc). I use the 15/30/45A connectors, as well as the 75A in the case where I needed 6 AWG cable. I like that the connectors for different wire gauges will mate, as well as the colour coding capability and stacking. I purchase exclusively from https://powerwerx.com/ and they carry the silver plated contacts in some sizes. I use the small plastic retention clips, as well as the large BLOK-LOK clamps.

I do wish there was a strain relief option, as well as an integral retention mechanism.


Allan.

[Gypsyjon]

Originally Posted by Bigjim

I've been looking for quality connectors for electric work on the boat and most items I can get in the regular stores are average at best with average results.

I have been looking for connectors that are removable and stumbled across these Anderson connectors:

https://www.samkear.com/hardware/bui...ibution-center

They seemed ideal online. So I bought a set with a special crimping tool. I'm building a solar power array and need to be able to disconnect the wires when storing the array. Nothing I've found until now had much promise. These connectors look like a good choice. Does anyone have experience with them? Or have another product to recommend?

Anderson Powerpoles are almost the defacto standard with ham radio operators like me. They are GREAT!!

[stormalong]

I also use them for ham radio and on the boat. There is a standard on how to orient them for ham radio so your equipment is compatible with other ham's equipment for emergencies and field day (google it). I recommend that you carry that standard through to your boat, just for compatibility. There are lots of youtube videos on how to assemble them.

+1 on getting the proper crimping tool. If you already have a ratcheting crimper with removable dies you can just get the dies for a much lower cost. I have tried to attach these without the proper crimper and assembling the connector just won't work.

[Calaban-Alleria]

Glad to see this topic come up - I just came across the ideal of Anderson connectors and they seem like an attractive and robust system for non-water proof DC connections. Question though - does anyone know if there is a holder of sorts to mount them through a partition in the cabin?


I have several of the "cigarette lighter" (ISO 4165) style outlets that I might like to replace if I can find something suitable I can purchase from Canada.

[ayates]

Originally Posted by Calaban-Alleria

Question though - does anyone know if there is a holder of sorts to mount them through a partition in the cabin?

While not in Canada, PowerWerx has a variety of panel mount adapters: https://powerwerx.com/anderson-power...0&pageNumber=1

They will ship to Canada via US Post.


Allan.

[Calaban-Alleria]

Originally Posted by ayates

While not in Canada, PowerWerx has a variety of panel mount adapters: https://powerwerx.com/anderson-power...0&pageNumber=1

They will ship to Canada via US Post.


Allan.

NICE! I'll check that out!

[Bill Seal]

The Aussies, being smarter than us in the "right side up" world have several manufacturers
https://www.etsy.com/listing/7504174...cepanel-mount?
is one, try using the keyword :caravan