Considering costs: If you need big amp (50 to 350 amp) connectors then
SB series PPs are a terrific deal compared to any alternative I've
seen. I use them on winches on my ATV and backhoe and they are pretty
much the standard for battery connections inside UPS systems.
Grant KZ1W
On 11/17/2014 3:26 PM, Jim Lux wrote:
On 11/17/14, 12:47 PM, Bill Turner wrote:
------------ ORIGINAL MESSAGE ------------(may be snipped)
On Mon, 17 Nov 2014 11:13:18 -0800, Thomas wrote:
What happens if I bring a piece of equipment to your shack/Field Day
Op or you bring one to mine?
The Emcomm world has pretty much standardized on PP with an agreed
polarity just for this reason — everything works everywhere.
REPLY:
I'm not against standardization, I just don't think PP is the best
answer, mainly because they are proprietary and overpriced.
Proprietary is an issue.. you can't just run down to the local auto
parts store and buy them.
In small quantities, 1 pair of connectors (1 red housing, 1 black
house, roll pin, 2 contacts) runs $1. In 100 qty, it's more like $0.70.
StaKon ring lugs from #8 screws are 66.45/100 from Grainger for the
blue AWG 12-14, that's $0.66 each. So to wire up two wires, it would
be $1.32, which is *more* than the power pole.
Digikey is a bit cheaper for uninsulated ones from AMP, at least in
that sort of quantity. I'm sure you can find even cheaper ones on
alibaba, especially if you're willing to take a container load<grin>.
Or, you can haunt the surplus places and find them, but that's not
really an apples to apples comparison.
And you need to have multiple sizes of ring lugs for different wire
sizes.
From a mate/demate time standpoint, the powerpoles win hands down. 1
second would be doing it slowly.
Spade lug and captive screws on a terminal strip with a power
screwdriver might be able to do a wire in a few seconds.
Ring lugs, with a hand screwdriver, standing on a ladder or tower, and
you drop the screw?
I think that the various crimp/solder lugs are all about the same
assembly time. Once you've done a few, they're fast. It's mostly
about the wire prep: get the strip length right, mostly; and that
applies for all the lugs or connections.
If they
become generic and available everywhere cheaply I might change my
mind. Until then, ordinary crimp terminals do the job just fine.
That is the sole reason I can see to not use PP. And I have had to
cut power poles off and use an alternate strategy (twist wires and
tape, as it happened). But that's because I had no tools and no
supplies. If I had even my smallest collection of tools, there's a
bunch of PP housings and pins down in the bottom of the tote that have
fallen out of the bag that could be pressed into service.
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