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Re: [TowerTalk] PowerPole connectors

To: towertalk@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] PowerPole connectors
From: Jim Lux <jimlux@earthlink.net>
Date: Mon, 17 Nov 2014 15:26:06 -0800
List-post: <towertalk@contesting.com">mailto:towertalk@contesting.com>
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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