[TowerTalk] static

[Jim Lux]

On 7/7/13 5:15 AM, K1TTT wrote:
> I use molex inside... but if you take a close look at powerpoles you will
> find that it is easy to assembly custom polarized connectors with just about
> any number of wires you want.  The trick is you have to realize that the
> sides of the connectors are meant to be locked together with the little
> dovetail joints.  And since there are dovetails on all 4 sides they can be
> polarized by turning one 90 degrees from the other(s) so they will only go
> together one way.  After sliding a couple together you can lock them with a
> wire through the little half rounds near the bottom that line up to form a
> nice little locking hole or for more permanent applications use a drop of
> glue.


Very clever..  I had accidentally done this, and glued it, and 
discovered that I had just built a connector that could not mate with 
the intended other end.  It didn't occur to me that you could do this 
deliberately to make a T shaped connection, for instance.

One problem with making large powerpole conglomerations is that they 
start to get kind of "flexible" because the mechanical gaps start to add 
up.  Another earlier poster showed a picture of a housing that would go 
around 8 powerpoles in a 2x4 arrangement, and that would be a great way 
to do it.

Once you have the tooling for powerpoles, they're a pretty nice 
connector, at least for assembly.  I have a terrible time removing the 
wire from the connector, and usually just cut it off and throw it away 
if I make a mistake or decide that I need to change things.