Which connectors?

[Titchiemagoo]

Other than deans which connectors do people solder on instead of the tamiya ones.

Ec3 or ec5. I find them alot easier to solder and safer. I used to use ec5 on lipos for my rc cars but there was plenty of room. Rif stocks aren't so is ec3 OK.

 

[mp5a4]

XT60 connectors are pretty nice, quite big though 

 

[Speedbird_666]

Tried XT60s - but found them too chonky for some applications.

XT30s work well, but the reality is that Airsoft has settled on Deans as the upgrade path from mini Tamiyas, with loads of RIFs, LiPos and ETUs/Mosfets fitted with them from the factory, so I finally admitted defeat and switched exclusively to Deans for airsoft a few years ago.

Still use XT60/30s on my RC stuff though.

 

[BigStew]

XT60s are over kill but i find them easier to solder and more to grip when taking the connectors apart.

 

[Mad dog 49]

XT60 is way OTT for airsoft mate, stick with Deans connectors, they have a good electrical contact, and are easy as hell to solder on. XT60 are great connectors but they are really designed for much higher amperage uses and if you aren't a soldering legend, you can melt them very easily.

 

[Leo Greer]

XT30 is really the way to go if you were going to resolder everything. But as others have mentioned, everybody uses deans nowadays, and it's not really worth griping over... I resolder to gold-plated genuine deans ultra if I have to resolder, as the genuine deans have a lot less resistance than the basic copies.

 

[concretesnail]

I use xt connectors on everything. Simply as all my charging kit is xt based for quad flight batteries and other rc stuff. They work really well xt30s are compact and the weather seal is good to.

If you have issues soldering them connect a male to female and then if the connector over heats it can't drift as the other half holds it.

 

[Adolf Hamster]

If it makes a good connection and can handle the current then use whatever your comfortable with.

Only real argument for deans versus others is there's a non-zero chance someone else on site will be running them, which is a boon if you need to borrow a battery.

 

[Titchiemagoo]

Thanks for the replies everyone, I've never got on with soldering deans, maybe practice more. Ive seen the beefy deans so maybe go for them.

I am looking into mosfets and how they work. I've noticed they all come with deans ,

Nobody's mentioned ec3 or ec5 though and have more experience with soldering them.

If it makes a good connection and can handle the current then use whatever your comfortable with.

Only real argument for deans versus others is there's a non-zero chance someone else on site will be running them, which is a boon if you need to borrow a battery.

So does everyone only solder a certain way. What goes on the battery male or female.  Just making sure that's all.

 

[Speedbird_666]

Thanks for the replies everyone, I've never got on with soldering deans, maybe practice more. Ive seen the beefy deans so maybe go for them.

I am looking into mosfets and how they work. I've noticed they all come with deans ,

Nobody's mentioned ec3 or ec5 though and have more experience with soldering them.

So does everyone only solder a certain way. What goes on the battery male or female.  Just making sure that's all.

EC3 and EC5 are just bullet connectors in a plastic housing, much like XT30/60. But unlike XT30/60, the EC connectors are seperate to the housing. Batteries should always be female (the tube ferrules). Gun side should be male (the bullets).

I used to hate deans, but I've learned to live with them for Airsoft and can solder to them to a pretty decent standard. Biggest thing for me was switching to a good soldering iron - I use a Sequre SQ-001 with custom firmware and TBS 63:37 solder (both from HobbyRC) and soldering deans has been a doddle ever since.

 

[Rogerborg]

Yup. I'm the cheapest of skates, but even I've figured out that skimping on solder wire is the falsest of economies.

 

[Lozart]

I use a Sequre SQ-001 with custom firmware 

I'm sorry, what? You have a soldering iron with "custom firmware"? WTF?

 

[Speedbird_666]

I'm sorry, what? You have a soldering iron with "custom firmware"? WTF?

Umm - yeh. It has an integrated LCD screen and STM32 based processor. The 'Ralim' firmware changes the UI a bit (for the better) and raises the max temp to ~450C.

 

[Lozart]

Umm - yeh. It has an integrated LCD screen and STM32 based processor. The 'Ralim' firmware changes the UI a bit (for the better) and raises the max temp to ~450C.

OK, I'm game...what's the benefit? I see that they're small and portable and stuff but does it solder any better than a thermostatic bench one?

 

[Speedbird_666]

small and portable and stuff

That's pretty much covers it.

And at the time (a couple years ago) it was around £25. Think they are around £30 now. The TS-100 that the unit is cloned from was around £60.

It won't suit everyone, but for simple soldering (like XT60s or Deans), anything Airsoft related (e.g. rewiring a gun), building a small RC Plane/FPV drone, or small general electronics projects, it's a good little unit and about a million times better than the Weller 'dumb' soldering iron I was using before (slight exaggeration but you get the idea).

It heats to whatever working temperature you set in just a few seconds and has an accelerometer built in to detect if you are using it, so powers itself down after a set time of non-use (you can specify in the options) until you pick it back up again.

It needs a seperate power source (a big LiPo can be used, but I use a ToolkitRC power supply) so that's something to consider.

At the end of the day it won't replace a decent soldering station as it's still only a 65W Iron.

 

[Tiercel]

OK, I'm game...what's the benefit? I see that they're small and portable and stuff but does it solder any better than a thermostatic bench one?

I use one of these too, biggest advantage is the small size and portability. And that you can also run them off a Lipo battery if you need to do some emergency soldering in the safe zone  

 

[Adolf Hamster]

[trigger warning]

I may have been using the 40w fixed heat soldering iron from the real robots magazine kit since that was a thing that existed.

I may have just used random solder from amazon for everything

I may have never used flux, ever

It may have worked just fine

[/Trigger warning]

 

[Speedbird_666]

 real robots magazine kit

I'm more triggered that you got sucked into those weekly magazine kits. Did you complete the full set?

 

[Adolf Hamster]

I'm more triggered that you got sucked into those weekly magazine kits. Did you complete the full set?

Eh, hamster's financial insensibility has been a life long ailment.....

I did complete the original robot but iirc it broke pretty soon after that.

 

[Shamal]

I've got about thirty five real robot mags unopened in the loft.

Started buying them when they came out and just thought I would get a few issues together before I started building but life got in the way and never got round to it lol