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After getting back into the hobby I have been going bananas with having a bunch of stuff with all different battery connectors. I have decided to switch everything over to Dean's style connectors. Is there a "right" way to wire them up? I know female end on the batteries and the male end on the ESC but is there a standard way of wiring the positive and negative?

Thanks,

-Joe

It really doesn't matter as long as you do them all the same. I haven't done any for a while but I believe there were small + and - by the terminals. This way if you switched electronics with someone they would be the same.

OK Thanks I will look at them closer. I have a handful of genuine Dean's and the rest are a knock off. Otherwise I figured as long as I kept them all the same it would be OK, I just did not know if there was an accepted standard that would help swapping with someone else or when buying used gear.

-Joe

CamplinP wrote:It really doesn't matter as long as you do them all the same. I haven't done any for a while but I believe there were small + and - by the terminals. This way if you switched electronics with someone they would be the same.

I also have some that are marked +/-, The positive wire would be the horizontal line of the top line or "T" if you hold it towards you resembling a"T".

The vertical line would be your negative, I think most everyone does it this way.

Diamond Dave wrote:
I also have some that are marked +/-, The positive wire would be the horizontal line of the top line or "T" if you hold it towards you resembling a"T".

The vertical line would be your negative, I think most everyone does it this way.

I would have thought the other way around, the horizontal being the negative as a negative symbol is a horizontal line -
At least that was the way I was leaning before I asked, glad I asked...

-Joe

I brought mine to local hobby shop and they soldered it on for me. Was in same situation.

Joe,
the way Diamond Dave says it is the way batterys already supplied with Deans connectors(or cheap knockoffs) come. Will make it easier in the long run so you don't have to cut them off and resolder them in the way described above.

Now, for the very reason of letting others borrow your stuff is why a few of the locals do it the opposite way. That way they don't have to lend batterys, charge others batterys or just be social in any way . I've leant out lipo's to someone and they take off while I'm not paying attention but I usually get them back...I've got a few out there floating around

For the soldering part on a cheap deans knockoff be prepared to not use alot of heat. The knockoffs plastic can't take the kind of heat that a Deans will take. Even with putting a make into the female so the ends don't warp or move the cheap knockoffs will actually recess away from the spring side of the male inserts making for an on again off again type of frustration that will drive you bonkers til you figure it out .

Todd

on mine they are wired neg lagthwise .. if that makes sence .. i use to use the anderson type connector red & black so i started painting the neg black on the deans just incase i have a brain fart one day

Here is a pic of the back of a Deans connector.



TLR 22-4 Video
[youtube]FqZ83IipnuI[/youtube]

I always put the positive wire on the outside of the blade, to keep the two leads as far away as possible.

Get the biggest iron you can use, plug in a mate to the connector, and tin the one side of the blade. Tin the wires you want to connect. then hit the iron with a small bit of solder, and hold the iron, blade and wire together until it all flows. Don't forget your heat shrink tubing first!! and keep it as far down the wire as possible until the joint cools.

When I decided I wanted to go all-Deans, I did like jwscab said; it's also a bit easier to solder the positive wire on the outside of the blade than the inside, and less prone to shorting out. That said, I hated Deans. Fussy as hell to solder, you're trying to solder a round wire onto a flat blade, which requires a third-hand tool or clamp of some sort; furthermore, it's possible to short out your battery/ESC as it's physically possible to reverse-touch the two ends, even though the connectors won't fully mate that way.

EDIT: Also forgot to add that unless you buy genuine Deans connectors, the blades will melt and slide in & out when soldering if they get too hot. (Somebody already mentioned this.)

I ripped them all out and upgraded to EC3 connectors. They're capable of carrying just as much (or more) current than Deans Ultras, it's a whole lot easier to solder a wire into a round cup than a flat blade, if you do them right you don't even need shrink tube, and you can also remove the bullet connector from the plastic housing if you screw up and get the 2 wires reversed, without having to de-solder anything. Lastly, it's impossible to reverse-touch the opposite connector ends as the bullets are recessed enough inside the plastic housings. I realize they're not era-correct, but if you're modernizing the electronics, why stick with fussy old connectors?

I have a mix of Traxxas and Deans connectors. While I can see the benefits of both, I prefer the Traxxas ones as they are a bit easier to connect and disconnect. But Deans are pre-made which is also a plus as I hate putting the blades into the Traxxas connector.