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Sept. 12, 2013, 9:04 a.m.
9/13/2013
By Mike Garrison
LiveRC.com
When putting together a new car, one major component that many racers often wish they would have thought out a little more is their battery connections. Often times we see the factory drivers using matching wire colors and bullet connectors, however, this is an easy way to get confused and destroy your electronics by plugging them in backwards. So what is the best way to connect your batteries and avoid those reverse voltage mishaps?
We turned to our good pal, and upcoming IFMAR World Championship LiveRC announcer, Charlie Suangka of Novak Electronics where he has all the answers in this edition of the "Novak Tech Talk".
How To Avoid Reverse-Voltage Accidents With Hard-Cased LiPos
By Charlie Suangka
These guidelines will help you safely use the hard-case style Lipo battery packs and avoid costly reverse-voltage mistakes that can easily occur with these batteries. While these hard cases protect the cells of the battery during impacts, the bullet-style receptacle tubes that are molded into these packs can create a dangerous reverse-voltage situation every time you connect the battery.
Reasons You Do Not Want To Use The Pack's Bullet Connectors:- It's way too easy to accidentally connect battery power wires backwards. Bullet-style connectors are NEVER recommended for battery pack connections! While they can make good, low-resistance connections when they properly installed and maintained, the risk of reverse connection far out weighs their advantages. Your ESC's drive transistors WILL BE DAMAGED if you connect the battery backwards!
- Not all hard-cased batteries have their connection tubes on the same side of the battery. One pack may have the ESC's positive wire going to the left, while another will be on the right, which makes it even easier to accidentally plug the bullet into the wrong tube.
- Bullet tubes add voltage drop as they wear. The bullet connections will eventually become a source of increased voltage drop and resistance that cannot be repaired because the tubes are molded into the battery's case.
Best Method of Connecting ESC Battery Power Wires To Hard-Cased LiPo Packs:- Leave bullet-to-polarized battery connector Pigtails attached to each battery pack. By making simple adaptor pigtails that stay on the battery, a high-quality battery connector will keep you from connecting the power wires backwards. Make one of these adaptors for each and every hard-cased battery pack you own, and leave them connected to the pack at all times.
- Always use high-quality, low-low, polarized battery connectors. We recommend the Novak Battery Power Connectors or the Deans Ultra Plug. These types of connectors can not be plugged in backwards.
- Never replace ESC's Red & Black battery wires with the same color. This may look cool, but it is just inviting trouble in the form of expensive electronics permanently damaged.
Example Of A Battery Connector Pigtail For Hard-Cased LiPo Packs:
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