Alligator clip vs belt clip2/4/2024 If one is in a quiet environment and rips a cableclamp off a battery while the charger is doing its thing, one can hear some components inside the charger protest at the sudden removal of load, especially when the charging source was outputting near its amperage limit into a depleted battery. Generally, most smartchargers sold today have to have all the safety features, but a clamp ripped off a battery while still charging, inadvertently or not, can/will cause a spark, so its always best to unplug from the grid first and allow the battery to suck capacitors dry before clamp removal. I use adjustable voltage power supplies as manual chargers, and the 100 amp one will have a spark jump to fill the large capacitors within, the other 40 amp one does not, but I added an 'Ideal diode' to its output, to keep the Ammeter voltmeter columb counter and additional fans from running when I remove AC. If the cord is kicked/ tripped over, the connector pulls apart rather than a clamp being ripped off a potentially gassing battery and potentially igniting those gasses.ĭepends on the charger itself. On any battery which is going to have a charger added and removed regularly I'd recommend avoiding and clamps/jaws entirely.Īnother benefit of the Anderson powerpoles, or any connector away from the battery terminals, is any potential sparking occurs well away from the battery top. I've squared off the points of the jaws so they have more surface area and do not chew up the post clamps on the battery itself to nearly the same degree. It is a good time saver and insures a quality reliable electrical and mechanical connection and while not quite 'idiot-proof', it comes pretty close.Īll my charging sources have 45 amp Anderson powerpoles, and if I need to put it on a different battery I have some alligator clamps with powerpoles and 8AWG from each end of each clamp. The special Anderson powerpole crimper is something I put off buying for much longer than I should have. 15 and 30 can be crimped without their special crimping tool, the 45's 'can' but one needs to be mindful of what they are doing and have some good crimping skills. The only difference is where the wire is crimped into the contact. APP's have a stainless steel leaf spring inside pushing the contacts together firmly, and are self wiping.Īnderson Powerpoles in the 15/30/45 amp varieties, all use the same size plastic housings, a 45 can mate to a 15. They are rated for 10K plug/unplug cycles, I would not trust SAE connectors for more than 200 cycles. Also SAE gauge cable is 6 to 12% thinner than AWG cables. Stinky plastic hot passing 25 amps for 10 minutes+. Many years ago, I made extensive use of SAE connectors on 10 and 18awg, and while many fold better than 12v ciggy plug/power ports, the bullet connectors in those plastic molded housings, wear out, then heat up, and become flakey. The + terminal on the battery end of the SAE connector should be enclosed/protected. Do label these as input or output or use some red electrical tape on the + portion, or both. I have found SAE 12v connectors to be inadequate, and one can unintentionally reverse polarity when an input is used as an output. Much better is a closed end ring terminal( no visible copper stranding) properly crimped and heatshrinked, and a connector on proper gauge wire/cable. Jaws properly set, often, chew up the post clamps whether lead or steel. The jaws of any clamp need to really dig in, to have adequate surface area to reduce point source heating and incurred voltage drop. Ideally, instead of the hinge pin and immediate surrounding metal conducting juicefrom one jaw to the other, there is a braided cable bridging the jaws so the far jaw can share the load much more equally.Ĭlamp on jaws are of course necessary and convenient, but any clamp on connection is only as good as the person positioning it on the battrery terminal and terminal clamp. These can exert many times the clamping force. Search for 'parrot jaw' clamps, rather than alligator.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply.AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |