Another post in a different forum has prompted me to post this here:

What's the concensus on Sermos (or Anderson Power Pole) vs Astroflight connectors?

I have heard negative comments about the Sermos and I have been planning to retro-fit to that type. Now I am having some doubts and concerns. what do the folks on E-Zone have to say?

J,

Depends on the application.

For Speed 400-600 and under 40-?? amps, Sermos are OK.

Some folks use Astroflight for higher amp situations.

I like Sermos because I can solder them easily, and the come appart easily when I eject the battery.

I don't like the length of them when connected, and I'm tring to stuff them in the fuse.

How about Deans Ultra's??? Small and good conductivity. A little tougher to solder......

Somebody said that the Dean's Ultra had the lowest resistance, and many use them in up to 80 amp+ applications with good results.

Shawn
eflightpower.com

I have seen various threads discussing which one is the best. Go to the electric fly-ins and see what people are using. The leaders in the electric movement are using Astro Flight. Yes they are a little more expensive but they are great and they are worth every penny. By a set and when you look at them you will now why they are the best. My problem with the sermo's style connector is they rely on the plastic housing to maintain pressure. The astro's housing keeps things from shorting only. For small speed 400 I use the little yellow connectors made by Kaven sold by hobby lobby.

Having spent too much of a fine summer wrestling with Sermos type connectors about four years ago, I shifted to Astro for all my models S400 on up. Never looked back.

What seems to be the bug on Sermos and clones is that the plastic housing is what holds the connectors together. If the housing and its little spring don't do their thing, bye-bye connection (and my #2 Puddlemaster, incidentally)

Astro, the plastic bits just add polarisation to stop us from frying expensive bits of gear.

Funnily enough, I've never had an S400 where fitting an Astro connector was a problem - even got them into my Positron delta and that wasn't exactly big internally.

Regards

Dereck

Where do you get the Astroflight connectors? I looked on their website and did not find them.

Astro Kirk at New Creations where else!

I use them both in the same planes. I use Astro on the motor side of the controller and the motor. I use sermos/powepoles on the battery side and batteries.

I originally went with this because if protected me from me. No way I can accidently plug a battery into the motor if I have stuff disconnected and I'm working in tight quarters in the fuselage.

Both connectors are good as far as I'm concerned so I standardized what works for me.

Astro all the way. They are smaller than Sermos and work year after year. I can't wear them out. Speed 400 and up all get them in my hangar and if space is tight in the plane, I don't use the plastic housing. Just the gold connectors. It is lighter this way, and simply heat shrink after soldering the wires in. Just use different colored heat shrink so polarity can be maintained. You won't plug them in the wrong way twice. Instant death to your $50+ speed controller will be a constant reminder, believe me, I know. Small Deans 2 pin connectors for the GWS and speed 280 stuff. I just convinced a fellow flyer to throw away those Tamiya connectors and use Astro's. What a difference in performance. He too is hooked. You get what you pay for! Tom

I like Anderson Powerpole (sermos style) connectors. They come in a variety of sizes. The larger sizes are rated to 75 amps.
http://www.powerwerx.com/products.html

My squadron uses the Sermos type because they are easy to buy locally. I used to solder the wires into the tubes but discovered that my dimple type crimp plier makes a quicker equally good bond between wire and tube. Polarity setup allows me to plug the battery directly to the motor for the water break-in. All the adaptor cables for charging the batteries (plane, rx and tx) plug into the polarized Sermos on my Astro charger. The quick trip to the friendly hobby shop to buy new connectors as needed currently fills my need.

For Tom, I can't picture your method. I know you don't mean to heatshrink over the connection, as you'd have to reshrink after each connect. Do you put shrink over each contact, both male and female? If so, doesn't it get in the way of a good connection? Talk me through it if you can, my imagination is a bit off today. Thanks alot.

MKH

Sermos for all my stuff.

1) They are cheap, so you can buy lots to keep on hand for all your new motors, batteries, speed controller, charge adapters, etc. Check out Dave's link to powerwerx, I order all my Sermos from them.
1 dollar per set (one black, one red housing)

2)I've never pulled a wire off a battery or speed controller during a battery eject because the connector refused to let go. When you secure the connection in your fuse just orient the connector so that when the battery exits the plane it pulls the connector straight out.