Should you exceed this, go with XT60 instead. If you go with the manufacturer recommended 18AWG, you should not draw more than 45A continuously. The XT30 connector can easily handle 60A of continuous current when 16AWG wire is used. XT30 is basically a scaled down version of XT60 and it is used with a lot of 2S batteries and some of the lower capacity 3S batteries. If you are using this connector at its limits, I would encourage you to use 12AWG wire - for normal use cases 14AWG is plenty. My goto XT60 plugs are the ones manufactured by Amass and they come with a nice cover over the solder cups, so no heat shrink is needed.Īn XT60 connection - male and female plug - can weigh in at around 7.5g - obviously you would not want to use this with smaller scale models. But in reality they can handle up to 180A of burst current and 120A continuous - should you exceed this current, you might want go with XT90, but XT60 should be plenty even for a 6 or 7 inch setup, and is definitely more than enough for 5 inch. Technically the 60 in XT60 stands for the current the plugs are rated for. XT60 is commonly used with the higher capacity 3S batteries and is pretty much standard with 4S and higher. The nice thing about XT60 in comparison to Dean is, that both sides of the plug are protected against unintentional short circuit and it is much easier to plug and unplug. Before XT60 became popular, people often used the Deans or T-Plug. XT60 is the de-facto standard with models 3 inch and up. Lets take a closer look at the battery connectors currently most commonly used in the hobby, and some new, emerging options specially designed for whoops. This is obviously the worst case which don’t want to happen.Ī clear sign of a “bad” or under-specced plug is, when you can feel it being hot after ripping a pack. If you push more current through the connector than it can handle (and dissipate), the connector will get hotter and at one point the wires will de-solder from the connector. Generally speaking this means you can safely push more current through a connector if you only do it for a short amount of time and the plug has some time to cool down - for example through high air flow, as we usually have when flying quadcopters. This further means the current rating of a plug is independent of the voltage, but instead depends on the plugs internal resistance: The bigger the batteries and the setup - the higher the current draw - the bigger has to be the battery connector.Ĭonnectors all have a current rating - this current rating refers to how much power the plug can safely dissipate. The type depends on the size of the model and thus the current draw. In the quadcopter hobby we are using different kinds of battery connectors. At least with Molex and others, you can guess at part numbers based on product family and pin count.This means the contact resistance of the plug should be as low as possible and the current rating as high as possible - of course relative to the needs of your quadcopter. Who created their part numbering scheme?!?! Their part marking has no rhyme or reason to it. Oh, and one last minus for AMP connectors in general. Those require a sledge hammer to get them installed! Can often find used ones on ebay.Ĭontact = 86016-3 (not 571-860163 as above)ĭon't try the intermediate or high pressure contacts with high pin count connectors. Minus -> Good crimps with these pretty much require using the AMP Certi-crimp crimpers.VERY expensive. I have had some of these contacts actually break off the locking tang and push back out through the back of the connector. Minus -> even with the low pressure contacts (part number 86016-3), about 27 box contacts can be a real bugger to push onto the header. Plus -> Box contacts can't be beat for reliability. Plus -> Somewhat affordable (but considerably higher than the old Molex plugs were). Plus -> Available in a wide variety of sizes all the way up to 36 pin. First - most AMP connectors are first rate.
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