Best battery connecter

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RC MAN

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Hi guys

i just bought a upgraded ESC for my rc car and the ESC says it will pull 60amps and 66amp maximum. Now my battery comes with a ec3 connector which is only rated 60amps and 75amps burst [plus my battery can pull a maximum150 amps safely] and my esc has a deans connector which is also only rated 60amps and 75amps burst.

People have told me that you need a little head room just so they do not get too hot and i was thinking of changing them both to xt90 ant-spark feature ones or maybe ec5 ones and i was wondering if you guys could tell me which is the best one for the job or if their are any better connectors. i am open for suggestions.😀

Thanks in advance
 
I use XT-90s, they are rated 100 amp.
 
xt 90 are the way to go.. changed all my rc over from deans aka T plug 5+ years ago
 
I use XT-90s, they are rated 100 amp.
Rated at 100A and can take a lot more.

Got to 300A and the wire desoldered itself:

I switched from traxxas connectors to xt90's on all my trucks which I run 2S, 3S, 4S and 6S in. They are just easy to solder and are a big enough plug that I can get my arthritic mitts on them to pull them apart pretty easily. The traxxas ones were a pain to solder and get the plugs inserted.
 
you're going to get a million different answers to this question. Firstly Id like to point out that Deans keeps its amp rating a secret for liability purposes. You can read more about Dean's connectors HERE. Deans are old school but they are releasing an update to them and other updates are forthcoming. I'm also a bit old school myself so I use Deans because that was the most popular connector at the time I first started.

Besides Deans the two most popular connectors currently are XT60/XT90 or EC3/EC5. Theres nothing wrong with those connectors but people get to caught up in the whole conversation about This connector handles this many amps and that connector handles that many amps. Heres a little excerpt from the Deans post I linked earlier in case your arent interested in Deans connectors and dont want to read that whole post. I'm posting this because this deals with all connectors regardless of whether you're talking about Deans, XT60, EC3, or bigger connectors.

"I had the same reaction at first until Robin from Deans (the owner) told me this. He said unless you are using something bigger than 12AWG wire on your LiPos then you dont need anything bigger than a Deans. (you could also insert XT60/EC3 here as well as I believe the rating for those connectors are all generally believed to be similar) The blades inside the Deans connectors actually have less resistance than the same length of 12AWG wire. So theoretically if your amperage draw is to high for the Deans then its also to high for the 12AWG wire thats coming out of your lipo. 🤯🤯🤯"

Some food for thought. My thought is that its all personal preference, at least until they start making LiPos with leads bigger than 12AWG. If I were doing it all over again right now Id prolly go with XT60 just because that seems to be the most popular connector being used by the industry rigth now.
 
@RC MAN what RC, ESC, and battery are you using?

If we're talking about a small 2 or 3s LiPo battery then an EC3, XT-60 or possibly even a Deans connector would be fine. If it's a larger scale, higher draw system then and XT-90 or EC5 would certainly be my recommendation for sure.
 
They are just easy to solder and are a big enough plug that I can get my arthritic mitts on them to pull them apart pretty easily. The traxxas ones were a pain to solder and get the plugs inserted.

I never knew such mitts existed. Will be using in the winter!
 
Yeah... got them year round. After a night of wrenching, I can barely pick up my coffee the next morning. :)

I'm only 30s but I'm getting the same things wrong with me as my parents got from theirs, 20 years early.
I'm not that bad yet, but getting there.
 
Deans have been difficult to disconnect forever even the xt deans ..xt90 all the way
 
thanks for the advice guys i will probably go for the xt90 anti-spark just for some more head room, less heat, no spark, better power delivery and because they seem to be the most popular at the moment.

thanks again😀
 
you're going to get a million different answers to this question. Firstly Id like to point out that Deans keeps its amp rating a secret for liability purposes. You can read more about Dean's connectors HERE. Deans are old school but they are releasing an update to them and other updates are forthcoming. I'm also a bit old school myself so I use Deans because that was the most popular connector at the time I first started.

Besides Deans the two most popular connectors currently are XT60/XT90 or EC3/EC5. Theres nothing wrong with those connectors but people get to caught up in the whole conversation about This connector handles this many amps and that connector handles that many amps. Heres a little excerpt from the Deans post I linked earlier in case your arent interested in Deans connectors and dont want to read that whole post. I'm posting this because this deals with all connectors regardless of whether you're talking about Deans, XT60, EC3, or bigger connectors.

"I had the same reaction at first until Robin from Deans (the owner) told me this. He said unless you are using something bigger than 12AWG wire on your LiPos then you dont need anything bigger than a Deans. (you could also insert XT60/EC3 here as well as I believe the rating for those connectors are all generally believed to be similar) The blades inside the Deans connectors actually have less resistance than the same length of 12AWG wire. So theoretically if your amperage draw is to high for the Deans then its also to high for the 12AWG wire thats coming out of your lipo. 🤯🤯🤯"

Some food for thought. My thought is that its all personal preference, at least until they start making LiPos with leads bigger than 12AWG. If I were doing it all over again right now Id prolly go with XT60 just because that seems to be the most popular connector being used by the industry rigth now.

THIS^^^. I've been privy to some very extreme home and car audio builds over the past 30+ years and being a welder and making my own extension cords etc. I know a little bit about the subject. It isn't so much about the connectors themselves as it is about the WIRE being used. And more specifically the GAUGE of the wire being used. Most ratings you'll find will be set for Industrial standards ie. how much current the wire can handle over a 5 foot run, whereas our application might be 5 inches MAX, so that needs to be taken into consideration also. I believe the Industrial rating for 12AWG wire is only 40amps!? However, you also have to consider the wire type; is it OFC [oxygen free copper] or CCA [copper clad aluminum] or plain Aluminum etc..etc..? None of which really matters in these applications because of how short the runs are (again we're talking about inches while the ratings are based on feet). It's actually very difficult (if not impossible) to find an accurate rating for wire runs under 1ft in length. So that's when you turn to the industry itself and look at what they've been doing and the standard in the RC industry is in fact 12AWG wire.

So, I'd look at it this way: If the LiPo manufacturer builds the battery with 12AWG wire and the ESC manufacturer builds the ESC with 12AWG wire, than whatever connector they're willing to solder onto the end of those wires can clearly handle the power that's expected to run through them. And for the longest time Deans were the standard. Making a new type of connector or changing that standard (which was fine for years mind you), is just a way of getting us, the consumer, to spend more money. It wasn't broken to begin with so why fix (change) it? Oh oooh!.. I know this one!... Money.
 
THIS^^^. I've been privy to some very extreme home and car audio builds over the past 30+ years and being a welder and making my own extension cords etc. I know a little bit about the subject. It isn't so much about the connectors themselves as it is about the WIRE being used. And more specifically the GAUGE of the wire being used. Most ratings you'll find will be set for Industrial standards ie. how much current the wire can handle over a 5 foot run, whereas our application might be 5 inches MAX, so that needs to be taken into consideration also. I believe the Industrial rating for 12AWG wire is only 40amps!? However, you also have to consider the wire type; is it OFC [oxygen free copper] or CCA [copper clad aluminum] or plain Aluminum etc..etc..? None of which really matters in these applications because of how short the runs are (again we're talking about inches while the ratings are based on feet). It's actually very difficult (if not impossible) to find an accurate rating for wire runs under 1ft in length. So that's when you turn to the industry itself and look at what they've been doing and the standard in the RC industry is in fact 12AWG wire.

So, I'd look at it this way: If the LiPo manufacturer builds the battery with 12AWG wire and the ESC manufacturer builds the ESC with 12AWG wire, than whatever connector they're willing to solder onto the end of those wires can clearly handle the power that's expected to run through them. And for the longest time Deans were the standard. Making a new type of connector or changing that standard (which was fine for years mind you), is just a way of getting us, the consumer, to spend more money. It wasn't broken to begin with so why fix (change) it? Oh oooh!.. I know this one!... Money.
I think because of the over inflated C ratings on LiPos, ESCs, etc, people think their rigs pull a lot more amperage than they really do at least continuous anyway. I know there can be some huge spikes but those are generally momentary. I need to figure out how to use my Eagle Tree data logger to see what kind of Amps these bigger 6S and 8S models do pull.
 
I think because of the over inflated C ratings on LiPos, ESCs, etc, people think their rigs pull a lot more amperage than they really do at least continuous anyway. I know there can be some huge spikes but those are generally momentary. I need to figure out how to use my Eagle Tree data logger to see what kind of Amps these bigger 6S and 8S models do pull.
That's one kind of cool thing you can see in the logs from some of the castle esc's.

For about 1/2 second, the most I pulled was 119 amps running a single 4S pack in my maxx with the mmx/4074 2200kv sensored system.
2021-0529-Yorkville-Maxx4S-BackflipMT-24-50%20Gearing-current-watts-peakOnly.jpg


Hard to see how long it was until I fiddled with the graph a bit. It gets pretty busy when everything is visible and your looking at the entire session.
2021-0529-Yorkville-Maxx4S-BackflipMT-24-50%20Gearing-all-seconds.jpg


With the same motor/esc in my savage flux HP on 6S, the most I pulled was 91.9A. Surprising considering it was quite a bit larger/heavier, had a lot more rotating mass.
2019-0727-SavageFluxMMX-6S-BMX%20Track-Cap%20Pack-all.jpg
 
That's one kind of cool thing you can see in the logs from some of the castle esc's.

For about 1/2 second, the most I pulled was 119 amps running a single 4S pack in my maxx with the mmx/4074 2200kv sensored system.
2021-0529-Yorkville-Maxx4S-BackflipMT-24-50%20Gearing-current-watts-peakOnly.jpg


Hard to see how long it was until I fiddled with the graph a bit. It gets pretty busy when everything is visible and your looking at the entire session.
2021-0529-Yorkville-Maxx4S-BackflipMT-24-50%20Gearing-all-seconds.jpg


With the same motor/esc in my savage flux HP on 6S, the most I pulled was 91.9A. Surprising considering it was quite a bit larger/heavier, had a lot more rotating mass.
2019-0727-SavageFluxMMX-6S-BMX%20Track-Cap%20Pack-all.jpg
Dude, that is too cool. I did not know that the newer Castle ESCs had data logging now. I'm still running a bunch of old electronics for the most part or stock spektrum stuff in my Arrmas. The 6S probably pulled less amps because you're running higher voltage. The average amp draw on 6S 2200kv system is only 25.2A. I bet most people would have though it was 140+. Hell even I would have guessed it would have been prolly twice that. Now I really want to get the Eagle tree working. I just wish it was compatible with 8S. I wonder if they have new ones that are compatible with 8S.
 
Dude, that is too cool. I did not know that the newer Castle ESCs had data logging now. I'm still running a bunch of old electronics for the most part or stock spektrum stuff in my Arrmas. The 6S probably pulled less amps because you're running higher voltage. The average amp draw on 6S 2200kv system is only 25.2A. I bet most people would have though it was 140+. Hell even I would have guessed it would have been prolly twice that. Now I really want to get the Eagle tree working. I just wish it was compatible with 8S. I wonder if they have new ones that are compatible with 8S.
I was just thinking the SAME thing!!! That looks like a Dyno Log from when I was getting my car's engine tuned!!! That is AWESOME!
 
Dude, that is too cool. I did not know that the newer Castle ESCs had data logging now. I'm still running a bunch of old electronics for the most part or stock spektrum stuff in my Arrmas. The 6S probably pulled less amps because you're running higher voltage. The average amp draw on 6S 2200kv system is only 25.2A. I bet most people would have though it was 140+. Hell even I would have guessed it would have been prolly twice that. Now I really want to get the Eagle tree working. I just wish it was compatible with 8S. I wonder if they have new ones that are compatible with 8S.
Not all of them do it, but the higher end ones do, like the MX, MMX, XL2, MMX8S all do. Probably are others as well.
 

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