"gareth" wrote in message
...
"gareth" wrote in message
...
Decided to Power Pole all the 12V gear here
First sttempt at crimping seems to have failed because the connector would
not
slide easily into the shroud, and it was a devil of a job to get the hook
over the end of the flat spring.
Re-reading the gen, it would appear that the crimping has ended up too
flat such that even
when clipped in, there is no free movement of the wire end. portending a
bad contact if I continue.
(I expected to have to sacrifice the first attempt, but any suggestions,
please?)


Problem solved by resorting to soldering. In any case, the guy who lent me
the
crimpers had been using them for the 100A, or thereabouts, versions for his
5" gauge battery-powered Claas 45 diesel outline, so no wonder that even the
smallest setting on his crimpers wouldn't close properly on a 30A jobbie.

"gareth" wrote in message
...
"gareth" wrote in message
...
"gareth" wrote in message
...
Decided to Power Pole all the 12V gear here
First sttempt at crimping seems to have failed because the connector
would not
slide easily into the shroud, and it was a devil of a job to get the hook
over the end of the flat spring.
Re-reading the gen, it would appear that the crimping has ended up too
flat such that even
when clipped in, there is no free movement of the wire end. portending a
bad contact if I continue.
(I expected to have to sacrifice the first attempt, but any suggestions,
please?)
Problem solved by resorting to soldering. In any case, the guy who lent me
the
crimpers had been using them for the 100A, or thereabouts, versions for
his
5" gauge battery-powered Claas 45 diesel outline, so no wonder that even
the
smallest setting on his crimpers wouldn't close properly on a 30A jobbie.

Now, whereas the G0HWC websire recommends a roll pin to stop the black and
red pair
separating, and others have decried that lest the pin falls out and causes
an electrical short,
as I have a bucketful of 8BA ex-eqpt screws, perhaps the answer might be to
tap that little
hole to take a machine screw.

"gareth" wrote in message
...



All is rosy now in the garden,and thanks for suggestions.

Now, all I need is a 1/4" or so plug and socket so that I can quickly attach
the
ground terminal to whichever rig is now powerpoled to the ATU and the PSU.

I'm using the green/yellow 10mm sq stuff used for earthing in Brit, and 'tis
a bit
unwieldy to keep fiddling with the wing nut attachment on the back of each
rig.

Shack is upstairs, front bedroom, earth is ground stake and a fan of
microbore tubing apread out over the front lawn. House earth is a TT
installation so no
probs with PME, etc.

On 01/18/2016 07:13 PM, gareth wrote:
"gareth" wrote in message
...



All is rosy now in the garden,and thanks for suggestions.

Now, all I need is a 1/4" or so plug and socket so that I can quickly attach
the
ground terminal to whichever rig is now powerpoled to the ATU and the PSU.

I'm using the green/yellow 10mm sq stuff used for earthing in Brit, and 'tis
a bit
unwieldy to keep fiddling with the wing nut attachment on the back of each
rig.

Shack is upstairs, front bedroom, earth is ground stake and a fan of
microbore tubing apread out over the front lawn. House earth is a TT
installation so no
probs with PME, etc.
=========
RF earth for an upstairs shack can be effectively done with an "earth
tuner"
e.g. a series tuned variable C /variable inductor with a RF current
sensor ie wound toroid/
diode /mA meter and potmeter, having say the inductor end connected to a
random length of wire running on the floor in the room (under carpet )
The tuner needs to be adjusted for max RF current (low impedance).
Only disadvantage compared with a straight earth wire into the ground is
the requirement to retune when changing frequency.

The above is often used in apartment buildings where a direct earth wire
is not practical.
I made such a tuner myself for demonstration puposes ,but MFJ make them
(Artificial Ground Model MFJ-931)
See also Practical Wireless Mag , October 1990 ,page 21) for home brewing.

Frank , GM0CSZ / KN6WH

"gareth" wrote in message
...

Now, all I need is a 1/4" or so plug and socket so that I can quickly
attach the
ground terminal to whichever rig is now powerpoled to the ATU and the PSU.

.... and I'm not thinking straight, because the obvious answer is 45 amp
GREEN powerpoles !!!


Doh!

"gareth" wrote:

I'm not thinking straight


Story of your life, OM.

--
STC // M0TEY // twitter.com/ukradioamateur

gareth wrote:

hereas the G0HWC websire recommends a roll pin to stop the black and
red pair separating, and others have decried that lest the pin falls
out and causes an electrical short

So why not buy the Red+black housings that have been ultrasonically
welded together in the factory?

I have been only soldering them for some years. I saw in a recent QST
article that you really must crimp them, but no reason given for why.
I find doing it with solder (a) makes it a lot easier to keep the
"hollow end" of the PowerPole round so that it fits easily in the
plastic cover and (b) also makes them fairly easy to take apart without
damage so that I can reuse the PowerPole.
(I do have a fancy, fairly professional, set of crimping tools, but I
also found the terminals frequently got "squished" out of shape."
Bob Wilson

On 1/18/2016 12:00 PM, gareth wrote:
"gareth" wrote in message
...
"gareth" wrote in message
...
Decided to Power Pole all the 12V gear here
First sttempt at crimping seems to have failed because the connector would
not
slide easily into the shroud, and it was a devil of a job to get the hook
over the end of the flat spring.
Re-reading the gen, it would appear that the crimping has ended up too
flat such that even
when clipped in, there is no free movement of the wire end. portending a
bad contact if I continue.
(I expected to have to sacrifice the first attempt, but any suggestions,
please?)


Problem solved by resorting to soldering. In any case, the guy who lent me
the
crimpers had been using them for the 100A, or thereabouts, versions for his
5" gauge battery-powered Claas 45 diesel outline, so no wonder that even the
smallest setting on his crimpers wouldn't close properly on a 30A jobbie.



I

"Bob Wilson" wrote in message
...
I have been only soldering them for some years. I saw in a recent QST
article that you really must crimp them, but no reason given for why.
I find doing it with solder (a) makes it a lot easier to keep the "hollow
end" of the PowerPole round so that it fits easily in the plastic cover
and (b) also makes them fairly easy to take apart without damage so that I
can reuse the PowerPole.
(I do have a fancy, fairly professional, set of crimping tools, but I also
found the terminals frequently got "squished" out of shape."
Bob Wilson


Crimping works well if the correct type of tool is used. I have an
inexpensive crimper that is made for the power poles and have no problem
with them. Is that set you have made especially for the power poles ?

Stranded wire is recommended to be crimped because if it is soldered it
becomes the equal of a solid wire where the solder wicks up the wire and if
flexed or bent many times it may break. If you don't worry about the wire
breaking then soldering is fine.
Solid wire does not crimp well.

In article "Ralph Mowery" writes:

"Bob Wilson" wrote in message
...
I have been only soldering them for some years. I saw in a recent QST
article that you really must crimp them, but no reason given for why.
I find doing it with solder (a) makes it a lot easier to keep the "hollow
end" of the PowerPole round so that it fits easily in the plastic cover
and (b) also makes them fairly easy to take apart without damage so that I
can reuse the PowerPole.
(I do have a fancy, fairly professional, set of crimping tools, but I also
found the terminals frequently got "squished" out of shape."
Bob Wilson


Crimping works well if the correct type of tool is used. I have an
inexpensive crimper that is made for the power poles and have no problem
with them. Is that set you have made especially for the power poles ?

Stranded wire is recommended to be crimped because if it is soldered it
becomes the equal of a solid wire where the solder wicks up the wire and if
flexed or bent many times it may break. If you don't worry about the wire
breaking then soldering is fine.
Solid wire does not crimp well.

Not only does solder wick up the stranded wire and make it non-flexible and
prone to breakage, it also causes it to torque the actual connector inside
the housing to make poorer connections if the cable has side force or twist
on it.

Also, there is the very high risk of wicking solder up on the active sliding
contact, covering the silver contact with a tin/lead one, reducing the contact
quality.

The crimp tool is faster, allows getting the ends on straight (so they are
not torqued in the housing), and does a better job.

Alan