| VE7REN |
Rating:     |
2020-06-29 | |
| good ,but need some work |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| ive been using these on my radios,and station goodies for 10 plus years. they are a good idea.and clean things up along with a powerstrip by either mfj or rigrunner,BUT. they tend to pull out of the powerbar with gravity or a slight power wire pull. you can make,or buy a wire holder to go along with your powerbar,but i just wish they would have considered a better locking indent in the powerpole itself. i still love mine,but do agree ,they could use some work. i use them on everything |
|
| N8SDR |
Rating:  |
2020-06-29 | |
| PURE JUNK |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| Whom ever sold these and told Ecom stations they were great was a marketing genius and is most likely laughing there butt off. There horrible, depending on two pieces of spring liken metal stripes which slip on top of one another to make a GOOD electrical Connections what a joke. common sense should tell you that power on and off over time along with the tension naturally becoming less due to heating and cooling these will fail at some point. Like other they do not make a firm positive connection and will/can work there way loose. Like comments below Flex has them on the 6000 series big mistake there junk can pull loose and heat up. Most of these are knock off china junk. but even the original Anderson Power Poles had/have issues. I'll second the RUN Away fast, You want a good positive connection a Modular connector with locking tab or big binding posts and ring terminals for a solid connections not some whippy friction depending contact for a power connection, they would be better used for low wattage speaker line connections.. run Run run and Keep Running......! |
|
| KD1JT |
Rating:     |
2020-06-29 | |
| What’s not to like? |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Use Andersen Powerpoies, not cheap imitations. Use a proper crimper and the proper method. Use the correct terminal for your wire size. Use the clips if you worry about disconnects.
They work and are ubiquitous. |
|
| K9CRT |
Rating:  |
2020-06-29 | |
| Not Good |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| My Flex came standard with Anderson Powerpoles as the power cord from the Flex factory. Not good, many of the Flex owners have reported problems that end up requiring these radio to be returned to the factory because of poor connection that results in destroying some components inside the radio. My personal radio requires to push and push and even with that is not a good connection that seems to fall out. I would stay away from these, no make that RUN away fast from this product. I didn't have a choice |
|
| KD0REQ |
Rating:      |
2020-06-29 | |
| fussy but essential |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I can't get the contacts to lock in without pushing the connector into the desk edge and pushing with a 1/16 screwdriver on the contact. but they work. and we have to have something as a standard. PowerPoles are it by fiat. everybody stocks them and they work for me. using a West Mountain power buss also simplifies the shack a ton. I notice some reviewers are relying on fuses to save their hides... well, no fuse faster than a couple megabucks worth of silicon. take your time, double check polarity and loose wire whiskers, just like always. |
|
| W5HEH |
Rating:   |
2020-06-29 | |
| Difficult for Large hands, Over Rated , Overpriced . |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Greetings,
My experience is not the same as others with normal slender ,smaller hands . Still i see so many Followers rather than Creating a better way for DC supply.
If you have wasted some of these just to get it correct or even carrying Current ,you understand .
When i recently tried these Anderson connectors in a mobile install ,to find i had an intermittent connection , which took me way too long to find . 1 tip from this is flexible wire like silicon jacketed , should be employed which helped not to pull on inner connectors from shifting . Yes i hear the opposition thinking , operator error etc . but i have plenty of experience with these Oversold ,WitchDoctor connectors . Yes i am beginning to Hate them - if the Mfg. Does not make improvements soon , another better one will take their place . I will look for a Mil Spec. DC Connector when i run out .
73s |
|
| KD9INX |
Rating:      |
2019-10-05 | |
| Good with proper use |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
These PP connectors work very well for me. Things like amps/ gauge, I rely on the charts, set up by engineers. Can I safely get 30A out of 12Ga wire? By the charts, yes, if I keep the length within limits, or I must jump to 10Ga. When ready to crimp a PP to wire pair, I always confirm my mated red/black shell, inserts properly on my Rig runner, or factory device, and only then, do I attempt to insert wire pair with crimped metal contacts. Heavier wire, I can normally insert properly oriented crimped contacts into plastic shell, by “working” them in. Lighter Ga wire, I normally need the insertion/removal tool to insert contact into shell, and try to feel and listen for click. I don’t always get the click though. I could accidentally mate the red/black shells improperly, then match the colors during insertion of contacts into shells. When proper colors are matched, and inserted into rig runner, my polarity is reversed, any device plugged in this cord will have a short. Hopefully, if this happens, it is inserted in a properly fused, wire Ga, matched port, and blows fuse. That’s why I confirm proper shell color match, before contact insertion.
To reduce the chance of improper mating of colors, I try to only perform cord / PP crimping, in a relaxed, well lighted, relaxed situation. I then tag the cord, with max amperage, for that length cord. When you are in the dark with low light, or 3 people asking how much longer before the radio is ready, mistakes happen.
Is this plug in system, what you would use at NASA? No, a more costly, 100% foolproof system would be used, but even then, technicians would confirm all is well, before plugging connectors to a device. Our travel trailer, has a double PP socket, to provide 20A each, in the bedroom. It is wired into the 12 volt camper fused system. We have 2 Phillips CPAP machines that can plug into this outlet, if we don’t have AC power. Powered by 2 AGM deep cycle batteries. During the day, I could plug in radios, or any 12 volt devices. It has worked well for us.
All of us have different experiences with things in our life. I have noticed a couple Chinese knock off shells, having plastic mold residue, requiring trimming, and a deformed contact, that I threw away without any desire to try. I try to stay true to the Anderson brand, but sometimes I pick up the “others”, sorry. For devices, requiring frequent plug and unplug cycles, maybe installing a switch would help. I don’t know what these PP connectors have for a expected cycle of plug / unplug rating, but my experience has been very good. If somehow, a plug pulled out, nothing I have , would suffer from having to plug back in. I’m always open to different options and look at better ways. I have some 375 Amp PP connectors in use also. So far I’m good with the PP
|
|
| N4YX |
Rating:  |
2019-05-25 | |
| Many Ways Awful |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I Never Use These Now! Many of the negative reviews have already summed up the problems. I first started noticing the intermittent effect in mobile installations years ago. These connectors work themselves loose & the supposed "wiping" effect is a joke. Also - no gender protection from positive to negative. I went back to my old way of using butt connectors for semi-permanent installations or gendered Jones Plugs or gendered SAE Plugs. Never had any issues with my older methods. |
|
| K6IOU |
Rating:      |
2018-07-09 | |
| Great connectors! |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I have the West Mountain PowerPole crimping tool. It worked great with the 15a and 30a crimps.
However, the 45a connectors ALWAYS had to be pried-out with pliers.
I finally got around to examining why. What I found was that there was roughness in the crimp jaws such that after crimping there was some of the connector swaged into the roughness. This effectively locked the connector to the tool.
I took some fine sandpaper and removed the roughness. Now the 45a connectors "drop out freely" after being crimped.
----------------------
Earlier 5-star review posted by K6IOU on 2006-01-25
I guess I'm going to have to chime in here too.
When I assembled my first set of connectors I had some trouble until I studied the design and figured out how they were supposed to go together.
Now they are a breeze to assemble and I use them everywhere a dependable connection is required.
All I can say to those that complaining about them is that you simply have not installed them properly! I don't care where you are employed or how much experience you've had in the electronics field.
When the individual connectors are assembled correctly, then joined into pairs, then plugged into a mating pair, it takes a fairly good 'tug' to pull them apart. They would never fall apart due to vibration in any normal mobile installation.
Under extreme conditions, as another poster noted, you can semi-permanently assemble them using a 'nylon tie' or the clip available from the company [neither of which I have ever needed to do].
DON
K6IOU |
|
| WA5MD |
Rating:      |
2018-07-09 | |
| Fantastic! |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Ok, I admit I had trouble with Powerpoles too, at first. My first inclination was to use good ol' solder, but its way too easy to use too much solder and then the contact won't seat in the housing properly. Next, I tried the inexpensive Gardner Bender crimp tool, but the crimps were always asymmetric and also had trouble inserting the contact into the housing.
So I bought a Powerwerx TRIcrimp and all those problems went away! Perfect crimps every time! I read another review about needing pliers to pull the crimped contacts out of the tool, but I did not have this problem at all. Very easy.
You do need to use the correct contacts for your wire size. I use the 45 amp for 10-12g, 30 amp for 12-16g, and 15 amp for anything smaller. For 18g you may need to fold the stripped wire once so enough wire fills the contact barrel. But I have not soldered any Powerpoles since. |
|