| WD4ELG |
Rating:      |
2016-12-11 | |
| Once you get the hang of it... |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
| After trying a couple of times and getting lucky with the "click," I spent some time looking at the innards of these. I played around with the connectors, tried inserting the wrong direction, fiddled with a neat tool to help insert the ends into the plastic housings. My conclusion - these things do work, and they're good. It takes a bit to become comfortable and proficient at setting them up. I compare it to crimping F adapters on coax; the first ones you do will probably fall off, but the more you do it the better your technique will become. It's a great idea. Not the most robust, but affordable. And check out the West Mountain Rig Runners, that's why I started using the Powerpoles in the first place. |
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| KN0JI |
Rating:      |
2016-12-09 | |
| Terrific in so many ways |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
One of the (to me) biggest safety features many connectors miss is protection of internal metal parts from exposure to metal or wires of other devices. Seems like the ones that do prevent exposure are not gender-neutral, or have other drawbacks, such as difficulty in connection / disconnection. Not so for PowerPoles.
PowerPole connectors are gender-neutral, low-cost, easy to install, very easy to connect / disconnect, employ a wiping action when connecting, and have high current capacity. These features make them perfect for hobbyists.
I've purchased their crimpers, numerous 45 A connectors, and many rolls of their B&R zip cord, and installed PPs on nearly all of my ham equipment, including my homebrew PSUs.
They aren't perfect, but they're the best things out there. I highly recommend every ham use these connectors, in spite of their minor drawbacks. |
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| G6IYD |
Rating:      |
2016-10-29 | |
| Recommended |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I too am surprised at the negative comments about Anderson Powerpoles. For me they are easy to fit, providing care is taken in crimping or soldering. I always prefer to solder the connectors and have had no problems. There may be an issue with cloned Powerpoles, as I have had a batch of 30A from Amazon which seemed to have somewhat looser dovetail joints, and marginally reduced cable entry at the crimp/solder end. A genuine pack from a reputable UK distributor have Anderson in tiny lettering on the edge of the plastic connector at the cable entry end, which does not appear on the suspect batch. Other than that they do look identical. All my ham radio DC leads are gradually being changed over to Powerpoles, because of the ease of interconnecting leads for the shack and mobile use. Wouldn't use anything else now. |
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| WH7W |
Rating:   |
2016-06-26 | |
| Too bad these connectors became so popular |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but these connectors are very poorly designed and it is truly unfortunate that they gained so much traction in the ham radio community.
Try this at home with with your standard red/black PP connectors. Disconnect power first. The red/black housings will mate up perfectly half aligned----that is black to red or red to black. A properly designed connector would never allow that. If you try to connect PP's by feel or in low light, you are a set up for directly shorting out your red supply to ground, especially if the radio you are plugging into is grounded through the mount or coax. Keep a fuse handy, you will need to replace it.
I suspect they became so popular as they are very inexpensive and relatively easy to install with a little practice.
Additionally, despite the claim that the terminals are self cleaning/wipe as they mate, I have found concerning voltage drop across otherwise properly installed PP connectors.
I suspect it is going to be very difficult for AMP/TE, Molex, Hirose or one of the other big connector manufacturers to dethrone Anderson. Until such time, we will all be stuck with PP PP's. |
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| W9OWO |
Rating:      |
2016-06-26 | |
| Excellent Products |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I started using Powerpoles to eliminate a number of 12V walwarts. I now have two West Mountain panels and all my equipment is connected with Powerpoles including my power supply, which feeds both panels. The 30A Powerpole blades accomodate #10 stranded wire if cut cleanly. Chopping it with dull sidecutters doesn't do the job!
With Powerpoles, you can always have the proper fuse for each circuit. And an accidental 'short' on one, doesn't shut down your entire shack. Current load has never been a problem. If the blades are crimped correctly, the contact is perfect!
From reading the bad reviews, I'd bet that all the problems were "operator error." Quality work demands attention to detail and sometimes, patience. |
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| W2GT |
Rating:  |
2016-05-12 | |
| PowerPole Version 2.0 PLEASE! |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| On the surface these seem like a good idea, a standard we can all agree on for interoperability, but it never quite delivered as promised. They are prone to disconnecting at the slightest tug, and make a poor connection even on their best day. Us hams are a odd bunch, many insist on commercial grade, mil spec, waterproof gear so that we can be ready with certainty in a time of need and then we decide on a universal connector for the power to run it all that Baofeng would be embarrassed of! Another odd thing is their ratings, the "30 amp" version, for example, will only accept up to 12 gauge wire, which, of course is 20 amp max - I've brought up this issue in groups before and the users say that they are "over-rated" - to this I say AMEN!! |
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| ZS1SA |
Rating:     |
2016-03-16 | |
| Alternative Crimper |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
The ratchet crimper works great but once it has been branded by the local suppliers as being specific to Power Poles the price sky rockets. You can buy the generic dies, made by Hanlong Industrial in Taiwan (Google it) part number HT-5132CL at several tool suppliers. You can purchase just the dies to fit into a standard ratchet crimper or you can purchase the complete crimper at a fraction of the price.
Instead of having the 3 crimp sections in the jaws labeled 15, 30 and 45 Amp, they are labeled with the AWG sizes. Mine works perfectly. Hope that helps.
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| SV9RMU |
Rating:  |
2016-03-02 | |
| Worst high current connector ever |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Unfortunately the power feed for my 100W solid state linear amplifier is through a Powerpole connector. I have had problems with it almost from the beginning (about 10 years ago). And yes - the connectors (plug and socket) are properly assembled and the wires are soldered to the pins (after crimping). The problem is not in the wire connections, however, but with the contact surfaces and "springs" inside the shells. Whoever designed this connector had no idea what kind of contact pressure is required even just for the 15 to 20 Amp currents I'm normally using. The contact pressure is too low to begin with, and gets worse as the time passes. This is mainly because the whole contact is made of a single piece of fairly soft copper. And then, to make things even worse, the contact surfaces are tin plated! In a "high current" connector! Not silver plated, as it is somewhere suggested - not in the ones I have, anyway.
I've been looking for a proper connector to replace the Powerpole in my amp, but so far haven't found one, which would fit in the small space.
So, my verdict is: NEVER USE A POWERPOLE CONNECTOR, if you have a choise! I would NEVER use one in any of my designs. I'm a retired electronics designer. |
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| PY2FXE |
Rating:      |
2014-08-27 | |
| Excellent |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
| I have read a lot of pros and cons about Powerpoles in eHam. A year ago, on a business trip to Atlanta, I visited HRO and besides other stuff I bought a 30 Amp unassembled red/black Powerpole pack with 25 sets. Let's give it a try. Best decision I ever made. Replaced all my connectors in my shack, no more messing around. The online assembly instructions are well done with lots of pictures. I solder all my connectors. All worked on the first try. Just received now an online order with more connectors, a chassis mount for 2 Powerpoles sets and a cigarette lighter plug to Powerpole adapter for the car. Keep the good work. |
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| K6SDW |
Rating:     |
2014-05-08 | |
| 25 years later |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Working in the electronics/radio/broadcasting/computer world for 30+ plus years I've seen every, yes every kind of power - signal connector failure. 30 years ago, no signal or low signal/voltage I could bet the farm it was a connector and lucky for me most of the time it was a corroded or loose connector!!
Power poles no different, if they aren't done correctly they will fail.....my personal favorite is to solder them to the pins. I've never ever trusted crimp-on connectors, even the tiny molex pin types I would flow solder across them!
I hate crimp-on connectors of any kind. Yes, I know in aviation that's all they do is crimp-on, but not at this QTH!
Just me 2 cents..
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Earlier 5-star review posted by K6SDW on 2010-02-03
To insure a reliable connection I almost always solder rather than crimp. Also, when wiring up a typical 12-v connection, I put a dab of glue on the plastic housing to keep the + and - connectors from drifting apart.......I've never had a failure and use them everywhere.
Cheers All
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Earlier 5-star review posted by K6SDW on 2007-02-12
I solder mine and have never had a failure or connection pull loose.....soldering them takes patience, practice, a steady hand and me reading glasses!
Soldering works fer me and I could care less the company doesn't recommend it!
Powerpoles aren't the be-all answer to every connection situation, however, and I have been known to use other connectors (like crimp-on's).
Cheers All... |
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