Replacing XT90 to EC5 SC5

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shortround9191

shortround9191

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I’m not sure about you guys but coming from the air side I’ve been using EC5 SM5 connectors for years now. So the XT90’s kinda stink for me, I have a very unique way of soldering my larger style connectors so here it goes. I put my prepped wire near my gas stove top with a needle nose set of vice grips heat the bullet end with my soldering iron on the ready close by. Heat the connector pretty good remove from the burner install my wire and stuff solder into the cavity until I can feel it not melting as fast. From there my trust solder iron again to the connector side once hot enough filling the remainder of the bullet connector until it’s at the top. Allow to cool finally pressing into the EC5 SM5 connectors, this way totally melts the solder to the wire while looking very professional. What are you alls techniques for doing similar

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I don’t know about any special solder techniques I just kinda do it , I picked up the corally solder station makes light work of it . Do rc has a vid on soldering tips as does Tomley rc I’ll dig vids out later if interested

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I solder connectors in a similar way.
I connect a male and female bullet to eachother and clamp them in a vice.
At first i just put the bullet i have to solder directly into the vice, but then the vice acts as a giant heat sink and i can't get the solder to melt.
I heat the bullet and the wire with a torch and i fill the bullet with solder. When the solder is liquid, i jam the wire into the bullet and hold it there until the solder hardens.
I came up with this method, after messing with an iron for hours and not getting anywhere, due to our solder being lead free. It takes a lot of heat to get it to melt and it flows like crap, because it hardens so quickly.
 
Nelson.81 said:
A powerful enough solder iron the key & solder with bit lead content makes bit easier

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💯. Definitely use leaded solder. 👍

Also, a flux pen makes for a much nicer joint.

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Personally, I really like XT90 plugs. The ones on my Onyx packs are anti spark. I prefer XT90 to EC5 due to their higher current handling (90a Vs 60a) Essential when you're exploring the outer limits of your 160a ESC, which I do every time I run my Kronos XTR.

Then of course there are things like these:

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That can handle upto 600a!! 🤯
 
I use my old Snap on iron with the stove it just liquifies the solder haven’t had a single pull apart. I do like those Onyx connectors
 
For some reason I don't like EC5. Had it on a Arrma once, couldn't get a nice grip on them, so replaced them with XT90. I now have XT90 on all cars.
Even my crazy cheap Aliexpress soldering iron (pen with digital temp) can get those XT90's soldered. I didn't expect that and it's still going strong! With the right solder and flux it get the job done pretty easily. Sometimes, just sometimes, you buy something really cheap that performs like something that costs a multple.
 
I guess the reason I’m EC5 is 90% of my larger jets come with EC5 so when I buy new packs ( SMC ) you can choose what connector type you want installed I’ve stayed EC5. I’m now wondering since being here that replacing the EC5’s with ones that conduct handle more load should in theory give better performance in planes helicopters and cars. Here’s the connectors SMC offers they will attach to whatever pack you purchase from them

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Read this thread on soldering with bootlace ferrules it's a game changer: https://www.helifreak.com/showthread.php?t=875705

Basically the idea is that you crimp a copper ferrule onto the end of the wire and then solder the ferruled end into the connector. This makes soldering easier and prevents excessive wicking because the solder can bond with the end of the stranded wire at the opposite end of the ferrule but it cannot get through the crimp or at least would take a long time to do so. It has zero effect on electrical conductivity because it's a near gas tight crimp and also the solder makes full contact with the cross section of the wire at the other end.

Apparently this is common in industry with fine stranded cables because they have a tendency to wick much more than normal stranded conductors but the R/C hobby never picked up on it and went on stubbornly tinning and soldering them directly.
 
shortround9191 said:
I use my old Snap on iron with the stove it just liquifies the solder haven’t had a single pull apart. I do like those Onyx connectors
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Those are called QS8 connectors. The originals are great but there are now so many low quality knockoffs out there that I've taken to only buying the Perfect Pass QS8 V2, which is really just a QS8 guarenteed to be made by the original manufactuerer of the QS8 and in purple with the PP logo imprinted on it.

https://www.perfectpassrc.com/products/perfect-pass-qs8-v2-anti-spark-connector

Also $35 for 5 pairs is actually a very competitive price, I just wish they would sell "mono gender" sets for when you don't need one or the other e.g soldering batteries.

This is my soldering station: https://www.jameco.com/z/LF-3300-Xytronic-Industries-180-Watt-Soldering-Station_2319775.html

180W output, uses high frequency induction heating instead of a thermal heating element. Basicly it passes 450khz 36V AC through an isolated coil around the soldering tip which directly heats up the tip by induction. There is a channel in the back of the tips that a temperature probe in the handset inserts into that tells the base unit how hot the tip is. Because there's no resistive heating element or thermal conductivity involved in getting heat into the tip temperature control is tighter and it can compensate for a thermal sink faster. You can get Xytronic tips for it from Howard Electronics in the US, but it's also compatable with Quick 200B tips that can be found on Aliexpress. (Quick and Atten use this same tip deisgn in their high frequency sodlering stations)

The Xytronic LF-3200 has the same heating technology in a less expensive option.

https://www.jameco.com/z/LF-3200-Xy...Digital-Display-120VAC-USA-Plug-_2181503.html

I had one untill I upgraded to the LF-3300 and it served well for years. Except for the simpler LED display and lower 120W power output it's fucntionally the same and uses the same tips.
 
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Sweet deal, I will have to order god 4-5 sets at least. I went 8s on most my jets and run series 4s then all my 6s jets. I’m afraid to say how many packs I have still some in the box to replace older worn packs that all will need to get replaced. I bet it would take me 2 days just to do the connectors
 
Amass is a reputable company for connectors probably make the perfect pass ones
 
Nelson.81 said:
Amass is a reputable company for connectors probably make the perfect pass ones
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I probably have 3-4K on packs alone for different planes, I did try my SMC 68/5700 hi volt pack a little today. Times run 20min when checked had 68% pack let couldn’t believe it, this was on road rained yesterday and just did a big Spark clean didn’t wanna get her all muddy yet so I’ll do some off road hopefully tomorrow
 
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