SternWake
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- Nov 30, 2013
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This failure of the housings is because I shoehorn 8awg cable into the 45 amp terminals which usually can only accept 10AWG wire.
This failed connector is on my 40 amp Meanwell powersupply, which resides on my cabinet door. Basically not so flexible 8 AWG wire gets to put significant stress directly on this connector each cabinet door swing when I am running the meanwell, charging or maintaining float voltage.
Only the red one, the wider C channel cracked. I felt the connector not Mating as I was used to feeling, and saw the crack. After charging some friend's batteries outside my van, I attended to the broken powerpole.
The assembled powerpole in back is just for reference as to what broke. I forgot to take a picture of the contact/ leafspring without these broken pieces obscuring the view. Sliding a razor blade between stainless leafspring and the electrical contact, I was easily able to remove the broken half of the housing.
I had some extra housings into which I slid the contacts until they clicked, and all is well again took about 15 seconds per wire to replace
I bring this up, just in case one finds their powerpoles do not feel quite right when seating/ unseating them. Check for cracks at the bases of the pieces above.
Only my red connector failed. I broke off the Black pieces just to see how much effort it took, which was less than I had hoped for. Perhaps it was fatigued and perhaps the black plastic is stronger than the red.
I do not feel this is an inherent weakness with the 15/30/45 amp powerpole connectors. This was a case where it was overtaxed with too thick and stiff of wire, and stressed almost directly on the connector, many hundreds of times. I knew it would eventually break, but also knew replacement of the broken housing would be simple to attend to.
This failed connector is on my 40 amp Meanwell powersupply, which resides on my cabinet door. Basically not so flexible 8 AWG wire gets to put significant stress directly on this connector each cabinet door swing when I am running the meanwell, charging or maintaining float voltage.
Only the red one, the wider C channel cracked. I felt the connector not Mating as I was used to feeling, and saw the crack. After charging some friend's batteries outside my van, I attended to the broken powerpole.
The assembled powerpole in back is just for reference as to what broke. I forgot to take a picture of the contact/ leafspring without these broken pieces obscuring the view. Sliding a razor blade between stainless leafspring and the electrical contact, I was easily able to remove the broken half of the housing.
I had some extra housings into which I slid the contacts until they clicked, and all is well again took about 15 seconds per wire to replace
I bring this up, just in case one finds their powerpoles do not feel quite right when seating/ unseating them. Check for cracks at the bases of the pieces above.
Only my red connector failed. I broke off the Black pieces just to see how much effort it took, which was less than I had hoped for. Perhaps it was fatigued and perhaps the black plastic is stronger than the red.
I do not feel this is an inherent weakness with the 15/30/45 amp powerpole connectors. This was a case where it was overtaxed with too thick and stiff of wire, and stressed almost directly on the connector, many hundreds of times. I knew it would eventually break, but also knew replacement of the broken housing would be simple to attend to.
