[Elecraft] Alternatives to PowerPoles?

[T. David Yarnes]

I'm struggling a bit to understand your preference to the 
Molex connectors.  I find them troublesome from the 
standpoint of making your own connectors as opposed to the 
APP's.  By the way, I think the "standard" Molex seems to be 
the 6 pin rather than the 4 pin--at least of late.  My Icom 
and Kenwood rigs use the 6 pin, and the same pinout pattern. 
The Molex connectors are nice in that they are gendered, and 
they lock.  I certainly like that.  But I question that they 
are more durable.  I just stepped on an APP (with my 200 
plus pounds), and nothing happened--it's still fine.

My biggest concern with APP's is that they don't lock 
together.  It hasn't been a problem, but it just seems it 
could be.  They do make some plastic accessory clamps to 
hold two connections together--guess I should try those.

But for me, it's all about how easy it is to put together a 
connection, and the APP's seem the easiest right now by far. 
However, I crimp, which you (and several others) don't like. 
But I concluded from the arguments back and forth about 
soldering vs. crimping that soldering was just fine for most 
uses since we aren't using them in high stress situations 
more often than not.  But I did not conclude that soldering 
was better!  It was just that most seemed to feel it was 
only important if you were dealing with issues like jet 
plane vibrations, etc.  I'll certainly buy that.  But I 
think you still have to draw the ultimate conclusion from 
that argument that crimping is better, but not necessary! 
Maybe most would agree with that, and I would too.

So, I would conclude that the popularity of APP's is 
substantially because they are fast and easy, yet effective. 
They are fastest if you crimp.  It would be nice, however, 
if they locked together, and maybe it would be better if 
they were gendered.  Also, many folks want to standardize 
their connections.  That too is more easily done using 
APP's.

APP's are not the ultimate answer--not by a long shot.  But 
they do serve a good purpose for many.  If that wasn't true, 
people wouldn't be using them so much.  If you don't like 
them, don't use them.  If you don't like the fact that the 
K3 has them, make a pigtail adapter, and then use what you 
want.  That's certainly easy enough to do.

Dave W7AQK

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Charles Harpole" <k4vud at hotmail.com>
To: <n2ey at aol.com>; <w8ur at flatsurface.com>
Cc: <elecraft at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Monday, April 07, 2008 6:51 AM
Subject: RE: [Elecraft] Alternatives to PowerPoles?



The major 13vdc ham radio equipment input power connector is 
the 4 pin Molex.  This connector has proven in thousands of 
uses to be adequate to the voltage, the current, and the 
physical demands of this utilization.  It is the de facto 
standard on K, I, and Y radios (for the vast majority) and 
the single only connector (other than the PL259-SO etc) that 
all three mfgs. amazingly agree on, making at least this 
matter so much easier for hams with different equipment 
mfgs.The four pins are often all used to increase the power 
handling capacity of the two-wire application.  However, 
theMolex in all its pin configurations has a number of 
drawbacks.... -one time installation (unless the use of a 
special tool to retract the installed pins is used), i.e., 
not reusable,-lack of strain relief.-lack of positive 
attachment fixture (i.e., it could be accidentaly pulled out 
rather easily).Good points are resistance to crush (step 
on), can stand multiple plug in and out, is very well keyed 
and can take solder with care.  It is reasonably available, 
but not in India, for example.  It does not need glue. 
Formerly, some mfgs. used a two pin mic connector which 
likely had the power handling ok, took soldering well altho 
the pins are close together, and had both a great positive 
attachment (screw on) and a fairly good strain relief. 
Drawback was possible confusion of thisconnector with a 
mic.The Cinch Jones is a good alternative because it comes 
in many pin configurations, including two, is very well 
keyed, takes soldering very well, has a good strain relief, 
is vy reusable, is medium resistant to crush, can be pulled 
out too easily, is widely available (altho its uses are 
dropping, restricting its availability), The size of the 
two-pin version is nearly the same as the 4 pin Molex.  The 
A Power Poles are the weakest of this line up of connectors 
and a very strange choice for ham radio applications.Charles 
Harpolek4vud at hotmail.com   >