[Elecraft] Anderson PowerPoles

[Bruce Beford]

> I refuse to get into the plus/minus arguments about Powerpoles, but I do 
> have a warning about a particular product I bought a few years ago.  It 
> is a plastic frame designed to hold a bank of powerpoles, which I 
> installed on a little battery pack/charger storage case I built.  It 
> contains 4 pairs of powerpoles in the following configuration (B = 
> black, R = red):

> R B R B
> R B R B

> It allows one to plug in 4 different powerpole accessories at once.  
> Unfortunately, it turns out that it is possible to get the polarity 
> wrong when using this bank of powerpoles.  While groping around one 
> Field Day, trying to plug in a K2 without adequate light to see what I 
> was doing, I accidentally plugged it into the center two connectors, 
> thus getting the polarity wrong (B R instead of R B).  Fortunately, 
> being a K2, there is a trusty little reverse polarity protection diode 
> which prevents any damage from occurring.  After correcting the mistake, 
> the K2 came to life.  I know the battery voltage indication on the K2 is 
> low because of this diode, but that's a small price to pay for this 
> "Murphy-proofing" feature. Thanks, Elecraft.

> 73's,

> John AA0VE

John, from your description I am assuming that you bought the blank "shell"
or "frame" and installed the Powerpoles yourself. By installing the
Powerpoles in a different configuration, you can prevent the reverse
polarity situation from ever happening.

Referencing the diagram you posted, you can have side-by-side sets of
Powerpoles. This leads to the potential problem you experienced. By loading
the panel shell this way:

R B
R B
R B
R B


prevents any possibility of plugging a power cord in such a way that the
polarity is reversed. Orienting the connectors as you did leaves open the
possibility of you or someone else someday repeating this error. I strongly
suggest you disassemble that Powerpole panels on your device and reassemble
them as shown.

Good Luck,
Bruce, N1RX