Die-Electric on Deans

[wjcjr]

I noticed these Deans Ultras are awfully tight.

As I sat pondering this it came to mind does anyone use Die-Electric grease on their connectors?

Is Die-Electric conductive? If not highly conductive are there other conductive greases around?

I thought if I pushed and pulled them together enough they would work themselves in but I have to tug on the wires to get them apart. Especially one of the connectors.

The soldering iron I have is only rated at 25 watts so I wonder if in my time waiting for heat to resonate if I heated the connectors a bit too much?

All comments will be great!

Wayne

[SCC]

I have some deans that have not been soldered yet, and they are very tight.
One thing is for sure they are not going to come apart in flight.

[cjg]

I found that if you have them connected them male to female while soldering they aren't so tight afterwards.

[jt01]

Wayne, Die-Electric grease is conductive. It's main purpose is to keep the connectors from corroding. I use it on my snow plow plugs all the time. The whole idea of the Deans connectors is to stay tight so you don't have intermittent glitches as with the loose stock type. I don't know if the grease will make them easier to pull apart or just too slippery to grab.I guess there's only one way to find out and it shouldn't hurt anything.

Jim

[swampfox201]

I did what cjg suggested. I read on some other forum that if you heat them up too much the plastic can melt and the blades don't line up right. If you have the male and female connected while soldering the blades stay in position and they come apart easier. All I know is using this advice my deans come apart without any trouble.

Todd

[SCC]

jt01 said:

The whole idea of the Deans connectors is to stay tight so you don't have intermittent glitches as with the loose stock type.

Jim

I agree with you Jim. Plus, rules are rules..#3 ;D



I think after some use they will get slightly easier to pull apart.

[cjg]

The instructions do say not to have them plugged together when soldering. With a hot enough iron you only have to touch the heat for a moment, and the momentary soldering does not warp the plastic too much. They are ever so slightly looser and do work really well and still won't come apart until you want them to.

Remember these things are rated for 80 amps in RC cars. When I solder them for my RC cars I don't have them together as the tight fit is desirable. For my supercub, having them plugged together when soldering makes them just enough easier to pull apart but still remain tight enough for consistent current flow. Airplanes typically draw 10-20 amps or less.

Being a Myers Briggs ENFP personality I know that rules are only for those who are not comfortable living in the unknown :-) - like my wife who points to the "don't put strollers on the escalator." I realize that sign is for those who don't know how to do it correctly :-)

Anyway, using my system I've never had a bad connection either in my RC cars or airplane.

[SCC]

Rules are made to be broken. ;D

[wjcjr]

I did LEARN a lot from this post and my first real venture into mass soldering. Here are some highlights;

- First it appears the problem I am referring to has been experienced by many.

- Do not USE too much flux. I found as I was probing around the connector last night I had flux under that interference flap that assures a tighter fit. It was obvious the only two male connectors I did I had tilted backward during soldering allowing the flux to run through the connector and under the flap. I cleaned it out and they fit much better but still WAY too tight to even think of just grabbing the connectors and pulling apart by fingertips. Either tugging on the wire or a tool is needed to not break my finger tips. I see the wire not liking that so for now a couple small pliers do the trick.

- My soldering gun is poop. The wattage rating is only 25. I read last night somewhere that wattage rating of 40 is a bare minimum for soldering joints quickly and cleanly otherwise you risk heating up the whole area due to the fact the gun can not reach the correct material adhesion temperature. Makes sense just as my pipe welding in many circumstances hotter and faster movement will yield less warping and still have full penetration joints. Just need to be conscious of adequate filler rod volume and that shielding gas selection and coverage is adequate to prevent contamination or embrittlement. WOW I got way off topic there.

- As mentioned above do not get the connectors too hot. Which I believe I did.

- Put the shrink wrap onto the wire before soldering. I am embarrassed to say I skipped this step 4 times yesterday and had to unsolder those connections, put wrap on and re-solder. Kind of a DUH moment.

- I WILL be trying the die-electric grease trick, light amounts.

- I will try soldering them with the connectors together the next time I do this.

Thanks for all the help this is GREAT!

Wayne

[cjg]

admin said:

Rules are made to be broken. ;D

Agreed!

[wjcjr]

Here's an interesting twist.

It has been predetermined above Die-Electric grease is conductive.

Armed with that information; a question has risen.

Since the negative and positive are less than a 1/8th inch away from each other if some grease came out and traversed the 1/8 inch would there be an arc out situation caused?

Thanks all, Wayne

[cjg]

That would be my concern. Maybe a very small amount?

[jt01]

Wayne, as I stated earlier I do use grease on my plow connections and have been using it for the past 25 + years in the mechanics trade --- BUT --- after thinking about it I deal with a lot stronger electrical systems than in the r.c. world. A small and most minute short could be devastating to the circuit board. The small benefit gained in easier removal could be far outweighed by a burnt receiver. I have been finding my deans connectors to pull apart easier with use and you may want to wait and see if yours do also.

Jim

[wjcjr]

Deans connectors are working great and have begun loosening after about 3 uses for each battery.

I am not sure if it is the ESC that was real tight. After the last 12 flights it is now ok and maybe every battery was a little different in how it warped from my SUPER SOLDER. ;D

Wayne

[gnascher]

Dielectric grease is NOT conductive. It is commonly used in situations where contacts could be corroded by the elements ... it also is meant to keep out water (which is conductive) and prevent shorts. When the contacts mate with each other, the dialectric grease is pushed out by the mating surfaces to make a connection.

If dielectric grease was conductive, it would be causing shorts in all those connectors it is meant to protect.

"Dielectric" at dictionary.com:
dictionary.reference.com/browse/dielectric