Bullet Connector Assembly Help

rybitski

1 mW
Joined
Jul 11, 2010
Messages
11
Ok I recently purchased some 4mm bullet connectors and 10 gauge silicone wire to go along with my turnigy lipos that also use 10 gauge wire. Normally you would slide the plastic part of the connector over the wire and solder on the metal part of the connector. Well I am running into issues with this 10 gauge wire... :evil: The wire seems too big for the connectors. It will not slide through the plastic cover and the acceptance that the stripped portion of the wire would normally slide into to be soldered does not fit. I know the simple solution would be to get a smaller gauge wire but i don't want to because 10 gauge is what my batteries leads are. I am looking for tips, tricks, insight, or magic to help me solve this dilema. Do they make 4mm bullet connectors specifically for 10 gauge wire? My connectors and wire are from epbuddy.com and I can't find any info on what gauge wire is reccomended for them.
 
You can always strip some extra insulation off the ends of the wires and use heat shrink in it's place I have done that for my BMS connectors. If the copper will not fit in the connector then trim the outside a bit to make it thinner.
 
Use a small round file to re-size the hole in the housing, personally I don't like or use them on my own setups, I prefer two pieces out heat shrink over the bullets.

KiM
 
AussieJester said:
Use a small round file to re-size the hole in the housing
If you file down the housing then the metal part will not click into place.

neptronix said:
hm. i have no problem using 4mm bullets from hobbyking. Are these the same ones?

http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=28694&hilit=4mm+bullet

I have no problem getting 8awg wire into these.
Those look like they have a larger diameter acceptance on the back of the connectors than the ones I have. Next time I will order them from hobby king even if they are slower on shipping.
I got the ones I bought from EPbuddy to work, but it was a pain. I had to take an xacto and trim down the insulator on about 1" of the wire all the way around but being careful not to cut too much off and expose the wire. This allowed me to push the wire through the connector. Once I got the wire through I could pull it up and cut off the section I had to shave down. This wasted a little more wire than needed, but that is why I ordered extra (just in case). Thanks for all of the help and suggestions.
 
4mm bullets don't fit 8ga they barely accept 10ga best bullets are the ones off Turnigy packs 10ga slips into them beautifully, unfortunately you can't buy these, only the smaller 4mm or larger 5.5mm, just bought me Huge mfg of these as they are often out of stock at HK, to big for 10ga but perfect for the 8ga used in my RC setups.

KiM
 
AussieJester said:
Use a small round file to re-size the hole in the housing, personally I don't like or use them on my own setups, I prefer two pieces out heat shrink over the bullets.

KiM

I actually like the 4mm housing as it protects the connectors very well.
On 5.5mm connectors i had to use heat shrinks as no housing / protectors available but i hate it. Up for individual preferences i guess.

You would be better off with either XT150 or 6mm bullet connectors if you want to use 10awg wire -they both come with protective housing.
It depends on your setup BUT normally when connecting lipo packs in parallel for ebike needs, 12awg is often more than enough... They are thinner too, so you save space and weight in your battery box ect...
 
btw that 10 gauge turnigy wire is crap. Seems to be aluminum, which is less conductive and thus has higher resistance. More flexible, but an inferior wire overall.

You could probably fit 8 or 9 gauge copper wire into those bullets. I've had no problem getting 10ga into those suckers.
Mind you if you are going to be transferring over 50 amps through them you may want to double up the connectors or upgrade to 5-6mm bullet connectors for a better contact surface.
 
the 10awg from turnigy is copper, or at least the stuff i have. it's shiny silvery colored because it's pre-tinned. I was just doing some connectors on my wires, and was having problems so i did a search and found this thread. the connectors i'm using are the 4mm bullet connectors from epbuddy: http://epbuddy.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=26_13&products_id=101 and they definitely DON"T slide over 10awg silicone wire. so far i've only done the female half (would normally go on the positive lead from the battery, or negative lead on the motor) but i've found that drilling the connector out with a #3 drillbit works perfect. it's still a very snug fit to pass the silicone wire through, but the connector locks into place VERY securely inside the plastic housing. i could probably even go with a #2 drillbit....but my drill index is missing that size and #3 is a very good fit :)

just thought i'd share incase anyone is stuck with the "hard to assemble" connectors 8)
 
I don’t have issues with 10-AWG, however I am using the Mil-Spec stuff and I’d wager it has thinner insulation, so perhaps that’s the solution.

On the flip-side, I’ve had to use an X-Acto blade to shave off insulation to get the APP connectors to fit over 10-AWG: No fun there… maybe 4 out of 5 tries.

Show us some pics, KF :)
 
I've used the turnigy 10G wire with the 4mm hxt connectors from hobbyking without any problems. The thin wires in the 10G Turnigy wire is a bit annoying to solder.
 
i actually learned the secret of how to solder "noodle" wire. (the type with silicone insulation, and super fine strands.)

first, get a nice sharp pair of wire cutters (something with scissor action, instead of dikes) and cut the end of the wire off so the wire and insulation are flush with each other, and not mangled. then, holding the end of the wire in a vice or some other clamp (clothespin, pliers with rubber band, etc) tin your soldering iron and add some solder to the end of the wire. you can get the wire hot enough to suck the solder right up, without hurting the silicone the slightest bit!

now, when you strip the silicone back, you have a PERFECT super tight bundle of wire, with no stray ends at all. in fact, the only stray ends will be the strands that accidentally get cut when you strip the silicone :p (but with some practice even these 1 or 2 strands can be avoided)

now, when you add a 4mm connector to the 10awg wire, it flops all over the place. there's TONS of room inside the connectors if the wires are nice and tight :)

(the hobby king connectors are definitely recommended over anything else though. other brands need the plastic to be drilled out like i mentioned earlier)
 
Strip and 'tin' the wire with solder first, then quickly round it down to a ~3mm point on a bench grinder or with a file, then solder into place.

Or if you need to carry more current, strip the wire and twist up two ends - tin them and use two plugs.

Or use 5.5mm plugs for mucho current, these are fitted standard on Turnigy 8s 5.8 Ahr packs...
 
tin the wires before you strip them, it will save you a LOT of time. you have to strip and tin the wires anyway, you might as well reverse the order (tin, then strip) and save yourself a trip to the bench grinder :)
 
Tin then strip makes sense to me too. But the real problem, if I understood it, was the covers don't fit over the insulation. Some that I got from EP Buddy seemed to be quite tight. Maybe others have more space for the insulation.
 
yeah, the ones i got from epbuddy are a very tight fit also. i just drilled them out and they work great. another option is to use teflon wire instead of silicone though, it has much thinner insulation. (but lots tougher)

i'm using some wire from http://www.bulkwire.com/wire-cable/ptfe-high-temperature-stranded-wire.html

and it's far superior to any silicone i've used. the outside diameter of 10awg is listed as .127" wheras the outside diameter of the silicone 10awg i have (i just measured it) is .221"

the silicone is a lot more limp (and cheaper) but if you're looking for the best you can get, you can't beat teflon. look at those temp specs ;)

plus it will bend just as tight of corners as silicone will, but it will stay bent better. it's still very easy to bend though.
 
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