Melted J3 Connector on K2/100 - Reprise - Part II

Ron and Tom are totally correct.  On inspection of the connectors they were not seated forward enough because I tried to do something fancy...like putting two wires coming out of the 20 amp APP to run the KAT100.  I did not get the spade pushed far enough into the plastic shell.  I will be changing that tomorrow and running one wire into the APP and make sure they are soldered (with they were) but pushed in till they "click."  I see now they were not "clicked" into a locking position.  I got the black on to click in, but the red one is toast.  I will replace both ... and ... run seperate power from the PS to the KAT100.
   
  I had this very same thing happen on a 240 Volt AC dryer plug once....and the Fire Department was called....it was smokin'!  Poor connection between the plug or the socket and the wire running to the breaker box.  Nasty!
   
  Lee - K0WA
 

Lee Buller <[hidden email]> wrote:
  Date: Mon, 19 Jun 2006 19:57:38 -0700 (PDT)
From: Lee Buller <[hidden email]>
To: Elecraft Reflector <[hidden email]>
Subject: [Elecraft] Melted J3 Connector on K2/100

Well, I was giving the K2/100 heck (100 watts) on 40 meters tonight into a nice load (1.2) and things start stinking a little when I turn it back over to the other station. I had been sending code at around 18 wpm for about 10 minutes. I am running a Astron switching power supply. Then the rig shut off and did not come on again. The heat sink was not all that hot, but I noticed the large gauge wire and the fuse holder was warmer than what I would expect. The 20 amp fuse was not blown.

I pulled the Anderson Power pole plugs....and the RED side of the plug is melted while the black plug is not. The RED Anderson Power Pole connector on the K2 is also slighly deformed from melting. I took the K2 over to another supply on the bench and the K2 came up.

Looking at the schmatic....I must have drawn to much current for the connectors. Hardly seems to be plausible. What do you experts think here?

Lee - K0WA



In our day and age it seems that Common Sense is in short supply. If you don't have any Common Sense - get some and use it. If you can't find any common sense, ask for help from somebody who has some common sense.
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In our day and age it seems that Common Sense is in short supply.  If you don't have any Common Sense - get some and use it.  If you can't find any common sense, ask for help from somebody who has some common sense.
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