Re: Anderson PowerPoles

[John Lonigro]

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
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[Bruce Beford-2]

> 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



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[Bruce Beford-2]

> 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


Another option for configuring multiple Powerpoles to prevent accidental
reverse polarity is to arrange the connectors thus:

B R R B
B R R B

With the left sets "flipped over" compared to the right sets.

This is the way John at QuickSilver Radio does his. He sells the blank
shells or prewired units. See:

http://qsradio.com/Powerpoles.htm

And scroll about halfway down. You can see how John recommends configuring
these sets of eight. (disclaimer: no pecuniary interest, just a satisfied
customer, etc...)

Bruce, N1RX




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[Julian, G4ILO]

Bruce Beford-2 wrote

Another option for configuring multiple Powerpoles to prevent accidental
reverse polarity is to arrange the connectors thus:

B R R B
B R R B

With that arrangement couldn't you still plug the power cable in offset to the left so the positive goes to the left-hand black terminal and the negative is not connected. Easily done if you can't see what you are doing and are trying to plug in the cable blind. If there is a connection back to the power supply negative through ground connections you still have a short circuit. OK, hopefully it will only blow a fuse not the radio, but with other connector types that would not be possible.

[Bruce Beford-2]

Julian, G4ILO wrote: (Quoting N1RX)
>
>
> Another option for configuring multiple Powerpoles to prevent accidental
> reverse polarity is to arrange the connectors thus:
>
> B R R B
> B R R B
>
>

With that arrangement couldn't you still plug the power cable in offset to
the left so the positive goes to the left-hand black terminal and the
negative is not connected. Easily done if you can't see what you are doing
and are trying to plug in the cable blind. If there is a connection back to
the power supply negative through ground connections you still have a short
circuit. OK, hopefully it will only blow a fuse not the radio, but with
other connector types that would not be possible.

N1RX reply: Actually, Julian there is no chance of reverse polarity -IF- you
remember to invert the orientation of the left two pairs, as I mentioned
after the ASCII diagram in the original post: "With the left sets "flipped
over" compared to the right sets."

For illustration, refer to the Powerpole products page on the QuickSilver
radio site: http://qsradio.com/Powerpoles.htm

About halfway down the page, you see this note:

 "Note that in the assembled 8-pole mounts below, two of the sets are
"flipped over" so that the red housings are all in the center.  This is done
to prevent the possibility of accidentally plugging in a cable with reversed
polarity.  We urge you to follow this example if you assemble your own
cables and connectors."

For a photograph showing this arrangement:
http://qsradio.com/PPL-34%208-pole%20snap-in%20complete.JPG

This orientation makes accidental reverse polarity impossible.

73,
Bruce N1RX







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[John Lonigro]

Whoops.  I should have thought of that.  Actually, I didn't think there was even a problem until I made the mistake.  I need to revisit my assembly and apply this mod.  Otherwise, I'm sure it will happen again. Thanks to all for the suggestions.

73's,
John AA0VE

> Another option for configuring multiple Powerpoles to
> prevent accidental
> reverse polarity is to arrange the connectors thus:
>
> B R R B
> B R R B
>
> With the left sets "flipped over" compared to the right
> sets.
>
>
> Bruce, N1RX
>

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[Doug Faunt N6TQS [phone]]

For that arrangement, you could also have the sets be vertical, rather
than horizontal as shown.  Remember, EACH and every individual connector
has 4 possible orientations.  It's possible to Murphy-proof even two pin
arrangements.
 > http://qsradio.com/PPL-34%208-pole%20snap-in%20complete.JPG

I've not yet seen an answer to my question about fuse for the 12VDC OUT
RCA jack on the K3.

73, doug


On 26-Mar-11 09:39, Bruce Beford wrote:

> Julian, G4ILO wrote: (Quoting N1RX)
>>
>>
>> Another option for configuring multiple Powerpoles to prevent accidental
>> reverse polarity is to arrange the connectors thus:
>>
>> B R R B
>> B R R B
>>
>>
>
> With that arrangement couldn't you still plug the power cable in offset to
> the left so the positive goes to the left-hand black terminal and the
> negative is not connected. Easily done if you can't see what you are doing
> and are trying to plug in the cable blind. If there is a connection back to
> the power supply negative through ground connections you still have a short
> circuit. OK, hopefully it will only blow a fuse not the radio, but with
> other connector types that would not be possible.
>
> N1RX reply: Actually, Julian there is no chance of reverse polarity -IF- you
> remember to invert the orientation of the left two pairs, as I mentioned
> after the ASCII diagram in the original post: "With the left sets "flipped
> over" compared to the right sets."
>
> For illustration, refer to the Powerpole products page on the QuickSilver
> radio site: http://qsradio.com/Powerpoles.htm
>
> About halfway down the page, you see this note:
>
>   "Note that in the assembled 8-pole mounts below, two of the sets are
> "flipped over" so that the red housings are all in the center.  This is done
> to prevent the possibility of accidentally plugging in a cable with reversed
> polarity.  We urge you to follow this example if you assemble your own
> cables and connectors."
>
> For a photograph showing this arrangement:
> http://qsradio.com/PPL-34%208-pole%20snap-in%20complete.JPG
>
> This orientation makes accidental reverse polarity impossible.
>
> 73,
> Bruce N1RX
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ______________________________________________________________
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>
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> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>

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