Tips for Unplugging Tight Deans Ultra Plugs?

[Kailolo]

Well, I've started replacing Tamiya plugs with Deans Ultra Plugs. However, the Deans plugs are EXTREMELY TIGHT! SO tight my 10-year can't unplug them.

Any tips for easier unplugging?

Leave a small gap between the male and female parts when connecting, large enough for a screw driver to insert and pry them apart?l (Risks shorting the battery?) Use a plastic or wooden pry?

Insert a ribbon between the male and female plugs; then pull on the ribbon to disconnect? Perhaps anchor (melt or glue the ribbon to the male plug so it can't be lost.

Compress the metal compression strip with pliers?

Drive a tiny screw or nail through each plug as a grip?

Melt the wire end of the Deans plastic housing to create a ridge for gripping? I did this by accident when soldering. Seems like Deans should mold in grips.

Lift weights?


Also, the exposed leads on the Deans male plug I put on the charger have me a bit nervous. Guess I'll can plug the charger in AFTER the battery is connected. But I think I'll look for a housing to slip over the male end to cover the leads. Then melt or glue it in place. Any ideas?

Or I may reinstall the stock Tamiya plug on the charger and make a Tamiya female-Deans male connector, which would be attached to a battery before attacing to the charger.

Thanks,

Tim

[rtypec]

The best way to make deans easier to unplug is to take care when you actually build the connectors. When you are making a deans connection, always plug in a spare onto the other side (whether it be male or female) while you solder. This way it will prevent the contacts from moving around when the soldering iron heats up the plastic. That's all there is to it.

[R3VoLuTiOn]

CRAP :( i didnt do that. but thankfully i can still take em apart. Is that the only reason for them to be tight.

[tadium54]

The same thing happeend to mine too, because i didn't use the opposite plug.

[mr_dove]

the instructions for the plugs specifically say, "do NOT plug together during soldering" . If Deans says so, it's probably not a good idea.

I just got my first 3 packs of ultra plugs and remembered reading this thread. Even without doing any soldering yet, they seem REALLY tight. I'm not sure how I'll unplug them either. I guess I'll make sure I have a solid bond and just pull on the wired (hope they don't break or some loose).

[rcguy2477]

Mine are fine. Try just cleaning the plugs with motor cleaner. Once i cleaned mine they were easier to remove then the tamiya style plugs.

[AreCee]

They're supposed to be tight so they don't come apart in crashes. Also the tight fit makes the most positive contact for the juice to flow. However, over the course of time they will eventually loosen up and it will be time to replace them.

You can loosen them up a little by squeezing the the little arch spring with a pliers to flatten it but then you'll lose that nice snug fit.

Do what I do and just pull straight apart by holding the wires, of course that only works if you have very good solder joints.:o

[PCC]

What I did on mines was, on the ESC side, I carefully cut a small bit of the plastic from both sides of the connector where it mates with the connector from the battery. This way, I have something positive to grab on to when pulling them apart. I can even wedge my finger nail into the notch and force the two apart enough to start so that I can get a better grip on them to take them off. Since I did this on the ESC side, I didn't need to do it to every single connector. If you need pictures to show what I mean, I can post some...

[rtypec]

Originally posted by mr_dove
the instructions for the plugs specifically say, "do NOT plug together during soldering" . If Deans says so, it's probably not a good idea.


Yup...I don't know what I'm doing.

[fakieflip101]

Start pumping iron.:D

[starwars1138]

Glad to see I am not the only one with the same problem. This things are a bear!

I am fairly decent at soldering and had no problems getting them assembled. I followed the directions on the bag and DID NOT plug in the other end of the plug while soldering. Not only am I having problems getting them apart, they are quite stiff going together... so much so that I held both ends with needle nose pliers to get them together and the same to get them apart. Bashed my fingers pretty good too. Bout sick of this. I hate Tamiya plugs but I am pretty close to adding these to my list...

Anyone got any more tips?

[Techno Duck]

On the male plugs, their is a piece of curved metal that sits ontop of the flat connector. Take a pair of needle nose pliers and squeeze that peice of curved metal as hard as you can. I did this a few times and the connectors werent too hard to get apart anymore. I just pull on the wires and disconnect.

[mtrsprt]

If your solder joints are correctly soldered, then you can partially grab both + and - wires to ease the struggle. Also, put them together and pull them apart about 25 times in a row, and they should become easier to manage.

Like mentioned before, do not connect the opposite end while soldering. This will act like a heatsink to the side your soldering, and possibly weaken the weld.

I can yank on the wires of my solder connection as hard as I can, and they do not budge. This is how I test my solder and heat settings before I get ready to install a few pairs onto my packs.

[hawdon]

another tip is to use something like your hobby knife to "scuff" up the surfaces of all plugs, both make and female. This gives your fingers some traction/grip when pulling them apart.

[3xs]

I know the instructions say don't plug them together, but I always do so that I don't have the problems you guys are having,I have been running these plugs for several years now and believe me guys these are the best plugs on the market.You need a good adjustable temp iron when putting these together and make sure you tin both the wire and the plug,once you've put a few together you will get the hang of it.Hope this helps.

[mwcet8k]

To be completely honest, you SHOULD be able to pull on the wires to disconnect the plugs and never break any of the solder joints. This is actually a pretty good test to see if the joint is a good one. If it breaks, it really needs to be redone anyway.

Weak solder joints kind of defeat the purpose of installing zero loss connectors in the first place.