Traxxas vs. Deans Plug

[w0ace]

New to cars, but been flying planes for years. I change them all over to Deans Ultraplugs. I see alot of car guys are still using the Traxxas factory connector. Are they OK? Do they handle the current? Which are you guys using the most? Planning on getting a Slash ASAP, and was going to order the plugs for everything to match at the same time, so wanted to see what everyone else is using.

Thanks much.......Chris, SUNNY TULSA!:eek:(102.3* right now on myback porch!):eek:

[Ihaveaxrayt2r]

Im using both, I like deans because I used them the hole time I was in the hobby. But the sad thing is I like traxxas plugs better beacuase there easyer to soder the deans.

[rccardude04]

Personally, I prefer the Deans mainly because, like you, I came from aircraft and brought my BL/Lipos into the car world. Because of that, Deans were familiar.

However, the Traxxas connectors aren't bad at all. I am kind of hoping they'll become the new standard, similar to the Tamiya connectors are at the moment. They're easier to solder than the Deans and seem to be pretty good as far as current handling abilities.

-Eric

[Drift Demon]

ive changed all my connectors over from deans to the TRX plugs. TRXs are much easier to connect/disconnect for me. Another reason why i switched was because some of the replica deans plugs would heat up quite abit, even though they were soldered on properly, which affected the performance of my batteries. I had a brand new orion carbon 3200, i thought it was playing up, only to realise the plug was to blame...

[rccardude04]

When you buy knockoff connectors, you're not using deans. You're using crap. That's not even close to a fair comparison.

Traxxas does have some good connectors though... I'd be interested to see a comparison of how well they hold up under 70-100A constant loads.

-Eric

[jakewolf]

traxxas connector is far far superior, it has a better connection than a deans, because the deans male has the little bent metal which is used as the connection.This part is the flaw.Every time you use it that bent peice bends more wearing it out and then giving you a worse connection. Traxxas is always the same.Consistancy is the key.There are few things consistant in this hobby,so cherish the ones you can get.

[rccardude04]

Deans just uses the little bent metal as a pressure spring to hold the pins together tighter. It's not the actual connection.

The Traxxas connector, though, does have a larger contact area between the connectors. More area = less resistance.

-Eric

[miata_speed85]

TRX plugs aren't really all that happy with 100 Amp steady draw. I could have done a poor solder, or over gearing, but extended run times results in the solder over-heating and disconnecting the positive wire. Which i don't think i need to say is bad running Brushless at 65 mph with brick walls and rocky sand on either side of the road. The car survived, and the connectors still good jsut had to re-solder, re-gear, and go again.

[jakewolf]

traxxas plug hands down!!!! Deans wear out and give a weak connection

[Ihaveaxrayt2r]

Ill bet you that deans well make something like the trx.

[jakewolf]

I think they need something new, i just hate how the flexible part on the plug wears down and gives a bad connection.Deans has a good name they would do well with a new connector.

[BobT]

The Traxxas plugs are just so much easier to solder and easier to connect and disconnect I prefer them (Traxxas).

[z-man280]

I think they need something new, i just hate how the flexible part on the plug wears down and gives a bad connection.Deans has a good name they would do well with a new connector.

I have yet for the spring part of a REAL Deans to go bad on me. Yes, I use my batteries a lot, yes, I have used TRX connectors, and yes, I am older than 14.

Don't forget- you get what you pay for. Buying Hong Kong Deans gets you just that.

[rccardude04]

I figure since this popped up, I might as well give an update.

We had a Novak HV system in a buggy that kept melting the shrink wrap off of Deans plugs. Couldn't figure out why.

We put Traxxas plugs on and they didn't get nearly as hot. Granted, there's no shrink wrap to melt, but they did appear to have a lower resistance.

It turned out eventually that there were actually multiple things wrong with the ESC/Motor. Novak is sending a replacement to him, but the Traxxas plugs did fare better than the Deans did.

-Eric

[timie1]

Hmm, that's interesting Eric. Do you know if the deans plugs he was using were definitely the REAL Deans, or the Chinese clones?

I have both the real and the clones, the clones are slightly larger than the real ones, but other than that, they are indistinguishable.

[pasan]

I am pro traxxas myself, like the others have said, they are far far easier to solder and don't need shrink wrap. I also use deans, since my Mamba Monster came with them and Zippy packs only offer deans connectors. What I don't like about deans is when I'm dealing with brand new connectors they're difficult to disconnect and I often end up tugging on the wire instead. The traxxas connectors allow me to get a firm grip and I have never had to pull on the wire to disconnect them. Infact (and I'm sure I'll get flack for this), I use traxxas to deans converters on my Mamba Max because it was first installed in my rustler vxl and used venom packs with traxxas connectors, and when I went 4S I left the connector be and got the converters made instead.

[pasan]

TRX plugs aren't really all that happy with 100 Amp steady draw. I could have done a poor solder, or over gearing, but extended run times results in the solder over-heating and disconnecting the positive wire. Which i don't think i need to say is bad running Brushless at 65 mph with brick walls and rocky sand on either side of the road. The car survived, and the connectors still good jsut had to re-solder, re-gear, and go again.

I'd say bad soldering, like I mentioned in the post above, I use them with a mamba max on parallel 4S, driving a 7XL motor which I'm pretty sure draws up to 100A if not more, and they never really get hot to the point of melting the solder.

[rccardude04]

I sold him the Dean's plugs straight off the shelf. So unless they come in the same packaging from WSD themselves, they're real. :)

The Traxxas plugs, if they're not bent or tweaked, should theoretically have a lower resistance than the deans plugs. The wire has the same amount of metal to bond to also, so they're equivalent there.

Someone really needs to put a true 50A load on some of these and see what happens. It's going to melt a lot of stuff. 100A constant is just not even fair to ask of any connector in this size range.

On the buggy, we used my "Watt's Up" watt meter and ran the thing in front of the shop. The PEAK amperage was like 68A on concrete, with high traction. It only drew out enough capacity in a 3 or 4 minute run to equate to about 20-25A average discharge if I remember right. It may have even been less than that.

Example: 4900mAh battery, 15 minute runtime. Typical for pretty nasty setups. My friend's E-Revo gets about this runtime on those batteries. The cutoff is set a little high, so let's say it actually takes out 4700mAh.

4700mAh is 4700mA in one hour. Divide by 1000 to get Ah, so we have 4.7A * Hr of capacity.

15 minutes is 0.25hours

Playing with units, we get Amps = 4.7A*Hr/0.25Hr. The hours cancel, and we get amps = amps.

4.7/0.25 = 18.8A. That's the average discharge rate for a 15 minute run, expending 4700mAh.

This stuff isn't as power hungry as people think they are.

-Eric

[write2dgray]

For those interested:

Here's a link to a post on losses for common connectors:
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=516369

power and resistance ratings for common connectors:
http://www.elektromodellflug.de/hochstromst/hochstromstecker.htm

I have yet to see any real scientific analysis or conclusion on the relative performance of the Traxxas cnxs. vs. the Deans Ultras, but I am very interested in seeing such tests if there are any out there. The Traxxas plugs look to be a good solution.

- David