Batteries Xt90 To Xt60

D.O.G.

D.O.G.

Goblin 380 Supporter
Need advice. I purchased Turnigy 6c/5000mAh with XT90 connector. Dummie me thought it came with XT60 connector. Must of seen it upside down lol. My question is can I take off the XT90 and put XT60 connector on it. The reason I'm asking because the battery with the XT90 has 10AWG wires and my other batteries with the XT60 connector has 12AWG wires. I'm not sure if having 2 different wire gauge will make a difference in changing XT connector plus charging and dis charging the battery or any electrical issue that can occur?
 
Hi D.O.G, like you theses connectors confuse me, I have read all of the logic and seen all the calculators and then seen thing that don't add up for example on a 550 I bought it came with 5000mAh 60S battery and Deans plugs the guy I bought it off said he had never had any issues I changed it to X90 but I sometimes wonder if I needed too. What I use has more evolved than been designed :-

1. 450 & 360 size XT60 if 6S, Dean if 3S (all 360's are 6S) all 450's about to be sold off.
2. 500 upwards XT90 including Agile 7.2 which was 12S
(The exception is the Gaui X5 which came with EC5 and so did the Battery I bought so I couldn't see the logic in changing them I don't use those batteries on anything else)

Hope this helps, I'm sure others may disagree but it works for me, if I was starting again I would probably go EC3 & EC5
 
Thank you much Admiral for that information. I went ahead and cut the XT90 connector off, open up the prong on the XT60 connector some, went ahead and soldered and tape it up. I just finished charging the battery up and so far so good. Tomorrow morning I'll take the helis out, " X3L, 500 & 550 " for a few flights and try out the 6s/5000 mAh battery on the 550. Hopefully all goes well. The gentlemen at the RC shop said it would be fine...will see :).
 
XT60 is a bit small for a 550. As long as you don’t fly too hard it will probably be ok but best check the connector after flying to make sure it’s not getting hot. You don’t want it de-soldering itself
 
What a particular connector is safe to use at what voltage and amperage... is a highly debated and discussed subject. The fact are that they depend on how much the load is, how long the load is applied... what voltages and amperages ( as mentioned ) we are talking about and even the gauge and length of wire that is used. The makers of the Deans connectors, never would rate their connectors for the reason that more than just the connector must be considered. I think they didn't want to state a rating because they wanted to limit their liability and placed that responsibility on the user to ensure what they used worked in the situation they were being used in.

I had chose to use the larger Deans since it was a commonly used one at the club I was at allowing us to swap batteries easier... and because most if not all of my planes used 40a or less at 3s and 4s voltages. I probably wouldn't be too concerned using those connectors with up to 60a loads but I read a lot of folks really pushing it and going up to 100a. I strongly suspect the ones going up to 100a were only do that for very short bursts and weren't using them at anything close to a constant load.

With an airplane, it's relatively easy to get an amperage reading safely, I'm uncertain if there is a similar way on a heli. If there isn't, I'd use worse case estimates like the max rating for the ESC as a starting place then add an additional 10-25% more for a safety overhead amount. Then pick a connector that gives you at least that amount of rating. I'd follow up with manually checking the temps of the connector and wires after a hard flight to help verify that you'd estimated on the safe side.

Quoting Wikipedia on the melting point of solder for info on that...

Soft solder typically has a melting point range of 90 to 450 °C (190 to 840 °F; 360 to 720 K), and is commonly used in electronics, plumbing, and sheet metal work. Alloys that melt between 180 and 190 °C (360 and 370 °F; 450 and 460 K) are the most commonly used.
Click to expand...

Based on that... I don't think the problem to worry about is going to be the melting of the solder but the failure of the connector or wire. In short, the plastics used will likely soften sooner cause a potential failure much sooner than the solder would melt. Of course the high temp silicone covered wires that is used on the higher quality parts is also a pretty high temp... so I'd probably worry most about the connector plastics the most. These reasons are why I'd worry about the cheap knockoff brands that many buy just because of cost... don't be a penny wise and pound foolish.
 
On rule of thumb is that if the battery/ESC wire is too 'fat' to fit into the connector then you are probably using too small a connector. A 550 heli can easily pull 150A spikes if flown hard. In the XT range of connectors, the XT90 would be the one usually used for anything '500' and up. De-soldering can be a problem in some cases, the fact that you can solder the connectors in the first place shows that solder can liquefy before the plastic melts. It's something of a moot point though because neither a melted connector or de-soldered one is something you want to risk!

If the connector feels cool to touch after flight then it probably means you will be ok. Having said that i wouldn't personally use an XT60 on a 550 heli it it were mine, I'd go with the XT90. Charging adapters are easy to make if that is the issue.
 
Thanks guys for the input. I went early this morning to fly at the field that Geena and I was suppose to fly at and nobody was there. Go figure huh. Not a good day for me. For some reason the 500 took off like a bat out of hell straight up in the air. I hit throttle hold and watch her fall gracefully to the ground...yeah right. The 550 flew wonderful but I seen your comment Smoggie,at the park and took your advice. I decided not to fly the other 2 batteries with the XT60 with 10 gauge wire. I'm just going to be smart, safe and just purchases the XT90 and put it on the 500 and 550. I really didn't want to crash the 550 after seeing the 500 do the death plunge lol.
 
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