Favorite Quick Disconnect Electrical Connector

patrickh

Member
What's your favorite quick disconnect, single wire, electrical connector? I am thinking 14-18AWG. Currently, spade connectors are my go-to, but they pull off easily and are hard to pull apart many times. The usage of this is for set practicals, LED PSU Connections, Wireless Dimmer Battery Connections, etc.

What are your thoughts?
 
If you have the space, Anderson Powerpole connectors are excellent. The shells are like Lego, so you can choose colors and orient them in various directions to build multiconductor connection points that can’t be accidentally interchanged. The prices are better than reasonable. The 3rd-party crimping tools for under $100 work well.

Check out https://powerwerx.com/anderson-power-powerpole-sb-connectors

Jim
RC4 Wireless
 
If you have the space, Anderson Powerpole connectors are excellent. The shells are like Lego, so you can choose colors and orient them in various directions to build multiconductor connection points that can’t be accidentally interchanged. The prices are better than reasonable. The 3rd-party crimping tools for under $100 work well.

Check out https://powerwerx.com/anderson-power-powerpole-sb-connectors

Jim
RC4 Wireless

I really like the powerpole connectors! We already use them in some applications. Specifically to interface 12V batteries to our RC4 wireless dimmers!
 
Anderson connectors are pretty much the standard in this area. There are a lot of interesting connectors marketed towards the hobby market that are both cheap and very solid... look at JST-RCY and XT30, XT60, and XT90.
 
I love Anderson powerpole connectors. I will caution you to be diligent in your labeling. I regularly see powerpole used for 5, 12,24 and 120v purposes. Cross plugging will lead to some quite broken gear quickly.

I've also experienced more than one occasion where the connectors did not mate fully and the shells melted together.
 
Had a tour come through recently that used the red & black Anderson connectors for their LED cue light system. About a third of the connectors had the wires pulled out of the crimps. I was a "home made" system, so not much attention paid to doing the job properly. Just be sure to do it properly and have lost of spare parts, just in case. They did not.
 
Anderson Power Pole, all the way!

The color coding housing is great, especially in LED strip applications. The fact that you can arrange the connectors in little rows or clusters to prevent mis-aligned plugs rocks.

It's absolutely worth buying the proper crimping tool. I got mine on Amazon for around $20.
 
Powerpole is great but they definitely need to be crimped properly. The $5 terminal smoosher from Auto Zone won’t do it.
 
Where in the US do you usually buy Wago connectors from? I'd love to try them
I think we buy from Digi-key. You can get packs of them at Menards.
 

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