Deans Connectors

OddysAirsoft

Ok I am looking to change all the connectors on my guns and AEG's to Deans Connectors.

Can anyone give me a detailed description of how to do it as I do not want to short my Batteries!!!

Do I need a soldering iron?

Leftyflip

Tools needed: Wire cutters, wire strippers, soldering iron, heat shrink, solder.

Cut one wire at a time from the battery, i.e, cut the black wire off, strip,tin, and solder to the connector, then apply heatshrink (slide it down the wire before soldering).

There's plenty of videos on youtube showing it.

thermo

Leftyflip wrote: »

Tools needed: Wire cutters, wire strippers, soldering iron, heat shrink, solder. rough sand paper

Cut one wire at a time from the battery, i.e, cut the black wire off, strip,tin, and solder to the connector, then apply heatshrink (slide it down the wire before soldering).

There's plenty of videos on youtube showing it.

fixed that for you ger, i find you have a better bonding surface (and hence stronger grip) on the deans connector if you rough up then wipe the surface you are soldering the wire to.

kdouglas

Do yourself a favour and make several deans->mini tamiya adapters while you are doing so, nothing worse than your gun dying in the middle of a skirmish and not being able to borrow a battery because you've got dean's and nobody else does.

Vents

thermo wrote: »

fixed that for you ger, i find you have a better bonding surface (and hence stronger grip) on the deans connector if you rough up then wipe the surface you are soldering the wire to.

Sand paper would work alright, but, I would recommend heating the 'blade' of the deans you wish to solder with the iron until the coating that is on the copper (part of the manufacturing process) has been burnt off. Watch that you don't over heat the connector.

Also, just as a handy gripping tool to hold the connector in place whilst soldering, use a small pair of needle nose pliers with an elastic band holding the handles together. Cheep and useful.

Solid Snake

Hey Oddy,

You're right to change the connectors to Deans but definitely make up some dean to mini tamiya connectors as kdouglas suggested. It caught me out once or twice.

Here's a link to what you'll need.

http://www.component-shop.co.uk/
Go for the tools/soldering tab and order each of the parts, they're cheap and will come in handy. Order all of them, also order some good wire and tamiya & deans connectors while you're on the site.

Here's a link to a good instruction video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ijE9aeqHjs

That should do you. If you haven't soldered before then try out a couple of times on some crap pieces of wire. Then when you're ready off you go.

Best of luck.:)

bullets

I'm a total Noob to all this stuff but am in the process of doing the same
to my guns (or at least to the ones I am planning on using)

Just a small but of fluff to add to the other Lads replies.

The little Deans kits you get from
http://www.component-shop.co.uk/
that come with both male and female connectors and a piece of
red and black shink wrap are cool but.........

The Shrink wrap that comes with them is a little too large a diameter for
standard Airsoft/battery wiring so when you shrink it, it does not shrink down enough!! So best get some smaller stuff separately.

Oh! and if your soldering deans onto the Gun end of things and its got a Mosfet, it may be a good idea
to stick a crocodile clip or other form of heat sink near it, just in case it gets damaged by heat traveling along the wire
up to it.

And also as some of the lads pointed out to me when I asked. The Female connector should go on the battery.
(as if you put the male end on the battery you would have two exposed metal tabs that could easily short together
if touched etc etc)

You can also get Flux Pens! with are like a felt tipped marker, where you can rub a bit of liquid flux on what
you are going to solder, it may help (I've noticed no difference regardless of if I use it or not)

And when it comes to soldering I'm told Blu-Tack is your friend! for holding things when you dont have a 3rd hand.

~B

JonnyTwoCombs

Yeah blu-tac is a great homemade solution to evolution not supplying a third hand.

Also, make up a heat sink using a piece of standard household wiring about 2/3 inches long with crocodile clips on each end to transfer the heat from soldering to something else.

gerrowadat

bullets wrote: »

I'm a total Noob to all this stuff but am in the process of doing the same
to my guns (or at least to the ones I am planning on using)

Just a small but of fluff to add to the other Lads replies.

The little Deans kits you get from
http://www.component-shop.co.uk/
that come with both male and female connectors and a piece of
red and black shink wrap are cool but.........

The Shrink wrap that comes with them is a little too large a diameter for
standard Airsoft/battery wiring so when you shrink it, it does not shrink down enough!! So best get some smaller stuff separately.

Oh! and if your soldering deans onto the Gun end of things and its got a Mosfet, it may be a good idea
to stick a crocodile clip or other form of heat sink near it, just in case it gets damaged by heat traveling along the wire
up to it.

And also as some of the lads pointed out to me when I asked. The Female connector should go on the battery.
(as if you put the male end on the battery you would have two exposed metal tabs that could easily short together
if touched etc etc)

You can also get Flux Pens! with are like a felt tipped marker, where you can rub a bit of liquid flux on what
you are going to solder, it may help (I've noticed no difference regardless of if I use it or not)

And when it comes to soldering I'm told Blu-Tack is your friend! for holding things when you dont have a 3rd hand.

~B

Most solder has flux core these days so a flux pen isn't going to do you much good.

touge_drift

digging up an old thread, but dont want to start a new one. ive just invested in some deans connectors and have noticed a decent increse in trigger responce and full auto sounds a tad faster. is there any tips or tricks to loosen up the connectors? i noticed they are very hard to disconnect, feels like i may pull the wire out from the back

Private Snafu

Don't pull the wires when disconnecting them?

In all fairness though, deans are a ****er... I've started wiring my own kit now with XT60 connectors, slightly bulkier but more robust & easier to solder

MonkeyGuy

Are they as efficient?

Private Snafu

They're the new connector of choice for R/C guys They preform the exact same as deans, but cost 1/5th the price of genuine deans.

bullets

I had the same worry.

You can push on the the "springy" bit of the connector/contact which helps
make them a little looser if you dont over do it.

If they are a very tight fit maybe connect and disconnect the male/female
bits a few times (40-50 ) before you solder them onto your wires
at least then they wont be so tight. And keep each pair joined together rather
than random loose male and female bits in one bag.

~B

touge_drift

bullets wrote: »

I had the same worry.

You can push on the the "springy" bit of the connector/contact which helps
make them a little looser if you dont over do it.

If they are a very tight fit maybe connect and disconnect the male/female
bits a few times (40-50 ) before you solder them onto your wires
at least then they wont be so tight. And keep each pair joined together rather
than random loose male and female bits in one bag.

~B

thanks for the advice bullets, ive gone and ordered more and some new(better hopefully) wiring so i'll try connecting/disconnecting them a good few times before i solder them on version 2.0. that is if i can resist the urge to solder as soon as i get them!