Battery connector opinions

[Jonny Crawler]

Hey everyone,

I'm recently getting back into crawling after a long hiatus from the hobby. I've still been playing with RC's but mainly just your regular bashers. Anyways, I recently pulled the trigger on the Vanquish Origin kit and after choosing a Castle slate with the Mamba X to run the rig, I realized I needed a battery to power it. My question is what would be my top choices for connectors to run? I'm used to Traxxas connectors with my RTR's but I don't want these on this new rig. I'm looking at using the XT-90 connectors or the polarized Castle 6.5mm. Am I on the right path with these or would a different connector be better? I know a lot of people have varying opinions on which is best, I'm just wondering if there could be a reason to avoid either of those. I've tried scrolling through the forum looking for this very topic with no luck. Any input is greatly appreciated

[mikemcE]

XT 90 is the beefed up XT60 that many here run and have switched to over Traxxas and deans.


Hang up and Drive

[2mtech]

I run XT60's in everything now, including the Bomber with HH 3300kv TM Pro and Mamba X, and see no reason to use anything else. I'm a Traxxas convert also.

[svt923]

XT60s definitely; compact, easy to solder, easy to plug/unplug, and available preinstalled on many batteries.

XT90s and the Castle connectors are huge and unnecessary for any crawler. Not to mention, XT60s are amazingly cheap (especially if you are used to buying Traxxas connectors). You can get a bag of 50 pairs of genuine Amass XT60s for $33 from Banggood and have nearly a lifetime supply. $33 of Traxxas connectors is like 8 pairs.

[JatoTheRipper]

Screw the overpriced Castle connectors and go with XT60s. They are easy to solder, work very well, easy to connect and disconnect, and they're cheap.

[M1tch]

As above. XT60's the best. I used to use Dean's but got fed up with soldering them. Bullets are ok, but just can't beat XT 60's. If soldering them, then plug the opposite half in to stop any distortion.

[2mtech]

Originally Posted by M1tch

If soldering them, then plug the opposite half in to stop any distortion.

This. And spin the pins 90° so the mouth faces outboard before soldering too.

[scithera]

I run EC5 and Deans as that's what I standardized on with my helis. I have since started to use some XT90s as well and just made some adapters. I like the XT90 connectors as they are easy to disassemble if needed. I used to hate pushing the EC5 barrels into the plastic housing until I purchased the EC5 tool from ProgressiveRC. That made things so much easier.

[JatoTheRipper]

Originally Posted by 2mtech

This. And spin the pins 90° so the mouth faces outboard before soldering too.

Mine usually come with the mouths on the outside of the connector. I spin them both 90° in so that both mouths are on the same side. This makes it easier and quicker for me to solder both wires without having to adjust the connector in my helping hands.

[Jonny Crawler]

Thanks for the replies guys. I'll definitely check out the xt60s and try out the tips you recommended for soldering. If they turn out that good I'll definitely look at changing other plugs over as well. I like Traxxas but I don't want to be limited to only being able to buy their products to use on other rigs so this is great info

[JohnRobHolmes]

XT60 here too. I have almost fully converted from deans.

[JatoTheRipper]

Originally Posted by JohnRobHolmes

XT60 here too. I have almost fully converted from deans.

Anther good reason to go to XT60s. The industry is finally and thankfully starting to embrace them! I know Holmes, HobbyKing and HobbyWing use XT60 connectors. I'm sure there are others.

[Jim85IROC]

XT60 here too. I've also got a bunch of XT90s for my higher current rigs, but never ended up using them because I ended up converting most of those trucks to 3S, which lowered the current consumption.

[Ditchrat]

Originally Posted by JohnRobHolmes

XT60 here too. I have almost fully converted from deans.

Started switching from Deans after reading some of JRH posts about switching.


Couldn't be happier with the XT60.

[JohnRobHolmes]

I talk about it here

[M1tch]

I was looking around for insulator caps for XT60's and came across these. They are used instead of heatshrink. Look an easier way to cover the soldered ends.





There are also charged/discharged caps as well.

[Ditchrat]

Originally Posted by M1tch

I was looking around for insulator caps for XT60's and came across these. They are used instead of heatshrink. Look an easier way to cover the soldered ends.

I don't know, the shrink wrap slides right down the wire over the posts and into the housing. Doesn't get mush easier then that.

[M1tch]

True. But saw them and now noticed the plugs themselves are moulded to fit the caps, so not able to fit them without new plugs or maybe modifying them.

[ColdFox]

XT90 guy here, might be overkill for scale trucks but I wanted to have only one plug size on all my RCs.
Genuine Amass ones are like 1$ a pair on Hobbyking

[2mtech]

Originally Posted by M1tch

I was looking around for insulator caps for XT60's and came across these. They are used instead of heatshrink. Look an easier way to cover the soldered ends.

Genuine Amass connectors should come with those insulators...mine did.

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