I'm traveling at the moment and can't confirm this, but is may be possible to use a small retention wire if there's a roll-pin hole on the K3's APP. The West Mountain RigRunners use these to keep the APPs intact and it works very well.
I have mixed feelings about the APP. I like it for its versatility and ease of assembly -- I hate it for its long-term reliability. No doubt many AAPs are assembled incorrectly, but there are a great number of correctly assembled APPs that unnecessarily disconnect with lateral pressure. If the connector breaks away during a high-current moment, the pins can form arc pits. The problem seems to be aggravated with the use of larger cable conductor size -- like that needed on the rear of the K3 to handle ~ 20A of DC current. I have two commercial APP crimpers, the best of which keeps the tongue of the pin from bending during the crimp. That certainly helps, but other connectors with locking tabs seem to be a better solution for high-current equipment. What's needed is a low-cost, reliable connector that remains stable with wire pressure, but still breaks away with a high amount of pressure in the event of an accidental strike to the cable. One possibility is to design high-current equipment with a quad APP panel connector and double-up on the contacts. That way, the connector: (1) becomes square in shape, instead of a thin rectangle that's prone to accidental lateral pulls; (2) offers higher current-carrying capabilities; and (3) has significantly increased pull strength, yet can still break away for safety concerns. http://tinyurl.com/29ktqmw Paul, W9AC ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
