Actually, West Mountain Radio has already created a de facto standard that just happens to agree with the practice used by many ARES and RACES groups. If you buy any of the Rig Runner or other DC power management products, they will be configured to this standard polarization as shown here: <www.westmountainradio.com/RIGrunner.htm>
To avoid assembling the PowerPole connector shells wrong, I take the time to super-glue the red and black halves in advance, so that my entire stock of connectors is ready to crimp, insert, and go. Whenever I get a new radio, I cut off the original power connector and replace it with the standard PowerPole. A local ARES group has adopted this practice, so there is never a delay in setting up an emergency station. I have no financial interest in West Mountain Radio; I am simply a satisfied customer. 73, Eric Lemmon WB6FLY -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Nate Duehr Sent: Saturday, May 09, 2009 11:30 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Repeater-Builder] (anderson power poles revisited) On May 9, 2009, at 6:40 AM, Chuck Kelsey wrote: > To me it seems odd that a connector designed for DC power isn't > polarized. > Yes, there is a loose standard out there, but the two halves can be > configured several ways. The standard's not very "loose"... if you buy just about any pre-made "power strips" or other devices, they'll all be the same. I have a couple "power strip" type things (one has a nice LED VOM and both a high and low-voltage cutoff, which is great) and if I configure everything so they'll plug into those, all is well. Also just to be accurate, there aren't "many" ways they can be configured, only two. > Again, I understand that certain uses may dictate > different configurations, but it does open the door to some destroyed > equipment when someone hastily plugs in someone else's equipment > that had > the connector backwards. Hastiness isn't a sign of someone whom you'd want touching your rigs anyway? :-) > I will probably pick up an Anderson crimper and continue to use the > connectors. The ones I purchased came from Power Werx. They claim > that they > are honest-to-goodness Anderson products, not imitations. Definitely give it a try. Just trying to "keep it real", since there's a lot of hocus-pocus out there about PowerPoles, much of it due to the afore-mentioned "haste" you mentioned. (It's also why I *usually* stay out of PowerPole discussions in general anymore. More "heat" than "light" in most of the online discussions about them.) -- Nate Duehr, WY0X [email protected] <mailto:nate%40natetech.com>
