Wire sizes

On Jul 30, 4:31*am, ContestID67 wrote:

However, when I council a newbie about why his wiring is just plain
wrong, why he shouldn't use spade lugs..

Ok, now I'm curious again. What sort of battery do you use to power
your glider systems and what sort of terminals does it have?

thanks

Andy

I dont think he's referring to batteries with this phrase. He's
probably talking about not using spade lugs on terminal blocks (where
ring connectors should be used). All of the small VRLA batteries that
I've seen in sailplanes have Faston connectors, so Faston "spade lugs"
would have to be used there.

-John

On Jul 31, 10:15 am, Andy wrote:
On Jul 30, 4:31 am, ContestID67 wrote:

However, when I council a newbie about why his wiring is just plain

wrong, why he shouldn't use spade lugs..

Ok, now I'm curious again. What sort of battery do you use to power
your glider systems and what sort of terminals does it have?

thanks

Andy

On Jul 31, 7:15*am, Andy wrote:
On Jul 30, 4:31*am, ContestID67 wrote:

However, when I council a newbie about why his wiring is just plain

wrong, why he shouldn't use spade lugs..

Ok, now I'm curious again. *What sort of battery do you use to power
your glider systems and what sort of terminals does it have?

thanks

Andy

Faston = blade connector (typically used in 1/4 wide blades for glider
applications) is not a spade connector. AGM batteries will typically
have a Faston style connector or larger ones will have a screw binding
post (like the batteries on my ASH-26E - which gets crimp on ring
connectors not a spade connector to connect to the batteries) . Faston
blade connectors (use nylon fully insulated where possible) are very
suitable for use in aircraft, see again my favorite source
http://www.aeroelectric.com/articles/faston3.pdf

Crimp on ring connectors should be used on binding posts instead of
spade connectors which can simply fall out easily. However like the
article above advocates a Faston style binding block is even easier to
use, and is tool free. Properly done the Faston style binding blocks
will not come undone. Many things like fuse holders and switches also
are available with Faston blade connections, if nothing else they are
a good idea since you do not need to get a screwdriver down inside
some hard to reach place and/or risk dropping a screw into the guts of
your glider.

Schleicher uses Faston style binding blocks in their gliders. Cobra
uses them in their trailers, ...

Darryl

On Jul 31, 8:35*am, Darryl Ramm wrote:

Spade ... blade....

I thought they were the same thing so obviously I don't speak American
very well yet. When I look up spade connector it looks more like a
fork to me. In fact fork lug is also, perhaps more commonly, used to
describe this terminal type. Agree they are not the best choice but
they do make life a lot easier if one terminal has to be removed from
a stack.


Andy

On Jul 31, 1:31*pm, Andy wrote:
On Jul 31, 8:35*am, Darryl Ramm wrote:

Spade ... blade....

I thought they were the same thing so obviously I don't speak American
very well yet. *

This UK terminal catalog uses the terms blade and spade for the same
catalog items, so it's not just me.

http://www.toby.co.uk/content/catalo...sp?category=26


Andy

Ring Lug - a closed loop shaped like an O
Spade Lug (blade) - an open end shaped like a U
Hook Lug - a open end shaped like a ?

The basic undying question is why are ring lugs to be used instead of
spade? It has to do with trying to prevent a connection failing due
to vibration. If the terminal screw works loose, a spade lug would
fall off while a ring lug will hang on (and the loose screw will
hopefully be caught during inspection). Now this is more of an issue
in powered airplanes due to the constant vibration from the engine.
Still gliders have to live by these rules too.

Faston - Shaped like a, ummm, hmmmm, well, that's kind of hard to
explain. From the end they look like a C that was flattened by a
hammer so that the ends are curved inward. They make a very tight
connection to the mating part which is a narrow flat piece of metal
(like on typical gel-cells). It is a male-female connection.

My $0.02.

- John DeRosa