Wiring a GX16-5 for double pins

[null]

I have to make a splitter to charge my Sherman with a 10A charger. While at it, it might as well be double pinned, as newer Shermans have that, and it would leave some room for using it with higher Amperage.

Would this way of splitting the strands do?

I read somewhere adding a curved bridge was better, but it is more tricky and my soldering iron is fairly chunky. The cable is 14AWG for what its worth. Would it have enough material left if split?

Thanks for any input.

 

Edited March 18, 2021 by null

[Chriull]

21 minutes ago, null said:

The cable is 14AWG for what its worth. Would it have enough material left if split?

Splitting the AWG14 gives half the diameter - according to https://www.powerstream.com/Wire_Size.htm you would go from awg14 to awg20.

If one takes rating for chassis wiring (strands in open air, good cooling) it shows 11A.

But for AWG 14 for power transmition (bundled strands, but cooling) just 5.9 are specified - but again 32A for chassis wiring...

They have a nice paragraph:"As you might guess, the rated ampacities are just a rule of thumb. In careful engineering the voltage drop, insulation temperature limit, thickness, thermal conductivity, and air convection and temperature should all be taken into account. The Maximum Amps for Power Transmission uses the 700 circular mils per amp rule, which is very very conservative. The Maximum Amps for Chassis Wiring is also a conservative rating, but is meant for wiring in air, and not in a bundle. For short lengths of wire, such as is used in battery packs you should trade off the resistance and load with size, weight, and flexibility. "

21 minutes ago, null said:

Thanks for any input.

Take care the your solder joints are good! That's imho more important.

My first guess looking at the photo is they are not, but not really any details can be seen.

[null]

Thanks a lot for the answer @Chriull , you are such a good help. I almost feel a bit ashamed to take som much of your time with all my questioning.

The 14AWG is from a XT60 splitter (I just replace the two XT60 on one side), so I supposed it should be enough, but needed to verify. The picture is found online, just an example. I'll be generous with the solder. Posting the result here in the coming days  

[null]

Seing how little material there is on female sockets I dont know if I dare use these connectors.. It is very thin, and on top the stopper take away a big part of it. If the EUC is wired for single pin, it would mean 5A per tiny flake of metal.

I'm waiting for a ready soldered cable from Ali, but that is no guarantee to be better (benefit: I won't see just how borderline it is  ). If anyone have a source for serious GX16-5 connectors I'm interested.. ready wired even better.

 

 

Edited March 18, 2021 by null

[Ben Kim]

On 3/18/2021 at 5:53 AM, null said:

I have to make a splitter to charge my Sherman with a 10A charger. While at it, it might as well be double pinned, as newer Shermans have that, and it would leave some room for using it with higher Amperage.

Would this way of splitting the strands do?

I read somewhere adding a curved bridge was better, but it is more tricky and my soldering iron is fairly chunky. The cable is 14AWG for what its worth. Would it have enough material left if split?

Thanks for any input.

 

I have a 15A charger I'm running around 13A on the Sherman (the wheel throws an error if I try the full 15A), i'm using a reverse splitter to use both charge ports, only single pinned (+1 -5) and its plenty.  The GX16-5 is rated for 5A @ 120V (600W), no real need to go double pinned unless you had a single charge port.  

[Chriull]

3 hours ago, Ben Kim said:

I have a 15A charger I'm running around 13A on the Sherman (the wheel throws an error if I try the full 15A), i'm using a reverse splitter to use both charge ports, only single pinned (+1 -5) and its plenty.  The GX16-5 is rated for 5A @ 120V (600W), no real need to go double pinned unless you had a single charge port.  

Voltage and wattage does not count for tuis specifications. (For voltage is just important, that the distances are big enough)

So for burdening it's just the current specified per pin. The connector does not care how much wattage the device behind him consumes.

So you're overburdening your connector by some factor of almost 3. As it seems there is headroom, or one can have good luck with ones sample.

[null]

Thanks both of you. I’ve read several people who went up toward 7A on single pins GX16-5 pins, so if out of spec it apparently works.

I wouldn’t dare if I can avoid it myself though. And while my charger is currently 10A and should be OK with 5A per single pin, I’d rather spread it if possible (future proofing + safety) (probably getting a new double pinned Sherman in a few months).

My current dilemma is whether I use the GX plugs I got, whose conductive material I find shockingly thin, or if I bet on an other GX plug being any better.. Maybe they are all the same and this is normal. I found very little literature on the subject.

edit: too bad we ended up with these 5 pin connectors. I understand GW wanted to differentiate the chargers, but the ones with fewer pins take more current per pin.

A proper high power connector would be great, so we can stop fiddling with doubling everything, including ports.

Edited March 28, 2021 by null

[Chriull]

1 hour ago, null said:

My current dilemma is whether I use the GX plugs I got, whose conductive material I find shockingly thin, or if I bet on an other GX plug being any better..

Mine, from aliexpress locks exactly the same.

But that's about the same amount of material as an AWG 14 has... So

Quote

Maybe they are all the same and this is normal. I found very little literature on the subject.

Just stumbled over this site https://www.olimex.com/Products/Components/Connectors/CONNECTOR-GX16-4/ - rating the GX16-4 for astonishing 20A!

Don't have any idea how the connector will withstand 8W (=20mOhm*20A^2) per hot pin...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microphone_connector has a whole paragraph on gx16 connectors - naming Renhotecpro which led to the below link.

1 hour ago, null said:

too bad we ended up with these 5 pin connectors. I understand GW wanted to differentiate the chargers, but the ones with fewer pins take more current per pin.

https://www.elecbee.com/en/gx16-butt-joint-type/3867-aviation-connector-market-gx16-4p-male-socket-straight-docking-cable-connector.html which seems to be a serious/historic manufacturer states the same 5A for the GX16-4 and 5!

They state as contact material copper with silver/gold plating. That's about as good as it can get.

Edited March 28, 2021 by Chriull

[Ben Kim]

5 hours ago, Chriull said:

Voltage and wattage does not count for tuis specifications. (For voltage is just important, that the distances are big enough)

So for burdening it's just the current specified per pin. The connector does not care how much wattage the device behind him consumes.

So you're overburdening your connector by some factor of almost 3. As it seems there is headroom, or one can have good luck with ones sample.

for the purpose of his use case (using a 10A charger split across 2 charge ports) he’s within spec of a single pinned configuration, And I can’t imagine him using silicone wiring in excess of 0.5m in this situation. 

I’m using 13A and have no issues (6.5A x2). My splitter is wired using 18AWG which should handle up to 20A across short distances (<1m), so the only theoretical bottleneck is the charge port itself. 

[null]

7 hours ago, Chriull said:

https://www.elecbee.com/en/gx16-butt-joint-type/3867-aviation-connector-market-gx16-4p-male-socket-straight-docking-cable-connector.html which seems to be a serious/historic manufacturer states the same 5A for the GX16-4 and 5!

They state as contact material copper with silver/gold plating. That's about as good as it can get.

Great, thanks a lot! 
Just what I needed. At least I'll be sure I'm not relying on aluminium foil for charging  
(the current GX are no name aliexpress, hence I can't be are they are serious)

[null]

So I just received a ready wired GX-16 5pin cable from elecbee.com and in spite of the  page stating 4-7A current (turns out they just ment the connector) the cable is just 22AWG, which sound little for carrying 5A power :/ 

edit: I’m reading everything between 0.9 and 10A+ for 22AWG, not sure what to believe. One thing sure is that it is way thinner than the 1.5mm2 the charger manufacturer went with for the leads. Looks like copper but seems very thin to carry 500W..

Edited April 25, 2021 by null

[Arbolest]

On 4/24/2021 at 11:49 AM, null said:

So I just received a ready wired GX-16 5pin cable from elecbee.com and in spite of the  page stating 4-7A current (turns out they just ment the connector) the cable is just 22AWG, which sound little for carrying 5A power :/ 

edit: I’m reading everything between 0.9 and 10A+ for 22AWG, not sure what to believe. One thing sure is that it is way thinner than the 1.5mm2 the charger manufacturer went with for the leads. Looks like copper but seems very thin to carry 500W..

 

Nah, don't go with 22AWG. It might be able to take high current for a few seconds, but it'll heat up so much it'll be a fire hazard. Take that off the connector and solder some 18AWG on there and breathe easy 

Edited April 25, 2021 by Arbolest

[RockyTop]

22AWG would work under ideal conditions but I don't like it  I use 14AWG for adapters. 18AWG is easier to work with and should be fine.

22AWG - 6.3a

20AWG  -11.4a

14AWG - 15a

Edited April 25, 2021 by RockyTop

[null]

Thanks, yes I’ll replace it. I had hoped i could avoid soldering GX16 (done before, don’t like it) but oh well..

Id much rather replace the whole GX16 with powerCon, but it would probably cancel any semblance of CE rating the Sherman might have had.

edit: actually maybe I’ll bridge the same polarity pins so that the current is always carried by two leads, also when the EUC isn’t double pinned. This would make each 22AWG take 2.5A, which is less worrysome (pretty much the same section as 18awg).

Edited April 25, 2021 by null

[RockyTop]

1 hour ago, null said:

 

edit: actually maybe I’ll bridge the same polarity pins so that the current is always carried by two leads, also when the EUC isn’t double pinned. This would make each 22AWG take 2.5A, which is less worrysome (pretty much the same section as 18awg).

I think that would be fine ........... However , When you do that, if the wire breaks or one of the connections goes bad the power then goes through one wire. Again I am being a devils advocate. The charger itself is likely more problematic to safety.