Powerpoles: Are They Worth It?
BY THOMAS BROOKS, KG5ZSU
April 2022

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	I've grown tired of spade connectors as my primary DC connector. They don't feel reliable, they are easy to short out, and they are easy to connect improperly--that is, unless you actually NEED to connect something in a way you hadn't intended when you crimped the connector.
	Enter: the Anderson Powerpole. For this work, we'll consider the 15/30/45 Amp series since the connector bodies are the same. These have taken the world by storm over the last few years, especially in the ARES and EMMCOM communities. I thought, "If everybody else uses them, why shouldn't I." So, here's what I found.
	The keyed connectors are great. Being able to plug anything into anything is a huge bonus. If I have to, I can rearrange the connector bodies to make a red-to-black or black-to-red contact. Otherwise, its much harder to connect a radio backwards and fry something. I don't need to worry about which cable I had a female spade conector on to prevent a hot contact from touching a chasis or the like. The contacts are insulated and not eash to bump. Sure, droping the connector onto bird spikes or maybe barbed wire will cause something to touch. You could shove something into the connector body and touch the contact as well, but its finger safe at the very least. (Correction: not technically "finger safe," they make a special body for that rating.)
	Anything smaller than the 45 amp, #10 contacts were easy to install. Fitting #10 wire in the connector body was not easy, and in some tests impossible. For easy of use, plan on using #12 or smaller, or droping a few strands off the #10 wire and shoving it in a #12 connector. On second thought, that's not a good idea, since you can't ensure all of the strands you do have are making good contact, and the amperage rating of the cable will be deminished, not to mention the fact that you increase your potential for heating in the connector, and fire.
	I am very happy with these connectors so far. I think I've put a set on most everything, and I could use a few more. My bigest mistakes were: not fusing the pigtails on current sources (batteries) and using undersized wire (#16 rather than #14 or #12 in some places). The PowerPoles make connecting radios and storing batteries much easier and safer because I don't have exposed contacts. I can also plug anything into anything without worrying about what connectors something has on it. The connector housings/body is much smaller than I anticipated, and while they aren't unbreakable (I slightly damaged one or two bodies with pliers), they seem pretty darn tough. I have no doubt you can step on them without any ill effects. There isn't any strain relief, but I don't think that's worth worrying about in most applications.
	On one connection where I combined two #14 wires into a 45 amp, #10 contact, I had to strip the wire back past the end of the housing to allow the contact to seat. I covered it over with liquid electrical tape and it looks fine. I also put a set of connectors on a thickly insulated set of wires with battery clamps, and had to shave off some insulation to get the connector and wire into the housing. Not easy, but wll worth the effort compared to leaving ring termnals on the wires, or using spade connectors.
	I will say that the greatest part about these is that they are hot plugable. They aren't damaged by making or breaking contacts under load, and are configurable to allow a break-first connection when stacking with multiple connectors. You can leave power supplies or batteries connected and pull the plugs without worrying about shorts or welded contacts. These are highly configurable, and one look at the Anderson dataheets will show you that the usual red and black pairs are just the begining of what can be done for more complex setups.

	Powerpoles can be purchased from https://www.dxengineering.com/, or https://powerwerx.com/. I can't speak highly enough about DX Engineering.