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Author Topic: Tight arming plug  (Read 978 times)

Offline Dwayne Donnelly

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Tight arming plug
« on: February 16, 2021, 01:17:43 PM »
I'm using a deans arming plug and it's very hard to pull off, how do I loosen it up a bit but of course not to much..lol
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Offline John Rist

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Re: Tight arming plug
« Reply #1 on: February 16, 2021, 01:22:30 PM »
Plug and unplug many times.   Did you warp it while soldering it in place?  When soldering a deans plug you should have a matting connector plugged in to hold the pins straight.
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Offline James Mills

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Re: Tight arming plug
« Reply #2 on: February 16, 2021, 02:10:11 PM »
I prefere the plug to be a bit on the tight side.  You can solder a piece of wire and use heat shrink tubing to make it easier to pull off.
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Offline Rudy Taube

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Re: Tight arming plug
« Reply #3 on: February 16, 2021, 08:30:06 PM »
Hi Dwayne,

This may be one of those rare times in history where it was NOT the male's fault! In this rare historical case, the fault lies with the female half. I know that most men will jump to the conclusion that the male part is too big, causing the overly "tight" fit. Alas, this is not the case here, it is that the female part is too small.

After using hundreds of batteries with deans connectors over the past 20 years of flying electric models, I found that sometimes the female side was too tight due to minor problems with the molded interior of the plug. If you look very closely, using a strong magnifier, you will see that there are distortions of the interior walls and/or extra flashing material on the opening edge of the plug, usually in the corners.

The vast majority of problem plugs can be easily corrected with a few minutes of trimming with a  sharp Exacto blade and a good magnifier. I have found that a head strapon magnifying google is a big help with this repair. You can also use the magnifying app on your iPhone, with the light feature to make the job even easier. If you are very careful, you can use your Dremel tool to do this task faster, but this may be like using a sledgehammer to pound in a small finishing nail, fraught with danger?

Since this is a "safety" plug, please don't stick any metal device into the female opening without first ensuring that there are NO batteries connected to this female part!

I hope this helps solve your "tight" plug problem.

Regards,
Rudy Taube
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Rudy
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Offline Dwayne Donnelly

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Re: Tight arming plug
« Reply #4 on: February 17, 2021, 05:32:54 AM »
Hi Dwayne,

This may be one of those rare times in history where it was NOT the male's fault! In this rare historical case, the fault lies with the female half. I know that most men will jump to the conclusion that the male part is too big, causing the overly "tight" fit. Alas, this is not the case here, it is that the female part is too small.

After using hundreds of batteries with deans connectors over the past 20 years of flying electric models, I found that sometimes the female side was too tight due to minor problems with the molded interior of the plug. If you look very closely, using a strong magnifier, you will see that there are distortions of the interior walls and/or extra flashing material on the opening edge of the plug, usually in the corners.

The vast majority of problem plugs can be easily corrected with a few minutes of trimming with a  sharp Exacto blade and a good magnifier. I have found that a head strapon magnifying google is a big help with this repair. You can also use the magnifying app on your iPhone, with the light feature to make the job even easier. If you are very careful, you can use your Dremel tool to do this task faster, but this may be like using a sledgehammer to pound in a small finishing nail, fraught with danger?

Since this is a "safety" plug, please don't stick any metal device into the female opening without first ensuring that there are NO batteries connected to this female part!

I hope this helps solve your "tight" plug problem.

Regards,
Rudy Taube
AMA 1667

 LL~
And thank you  ~>
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Offline Kim Doherty

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Re: Tight arming plug
« Reply #5 on: February 17, 2021, 02:44:56 PM »
I'm using a deans arming plug and it's very hard to pull off, how do I loosen it up a bit but of course not to much..lol

Dwayne
This may look for all the world like something called an “Arming Plug” and if in the course of your continued history in this event it is ever necessary to be used as one you will still (possibly) go home with your model no more than half burned to pieces. But...
It is actually the conductor carrying the mice that turn the wheel that makes the juice to power your motor that keeps the model in the air.
IMHO loose connectors pose a much greater threat to your model than the chance encounter with something that requires the arming plug to be pulled.

Do not loosen up the connector!

Kim

Offline Dwayne Donnelly

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Re: Tight arming plug
« Reply #6 on: February 17, 2021, 03:15:32 PM »
Dwayne
This may look for all the world like something called an “Arming Plug” and if in the course of your continued history in this event it is ever necessary to be used as one you will still (possibly) go home with your model no more than half burned to pieces. But...
It is actually the conductor carrying the mice that turn the wheel that makes the juice to power your motor that keeps the model in the air.
IMHO loose connectors pose a much greater threat to your model than the chance encounter with something that requires the arming plug to be pulled.

Do not loosen up the connector!

Kim

Hey Kim how's things? I hope to see a handle in your hand this summer.  y1
I got it a little looser but won't mess with it any more but doesn't your assistant have to pull the plug after every flight?
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Offline Kim Doherty

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Re: Tight arming plug
« Reply #7 on: February 17, 2021, 06:56:38 PM »
Hey Kim how's things? I hope to see a handle in your hand this summer.  y1
I got it a little looser but won't mess with it any more but doesn't your assistant have to pull the plug after every flight?

Hi Dwayne
I do not think a year has passed since 1960 that I have not had a handle in my hand at some point. (Ok the results in the first couple of years may not have been all that notable 😊)
I will certainly be out there in the summer. I will probably put some skis on something soon to relieve the isolation.
I realize that some Deans connectors are tighter than others and if that is the case then use one that fits properly. What I don’t think you should do is to “mechanically” loosen it up. I have used a Deans connector repeatedly to the point that the little silver spring connector was dead flat and after hooking it up the motor would not start so it is possible break the connection. Yes of course your helper should remove the easily visible safety plug before picking up the model (Matt!). Connectors loosen up fairly quickly if used frequently.

Good to hear from you
Kim


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