Charging Batteries Via Anderson Plug

**PTCAAR** · 9th April 2016, 08:14 AM

Originally Posted by BMKal

No reason at all why you can't just fit an Anderson plug to the end of the lead.

I've made up a short lead with an Anderson plug on the end of it, and with a C-Tek comfort plug on the other end, so I can simply swap between Anderson plug or alligator clips - but having an Anderson plug only would be no problem.

Buy two Anderson plugs (Jaycar has different coloured ones available in a kit of three). Cut off about 12 inches of the lead from your charger and install an Anderson plug to both sides of the cut cable - that way you can either plug your charger directly into the rear Anderson plug on your Traxide system, or you could plug the two sections of your original lead together to give you alligator clips on the end if you want to charge directly to a battery.

Thanks for that, it seems simply enough to do, and allow me to charge through the Anderson plug or the alligator clips. Just one question I also have a temperature probe mounted to the positive alligator clip on the Ctek, what to do with that?
As" Rick O" said, I think the comfort connector on a Ctek charger only go up to the 10AMP models?

**drivesafe** · 9th April 2016, 08:40 AM

Originally Posted by BMKal

Buy two Anderson plugs (Jaycar has different coloured ones available in a kit of three)

Make sure you get GREY 50 amp anderson plugs.

A 50 amp Anderson plug of one colour will not connect to a 50 amp Anderson plug of a different colour.

This is deliberately do so that one colour can be used in circuits of a specific voltage and another colour would be used for circuits of a different voltage.

EG, GREY might be used in a 12v circuit and YELLOW might be used in a 24v circuit and the use of the two different colours means no accidental connection between the two different voltages.

**BMKal** · 9th April 2016, 11:45 AM

Originally Posted by drivesafe

Make sure you get GREY 50 amp anderson plugs.

A 50 amp Anderson plug of one colour will not connect to a 50 amp Anderson plug of a different colour.

This is deliberately do so that one colour can be used in circuits of a specific voltage and another colour would be used for circuits of a different voltage.

EG, GREY might be used in a 12v circuit and YELLOW might be used in a 24v circuit and the use of the two different colours means no accidental connection between the two different voltages.

Wasn't aware that they were available in different amp ratings Tim - definitely worth keeping an eye on.

The pack I have is Baintech, and according to the packaging, all 50 amp connectors, so should be OK for my purposes.

**kelvo** · 9th April 2016, 01:33 PM

Originally Posted by BMKal

Wasn't aware that they were available in different amp ratings Tim - definitely worth keeping an eye on.

The pack I have is Baintech, and according to the packaging, all 50 amp connectors, so should be OK for my purposes.

What Tim is saying is the SB50 plugs are all 50amp (SB175 175amp and SB250 250amp but these get bigger as their capacity increases), but a red plug will only connect to a red, blue to blue, green to green etc. They are 'keyed'. The exceptions are a black and grey will connect together, and blue and white will connect together as they have the same 'key' see pdf for details.

[ame]http://www.andersonpower.com/_global-assets/downloads/pdf/111923s1.pdf[/ame]

**LandyAndy** · 9th April 2016, 01:39 PM

Well thats a trap.Why have a 3 colour pack if they aint going to connect together????
Andrew

**kelvo** · 9th April 2016, 01:55 PM

It's possible that the Baintech pack are all keyed the same as a genuine Anderson grey plug. But that then defeats the purpose of having different colours.

I use genuine Anderson plugs, with grey as 'normal' 12v and red for unregulated solar.

DiscoMick · 9th April 2016, 02:15 PM

Originally Posted by aus86inch

Is it possible to plug a solar panel I nto anderson plug to charge the batteries? If so what size and type would i need? Sorry about all the questions😊

I regularly use 80 watt panels to recharge our Defender through an Andrrson plug while campinh. Works fine.

Sent from my SM-G900I using AULRO mobile app

**Marty110** · 9th April 2016, 03:56 PM

Originally Posted by DiscoMick

I regularly use 80 watt panels to recharge our Defender through an Andrrson plug while campinh. Works fine.

Sent from my SM-G900I using AULRO mobile app

yes I also plug in a folding solar panel (120w) to the Anderson plug while camping and a 20w one when parked up in the shed for extended periods.

**BMKal** · 9th April 2016, 03:56 PM

Originally Posted by kelvo

It's possible that the Baintech pack are all keyed the same as a genuine Anderson grey plug. But that then defeats the purpose of having different colours.

I use genuine Anderson plugs, with grey as 'normal' 12v and red for unregulated solar.

You learn something new every day.

Good thing you told me about this - saved me some frustration and foul language if I had gone ahead and wired things up as I planned - only to discover after the event that I could not connect them together.

I just opened up that pack and checked, and yes, the three colours in the pack are all keyed differently, and none will connect with any of the others.

Thanks again for saving me a little more of what is left of my hair ............

**drivesafe** · 11th April 2016, 05:38 AM

Originally Posted by kelvo

It's possible that the Baintech pack are all keyed the same as a genuine Anderson grey plug.

They are actually genuine Anderson plugs.

SMH ( Southern Machinery Holdings ) is the parent company of Anderson Power Connectors.

And that makes it one strong way to sell Anderson plugs when they know none of them can be connected together.

GREY and RED are commonly used in the RV industry, GREY for Power Connectors and RED are now used for the ALKO braking system, but it is still a strange way to package them.

I wonder how many others have been caught buying them and not being able to use them?

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