Connecting the Triton charger to a desktop power supply

On 6/18/2004 9:13 AM Ted shuffled out of his cave and grunted these great (and sometimes not so great) words of knowledge:

Just solder some metal tabs to banana jacks. Plug the jack into the ps and clamp the battery clamps to the tabs. The other possibility is to solder some brass tube to banana jacks. Which one you use will depend on the width of your clamps for the battery terminals.

I have an Astroflight charger that I did the tube bit width. The clamps on this charger are alligator clip type - narrow.

Hope this helps.

Yes, I can solder (more or less). What do you mean by "auto plugs". I don't want to cut-off the clips on the Triton charger. I'm hoping for something the clips can clip to and not risk bumping in to each other (and shorting out).

Are you talking about soldering wires on to the Triton clips?

Thanks,

Yes, thanks. I really don't want to cut off the clips (I hate the idea of defacing such an expensive device).

I guess I go with Ted's idea of soldering posts to banana plugs.

Thanks to all,

In article , Mark Hansen wrote

| On 6/18/2004 09:16, MK wrote: | | > I was talking about cutting off the clips. The plug I use is a side by side | > male female and cannot be shorted. | | Yes, thanks. I really don't want to cut off the clips (I hate the idea of | defacing such an expensive device).

You do it a lot in this hobby :) | I guess I go with Ted's idea of soldering posts to banana plugs.

Can you screw the plastic covers all the way off? If so, you could just clamp onto the plugs themselves with nothing else. And if they don't come all the way off, you still might be able to screw them out as far as they go and then clamp onto the metal that's exposed ...

Thanks ... already tried that. They don't come all the way off, nor far enough to get the clips in there.

... However, they do expose a hole where you would normally place the speaker wire, which can then be held in place by screwing the banana jack covers back in. I could probably put a rather large solid wire threw these and then clip onto them.

I'll have to try that ;-)

Thanks again,

Yeah, banana plugs without the plastic shields. A better solution would be to go to Radio Shack and get those polarized radio plugs Catalog #: 270-026. Cut about 6" of the end of the wire with the terminal clips. Make another section of lead with the banana clips. Put one of those radio plugs on the end of each of those leads and the end of the power lead of the charger making sure to match up the polarity correctly. Now you have the best of both worlds and can use the charger off a battery AND a power supply. I put these on all my DC chargers, battery fans, etc and can power em with pretty much anything.

Just in case somebody wants Triton and doesn't have one yet, they're about as cheap as they come now --

If you buy it at this link --

for $130, you get a $10 Tower Hobbies gift certificate, and a mail-in-rebate form worth $15 in cash or $30 in Great Planes/Futaba/OS/Hobbico/etc merchandise. (If you don't use that link, you won't get told about the Rebate, and won't get the gift certificate.)

If you enter the 011B1 code, you'll get $20 off a $150 order. If you're already a Tower Club member, you'll get free shipping once you hit that $150 figure.

So, you buy the Triton, and buy $20 of other stuff, let's say $25 worth of other stuff. So your total will be $155 - $20, or $135, and you'll get either $15 or $30 back, and a $10 gift certificate for your next Tower order.

Struck me as a good enough deal to go ahead and get myself a second Triton :)

(and no, I don't work for Tower Hobbies or Great Planes or anybody else involved here.)

Mark, I've had the same 'issue' and most banana plugs we use here have two holes in the back of the case - one for the wire to go through and be soldered to the terminal itself to carry the current and the other to allow another banana plug to be 'piggy backed' onto the first. Just get a bit of brass tube - or anything conductive - that will fit in the 'piggy back' hole and you can connect the Triton alligator clips to the 'post' that now sticks out from the back of the banana plug which is connected to your power supply sockets. Cheers from Oz.