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A different way to pass wires through your hull
Posted: Jul 17th, 2012, 11:26 am
by Rover
During the design, we wanted the ability to remove the wires from the back of the hull, so instead of potting the wire. I potted female bullet connectors in the hull. They are rated for 80 amps, and since we are running our brushless motors wet, a cannon plug would of added additional cost that wasn't needed.
We have pressure tested this setup to 115psi with no leaks. As a preventative measure, we did put DC4 Electrical Insulating Compound in each connector to prevent any corrosion from growing on the electrical connectors.
Re: A different way to pass wires through your hull
Posted: Jul 27th, 2012, 8:45 pm
by bikerbones1968
Brilliant setup. I might just steal this idea. The only deviation would be to penetrate the hull on the port and starboard sides rather than at the rear. I have a removable aft end system for quick access to my internals. But thinking more about it I could still use this setup and slide the internals out just as quickly.
Re: A different way to pass wires through your hull
Posted: Jul 29th, 2012, 7:23 am
by m_g
Hi rover,
That looks really cool. I too would like to be able to remove wires from the hull, as well as be able to interchange wires without having to dig out the potted penetrator plug.
So, are these plugs just copper conductors? So once the plug is potted in, there is no other hole to the hull? What about on the wire exposed to water? How will you seal the other end of the bullet connector to the wire and keep water from pushing up inside the wire?
Cheers
Mg
Re: A different way to pass wires through your hull
Posted: Jul 29th, 2012, 10:58 am
by Rover
The bullet connectors are the typical bullet connectors used with brushless motors. I bought mine at
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/stor ... 20PC_.html They look like they are made from brass. The OD of the female connector, was around .160", so using my numbered drill set, I was able to drill holes a couple of thousands bigger. Next I clean the area I am going to pot with PVC pipe cleaner....... this removed the glossy plastic sheen from the PVC allowing the exoxy to bond to it. The key here is to use slow setting epoxy, to give you plenty of time to work. I then painted the edges of the connector with epoxy, then pushed it in the hole. When all of the connectors were pushed in, I poured the rest of the epoxy in around the connectors.
The wire on the water side were soldered into the male connector and the connector and wire run wet in the water.
Jim