Club 80-90 Forums

hi I am just doing the camper electrics on my camper. Have ordered a few bits and pieces, switches, wire, spade connectors from 12v planet. But my mechanic says they are pretty low quality. Can anyone recommend a place where I can get very good quality like military quality spade connectors, switches etc.. the type I have bought do look a bit rubbish IMHO and before I shell out for the rest we need i'd rather spend more for better quality

I'm not sure you'll really need mill spec ones, just buy some from a good electrical reseller. Again if you find mill spec ones I bet they'll cost you an arm and a leg or maybe two

I've always been pleased with the bits I've bought from Vehicle Wiring Products.

Toolstation (located in branches of Wickes) are good. Ridiculously cheap but good quality I've found.

Online: http://www.toolstation.com/shop/Electri ... als/sd2712" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Otherwise army surplus can be excellent.

I always use
http://www.polevolt.co.uk/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I order a number of different types of terminals to make the postage worth it. They have always delivered within 2 days.

thanks all for the advice, the connectors at all these places seem exactly the same as 12v planet. My mechanic said why don't you get some of those nice copper spade connectors that are better quality?.. and since then I've looked but not found something akin to what he suggested. If I can't find any these will do I guess, I haven't got a great deal of wiring to do, so I wouldn't mind paying more for something a little more robust as the metal on these connectors does look prone to falling to bits in time. The terminals are going to be behind panels that I will not be taking off again for a long time hopefully


We are good ta Keith, arm a bit better gradually since January, so each day i can do more and more which is perfect timing with the weather getting better!

Hope all's good with your mate!

Ask your mechanic where he gets them from

he doesn't know, only that better quality ones exist!
I work in electronics and build machines that have to work in the worst climates, when they are returned broken it will usually be a connector failure
or a wiring breakdown. Cheaping on a electrical components is a nono in my book, unless there is no alternative.

Most military connectors are round type, you don't see many spade type connectors.
We use Hellerman or Cannon D38999 but they are bollock breakingly expensive.

If your equipment is coming back with connector failure it sounds like bad design to me.
We never have connector failure and our equipment is fitted to tanks, helicopters, buildings and ships (the yanks actually tested our equipment by simulating a mine contact - impressive bang but our equipment survived).

How about using Andersen powerpoles? I use them for my amateur radio stuff and they're very good.

Titus A Duxass wrote:Most military connectors are round type, you don't see many spade type connectors.
We use Hellerman or Cannon D38999 but they are bollock breakingly expensive.

If your equipment is coming back with connector failure it sounds like bad design to me.
We never have connector failure and our equipment is fitted to tanks, helicopters, buildings and ships (the yanks actually tested our equipment by simulating a mine contact - impressive bang but our equipment survived).

but are you using spade connectors from 12V planet or the like? if so that's a pretty good recommendation for them !
Without going to much into what we do, i'd say about half of the failures we get back are manhandling of equipment by contractors, and if low quality wire or components are used then they will result in an equal amount of failures. I know because I have to fix it all when it comes back in a box covered in mud and grime from the outer reaches of Siberia!!! In the last 3 years better quality is used, connector/wire breakdowns are seldom now but you can't stop people breaking stuff through misuse.

The main thing I was looking for was not a different type of connection from bullets and spades, just better ones than I can find . I have several devices such as controllers and sockets etc to fit that need a female spade as the male spade is on the actual product itself. A lot of the other bits and pieces I can use my normal outlets for. To be honest if my mechanic hadn't said anything I'd probably have already fitted them and not worried


cheers for the Anderson idea!

wolfbus.uk wrote:thanks all for the advice, the connectors at all these places seem exactly the same as 12v planet. My mechanic said why don't you get some of those nice copper spade connectors that are better quality?.. and since then I've looked but not found something akin to what he suggested. If I can't find any these will do I guess, !

Most connecter contacts are coated ether in gold or are tinned /nickel plated to stop corrosion, copper contacts are the cheapest type and will corrode.
Gold are obviously the most expensive and are used in nearly all military connecters tinned come next and are used by the automotive industry, but you may find some ECU contacts are gold plated on the pin.

wolfbus.uk wrote:
but are you using spade connectors from 12V planet or the like? if so that's a pretty good recommendation for them !

For mil projects we do not use spade connectors because of their inherently low failure rates.

wolfbus.uk wrote: Without going to much into what we do, i'd say about half of the failures we get back are manhandling of equipment by contractors...

They are not failures, that is damage.

wolfbus.uk wrote: The main thing I was looking for was not a different type of connection from bullets and spades, just better ones than I can find . I have several devices such as controllers and sockets etc to fit that need a female spade as the male spade is on the actual product itself. A lot of the other bits and pieces I can use my normal outlets for. To be honest if my mechanic hadn't said anything I'd probably have already fitted them and not worried

For civil projects based in benign environments we use spades - we get them from RS.

From this line - http://uk.rs-online.com/web/c/connector ... s-splices/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

yes thanks for the advice NicQ and Titus.

I think what I'll do is dremel a hole in the spades on these products and solder my wire on then go off there to an inline fuse. For the record is there a simple single wire to single wire connector either of you could recommend?

I am a bit anal about it I guess because after spending so much on equipment I'd be pretty pssed if it fail via a 10p connector.