Beware of the APEXIUM BOX Connectors

[ThaiTaffy]

Thaidaffy You blatantly implied that I was acting suspect which of course distracts people from helpful facts.

Obviously your understanding of grammar and sentence structure is worse than mine, I simply stated the terminal looked to be sanded from from looking at the photo it may or may not be, but from the photo it looks that way which would mean your making yourself look more suspect.

Almost every post in this whole thread made by you has been edited and reformatted, from mine and others point of view you are implicating yourself.

 

[GummiSolar]

Do you have this defect connector in your possession now or are the pictures still coming from professional solar installer.?

Got the dead on pictures of both mating surfaces for bus bar and connector mating surfaces like was asked for on 18 June 2024?

You offered to sell some of those connectors that you are calling defect?

What are you going to do with the so-called bad connectors from the 30 apexium diy boxes that you bought? Why did you edit out the 30 boxes?

Are you going to upgrade and change out all the connectors you identified as defective?

Did you talk to professional solar installer about the less than quality crimp the kind you agreed about wasn’t so good?

Ahh, back to the crimp. The biggest concern for many including myself!!

At first the crimp wasn't a concern of mine but was a major concern of many people on this forum. I resisted the possibility but eventually started questioning it myself! I love the great feedback from this forum.

So I did talk to the Solar Installer and question the crimp. I have determined the crimp was good, after it was explained to me that a pneumatic crimping tool was used and the damaged connector was placed in a vice and the attempt to remove the wire from the socket didn't work. The crimp was good! Believe it or not!.

 

[ThaiTaffy]

If you have one of the original undamaged connections and a Vernier/micrometer some measurements of the connection would be interesting, the plastic likely gives a tight connection but how are the tolerances on the actual contact surfaces.
Edit: Or better yet measure multiple from your stock to see how much variation there is.

 

[GummiSolar]

Obviously your understanding of grammar and sentence structure is worse than mine, I simply stated the terminal looked to be sanded from from looking at the photo it may or may not be, but from the photo it looks that way which would mean your making yourself look more suspect.

Almost every post in this whole thread made by you has been edited and reformatted, from mine and others point of view you are implicating yourself.

If you have one of the original undamaged connections and a Vernier/micrometer some measurements of the connection would be interesting, the plastic likely gives a tight connection but how are the tolerances on the actual contact surfaces.
Edit: Or better yet measure multiple from your stock to see how much variation there is.

I guess that I don't understand this forum? Its not allowed to edit post?

The measurement with a micrometer is a good idea. What do you think the tolerance should be?

 

[Supervstech]

That is the bottom of the bussbar. I figure that most people realize there is a top and bottom view. I guess you don't know anything about these batteries because there is a lock washer between the bolt and flat washer. These are the original unaltered photos below. Anybody who is reading this thread please disregard all the nonsensical conjecture and realize the potential hazards that can happen.
View attachment 225753
View attachment 225754

Can you post a pic of a good connector fully plugged in?

I would think they seat against the bulkhead connector.

 

[Supervstech]

I guess that I don't understand this forum? Its not allowed to edit post?

The measurement with a micrometer is a good idea. What do you think the tolerance should be?

...

Every post in this forum is fully editable by the posting member.

 

[ThaiTaffy]

Can you post a pic of a good connector fully plugged in?

I would think they seat against the bulkhead connector.

Would explain alot if the connector wasn't fully seated and makes sense looking at the way the connector is in the first photo posted by op there's a distinct ring of carbon rather than just melting, suggesting there was an air gap inside.

 

[740GLE]

I have thanked and acknowledged the great amount of input in this thread, if one person gets value from any of this. A good service has been done.

Thaidaffy You blatantly implied that I was acting suspect which of course distracts people from helpful facts.

Oh you def provided great value, you confirmed 100% that I’ll never use anything but lugs and bolts with washers for my high current connections.

My life isn’t that high paced that I can’t spend an extra 5 minutes to crank down with some ugga duggas vs plug in.

 

[GummiSolar]

A new addition to the tool box, FLIR K2. Works alright.

 

[automatikdonn]

This is a relatively inexpensive and very reassuring way to sleep at night knowing that the nearly 200A running through the connectors I crimped (rated 360A) will not burn down the house. Strongly recommended. And recheck every few months.

Part of my regular maintenance schedule is waking around with my thermal to check everything. Takes 5 minutes.

 

[Suijkerbuijk]

Part of my regular maintenance schedule is waking around with my thermal to check everything. Takes 5 minutes.

I have to control all wires and connecting in the 4 weeks
The boat move around on the water and sometimes somting comes loose.
Last i had to do fridge its door that comes loose.
So i have to adjust and set it back on its place.

the cable come lose from the mmpt controller.
Well normal day to see of all things still works like it have to works.

 

[ghostwriter66]

slightly off subject but for you guys getting your connectors (the ones in question) off of Alibaba and Ali-Express -- which store (URL) are you getting them from ... I need to order about 20 more (FEMALE ONLY) and the store i normally use is no more ... of course we were paying about 3.00 a connector so pretty sure their merchandise was falling off a truck somewhere ...

 

[740GLE]

Can docan source them for you?

 

[robbob2112]

slightly off subject but for you guys getting your connectors (the ones in question) off of Alibaba and Ali-Express -- which store (URL) are you getting them from ... I need to order about 20 more (FEMALE ONLY) and the store i normally use is no more ... of course we were paying about 3.00 a connector so pretty sure their merchandise was falling off a truck somewhere ...

View attachment 231711

they do have the real deal on mouser

 

[drlennarts]

I have had the same problems with connectors. What I have seen is that the internal copper liner was a bit different on the connectors. I have attached the picture of the burnt connector. I have replaced the connecters with some i bought separately and have not seen problems since.



What I can see is that the inner liner is different between the "bad" and "good" connectors. There is a small gap in the bad one and it is solid in the good one.




Of course it can be damage from my handleing of the connectors, but I think it is worth checking before you go higher than 100 A.

Anyone of you who can confirm these copper inserts and the quality?

I have talked to Docan, and they claim I have overloaded the connectors because I use the batteries in parallel and therefore run the batteries with 800A.

 

[Norwasian]

I have had the same problems with connectors. What I have seen is that the internal copper liner was a bit different on the connectors. I have attached the picture of the burnt connector. I have replaced the connecters with some i bought separately and have not seen problems since.

View attachment 247603

What I can see is that the inner liner is different between the "bad" and "good" connectors. There is a small gap in the bad one and it is solid in the good one.

View attachment 247604
View attachment 247606

Of course it can be damage from my handleing of the connectors, but I think it is worth checking before you go higher than 100 A.

Anyone of you who can confirm these copper inserts and the quality?

I have talked to Docan, and they claim I have overloaded the connectors because I use the batteries in parallel and therefore run the batteries with 800A.

I'm not an expert on these connectors, but I think if you were actually drawing 800A through these I would have to agree with the representatives of Docan. Some of the posts earlier in this thread that touched on what amperage these connectors might be suitable for indicated a maximum of about 500A--at least from what I see on the first page of posts, as follows:

Looks like it is designed for two cables in parallel, only one burned up.
Were you using two? If so, it possible the undamaged one has slightly higher resistance, so the other one took the hit.

How much current was going through there? 50mm^2 welding cable is rated for 255-345A depending on manufacturer.
Not clear what the connector is rated for, but I would guess 200A.

The connector is rated for 200A, It is a 50mm2 wire and the inverter was set to charge and discharge at a max 160A.

not really...
at least the seplos ones are rated for 500A , but you do need to push until they click.
so either this one had a production error, or it wasn't fully pushed in.

As the first of those posts indicates, two cables may be used in parallel in some setups, increasing the overall ampacity. However, this method appears to have its own pitfalls. There may be some other solution for where extra high amperages are required.

 

[Quattrohead]

The good and bad pictures, are they all brand new unused connectors or heavily loaded connectors?

 

[Boron]

Any welders here? - IMHO I have never seen a welder connector go like that. These are simple tapered and twist lock (bayonet type). These carry 150-250A 24/7 and are made of brass. KWIM? . Volts start at ca 60V and weld at ca 20V

Strange, never heard or seen issues with weld cables, other than severe old age use and strands coming loose etc - at the xformer. On the weld rod end - all sorts of abuse cos of being thrown around etc.

 

[drlennarts]

I'm not an expert on these connectors, but I think if you were actually drawing 800A through these I would have to agree with the representatives of Docan. Some of the posts earlier in this thread that touched on what amperage these connectors might be suitable for indicated a maximum of about 500A--at least from what I see on the first page of posts, as follows:






As the first of those posts indicates, two cables may be used in parallel in some setups, increasing the overall ampacity. However, this method appears to have its own pitfalls. There may be some other solution for where extra high amperages are required.

I agree. But I have monitored this battery bank quite extensively and at no time did we see above 200A. I have replaced the connectors with the "good" version and have not seen any issues so far. Similar temperatures on the connectors as the cables.

 

[drlennarts]

The good and bad pictures, are they all brand new unused connectors or heavily loaded connectors?

The "bad" was used a bit (2-3 weeks), other was new. The "broken" one was the same as the orange "bad" one.

They were still working, but just got very hot under operation. When I took them out the black one was melted inside and the orange one got out as shown in the picture.

Just replaced them both and everything seems fine now. Maybe it is just a quality control issue.

My point is that, even though they are the same brand, they can look different inside the connector.

 

[wpns]

The Degson connectors from EG4 (via SS) have one-piece unbroken springs. I imagine the devil is in the details, but if you wanted to reduce cost, you'd skimp on the spring, that's probably a significant portion of the production cost.

It's hard to tell, but the orange you can see in the bottom of the spring is a reflection of the plastic in the center, the Degson connector is solid on the sides.

 

[robbob2112]

Looks like in the 'bad' they save about 40% of the metal by stamping out the gaps and sending it back to the mfg for credit.

I wonder if the metal in the 'bad' is copper or or aluminum.

 

[wpns]

Looks like in the 'bad' they save about 40% of the metal by stamping out the gaps and sending it back to the mfg for credit.

I wonder if the metal in the 'bad' is copper or or aluminum.

Well, in order to work properly(*), it would have to be some kind of springy conductive metal (beryllium copper?) and engineered in such a way as to have decent contact force over the specified number of cycles.

(*) First thing to go if some Chinese shop wants to cost-reduce it and sell it for 1/10 the price, and then disappear only to reappear under a different Ali* vendor, Rinse Lather, Repeat.

 

[baipin]

If you want the legitimate thing; SurLok connectors, you can find these by the trade name of the spring contact (RADSOK), or by part number which usually begins with "SLPH" on newark.com. Some have a MOQ but the prices are generally pretty great.