How To Change Battery Plugs

How to change battery plugs

When you’re looking for a new battery for your RC-vehicle, you may notice that all the batteries don’t necessarily have the same type of battery plug as your vehicle. There are plugs of different sizes and for different uses. The most common plug types include Tamiya, Traxxas, Deans/T-Plug, XT60, etc.  It’s good to invest in plugs that are easy to use and are power efficient.

Changing the battery plug is easy. You’ll need:

• Soldering iron
• Pliers
• Craft knife
• Hot-air gun or a lighter for shrinking the heat-shrink tubing
• Filler metal for soldering
• Heat-shrink tubing (black and red)

Note: When you’re changing the plug, it’s important to remember that the battery wires + and – must not touch each other. If the wires touch, it can cause a short circuit, which in the worst case will damage the battery. A good basic rule is to do the switch one wire at a time so all the wires won’t be disconnected at the same time during the process.

Pro Tip: if you are soldering a plastic plug, it is good to put the opposite plug in place in order to avoid bends when the wires warm up.

Following the steps below will help you to develop a routine for changing battery plugs

1. Cut ca. 10-15mm pieces of the heat-shrink tubing (black for minus, red for plus).
   
   
2. Make sure the soldering iron has heated up properly, so the soldering will be easier and the surfaces will heat up faster. (Depending on the iron this will take 5-15 minutes).
3. Check the markings on the new battery plug (+ and -) before soldering.
   
   
4. Cut one of the wires of the battery and peel off ca. 3-5 mm of the rubber (depending on the size of the connection surface).
   
   
5. Slip on the heat-shrink tubing on the wire you just cut.
   
   
6. Solder the wire to the connection surface of the new battery plug. Be careful not to let a plastic connector warm up too much.
   
   
7. When the solder has cooled down, slide the heat-shrink tubing on the connection and shrink it using the hot-air gun or another source of heat (e.g. a lighter).
   
   
8. Repeat the steps starting from step 4 on the other wire.
   
   

Note!When the soldering work is done, turn off the soldering iron and make sure that the iron is cooling down in a safe place.

Before placing the battery in the vehicle make sure that the wires are the same way as in the speed regulator of your vehicle (plus to plus, minus to minus).