The Anderson Powerpole housings conform to the ARES and RACES standard and are designated 15, 30, and 45 amps. The rating range is a function of which connector pins are inserted in to the housings. The rating of the connectors is by the wire gauge that the connector pins accept, not the pins themselves.

The most commonly used Powerpole is the 30 amp.   Even though a 30 amp connector is rated for 12-14 gauge wire they will accept 10 gauge wire.  Smaller wire may be used by doubling over the wire.

The current rating for a wire is rated by the temperature rise of 25 degrees C.  A 15, 30 or 45 amp Powerpole connector pin will actually withstand well over 100 amps without damage and close to 200 amps to actually cause permanent damage.  The voltage drop of a Powerpole 30 amp connector is approximately .016 volts at 37 amps.

You can easily install Powerpole Connectors on your cables by soldering or by using certain inexpensive crimp tools such as the $9.95 Gardner Bender GS88 (available at Lowe's Home Improvement).  After attaching the contacts to your wires the color coded housings slide together and then click on to the contacts.

POWERPOLE CONNECTOR GENERAL INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS

Put the connector housings together before putting the connector pins in, this is easier, especially when using heavy paired wire.

Before soldering or crimping the contacts on to heavy paired wire, orient the contacts so that they are both facing the the correct direction so that they go in the housings without twisting the wire.

The plastic housings are held together with dovetail joints. Always slide these joints together! They will be damaged if you try to snap them together or apart. They ONLY slide together in one direction. 

The contacts go in the housings in only one way. Insert the contacts with their sharp edge down against the flat spring that is in the housing. They should slide in and click. If you do not hear a click or they are not fully seated, fix them. When they are inserted fully you should notice that the contact and it's wire "floats" slightly inside it's housing. If it feels tight it may not be snapped in fully or you have made the contact wider than it originally was during crimping or soldering.

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Tug slightly on the assembled connector to make sure the contacts are locked in place. If you have trouble getting the contact to lock in to the housing you may have squashed the contact wider deformed it some how. Look at the side profile of the contacts before and after crimping, you may have to bend it back straight before inserting it in to the housing.

When soldering the contact pins, be careful not to use too much solder. Keep the solder inside, where the wire goes. If a blob of solder gets on the outside of the connector body you may have trouble putting the contact into the housing. If you get solder on the contact surface area you will not make a good contact.

When crimping the contact pins use a crimp that contains the wire completely inside the pin and doesn't spread the connector apart. A good crimp is one where the dimensions of the crimped portion are no more than an uncrimped pin. If the crimp is flattened out you will not be able to easily push the pin in to the body. If you bend the contact blade in relation to the crimp area you should straighten it before putting it in to the body.

A properly crimped contact should have a minimum hold on the wire of more than 25 pounds. A pair of connectors should snap together with 6 to 8 pounds force.

Last but not least, MAKE SURE you have the polarity correct before plugging in you equipment. "Measure twice, cut once" as the saying goes.

Looking at the GB tool you will see it has three crimping dies and a cutter. We will refer to the dies as number one being closest to the cutter and number three being closest to the hinge.

You may use the cutters to cut the wire but you will need wire strippers to strip the wire. Using cutters to strip wire will probably nick the wire strands. Strip the wire insulation back 5/16", try not to nick the strands.

30 AMP CONNECTORS:

Put the contact over the wire making sure that all of the strands are inside the contact and the insulation is not. You will find it is possible to use up to 10 gauge wire in a 30 amp contact even though they are made for 12 to 14 gauge. The # 10 will have to be cut cleanly and you have to neatly twist it to get all of the strands inside. Smaller than # 14 will have to be doubled or tripled over to fill the contact recess and get a good crimp.

If you are using paired wire orient the wire with the red/plus wire on your right with the end of the wire away from you. Place the contact on the wire so that the sharp edge of the contact tip is down. Do both contacts this way and when crimped they will fit in to the plastic housing correctly without twisting the wire.

Put the contact in to the smaller number one die. Center the crimp portion of the contact in the die with the rounded portion of the die up and against the seam on the contact and the tongue of the die directly opposite. Make sure that the wire is fully inserted in to the contact and crimp down firmly. Crimp with almost but not quite full force without bottoming out the tool. You will notice that the crimp is now slightly wider than it was. Rotate the crimp 90 degrees and squeeze it again in the number three die but this time not as firmly. The idea is to make the width of the crimp just slightly less that it was uncrimped. Repeat the first crimp in the first die, but with less pressure.

AGAIN, MAKE SURE you have the polarity correct before plugging in you equipment.