I may have mentioned to some of you that I had switched 100% over to using Anderson Power Pole connectors a few years back. But unless you wanted to shell out some big $$ to buy those power blocks from West Mountain Radio to the tune of $55-$100+ each, you had to build your own power block splitters.
Local Ham Operator, Grumpy, WF5Y, has a home-brew flat panel with 8 Anderson Power Pole connectors, each with their own fuse, similar to the WMR version, and he was asking $50 each at the Austin Summerfest.
But after visiting with the DC Power folks from Beaverton, Oregon, www.dcpwr.com, during the Plano Hamcom last June, I went to Wes Allen K7WWG’s web site to see what he had available. I found an affordable solution in the form of a Red-Dee-2 8 port connector block (Model PS-8) that would allow me to feed power to 7 other devices. The price? $28 plus shipping.
I just ordered 2 more, because originally I had planned to use this initial one for my Emergency Ham Radio Go-Kit to provide an easy way to connect radios and accessories, but then it occurred to me that I needed to use it for my van’s wiring instead.
Below is a photo showing my old wiring harness (home-brew) that would allow me to power up to 7 devices, with the PS-8 laying next to it. Then compare that with the photo of the PS-8 connected in its place.
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- Old home-brew wiring harness in place, with new connector ready to be installed
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- New PS-8 Red-Dee-2 Connector installed instead.
