I recently bought some GNB A30 connectors to try to tame my Beetle’s wiring harness. I got a bit carried away with science and did some experiments. They were about $1 per pair.
What is it?
It is a connector made by GNB (the battery company) but they allow other manufacturers to make them without licence fee.
The pitch is approximately 2mm making it super tiny and it’s apparently rated at 30 amps (maximum) or 15 amps continuous (maybe).
Here is a comparison with the popular XT30 and XT60 connectors (JST-RCY not pictured because it’s really very bad by comparison)
As you can see it is way smaller even than the fairly small XT30.
Like the XT30 it’s intended to be soldered.
Experiments
I decided to try to measure the resistance of the different connectors using my rubbish milliohm meter. Using AWG26 wire (pretty thin for Beetleweight) I made a 50mm + 50mm test lead:
Then for good measure, I also made a 100mm piece of wire with no connector.
Results:
| Connector | Resistance |
|---|---|
| A30 + 50mm + 50mm | 15m Ohm |
| XT30 + 50mm + 50mm | 14m Ohm |
| Wire (100mm) | 16m Ohm |
| Wire (200mm) | 24m Ohm |
I’m not completely sure whey the resistance was lower with the connector than without; I guess maybe the solder wicks into the wire a bit and makes it more conductive.
I tinned all the ends of the wires in the same way and tried to grip them with the same strength.
Can I use the A30 with the Malenki ?
Yes, with minor modification. The pins have a kind of semicircle pattern on here, you need to rotate them around with a small pair of pliers so that they are pointing outwards. The Malenki motor pads have a pitch of 2.5mm, but the A30 has a pitch of 2mm.
After the modification, they fit:
Pros
- As good as XT30 for electrical resistance
- Very space efficient
- Can also be used with the Malenki Nano with minor modification
- Cheap
Cons
- More fiddly to solder and heatshrink
- Lower pull-out force
Conclusion
These connectors are good replacements for XT30 in your wiring harness. You could use one as a removable link, but it might be easier to knock out. I plan to continue to use XT30 for my link and use these only for internal power distribution.
