Where to buy male connector/plug for charger/controller?

[silverbear]

My kit is several years old and when I purchased it I bought it without the battery pack, so the kit came with no connector from the battery packto plug in the charger to or the controller.  Both of these are female, by the way, so the connector from the battery pack needs to be male.  I did some looking around at the time and could not locate a male counterpart, so ended up fabricating something from a regular grounded plug by breaking off the round ground portion.  This worked, but made it possible to mistakenly reverse the polarity by not being careful how it was connected.  With the correct connector this mistake could not happen.  Recently I did just that and fried my controller.  Happily I have found a replacement through this forum and am back in business.  HOWEVER I don't want to repeat this mishap a second time. very possible if someone else connects the battery pack to the controller without paying close attention.  I have tried hardware stores, radio shack, a local electrical supply and have had no luck.  This connector has three vertical slots/tabs.  Where can I get one?  What is this type of connector called?  Many thanks,
Walter Silverbear

[Gregte]

I think I know what the connector type is that you are talking about. I would like to point out that it is not a very high amperage connector and in fact it is just marginal for the job. I have melted one in normal operation. The actual metal contact area is quite small when the plug is inserted in the socket. It is practically a point contact.

I would recommend you use what is called an Anderson Power Pole connector. They are easy to work with and can be configured (snapped together) to allow for connecting 1, 2, 3 or as many wires as you want. Get ones rated at at least 20 amps but might as well go for 35 amps or more.

You can buy them online and you may also find them in a local hobby store or where ever RC products are sold.

http://www.google.com/products?client=safari&rls=en&q=anderson+power+pole+connector&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=FFFMSrKLJODJtgfKgq2wBA&sa=X&oi=product_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4

[e-lmer]

I did something similar, but used plugs like these:
http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=197504-334-L1430P-L
I used this for the battery box:
http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=197501-334-L1420R-L
And this for the charger cord:
http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=197507-334-L1430C-L

I went with the unusual ones so that nobody accidentally plugs in
an extension cord.

They're rated at 20AMPS, but since there are 4 connectors you can parallel
them to get 40AMPS.

Overkill, but pretty foolproof.