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Powerboard
Normal vs HC version

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Some of the powerboard models will be offered in a normal version and a so called “HC” High Current version. These HC versions are exactly as the name suggests, they are high current variants of the normal boards raising the continuous current from 50Amps continuous to 100Amps!

That is a huge amount of current and generally will make most sense in 5v installs where even a single 300 LED strip can use up to 13Amps.

Different input stage

To allow for up to 100Amps to make it into the board the input stage of the HC boards is different. They are equipped with large M5 bare terminals to which you can screw very large wire sizes (6AWG/13.3mm2) with fork, ring or lug crimps.

On the positive side there is second set of these M5 bare terminals, between these sets a “Midi”/ANS style fuse is connected, this is to protect the 2 input wires from potential issues if one might fail.

Requires fork, ring or lugs

These M5 bare terminals cannot take bare wire or wire ferrules but require either fork style, ring style or lug style crimps on your cable to be able to connect them. You need specific tools to attach these to your cable so please be mindful of that before buying the HC version boards!

Extra copper

The HC boards are manufactured with extra thick copper planes vs the normal versions to better be able to carry the current and minimize heat.

Higher cost

Now you ask, why not only make HC versions, 100Amps capability sounds awesome! And yes, while it certainly is, I hope the above explains why there are also normal versions. The more complicated cabling required and the extra costs for the HC boards combined more complicated manufacturing means these boards cost more then the normal versions to make.

Please take the above into account when deciding between a normal or HC version of the powerboards.