Hello
I have buy 10 of the WetLink Penetrator 6,5mm and the intention was to replace the old thrusters penetrator of my heavy bluerov2 because the penetrator is leaking sometimes.
I have measured the cable on the thruster and its only 6,10mm,sow they can not be used on old thruster cabel?
Hi @an-ron,
Though the WLP 6.5 MM should work with the original 18 AWG thruster cable on the T200, it has not been validated and we cannot guarantee the performance. It will likely work okay, but perhaps to a slightly lower depth rating when running at full current for extended periods heating the cable.
That being said, we’ll have a new variant of the WLP 6.5 MM with higher cable compression that will be better suited to this slightly smaller cable, which should be available in the next couple weeks. However, it will still not be officially supported the degree we support the 16 AWG cable with the WLP 6.5MM.
-Adam
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Ok,so if I want to use WLP 6.5 MM i need to buy 8 new thrusters with 16 AWG cable.
This will cost 1432 dollar for eight thrusters with 16 AWG cable.
Then it is cheaper to buy Cobalt Connector from Blue Trail Engineering cost 656 dollar for eight Connectors.(16AWG) (536 dollar for 18AWG)
I have Cobalt Connector on my manipulator,light and ping sonar but not on my thrusters.
It is well possible to replace the old thruster cable with new cabel,it’s the cheapest way?
Why have you changed the cables on thrusters from 18 awg to 16 awg,is a special reason for that?
Hi @an-ron,
I would like to clarify my initial answer, you do not need to change your thrusters to using 16 AWG cable, the WLP 6.5 MM, especially the upcoming high compression (HC) version, will likely work well with your existing thrusters. We just can’t give any official warranty on such a configuration, since it was not assembled by our own technicians and has not been thoroughly tested to the degree the 16 AWG cable has been. Unless you are running the thruster at 20V full throttle for extended periods or regularly diving to hundreds of meters, unofficially I expect the WLP 6.5 MM should work well with the 18 AWG cable.
However, if you would like to use the Cobalt connectors instead, that is absolutely a valid option as well that would also give you the benefit of easily disconnectable external connection.
It is not possible to replace the cable on the thruster, it is directly potted into the thruster core. You would need to splice the 16 AWG cable to the 18 AWG cable, the splice would have it’s own challenges and be a potential leak path, which if I understand your intent would defeat the purpose.
We changed from 18 AWG to 16 AWG cable on the T200 thruster for a few reasons:
- There is less power loss on the 16 AWG cable leading to better operating efficiency
- The cable will heat up less while the thruster is under high power. At full power at 20V for extended periods, the old 18AWG cable could begin to soften and even melt under some conditions in air
- For the above reasons, some of our customers had been requesting custom T200s with 16 AWG cable for a number of years, and it made sense to bring all thrusters to this one cable type for production efficiency
- The reduced heating of the cable leads to greater performance with the WLP, heating of the 18 AWG cable under high load could be a limiting factor for long term WLP sealing performance
The change was decided early on in the development of the WLP, so we focused on officially validating the performance with the 16 AWG cable.
-Adam
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Hi, Adam , i have already ordered WLP 6.5mm to retrofit my old 18AWG thrusters so is there a way to replace 18AWG cable by 16 AWG on motors ?
OK ,i understand.Thank you for your answer 
I have now ordered 8 Cobalt connectors 16 awg from Blue Trail Engineering
Hi @xavier-surkus,
See my answer in the post above:
It is not possible to replace the cable on the thruster, it is directly potted into the thruster core. You would need to splice the 16 AWG cable to the 18 AWG cable, the splice would have it’s own challenges and be a potential leak path
-Adam
Adam,
I bought the new WLP 6.5 MM wetlink connectors before I realized the wire gage had been changed - how can i go about exchanging these for the HC style you are talking about here , and do you have a firmer date for when they will be available in the midst of this supply chain madness?
Thank you
Jack vH
Hi @jwvanheest, welcome to the forum 
Both of these questions are best responded to by our sales team, so I’d suggest you email them at sales@bluerobotics.com