Out of curiosity I contacted three different manufacturers of this type of plug/pin configuration, Hopkins, Pollak and Peterson and the maximum continuous rating for this type of pin appears to be about 7.5A. One company told me 7.5A continuous and 15A for short duration's like brake lights but the bottom line is that this very popular male female pin/socket, the same exact type Universal / Westerbeke used to pass 50A + of current is really only rated for 7.5A and perhaps 15A for very short dirations. Are we beginning to see how bad this problem really is?


Universal apparently decided on their own that it was safe to push 50A plus of alternator current through these small pins. Wow!!