I received the Anderson powerpoles which I purchased on ebay.  The
recent post was helpful and I wanted to pass on this info about a less
expensive crimping tool and some installation tips.

I guess red is for positive and should be on the right when the  metal
tongue is inserted into the polycarbonate housing.  The article is
looking toward the wires and has positive on the lef.

Read the entire article at


www.wb3w.net/powerpoleinst.htm
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You can easily install Powerpole(r) Connectors on your cables by
soldering or by using certain inexpensive crimp tools such as the $6.95
Gardner Bender GS88 (available at Lowe's Home Improvement), or the more
expensive professional grade PWREcrimp tool. 

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USING THE GARDNER BENDER TOOL (GS88)
 
Looking at the Gardner Bender tool you will see it has three crimping
dies and a cutter. The number one die is the one closest to the cutting
blade,  and the number three is the one closest to the handle side. And,
you may use the built in cutter to cut the wire but you will still need
wire strippers to strip the wire insulation back 5/16", trying not to
cut or nick any strands. 

30 AMP CONNECTORS: 

Put the contact over the wire making sure that all of the strands are
inside the contact and the insulation is not. You will find it is
possible to use up to 10 gauge wire in a 30 amp contact even though they
are made for 12 to 14 gauge.  Smaller than # 14 will have to be doubled
or tripled over to fill the contact recess and get a good crimp. 

If you are using paired wire orient the wire with the red/plus wire on
your left with the end of the wire facing you. Place the contact on the
wire so that the sharp edge of the contact tip is down.  

Put the contact in to the smaller number one die. Center the crimp
portion (seamed) of the contact in the die with the rounded portion of
the die up against the half moon side of the die. Make sure that the
wire is fully inserted in to the contact and crimp down firmly. Crimp
carefully without too much force, as you will now notice that the
crimped contact is now slightly wider than it was to begin with.  

Rotate the crimp 90 degrees and squeeze it again but this time place it
in the number with only enough force to get it back to round. The idea
is to make the width of the crimp just slightly less that it was before
crimping. Return the contact to the front number one die and repeat the
first crimp, but with less pressure. 
 

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This is the first crimp of a PowerPole(r) 30 amp contact. Notice it is
in the first die #1 and that the seam of the contact is against the
half-moon rounded side of the tool.  Make sure the end of the contact's
crimp section is just below flush on the side of the tool. 

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On the second step, the contact is inserted into the back # 3 die and is
turned 90 degrees. Do not crimp very hard in this die -- just enough to
make the width of the crimped section back to round and slightly less in
diameter than before crimping.. 
  
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CONTACT ALIGNMENT

The contacts go in the housings in only one way. Insert the contacts
with their sharp edge down against the flat spring that is in the
housing. They should slide in and click. If you do not hear a click or
they are not fully seated, fix them. When they are inserted fully you
should notice that the contact and it's wire "floats" slightly inside
it's housing. If it feels tight it may not be snapped in fully or you
have made the contact wider than it originally was during crimping or
soldering.