Options for wire to wire crimp connector?

[mutterd]

Hey everyone,

I’m looking for options for a 5 pin wire to wire connector to use for line level AC and to feed 24Vdc to relays, using 22 and 24GA wire inside a console.

Aside from those parameters I would like the option for gold pins for the AC.

i have spent a good amount of time searching on the molex, jst and TE websites and had settled on the TE/AMP 0.062 Commercial Pin and Socket Connector.

They seemed to fit the criteria and work with the crimp tools I have (molex KK type) but I’m not satisfied with them in practice and am pretty confident they will be problematic long term.

There are 2 main issues - first, they are very difficult to actually mate together.

Both the pins and the sockets are free floating in the keyed headers so getting 5 pins to line up is actually harder than it should be.

The pins are tublular and hollow with slits cut lengthwise and then bent in to form a tip. This in practice is fairly soft and if the pins aren’t all seated in the sockets then any pressure deforms the pins making them almost impossible to “reform” to be functional.

Second is that the 22GA and 24GA wire is not crimping well. The wire jacket ends up being pulled to one side or the other of the pin.

I will attach some photos to show what I mean.

i could probably live with one or the other issue if it was something I was going to keep - but I know if these have to reseated at any point down the road by the customer they are going to turn into an absolute mess.

So at this point I’m toying with using two of the 3 pin EDAC 516 series connectors for each because I know they are reliable, but before going that route I just wanted to see if anyone here had any suggestions for connectors they like or have had success with.

thanks so much,
Hope everyone is hanging in out there.
Timothy

 

[mutterd]

One quick thing to add is that after initially having the issue with the crimp I went and bought the actual crimp tool from AMP ($$$) and what you see in the photo is the result.

thanks again,
T.

 

[ruffrecords]

They look like rather large connectors for the application you have in mind. What's wrong with regular Molex KK?

I am getting fed up with crimps - so time consuming and prone to error - so I am now moving over to IDC. At the moment I am using Molex Picoflex connectors (6way) for signals and relay voltages.

Cheers

Ian

 

[mutterd]

Thanks Ian,

this may just be my ignorance but is there a Molex KK option for wire to wire? I have certainly looked but not found a wire mounted header for the male pins.

I hear you on the crimp frustrations, i think the edac 516 series actually throws gas on the frustration because it’s such a solid system that most things just seem trashy in comparison.

As to IDC - I mean, how many billions of cat5/cat6 cables must there be in service in the world right now? Clearly it works.

Are you using the picoflex with ribbon cable or with more “roll your own” wire/cable options?

thanks again,
T.

 

[ruffrecords]

You are not ignorant - I just forgot you want wire to wire. Picoflex is also wire to board so probably no good for you either. I use ribbon cable with Picoflex. I only use it on line level or dc. What it really nice is that you can buy ready made cables of different lengths at good prices. Also the official Molex extraction toll is less than £10.

Cheers

Ian