Raw cables and assemblies
Once you've identified your connector, it's time to define the raw cable and the cable assembly. With connectors continually getting smaller, it's becoming easier to inadvertently spec a small connector that won't work with the larger cable you would like to use. You'll have to look at both the cable and the connector together to make sure they are compatible.
Some companies may also have custom raw cable in stock that may meet your requirements, eliminating the normal four to six weeks of custom raw cable fabrication time. If time is tight, check with your supplier to see if you can take advantage of stocked material.
Table C
Most connector manufacturers will provide assembly services to reduce the number of vendors you have to work with. Check out the facility to see whether the company can provide you with termination-only capabilities or complete over-molding, sealing, and testing capabilities. Get prices for engineering design services, lead times, and tooling costs, and ask about quality guarantees. Manufacturers are experts at handling their own connectors, and should always be considered if cable assembly services are available.
Service and delivery
Check for realistic delivery dates; delivery on custom connectors from any supplier will always be longer than selecting an off-the-shelf product. If you can use something that's already designed, it should have a shorter delivery time. Reduced lead times may be available by modifying an existing design. If you decide that a custom connector is the solution you require, make sure your supplier is committed to the project over the life of your device. It's possible to get commercial-grade connectors off the shelf, but a 12-week lead-time is not unusual to design and build a custom connector.
Benefits of engineering
Support: Ask suppliers about the kind of support you can expect from their engineering and product development teams. Check out details about available design and prototyping services. Letting someone else look at your device early in the design process often opens up options for cost-saving or time-saving ideas.
— David Cianciolo is the director of engineering for Fischer Connectors, located in Atlanta.
I've encountered numerous failures of the large rectangular modular connectors offered by LappUSA, Weidmuller, Harting to name a few that do not stand up to real use. This year I've personally witnessed four different incidents where the connectors permitted water to enter.
Going to higher ratings than are strictly necessary is sometimes necessary to get the protection desired.
IP69K is a high pressure high temperature environment that better represents industrial food processors. IP67 sensors were simply not holding up.
As I design CNC machinery, I just want a connector that is already attached to the type of wire I need. So, I end up looking over countless catalogs for the perfect option. Often I end up having to build the harness myself. I am truly tired of doing that. All I need is a DB9 with 18 awg wire, shielded, twisted pair, 6 feet long. Is that so hard to manufacture?
Anyway, price is also a concern. With proprietary connectors, you often end up stuck with one vendor.
How in the world is a crimp on pin connector field repairable? REplacing a damaged pin would require cutting of the crimped on pin, making that wire in the cable too short to use. When I was an application/support engineer I would solder the crimp pins on for those 28 and 36 pin MS connectors with the individually inserted pins. The result was that I could replace a damaged pin in just a few minutes instead of needing to fight with stores for 2 hours to get a replacement cable assembly.
It is certainly true that connector choice can break a product and render it totally user unfriendly.
I think for the average assembler the crimp connections are much more reliable. They probably don't need replaced as often. Also, what is the most common failure mode in a soldered pin connection? I would guess that wire breakage where the solder wicked up into the wire. If so, the wire would have to be shortened in that case too.
For my early years in the industry I ran the Service Department for an agricultural equipment manufacturer. The environment was hostile, to say the least, but I quickly found that nearly all of the failures were switches, potentiometers and connectors. Semiconductors rarely failed, but anything electromechanical was bound to be damaged by vibration or user input. Not only were connectors an issue, but providing strain relief on cables without damaging the cable under vibration was an issue too. Connectors became such a problem that we decided to do without them at one point and used terminal strips. This wasn't an installation friendly approach, of course, but it did solve the problem.
When I played in a band connectors were always the first component to fail, too. Smoking was still legal in Chicago Blues clubs back then, and a layer of brown goo accumulated on all connectors. Switched 1/4" connectors were the worst with the switch contacts quickly failing with a layer of cigarette goop. Line Out and Insert connectors typically had this type of connector, so the quick stage fix was always to shove a loop back cable in the offending channel and see if this fixed the problem.
I also found that MTA connectors used as interconnects would fracture solder joints on circuit boards during thermal cycling. This happened quite a few times on newer Fender amps (why many musicians favor point to point wiring). The solder will expand and contract at much greater rates than the steel pins in the connector during thermal cycling and eventually the solder joint fractures around the connector pins. Later when I worked at an appliance controls company the same thing was happening to our oven controls and my stage experience paid off in finding a solution.
A poorly soldered connection to a wire is certainly a potential for failure, far moreso if there is not a good degree of strain relief. My experience with soldering is that if it is done right, the solder does not wick up the strands more than the conductor diameter. Greater wicking indicates that too much heat was applied to the connection and to the wire. But the most important part is indeed the strain relief that prevents flexing at the connector pin. No question about that.
I have to agree. Having spent over 15 years providing technical support for products in industrial environments, connection issues were by far the most prevalent. This is not the area to take shortcuts. Connector design, fabrication, backshell, wire gage and level of sealing are all important to get right.
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