Lister Engine Forum

General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: BruceM on December 16, 2018, 11:45:10 PM

Title: IDC connectors suck
Post by: BruceM on December 16, 2018, 11:45:10 PM
I spent a few hours troubleshooting my remote fiber-cellphone hardware today. My memory is so poor it's a relearning project, though fortunately with pretty good documentation. The fiber-phone was a 2006 project, all hand soldered, no PCB, with a Picaxe M18 controller.  Ended up being one of the few Molex insulation displacement connectors I have left on that...on the 12v power to the solenoid that pushes the button to turn on the cell phone.

I never use Molex IDC connectors anymore, for good cause.  The contact to the wire is just not reliable over time. 

Not much fun working in the cell phone dog house when you're having a bout of Graves and your heart is going 100 BPM and your hands are shaking. 



Title: Re: IDC connectors suck
Post by: BruceM on December 17, 2018, 04:31:51 PM
I hear you loud and clear on the connector hassle.  If the Germans didn't insist on some connector standards post WWII (DIN and DB connectors) we'd really be screwed.  American's hate regulations even when they would benefit everyone, it seems.

For power, I really like the Anderson Power Pole connectors.  Lovely simple design that can build up large keyed connectors that are idiot proof, carry very high currents, and are very cheap. On my inverter H-bridge boards,  which were a tight fit on the cheap 2 sided "experimenters board" by PCBexpress, I used 5 inch, 14 gauge silicone wire pigtails with Power pole connectors for both the 120VDC input and AC output.  It let me keep the power current path very small on the board (for low EMI), and not burn a lot of board space for connectors.  I routed power on the board between power transistors via solid 14 gauge wire "jumpers" since I could ill afford the space for wide traces for 30+ amps.

Anderson also makes an expensive board connected power pole, but I haven't used them yet.

https://www.amazon.com/Anderson-Powerpole-Connectors-Amp-pair/dp/B00W8TN4KY/ref=asc_df_B00W8TN4KY/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=198064502357&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=10712659400175080370&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=2840&hvtargid=pla-319132232802&psc=1
Title: Re: IDC connectors suck
Post by: AdeV on December 18, 2018, 05:53:58 AM
American's hate regulations even when they would benefit everyone, it seems.

That's a bit harsh: I think it's more a case of, if there's not a standard that fits exactly what you want to do.... you create a new one  ;D

As the old saying goes: That's the beauty about standards... there's so many to choose from!

(https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/standards.png) (https://xkcd.com/927/)
Title: Re: IDC connectors suck
Post by: BruceM on December 18, 2018, 09:16:44 AM
The German connector standards were not hard to circumvent, you just had to file a justification why you needed something special...which had to be legitimate and was actually read by someone basically competent.  Eliminating custom oddball connectors is a good thing, for everyone.