Fully insulated aviation grade connectors/quick connectors

Hello,

I am surprised I'm having trouble finding a kit of aviation grade (full metal neck) fully insulated electical connectors. I can get the ones from the auto shop but they only get one metal on metal crimp vice the two you get with the aviation grade. I bought a kit from steinair but it wasn't fully insulated nor did it have any male connectors (which seems odd). Where do guys get their connectors from. I may be typing in the wrong thing to Aircraft Spruce but no good kits show up.

Or should I just get the auto grade ones and they're fine?

Thank you!
Wingnut

There are a lot of different connectors for the many varied things and wires that get connected. I have not found a universal "aviation" connector. A lot of guys get pretty "nerdy" about their connectors and buy them from places like digikey and other electronic suppliers. I think Van's gives some instruction on doing mostly Molex type connectors - but they are far from weatherproof.

One of the neat ideas I picked up from either the EAA or Stein how-to videos - where you want a nice removable/serviceable connection, you can connect each wire with a d-sub male to a female pin, cover with heat shrink tube, and then cover the whole bundle with another heat shrink tube. I plan to do this at the elevator trim.

For the wiring through the fuselage and wing joint, I hope to just run a continuous wire with no connector, just leave a good service loop of wire if I ever (God forbid) have to take a wing off.

Watch the Stein videos and the ones at EAA.com - great free training and ideas!

Good luck

For the crimp issue, just look for 'PIDG' terminals.

You probably didn't see the male 1/4" spades because it's rare to see them used as an in-line connector; they're usually used at the end of a run. Not that a good pair of spade terminals are likely to separate on their own, but 'best practice' would be to use something that latches for in-line splices. Look for 'knife splice' or 'handshake' style connectors.

sgtzim's mention of heatshrink would work fine over spades, as well, provide additional security, & would likely be much cheaper than the full plastic jacket version you show in the pic. Similar effect can be achieved by just shrinking it over the crimp area & leaving the area over the joint 'unshrunk'. If it's something that will need to get opened/reconnected often, some other style of connector might be a better choice.

Charlie

I'm a nerdy guy

I'm the nerdy guy who bought my terminals from Digi-Key. The ones you get in the auto parts store are ****. What I wanted was a solid (not split) barrel and a sleeve for crimping on the insulation to keep it from moving around. The good ones are 25c each. It's been a while but I think the ones I bought were either Panduit or Amp. PIDG Terminals and Splices. Rather than a kit, I just bought a selection of blue-red-yellow wire sizes and #6, #8, #10 rings, plus a few large rings for the battery/starter terminals.

I bought a kit of AMP brand PIDG terminals from B&C. Perhaps this is what you are looking for? http://www.bandc.aero/insulatedterminalkitwithstoragecase.aspx
They also sell a ratcheting crimp tool for these terminals.

Here are some deustch connectors. Very tolerant of vibration, water, even pressure washing. Cat uses the DT series on machines. The Cat dealer will sell you a kit with many connectors and parts. The best thing is it includes a crimper. It is a Daniels crimper. Get the right positioners and use for d-sub and high density too. The kit price is like buying the crimper and free connectors and terminals.

Ref for deustch - http://terminalsupplyco.com/Store/Default.aspx?CAT=DTC010&PCAT=54229#Categories

A bit overkill for me.

Van's Aircraft THE LIST
ES 421-0107 CONNECTOR MALE SLIP-ON CONN $0.40
ES 421-0108 CONNECTOR FEMALE SLIP-ON CONN $0.40

35+ years in the electronics industry -- with lots of aerospace experience.

The two top failures? Power supplies, and connectors; full stop.

Don't skimp on good connectors. I'm gonna use MIL grade D-subs with machined pins and Deustch connectors, also with machined pins. Happy to say I have a Daniels crimper with a good set of positions, so it's an easy choice!

Connectors

Thanks for the input guys. I guess that makes sense why only the female ends come in the kit. It would probably help if I describe what exactly I'm looking to do with them. This is to connect the multitudes of wires coming from my wire harnesses from my relay board. I built the wire harness, but was looking for the best method of connecting all those 20-24 wires coming out and the connectors I mentioned seemed like the best way while allowing ease of disconnecting without too much trouble. Shrink wrapping just seems to be a bit time consuming if I have to disconnect them. The vans part number given was the closest I found but seems a bit large for the 22 wire unluess I fold the wire over. How do most make their online connections from these small wires?

For 20 AWG or smaller wire, 1/4" blade terminals are massive overkill, and if you'll be opening the connections frequently, quality versions with decent 'grip' will be a royal pain to separate, requiring 2 pairs of pliers.

Do you need to open individual wire paths, or would bulk disconnect work? For anything 20AWG or smaller, subD pins are plenty big enough (~7amps per pin). If bulk disconnect works, then a shell with enough pins, or multiple shells if you need groups, would work fine and be much easier to make/break.

Charlie

WingnutWick said:

Thanks for the input guys. I guess that makes sense why only the female ends come in the kit. It would probably help if I describe what exactly I'm looking to do with them. This is to connect the multitudes of wires coming from my wire harnesses from my relay board. I built the wire harness, but was looking for the best method of connecting all those 20-24 wires coming out and the connectors I mentioned seemed like the best way while allowing ease of disconnecting without too much trouble. Shrink wrapping just seems to be a bit time consuming if I have to disconnect them. The vans part number given was the closest I found but seems a bit large for the 22 wire unluess I fold the wire over. How do most make their online connections from these small wires?

Click to expand...

What about in-line CPCs (bayonet connection)? They'll take D-sub pins and sockets, make for easy and fast connect/disconnect, come in a variety of pin counts, and can be secured with an Adel clamp...

connections

I'm not really clear on your requirements, but from what I understand d-sub connectors seem like they would work, assuming that the connection is on the human side of the firewall.

combo

Thanks guys,

Did a combination of sub D pins and shells!
Much appreciated.

Wingnut