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Old 12th Aug 2020, 9:36 am   #41
SiriusHardware
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Default Re: The most horrid connector ever...

Quote:
Originally Posted by TonyDuell View Post
Audio-type DIN. Is it in the spec that the plug insulator must melt at a lower temperature than solder They all do.
When doing these I usually put a corresponding chassis mount socket in a vice, and plug the pin / carrier part of the plug I'm soldering into that. It holds it steady and it helps to stop the pins from wandering off-piste if I do manage to overheat one.
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Old 12th Aug 2020, 9:43 am   #42
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Default Re: The most horrid connector ever...

That`s a good trick with quite a lot of thermally fragile connectors.
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Old 12th Aug 2020, 9:44 am   #43
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Default Re: The most horrid connector ever...

I think there should be a distinction between connectors that are bad by design rather than poor implementations of them.

Back in the 70's my pet hate was phono plugs because the typical ones were two halves with a metal clip to (not) hold them together, made worse by the addition of the special solder-repellant plating that was so popular back then - also used on toggle switches I recall.

I now hate anything too small (like miniature DIN etc) or that melts too easily (like small jack plugs) or needs a special tool for assembly (like RJ45 etc).

I am starting to go off BNC plugs due to arthritis in the fingers. The less common BNS would be easier, except they are hardly ever used.
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Old 12th Aug 2020, 9:47 am   #44
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Default Re: The most horrid connector ever...

Any connector with plated brass termination points, you have to file off the plating before they'll take solder.

Mains sockets with screws clamping directly on the cable. With modern cable having a single thick strand the screw can miss it altogether.

Belling Lee TV aerial plugs. I generally solder the inner, but this doesn't seem to be common practice. As for the outer, I seen this wrapped round or woven through the ferrule in half a dozen ways. There's generally bare braid to be seen at the back of the plug.
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Old 12th Aug 2020, 10:52 am   #45
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Default Re: The most horrid connector ever...

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Originally Posted by ColinTheAmpMan1 View Post
How about two wires roughly twisted together and covered with a ton of cheap insulating-tape. Got to be the worst-ever, surely.
Colin.
Or as I found recently, the same two (LV) wires roughly twisted together and lightly wrapped in clear sellotape. Add to that, sitting in close contact with bare 240v wire. Found in a radiogram that had obviously been 'got at'.

Colin
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Old 12th Aug 2020, 10:59 am   #46
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Default Re: The most horrid connector ever...

My pet hate is motherboard connectors that have PCBs directly plugged into them.

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Old 12th Aug 2020, 11:44 am   #47
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Default Re: The most horrid connector ever...

I don't mind them - they seem reliable/foolproof-enough (as demonstrated by almost every PC you care to open-up).

They need to be the proper type though - with the connector on the PCB-side made from proper gold-plated pads not just extended tracks on the PCB. I looked-after some horribly cheap low-production-run digitising gear (lots of TTL!) a few decades ago which used the 'extended PCB tracks' style, complete with wave-soldering all-over; let's just say that gold contacts in the socket pressing against solder on the PCB-tracks does not work very well.
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Old 12th Aug 2020, 11:44 am   #48
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Default Re: The most horrid connector ever...

I've been surprised at the inadequacy of the industry standard 'caravan' type of mains connector, illustrated below. One was installed by the electrical contractor who wired a workshop for me (A CEng doesn't nowadays qualify me to do it myself!). Apparently it's regarded as an appropriate connector to feed mains to a 'temporary' building. For sure, they're to be seen in caravan sites and marinas all over the place, so I was quite confident.

However, when the autumn rains came, off went the relevant RCD - tripped. Naturally I checked first the various items of potentially flaky vintage equipment in the workshop - no problem there. The last thing i checked was that recently installed 'outdoor' connector. Problem solved: it was full of rainwater! I know that its IP44 rating only means that it survives splashed water, but unfortunately, there isn't a clause in the spec about whether it fills up or not! At the very least, some drain holes would be appropriate.

My solution was to fix a simple rain deflector shield above the connector, but I wouldn't have expected it to be necessary for such an industry standard device. Has anyone else been caught out by an outdoor mains connector unsuitable for the outdoors?

Martin
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Old 12th Aug 2020, 11:47 am   #49
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Default Re: The most horrid connector ever...

If you're counting votes, here's my two cents worth. For RF the SO239 or so-called UHF connector. For AV without a doubt the SCART, horrible flimsy bent pins, plug falling out, dry joints around the sockets.
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Old 12th Aug 2020, 11:59 am   #50
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Default Re: The most horrid connector ever...

Can I chuck a vote in for the Lemo 00 chassis 6 pin... impossible connector.
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Old 12th Aug 2020, 11:59 am   #51
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Default Re: The most horrid connector ever...

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Originally Posted by Hartley118 View Post
I've been surprised at the inadequacy of the industry standard 'caravan' type of mains connector, illustrated below. One was installed by the electrical contractor who wired a workshop for me (A CEng doesn't nowadays qualify me to do it myself!). Apparently it's regarded as an appropriate connector to feed mains to a 'temporary' building. For sure, they're to be seen in caravan sites and marinas all over the place, so I was quite confident.

However, when the autumn rains came, off went the relevant RCD - tripped. Naturally I checked first the various items of potentially flaky vintage equipment in the workshop - no problem there. The last thing i checked was that recently installed 'outdoor' connector. Problem solved: it was full of rainwater! I know that its IP44 rating only means that it survives splashed water, but unfortunately, there isn't a clause in the spec about whether it fills up or not! At the very least, some drain holes would be appropriate.

My solution was to fix a simple rain deflector shield above the connector, but I wouldn't have expected it to be necessary for such an industry standard device. Has anyone else been caught out by an outdoor mains connector unsuitable for the outdoors?

Martin
That doesn't look right to me, the lid is generally installed on the fixed part of the connector which has female connectors and is connected to the mains supply.

As you say these connectors are used in marinas and on caravan sites and I've never known then to give trouble.

The building appears to be "semi-permanent" rather than temporary or portable so the connections could have been made inside it.
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Old 12th Aug 2020, 12:06 pm   #52
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Default Re: The most horrid connector ever...

EDAC connectors are pretty tiresome to wire up. Luckily I rarely come across them. I have done hundreds of LEMO and FISCHER connectors over the years though and they are very fiddly!
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Old 12th Aug 2020, 12:11 pm   #53
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Default Re: The most horrid connector ever...

On the melting insulator on small audio plugs front, the SME tonearm plug, which is a 5-pin 270 degree DIN (that being a de-facto standard for most tonearms), is of this type.

Being SME, they make these entirely in house - with a gorgeous dulled metal housing and custom screw to hold it together. And the cramped innards have solder pins held in thermoplastic. So unless you are really quick with a soldering iron, and have the lead dress perfectly aligned before starting? Loose connections.

It would not be so bad if they were cheap. But the price for one of these gorgeous-looking rubbish connectors? https://www.analogueseduction.net/sm...connector.html

Craig
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Old 12th Aug 2020, 12:29 pm   #54
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Default Re: The most horrid connector ever...

Personally, I'm surprised that the hifi industry doesn't make more use of 'professional' connectors like XLR and PowerCon/Speakon. Robust, and essentially roadie-proof (though a bit large!).
No doubt they could introduce a 'premium' range with gold-plated contacts, cryogenically-treated aligned-polymer housings etc. to ensure profit-optimisation.

Nobody's mentioned the IEC309 kettle-lead connectors yet: I have a love:hate relationship with these - they're cheap, ubiquitous and reliable _as a connector_ but are oh-so-easy to dislodge. Yes you _can_ get retaining-springs to hold them together but you need to use the right fastenings on the chassis-mounted part, which means disassembling and warranty-voiding. Even 'commercial' computer-gear such as routers and switches often doesn't have the retainers [yes, Cisco, I'm looking at you].
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Old 12th Aug 2020, 12:55 pm   #55
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Default Re: The most horrid connector ever...

It helps when you design and build your own stuff. The active crossover and multiple power amps that feed Linkwitz LX521 speakers use XLR's, speakons and powercons. Makes the whole shebang plug and play. And since all these Neutrik connectors are locking, there is no chance of a connector pulling out.

And they don't use hokey low melting point thermoplastic to hold the pins in place.

They are not cheap. But a whole lot less expensive than boutique phono connectors etc

Craig.
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Old 12th Aug 2020, 1:00 pm   #56
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Default Re: The most horrid connector ever...

I'm surprised no-one's mentioned the F-Type satellite aerial connector yet (or if they have, I missed it - sorry!).

The idea of a connector that is basically a shell only and which you 'screw' onto the bare end of a cable with the shielding pulled back still astonishes me. When I had trouble with the connection on my television that turned out to be down to these abominations, I rashly assumed that I'd be able to buy some nice solder ones, but I was damned if I could find any.

In the end I bought custom-made leads with lovely solid plugs and proper centre pins on them and have had no more problems since. It seems that expensive cables do make a difference sometimes...
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Old 12th Aug 2020, 1:16 pm   #57
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Default Re: The most horrid connector ever...

USB type A annoys me due to the lack of mechanical orientation keying.
Seems every time I get it the wrong way on the 1st attempt.

Also any connector that is intended for soldering yet which is made from plastic that does not withstand soldering temperature, some RCA phono plugs for example
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Old 12th Aug 2020, 1:17 pm   #58
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Default Re: The most horrid connector ever...

My pet hates:
SCART
SCART
SCART
and wet-pluggable connectors.

The idea of a wet-pluggable is that provided each mated contact pair is sealed into an individual waterproof chamber, you can literally fish a plug and socket out of the sea, push them together and you have a complete connnection where the waterproof seal provides the insulation between one chamber of 'live' water and another. In theory. Suffice to say, that theory sometimes breaks down; for me, it broke down a dozen times on a large, high-budget movie set. Having for the second time in a week had an 8-pin moulded cordset on an underwater camera fail, and being sat on the same little island making yet another waterproof splice in the cable to attach a new connector with 200+ people watching and waiting including studio execs, I could live without any more experience of wet-pluggables.

Here's a kind of connector that deserves a special mention for being completely 'out there' although I cannot honestly say whether I dislike it. Technically I suppose it's pretty awful but it gets special dispensation because of my predilection for cinema organs.

Pipe organs with electric action, especially cinema organs, have many connections between console and pipe chambers; a 1,000-core cable is not unheard of. Compton, who were pretty competent electrically, offered a plug-and-socket option on the console in which a flat panel about 12" x 24" studded with bayonet-lampholder-type spring plungers is clamped against another with solid brass studs. It works about 99.9% perfectly, which means at least one high-resistance contact is likely to exist somewhere, thankfully not usually high enough to stop it working. Separating and re-mating the connector is hard work, puts the main cable at risk of fatigue, and usually results in a different contact now being high-resistance, which you then have to test for (and repeat the above cycle.) To be fair, these things are 80-90 years old now and have often been exposed to poor environmental conditions. But when preparing an instrument for a concert and a note or stop goes off that could be due to the connector, the idea of having to tinker with it strikes fear into all of us, until it is proven to be something harmless like a dirty relay contact.
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Old 12th Aug 2020, 1:24 pm   #59
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Default Re: The most horrid connector ever...

Anther vote for the phonos of #43. Also the cheap jack and power plugs with the almost unsolderable metal tags that always seem to need filing to remove their plating before they would take solder.

A honourable mention for the old rubber 13A plugs where you needed to remember to thread the cable through the hole in the cover before wiring up the pins, although some people (not me) used to cut a slit in the rubber cover instead of starting again.
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Old 12th Aug 2020, 1:34 pm   #60
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Default Re: The most horrid connector ever...

Quote:
Originally Posted by unitelex View Post
USB type A annoys me due to the lack of mechanical orientation keying.
Seems every time I get it the wrong way on the 1st attempt.

Also any connector that is intended for soldering yet which is made from plastic that does not withstand soldering temperature, some RCA phono plugs for example
Yes....and yes again!

On the subject of withstanding soldering temperature, the original Belling-Lee coax plug has to be one of the worst offenders. Supposedly, the centre pin should be tip soldered, but the polythene insulation only needs the slightest glimpse of a soldering iron to turn liquid, letting the centre pin wander where it will. No wonder they’re commonly left unsoldered. I’m constantly impressed that an unsoldered connector still seems to work perfectly well as a UHF aerial connection.

Martin
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