Contacts for electrical connectors
03-01-2012, 04:41 AM
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Contacts for electrical connectors
I'm in the middle of building a new wiring harness on my 951, and I've got a few questions on the subtleties of the electrical contact situation. First of all, I'd like to share with you what I think I know. For the DME and KLR contacts, you can get the correct ones from mouser electronics for only $0.17 apiece!
1 is a contact pulled from the factory wire harness at the DME.
2 and 3 were shipped to me by Mouser Electronics, PN#571-925596-1, in both crimpted and uncrimped state.
Looks pretty good doesn't it?
Now, at first I though that the contacts for the DME/KLR and the ones for the Injectors / Speed / reference sensors etc. were going to be identical. But no:
1 is a DME/KLR type contact, as above.
2 is a contact pulled out of the factory wire harness, this one at the fuel injector.
3 is a contact I bought from JohnKoaWood here on the forums.
I've seen the term "AMP Junior Timer" and "AMP Junion Power Timer" thrown around here regarding these connectors. Here's what the manufacturer has to say about these connectors:
I gather that the difference between 1 and 2/3 terminals above is this "two piece contact design." Prevents elevated relaxation at elevated tempertures, seems ideal for an engine bay, no?
Now, here's a picture of the factory connectors, and some ones I bought off of Mouser:
(For the curious, the part numbers for the connectors and boots I bought are: 571-8275513, 571-1-827578-1, 571-880811-2, 571-880810-1)
Aside from the larger (and much easier) wire latch system on the new connectors, they look pretty much the same, no? These new connectors are sold as "Junior Timer" connectors. However, when I search for contacts, the only ones labled as Junior Timer (not Junior Power Timer) are those without the "two piece contact design."
So, I thought, maybe the only difference between the Junior Timer and Junior Power Timer is the type of contact used. I think this is a reasonable hypothesis, but look at what EagleDay show for the various connectors:
This one is sold as the Junior Timer 2-Pole:
While this one is sold as the Junior Power Timer 2-Pole:
Note that the Junior Timer one has connector body and boot like the factory connector, but the DME/KLR style of contact. The Junior Power Timer has a completely different connector body than factory, with a secondary retention system and individual wire seals, but it does have the two-piece contact design.
If anyone can shed some light on what the hell any of this means, that would be awesome. In the meantime however, I'm probably going to use the above pictured connectors from Mouser with the two-piece contacts. They fit in the connector bodies great.
EDIT: I may have just found the answer to my own question here. "
Connector types are based on contact type." And it has pictures of the varous contacts.
I'll be doing a through writeup of all this so that no one else has to go through this particular headache.
1 is a contact pulled from the factory wire harness at the DME.
2 and 3 were shipped to me by Mouser Electronics, PN#571-925596-1, in both crimpted and uncrimped state.
Looks pretty good doesn't it?
Now, at first I though that the contacts for the DME/KLR and the ones for the Injectors / Speed / reference sensors etc. were going to be identical. But no:
1 is a DME/KLR type contact, as above.
2 is a contact pulled out of the factory wire harness, this one at the fuel injector.
3 is a contact I bought from JohnKoaWood here on the forums.
I've seen the term "AMP Junior Timer" and "AMP Junion Power Timer" thrown around here regarding these connectors. Here's what the manufacturer has to say about these connectors:
The comprehensive range of AMP Timer connectors are extensively used in the automotive and consumer appliance industries.
Each contact consists of a flat receptacle, which mates with a flat tab. The receptacle has two or four contact springs, which are independent of each other. Two-piece contacts with a steel top spring are predominant.
This two-piece contact design means that the electrical and mechanical properties are separated. One half of the contact body is either crimped to wire, or soldered to a printed circuit board. The other half of the contact body mates with the matching tab. The contact body is responsible for the electrical characteristics, while the top spring ensures that contact force is maintained under all circumstances. Reduction in contact force due to stress relaxation at elevated temperature is thus minimized.
In addition there are usually two lances on the steel top spring. These serve to lock the contact securely into the housing.
Secondary locking of the contact in the housing can be achieved by means of the steel top spring, which usually takes the form of a box. Besides single piece tabs two-piece tabs are now being increasingly used. With these tabs the steel top spring is responsible for the housing latching with the two springs. They also provide reliable secondary contact locking. Tabs and receptacles can be employed in both watertight and non-watertight connectors.
. . .
In order that the flat contact system can be employed at interfaces with signal currents of medium strengths as well as with load currents more than 70 A the contact system is divided into four sizes:
Micro-Timer
Junior-Timer and Junior-Power-Timer
Standard-Timer and Standard-Power-Timer
Maxi-Power-Timer
Each contact consists of a flat receptacle, which mates with a flat tab. The receptacle has two or four contact springs, which are independent of each other. Two-piece contacts with a steel top spring are predominant.
This two-piece contact design means that the electrical and mechanical properties are separated. One half of the contact body is either crimped to wire, or soldered to a printed circuit board. The other half of the contact body mates with the matching tab. The contact body is responsible for the electrical characteristics, while the top spring ensures that contact force is maintained under all circumstances. Reduction in contact force due to stress relaxation at elevated temperature is thus minimized.
In addition there are usually two lances on the steel top spring. These serve to lock the contact securely into the housing.
Secondary locking of the contact in the housing can be achieved by means of the steel top spring, which usually takes the form of a box. Besides single piece tabs two-piece tabs are now being increasingly used. With these tabs the steel top spring is responsible for the housing latching with the two springs. They also provide reliable secondary contact locking. Tabs and receptacles can be employed in both watertight and non-watertight connectors.
. . .
In order that the flat contact system can be employed at interfaces with signal currents of medium strengths as well as with load currents more than 70 A the contact system is divided into four sizes:
Micro-Timer
Junior-Timer and Junior-Power-Timer
Standard-Timer and Standard-Power-Timer
Maxi-Power-Timer
Now, here's a picture of the factory connectors, and some ones I bought off of Mouser:
(For the curious, the part numbers for the connectors and boots I bought are: 571-8275513, 571-1-827578-1, 571-880811-2, 571-880810-1)
Aside from the larger (and much easier) wire latch system on the new connectors, they look pretty much the same, no? These new connectors are sold as "Junior Timer" connectors. However, when I search for contacts, the only ones labled as Junior Timer (not Junior Power Timer) are those without the "two piece contact design."
So, I thought, maybe the only difference between the Junior Timer and Junior Power Timer is the type of contact used. I think this is a reasonable hypothesis, but look at what EagleDay show for the various connectors:
This one is sold as the Junior Timer 2-Pole:
While this one is sold as the Junior Power Timer 2-Pole:
Note that the Junior Timer one has connector body and boot like the factory connector, but the DME/KLR style of contact. The Junior Power Timer has a completely different connector body than factory, with a secondary retention system and individual wire seals, but it does have the two-piece contact design.
If anyone can shed some light on what the hell any of this means, that would be awesome. In the meantime however, I'm probably going to use the above pictured connectors from Mouser with the two-piece contacts. They fit in the connector bodies great.
EDIT: I may have just found the answer to my own question here. "
Connector types are based on contact type." And it has pictures of the varous contacts.
I'll be doing a through writeup of all this so that no one else has to go through this particular headache.
Last edited by flightline; 03-01-2012 at 04:58 AM.
03-01-2012, 09:15 PM
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All the contacts seem to fit fine into all the connector bodies. My understanding now is the the Power indicates the two-piece terminal:
Type of Connector
Now, anyone know the part number for the contacts in the "DME Connection Plug" and the Knock Control Diagnostics Plugs? Thanks.
Type of Connector
Now, anyone know the part number for the contacts in the "DME Connection Plug" and the Knock Control Diagnostics Plugs? Thanks.
