Pete,
That's a good idea, and one could wrap them in mastic if they wanted to really
make them waterproof. It's nasty getting mastic off though if you ever have to
take the plug apart. Of course there's heat shrink tubing also that one could
use with a propane torch on the tower.
Best,
Will
*********** REPLY SEPARATOR ***********
On 2/27/06 at 9:26 AM Pete Smith wrote:
>I use trailer connectors from the local NAPA auto parts store - <$6 for 6
>conductors, absolutely weatherproof, and VERY sturdy.
>
>73, Pete N4ZR
>
>At 03:59 PM 2/26/2006, Keith Dutson wrote:
>>Look again at the photo. The Bulgin has separate gold plated pins. I
>have
>>the solder type. I bought the extractor and had to use it once. The 8
>pole
>>connectors are rated 5A at 125VAC, much more than needed for tower relays.
>>Also, the Bulgin is sealed to IP68 when mated (continuous immersion in up
>to
>>2 meters of water).
>>
>>The first tower is up and operational. No problems to date.
>>
>>I have not found any other connector to come close to these specs for
>under
>>$100. Maybe you can point me in the right direction for lower priced,
>>comparable connectors for my next three towers.
>>
>>73, Keith NM5G
>>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: amps-bounces@contesting.com [mailto:amps-bounces@contesting.com] On
>>Behalf Of Will Matney
>>Sent: Sunday, February 26, 2006 2:26 PM
>>To: amps@contesting.com
>>Subject: Re: [Amps] [BULK] - DIN stands for....?
>>
>>Keith,
>>
>>It's according to how many conductors you will have, and the current they
>>will carry. A set of AMP connectors counting the male and female contacts,
>>the plug, socket, and back ends (housings) with the clamps wouldn't be
>close
>>to $30 I wouldn't think as I used to buy them a lot. You can also by a
>>gasket for outside applications if you think it will get waterlogged where
>>it's at. The thing is, the Bulgin brand is like the Amphenol in that its
>>contacts are permanent inside the socket or plug. If you have a contact to
>>go bad, you have to change out the whole socket/plug, pins and all. With
>the
>>AMP, you only change out the one bad pin-contact which saves a bunch of
>>money. I just looked at all these in Mouser and the AMP brand, shell
>style 1
>>would be about what you would want using probably 18 gauge wire to control
>>switching relays for your array? If so, the total components would equal
>in
>>cost about the same as a Bulgin from what I seen except buying the tool to
>>remove the contact s which was about $14. You can really remove them
>with a
>>small piece of brass tubing just large enough to slip over the contact and
>>pull the contact from the rear. The tool has a small rod inside the tubing
>>that shoves it out for you like a syringe the doc uses for a shot. You
>don't
>>need to by the solder type contacts which are a shade bit higher in price.
>>Buy the crimp type, crimp them and then solder them too. That's the way I
>>always did do them. You don't need to buy one of those expensive had
>>crimpers either, a pair of needle nose pliars will do it. If you were
>going
>>to mount the socket in a housing, you would by a flanged socket with the
>>contact type you want, male or female. The plug requires three things, the
>>plug, the contacts to mate up with the socket, and the back end with the
>>cable clamp on it. You size the back end housing by the size of cable your
>>running. In the specs, it will give a minimum and maximum cable diameter
>the
>>clamp will accept. To order the Bulgin , you just need to order the two
>>ends but again, cant change a bad contact. Amphenol though is way too
>>expensive. Miller Electric, who makes welding machines, changed to AMP
>years
>>ago because the Amphenol was too expensive. I think Lincoln Electric and
>>ESAB started using them too, except for military equipment of special
>>design. If it were me, I'd go with AMP just because of the easy fix if a
>>contact ever went bad. I would much rather change out one contact and
>solder
>>one joint than do 8-10 off a tower and pay again for a whole plug or
>socket.
>>If you want, I can help you size these since I've used them in the past.
>>
>>Best,
>>
>>Will
>>
>>*********** REPLY SEPARATOR ***********
>>
>>On 2/26/06 at 12:47 PM Keith Dutson wrote:
>>
>>>A while back I decided to plan for a multi-2 station with at least four
>>>towers. Since I am only a year away from retirement and not looking
>>>forward to a lot of tower/antenna maintenance in the future, I wanted
>>>to design the wiring harnesses using the best cables and connectors. A
>>>search for industrial connectors for the control cables yielded the
>>>type of information you have described below, Will. Most of these have
>>>a price around $100 each, so one connection would be double that figure
>>>- much more than I am willing to pay.
>>>
>>>I did, however, find an industrial quality connector made by Bulgin, a
>>>British firm. The 400 series Buccaneer line is what I chose. These
>>>likely would not be used on military/aviation equipment, but seem fine
>>>for my project. They are waterproof. Mouser sells the components and
>>>the total price per connector is about $20. There are chassis/in-line
>>>and in-line/in-line connectors, so there is plenty of flexibility for
>>design.
>>>
>>>I also found a high quality, screw-in DIN connector from Amphenol and
>>>use some of these in the shack. These are also available from Mouser.
>>>
>>>A photo of the Bulgin and Amphenol connectors can be seen here:
>>>http://www.dutson.net/Transfer/HamRadio/Connectors/DSC00053ds.JPG
>>>
>>>Here is a close-up of the Amphenol, showing components and assembled
>views:
>>>http://www.dutson.net/Transfer/HamRadio/Connectors/DSC00054ds.JPG
>>>
>>>Here is a close-up of the Bulgin components, chassis mount on left:
>>>http://www.dutson.net/Transfer/HamRadio/Connectors/DSC00055ds.JPG
>>>
>>>Last, here is a Bulgin assembled in-line connector:
>>>http://www.dutson.net/Transfer/HamRadio/Connectors/DSC00056ds.JPG
>>>
>>>
>>>73, Keith NM5G
>>
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