![]() ![]() MOLEX CONNECTOR KIT RADIO SHACK CODELong story short, I managed to get my Keling electronics fired up (big hat tip goes to Gordon, without whose help my motors would probably still be motionless, and I would be limited to running my electronics from the same zip code as the computer. I bet a few of you are wondering what the heck is going on in my shed these days. But many can be mounted in boxes easily because of flanges on their side to either snap or bolt in. is the manufacturer and has details on their web site if you can wade through it.Īs far as connectors go, these are fairly inexpensive, but are not totally enclosed with hoods, etc. Each pin had a male and female version, and most of the connectors are polarized to keep from inserting them 'incorrectly'.īut they are available at, , and also. In these connectors, the pins were soldered and crimped, then inserted in the connector. I would use different ones for signal and power, with different pin configurations just to keep things from being accidentally messed up. They would be reasonable for motor and signal connectors. It was important to me to separate AC, DC, and signal wires and to keep things neat to make troubleshooting easier.īack in the '70's, a computer company SWTP from San Antonio TX, (Southwest Technical Products) used Molex connectors that I think are still easily available at Radio Shack (I hate to recommend anything from there since their part selection is SO limited anymore, but that is where I have seen them recently). Once it was working I played around with the layout and then mounted the components to 1/8" aluminum sheets and fixed these to the box. I started with a piece of pegboard and wire ties to hold things down. It's natural to want to get things working quickly and hard to understand the best compnent layout when you're just starting your build. Another tip is to assemble and wire everything on a test board before building your controller box. This will make troubleshooting far easier. This will expand my options for lower-cost connectors.Ĭolor coding the wires is critical. Next time, I'll use 22 gauge hi flex shielded cable. After doing some research I realized that the wires never see a continuous 3 amp current so the 18 AWG conductors are overkill. I thought 18 AWG was needed because the motors are rated at 3 amps. On my next build I'm not using 18 gauge shielded wire to connect the motors. I'd do that if I could come up with some neater terminal strips, 4 conductor with a cover and built in strain relief. I've seen some nice builds that used barrier strips on the motors instead of connectors. If you use 12 connectors on three motors (2 on each end of each of the three cables) the costs add up quickly. The DB connectors generally available are for 20-24 gauge wire. ![]() I wanted to use DB9 connectors since they're failrly cheap ($1 each) but had to use microphone connectors ($5 each) since I used 18 gauge wire. On my next build, I'll add connectors at the motor end as well just to ease routing cable through the wire management e-chain.Ĭonnectors get expensive quick. I have the connectors so might as well use them. ![]() I may replace the barrier strip with 4 conductor locking microphone connectors but I haven't had to disconnect the cables much. The controller end of the motor wires just use a barrier strip for now. I didn't use connectors at the motor end of these cables, I just soldered them to the pigtails coming off each motor. The shields are connected to ground in the controller and float at the motor end. The cables to each motor are shielded 18AWG stranded with a high strand count for added flexibility. JimOn my controller, I used wire stripped out of CAT5 network cable (22 or 24 AWG solid wire in twisted pairs) for the low-current connections from the break out board to the step/direction inputs on the drivers.Īll power connections are made with 18AWG stranded hookup wire from Radio Shack. What connectors are you useing on the motors? What cable is that you are useing on the controler's? I like the nice neat connections. ![]()
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