Comment on [Looking for advice] Searching for a small slim twistable connector
ragebutt@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
jst sm for wire to wire like this, keyed, latching, rated to 3A. Should be easily available worldwide
www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/…/8543394
You can get them pre crimped like this if you don’t have a quality crimp tool. If you don’t go with this route. If you need to make like 200+ connections consider getting a quality crimp tool and then the crimp ends and housings, bonus there is no potential failure from solder joints (just from bad crimps since you will most likely not buy the 450€ JST WC-240 that is the official crimp tool. Tbf the engineer PA-09, which is what I use, is pretty solid once you get the hang of it and much more reasonable at ~ 30€. They don’t ratchet and they’re slower because they don’t have the wide dies but the crimp shape is very high quality, which matters. Just don’t get the ultra cheap unbranded or noname ratcheting crimpers with shit dies that cost like 10-15€ and give you bad crimps that fail 40+% of the time)
Second recommendation of the engineer PA-09, handled everything from molex microfits to tiny jst gh happily. I’ve used crappy ratcheting ones due to the volume I had to do on one project and ended up redoing half of them anyhow.
Dont cheap out on tools.
lennyaa@pawb.social 2 weeks ago
That connector does look robust, the only issue with that are the hard edges. I see now that I should’ve added that to the list of requirements (my bad). The thing with hard edges is that they can get caught in the fabric which then not only damages the fabric but also pulls on the cable / plug damaging them as well.
About getting quality gear, I fully agree with that, I’d rather spend a bit more if it means it won’t break later. If you can find / help me find some kind of round connector that would help me a lot.
ragebutt@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
Wrap with 3m friction tape? Depends on how often you need to plug unplug I guess
This was an interesting dilemma so I researched it a bit:
Apparently some people use brass/tin plated snaps. Conductive and good for low voltage. Sew in and when the suit is put on just snap them together: www.adafruit.com/product/1126
Some of these are used in a medical context and actually officially rated for voltage/current if you’re worried about that: romed.com/medical-electrical-snap-fasteners.aspx
Alternatively rosenberger makes a series of magnetic snap connectors with softer edges. Pricey though www.rosenberger.com/…/magnetic-connectors/
lennyaa@pawb.social 2 weeks ago
The fans themselves don’t need to be unplugged often, only the usb plug to the powerbank has a lot of cycles.
The 3m friction tape is interesting, but tbh I think the simple 2.5mm headphone jack would be a bit easier to do and to replace in case it breaks and likely a tiny bit more reliable as I can buy it pre-done with built in stress relief against bending and it can also twist since it’s around to reduce any twisting related stress.
The snaps look interesting for me but not for conducting electricity but for potentially holding the cables. I see the brass/tin plated snaps a bit to be risky as they could potentially short out the powerbank when the fabric flexes which I really want to avoid. While I don’t have a cheapo powerbank, so it has short protection, I’d want to avoid testing that involuntarily. (At least I’m afraid it might do that) (Note, while the current which I use is low, the powerbank can deliver the standard 5v 2A, so a short could carry 2A in the worst case)
The magnetic ones from rosenberg look interesting, but they are again quite large compared to the 2.5mm headphone jacks or even the 5.5mm 2.5mm barrel plugs.