Component
Circular connector
A metal-shell circular connector with seven contacts on a ring. The shell is the keying and the seal, so the contact layout is the easy part.
Open the component →DEMO — fictional range. Local brief only, NOT SENT. No personal data is collected or transmitted.
CONNECTORS / FICTIONAL RANGE
A connector is half of a pair.
CONTACTUM is a fictional connector range covering circular connectors, terminal blocks and crimp contacts. The site is organised around the interface rather than the component: a connector is judged by the joint it makes, and the joint depends on both halves, the crimp and the environment.
Three components, three joints.
Each component in this range is defined by a joint it is only half of, and each joint fails differently.
Component
Terminal block
A four-way block with screw terminals and a wire entry per way. The pitch is the specification, because it sets the wire size the block will take.
Open the component →Component
Crimp contact
A crimped contact with a mating pin, a retention shoulder and a barrel. The crimp is the connection: everything else only holds it in place.
Open the component →What a component cannot decide on its own.
Four things that belong to the joint or the installation rather than to any single part.
- The mating half
- Keying, plating and gender all belong to the pair, not to one side
- The crimp
- Made with a tool to a specification, and invisible once made
- The environment
- Vibration, temperature and moisture act on the joint, not the part
- The assembly
- A correctly specified connector fitted wrongly is a failed connector
Why the joint governs.
Because that is where the resistance is. A contact pair with a poor crimp behind it will heat at the crimp, and no amount of connector specification prevents that.
What this site cannot tell you.
Whether your joint is adequate. That depends on the current, the ambient temperature and the crimp, and it is established by testing the assembly.