Shoutout to the guy who showed me the proper way to seat a D-sub connector

I kept seeing people just push them in until they clicked, but he pointed out you need to watch the backshell for full pin alignment. Saved me from a nasty intermittent fault on a G1000 comm panel last month. How do you guys make sure you get a solid seat every time?

4 comments

4 Comments

charlie1981mo ago

Man, that reminds me of a tech who swore by a drop of contact cleaner on the pins before mating. Said it helped the slide and gave you better feel for that final seat. Kim_Davis is right about the wiggle test, but this guy added the sniff test too, claiming you could smell a hot pin from a bad connection.

henryr451mo ago

Yeah, that backshell trick is key. I always give it a gentle wiggle after the click to check for any play. If the whole connector moves as one solid piece, you know it's good. A little visual check on the pin rows through the back never hurts either.

kim_davis1mo ago

Oh totally, the wiggle test is a MUST. I've seen so many people just hear the click and call it good, but that's how you get a nasty intermittent fault later. My old boss drilled that into me, he'd make us check every single one. And you're right about the visual check too, sometimes a pin looks seated from the front but you can see it's just a hair high from the back. Saves so much headache.

abbyhall5d ago

...that wiggle test is a lifesaver honestly, I learned that one the hard way after spending three hours chasing a ghost fault on a 430 that turned out to be a connector I thought was "good enough". Kim_Davis is spot on about the visual check too, I've definitely been that person who hears the click and walks away feeling smug, only to find out later I was one pin off and basically playing electrical roulette. My trick nowadays is to count the pins out loud like I'm a toddler learning numbers, because I've definitely mixed up a 25 pin with a 15 pin before and felt real dumb...