Outdoor DC power connector 50V/10A, 2-contact

Hello Everyone,

Looking for a DC connector that can take up to 50V and up to 10A. Two
contacts, water- and weather-proof. One male bulkhead in the unit and
then one female plug for the two wires. Should be <$10 for the pair, so
the fancy military ones from companies like Deutsch are out. So are the
single-contact solar MC4 connectors. Seems every time something gets
called solar the price goes up 3-4x.

It is to connect a small solar panel in the 50-100W category. The issue
is that the connector must point towards the outside of the unit and is
exposed to the elements. So they both can get rain when it's unplugged
but also when plugged in. The plug on the cable could worst case even be
laying in a puddle for hours.

I remember an example from Europe but way too big here: Their standard
trailer connectors from the 70's. it could literally drag through the
mud for half a day, you'd hose it off, plug in, bingo.

Does anyone know about such a connector?

 

Here are MC4's retail for your asking price ($9.98 for two pairs)
http://nocloudsolar.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=3&products_id=25

That could lead to some nasty electrolytic corrosion if there is
voltage on it from other panels.

10A is not very much.. maybe something automotive with a boot?

No idea if these can be purchased in non-OEM quantities.
http://www.hirschmann-automotive.com/en/downloads/hirschmann-automotive-1/slk-2-8-eng.pdf
There's also Tyco, Delphi and some Japanese suppliers.

One nice thing is that Mouser carries (and stocks) some of the Delphi
products.


It would be nice to find an application for these hefty 120A single
pole guys:
http://www.amphenol-industrial.com/images/datasheets/IDS-30 Amphe-SP3.pdf


Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany

 

OK a crazy idea... how about auto/truck trailer hitch connectors..
Four pins in a rubber sheath, the 50V part is 'out of spec.' but it
might work just fine. You could wire up two in parallel.

George H.

 

Yeah that's what I thought!
I can go buy a trailer hook up pair for ~$10
(I need to go buy some soon.)

George H.

 

My concern is getting sued. The idea behind making money is to keep it.
You can write all the legalize in a contract to keep liabilities at bay,
but a contract won't stop a lawsuit.

I'd go with the Molex connectors used in cars. They have a waterproof
series. If it doesn't meet your project price target, lose the contract.
If you're not walking away from some contracts, you are doing something
wrong.

Isn't 48VDC the magic limit for doing what you want with DC outdoors? At
some point, everything needs to be to code.

I was going to suggest 4 pin canon connectors. These are used often for
batteries. You get 5A a pin and you parallel them. These 4 pin canons
are used on TV ENG trucks since the connectors won't just fall out.
However, I never saw a waterproof canon connector.

 

If you are running any reasonable volumes. ask for gray IEC 60309

 

Look at the Mini-Con-X (13 A, 600 V) or Multi-Con-X (23 A, 600 V) series
from Conxall (carried at Digikey et al.). A quick pass through Digikey,
it looks like a two conductor plug/receptacle pair can be had for less
than $10 for the set. I do see them used in a fair number of commercial
grade marine installations. Reasonably rugged and weatherproof and they
"look good." They are solder cup, though.

 

neutrik speakon or powercon maybe?

-Lasse

 

Thanks, Spehro. I'll have to contact them because (so far) I have never
seen anything like this panel mount for the male part. We would have to,
no dangling wires allowed on the unit.

[...]

 

Not crazy at all, that what I looked at. But ... the American ones are
nice and small and cheap but cannot be panel-mounted. The European ones
can be neatly mounted into a bumper (or panel) but are huge, unwieldy
and expensive.

 

So what are we going to do? Crawl into a cave and never design any
products?

Haven't seen anything at Molex yet, maybe I should look again.

Yes, the panel isn't going above that voltage. It is designed to be used
outdoors. But the connectors for those are ugly, expensive and can be
mixed up.

I didn't either, hence my post

 

Perilex? Those are a tad big and not waterproof

 

Aha, thanks! Now we are getting somewhere.

http://www.conxall.com/Documents/conxall_catalog.pdf

Seems we'll need Maxi-Con and Digikey only carries 7-pin and up, but I
am sure I'll find these elsewhere. The one downside is a fairly low
mate/unmate cycle number (only 300).

 

The Neutrik Speakon doesn't look particularly weatherproof:

http://www.neutrik.com/en/speakon/speakon-chassis-connectors/speakon-combo/nlj2md-h

Powercon looks more promising and I like the 5000 mate/unmate cycles,
have to check how far IP65 and all that goes:

http://www.neutrik.com/zoolu-website/media/download/201/Product+Guide+2012,+07+Circular+Connectors

Mouser carries Neutrik, in case anyone else is interested. Thanks, Lasse.

 

Hmm I've seen pickup trucks that look to have a panel mount trailer
plug on or near the back bumper. I've not looked at any of them
closely.
George H.

 

That's usually just a bracket which holds the connector and is bolted
down to something. Pretty crude but at least the thing doesn't drag
through the mud if you are on unpaved roads.

 

Basically if something looks dicey, you don't do it. On par with getting
your ass sued is a device failing in the field. It generates ill will
with the customer, and they don't come back.

For example, I heard of some company that had a component manufacturer
fail to deliver parts on time, and said company has been dissing' the
manufacturer on usenet for years. Even though the manufacturer has sales
exceeding two billion dollars, said company claims the manufacturer
never delivers parts. ;-)

I didn't mention this, but I use canons for home brew power connections
all the time. It is a solid connection. I use the 3 pin connectors since
I know what I am doing. That of course would be a disaster in the field
since many low level signals go over 3 pin canons, hence the use of 4
pin canons for power.

 

Mariners are a paranoid type. (And for good reasons, since "dead in the
water" is not just an expression for them.) If they use the connector,
it must be good.

 

Good idea. Except they are pricey and the gender is wrong:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...&tag=dunepayperc08-20&creativeASIN=B001PTHKRQ

 

If I and people I worked with would have followed that philosophy during
our engineering life a lot of medical equipment would not exist. Or to
say it more bluntly, many people would die that don't have to.

This is also why I do not subscribe to the philosophy that progress can
only occur incrementally and following a rigid plan. That's been tried
in far away and not so free countries. It didn't work.

Dissing on Usenet is, if at all, only warranted if meant as a warning
for others not to fall into a trap. But one has to be sure that the
facts presented are in fact true and can be backed up if it ever came
down to the mat. That's the case pretty much everywhere in life.

Or just use connectors dedicated for power connections. Plenty of those,
just not too many that are weather-proof.