Connector Insights from iCONN

We see it all the time: An unsuspecting customer is promised a delivery date, only to find that their order form for connectors, sensors or cables got lost in the shuffle or deprioritized. Mega manufacturers may have the bandwidth to offer a more competitive price, but what good is the deal if they can’t hold up their end of the bargain?

At iCONN Systems, Inc., we never want to become too big to keep our promises. This isn’t just a notion we kick around from time to time. We scale our business in a way that always puts the customer front and center. Here’s how we’ve been able to assure quality products on time — every time.

The automotive industry is one of the most sensor-dependent in the market. Every automatic control, temperature reading, check engine light or seatbelt reminder is the result of advanced sensor technology. However, like the road beneath an $85,000 Tesla Model X with autopilot capabilities, people often don’t consider the means that allow such revolutionary technologies to reach their potential. Sensor technology may be one of the most essential components of an autonomous car, but without advanced cables and connectors to carry signals and data, this technology is practically useless.

A powerful engine is nothing without plugs and lines to deliver that power. Likewise, remote monitoring and inspection solutions hinge on the quality and reliability of the cables and connectors that make advanced connectivity possible. However, development teams that wish to remain competitive in the years to come need more than just reliable interconnect solutions; they need an engineering partner with the agility and expertise to reinvent how these solutions enhance the performance of evolving remote monitoring technology. Enter iCONN Systems. Here’s how we help today’s top competitors in the remote monitoring and inspection industry become tomorrow’s greatest innovators.

Choosing a connector to support power and data transfer in high-density applications can be challenging for product engineers, which is why we recommend working with an expert. Pick the wrong solution and you could jeopardize the integrity of your product. There are two basic design choices when selecting an industrial electrical connector — rectangular or circular. Both can be ordered or custom-created with metal or plastic shelling and a variety of options for the number of contacts, contact diameter, shell size and configurations. Both can also be mounted on a board. However, circular connectors offer certain advantages that rectangular connectors do not.

Most connector failures occur when a connector is not adequately designed for the environment in which it operates. Moisture seeps into the coupling and corrodes contact pins, excessive temperature damages insulation, the mating mechanism fails to complete the required number of cycles, and numerous other issues can result. When it comes to extremes, only harsh environmental connectors can survive. Here are five facts that product engineers might not know about designing these remarkably durable electrical devices.

Electrical connectors are a type of hardware that affixes to a receptacle to complete an electrical circuit and deliver electricity to a piece of equipment. This connection can be between two wires or a wire to a terminal. Crimping is a process used to join wire to wire or wire to terminal. Just as the name suggests, bonding occurs when one piece of metal is deformed and compressed tightly with another piece of metal. This process does not require any soldering, and involves the following steps and equipment:

If a wiring harness fails, causing a short or open circuit, technicians can face a real headache or worse – a full-blown catastrophe. Just imagine if the wiring harness at fault was delivering mission-critical power to a safety sensor or engine. What if the short sparked a fire? In transportation, where thousands of lives are at stake every day, it’s vital to understand what causes a wiring harness to go bad, and how to engineer around risks.

Between constant exposure to weather conditions and the relentless rumbling of tires on pavement, the internal workings of a vehicle in the transportation industry can really take a beating. Of course, most vehicle parts are specially designed to stand up to harsh working conditions, but that doesn’t mean they’re invincible.

The electrical wiring inside a vehicle is kind of like a person’s central nervous system. Each wire has a job delivering all types of messages and commands back and forth to different parts of the machine. And just like your nervous system, a single vehicle can contain dozens of miles of wiring that weighs hundreds of pounds.

A connector configurator is an interactive, drag-and-drop tool that gives you the ability to design and customize even the most specialized electrical connectors with just a few clicks. Why should you care? Whether you’re a product developer, manufacturer or supplier, connector configurator technology is going to solve many of your most frustrating pain points. Plus, you don’t need expensive CAD software to access the magic. — just an internet connection.

The configurator software will either guide you piece-by-piece through the design process or — if you’re an expert — will give you the freedom to build without prompts. Technically, users only need to enter three details for the program to crank out a basic compatible design:

• Number of contacts
• Required voltage
• Current strength

After which point, additional parts and features can be altered, added or removed to meet the precise demands of the application.

What is a panel mount receptacle? The best way to answer is to begin with a breakdown of terms.