Who manufactured the inline watertight wire connectors?

[Normallysailing]

I have to do some electrical cleanup in this '95 GTX, and I'm curious whether anyone knows who made the inline connectors that are used up front on the harness that runs up to the display panel. Usually this stuff is Molex or AMP (now Tyco) or similar.

 

[Normallysailing]

Yeah, I'm making some progress on this. I just spoke to the dealer, and they charge $6 for a replacement pin. I'm not putting up with that crap - these are pins that you buy a bag of a hundred of for $6, or - worst case - ten for $6 if they're gold-plated. So I'm going to figure out what they really cost and where to get them from. Plus, need extractors for pulling them out, so that's on the list too.

 

[Grim]

search for "weather pack connector kits", there are several brands and they do all the same thing IMO. Last set I bought was off Amazon.

 

[Normallysailing]

Sure, but I want to know who makes them, and who their distributors are. Hint: Amazon
is not a distributor of electronic components as the term is understood in the industry.

I see lots of places (including Amazon) where one can overpay for these parts. I want to
find where I can buy them at proper prices.

 

[Normallysailing]

Okay, here's the short version: These are indeed called "Weather Pack" connectors, and in the old service manuals BRP refers to them as "Packard". Packard was bought by (became, whatever) "Delphi", which is easily recognizable as a big manufacturer for the auto industry. [edit] Delphi is now known as "Aptiv".
I just took a quick look at the US site for Mouser (big electronics distributor), and they have the pins in loose pieces starting at 68 cents (single piece quantity), with the price falling sharply in larger quantities (normally pins like this are sold in reels of thousands for machine termination). So what did I say about the price being about ten times too high? And these pins aren't even made in gold-plate, just tin.

 

[etemplet]

I was in touch with this people trying to get the rubber gaskets to seal the connectors. Our discussion was that it was just as cheap to purchase the whole connector which was about $15 or more and I'm being conservative. I was told I could buy a bag of 100 for $100 which I was considering. Is that nutz or what?? Lucky for me I have a lot of spare harnesses but I hate to cut them up for a connector. Here is the contact I was using. They were very helpful.

Sales Dept
Prowireusa
ISO Certified 9001:2015 | AS9120B
22230 S Scotland Ct Suite 102 | Queen Creek, AZ 85142
Ph: 619-440-9473 Ext 221 | Fax: 619-344-0455
website: prowireusa.com

 

[Normallysailing]

Actually, the seal is part of the connector body, so I don't think you'd be able to buy it separately anyway.

The wire seal, on the other hand, is not included with the body, because it comes in different sizes for the different wire gauges (as do the pins), and they (obviously) have to be threaded onto the wire before the connector pin is terminated, before insertion into the body.

 

[etemplet]

search for "weather pack connector kits", there are several brands and they do all the same thing IMO. Last set I bought was off Amazon.

Great Info for sure !! I'm gonna get back in touch with Prowire and continue our dialogue.

This is what I want right here. They are pretty popular on the RFI and DI skis.

 

[tobytd]

Can you say Deutsch?

 

[Normallysailing]

I wasn't sure about Deutsch, because the BRP docs list Packard, AMP, and Deutsch - but specify different mfgrs. for different connectors. I was going to look at them next to figure out how they fit into this. So you're saying they're a second-source for the now-Aptiv parts?

 

[tobytd]

250Pcs Deutsch DT Series Waterproof Wire Connector Kit DT06-2/3/4/6S DT04-2/3/4/ 4894841348133 | eBay
Random eBay kit… I think eBay may be better on pricing than Amazon

 

[Normallysailing]

Those aren't the same as the Weather Pack connectors.

 

[Normallysailing]

search for "weather pack connector kits", there are several brands and they do all the same thing IMO. Last set I bought was off Amazon.

I've been searching a few, and to be honest I can't see a kit I like much. Even the official Delphi kit sux, because you get a lot of connector bodies and rather few pins. Seems to me the general case (like mine) is mangled and missing pins but connector bodies that are fine. So I'd like to see a couple of extractors, a modest assortment of bodies, and lots of pins and seals. I see the crimper as optional, as I'll either solder or use some other crimper I already have that fits.

 

[wernerml]

40 year veteran EE who worked with this stuff for a while. Get the proper crimper and don't solder. While making a good electrical connection solder makes a stiff (brittle) mechanical connection. In vehicles where the connection is exposed to shock and vibration soldered connections will fail long before a quality crimped connection.

You don't need the $200 ratcheting crimper, but get the one specific to the pins you are crimping. With care and practice you can crimp well.

The pins really are that expensive. Even in quantities of a few thousand you are looking at prices close to $0.50. Check Digi-Key. They often sell cut strips of pins cut from the big rolls meant for production.

The extraction tools are really just thin wall tubing. Check the K&S tubing at hobby shops and hardware stores. A thin wall tube that just slides over the pin or socket will work. That will take a bit of experimentation though.

 

[Normallysailing]

You and I are exactly on the same page on this, including the 40-year-EE part. So I have a lot of different crimpers for insertable pins in my collection; what's unique about this pin is is that the strain relief crimps not around the wire's insulation, but around the rubber seal.

I don't have a problem with a 50-cent pin, and as you said, the disties have cut parts of reels as well as loose pieces. I've got a pretty big problem with the local BRP dealer telling me the pins are $6 each and that they have one (1) in stock.

I too have bought the big K+S packages of tubing scraps - crazy handy for lots of things, and often you can find the right size for homemade extractors, but not always. I tried a few of the extractors I have around - AMP, Molex, etc. - but the right Delphi tool is only $15, so I don't have any problem with that at all.

 

[Normallysailing]

Oh - and on the fatigue part: That's a compromise I'm willing to make in this case, because our season is pretty short and the duty cycle is very low - it'll take forever for that failure to occur. And whatever I do, it's going to be a big improvement over what SPM (Some Previous Moron) did, which was to use those IDC wire taps to jumper around a couple of defective connector pins. Enumerating the things wrong with taking that approach in this context is an exercise left to the reader.