Living with micro connectors

Walking through tips in dealing with those tiny micro connectors in your builds. Starting with just dealing with existing cables that you may have, all the way up to some tips for designing your own PCBs using them.

[@SteveH-TN]

Thanks for sharing this video and your thoughts & insights. Greatly appreciated 👍👍👍

[@calisti9308]

God I wish I would have found your video earlier 😅… thank you so much!

[@kumardeepam]

Awesome insights. 👏 Thank you. How do we straighten a bent pin inside the onboard connector socket 🙄?

[@km5405]

the chinese ratcheting crimpers with replacable jaws work quite well too as a inbetween option they give a very reliable result for me and seem to be built pretty well

[@aureliencamps2859]

Best video ever !

[@SianaGearz]

Do you know if iwiss tool IWS-2820M micro crimper which i already have will crimp JST SH or whether i should get the wires with connectors precrimped? Looks like iwiss should do, it's similar to Engineer crimpers but it also has a 0.7mm position and it vaguely seems to be adequately machined but i haven't tried it on anything smaller than much easier 2mm pitch connectors yet, so i can't tell for certain. Something nice for strain relief is Silastic, or cheap clone such as Kafuter silicone for electronics. These cure fairly quickly and they're acid free (no vinegar smell, no electronics damage) and hold on pretty well. You can remove it still with some effort. It's actually designed to seal connectors and components against vibration, so that is something you can use it for as well. Hot melt glue just behaves weird here. There is also a trick that you can use with 2-component 1:1 epoxies, you can force it to set flexible, at least works with UHU ones that i use - you use more hardener component than binder, it works because real hardener chemical ratio is like 1:10 or 1:20 that order of magnitude, the rest of the hardener tube is filled up with thickener (fumed silica) and plasticizer and only a little epoxy. How well that works depends on the particular epoxy. You can usually safely add 20% more hardener by volume. Afterwards, you must cure it hot, apply hair dryer, hot air gun or throw on 3D printer heatbed, else it's likely not going to cure, but with heat you can force it to cure, and you can cure it quickly as well. My favourite tools are tweezers. Extra sharp and extra thin needle tip electronics tweezers, 7sa type or similar; and Söhngen surgical sickle shaped tweezers which unfortunately no longer seem to be made like that but which can exert a lot more force. I do basically everything with them, any sort of connector manipulation etc.

[@KH-yv1bo]

WHAT SIZE JST CONNECTOR DO THEY USE ON A IR BOARD FOR CCTV CAMERA

[@TheRainHarvester]

For 15:00, here is my technique on a slightly different crimping tool. kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y6aUpWp5mctpiKc You aren't kidding about crimping too hard. It took forever to figure this tool out!

[@ewileycoy]

Angular tweezers are the best tools for these connectors, if you don’t have a pair, they’re the best investment you can make when dealing with micro drones. Drop a screw in an inaccessible place? Grab the tweezers: www.ifixit.com/Store/Tools/Tweezers/IF145-020?o=5&gclid=EAIaIQobChMItqe-oun86gIViZOzCh200wTQEAQYBCABEgLHbvD_BwE

[@fernandocabral6193]

Would you happen to know the size of the 2 pin jst connector used on led lights on RC light strands

[@robertkempf471]

just build my first 5 inch quad!

[@carlosgarcialalicata]

Is there any connector you don't need to be careful about? I prefer to build resistant stuff than to trust that people will be careful

[@SiieeFPV]

The bigger and bulkier the connector generally will be easier to handle. .1" pitch headers have been really widely used in general hobby electronics for many years and they don't take much care. Something like the Molex .093" series can easily be pinned with a toothpick and a pair of pliers. If you want something compact or light weight then needing more care when assembling is just kinda part of the price you have to pay for it.

[@wolfieno5471]

At 5:32, what size is that ? I need the male part but not sure the size I need it

[@kahfifalahul7786]

That is connector JST PH 2.0. U can check the size here : drive.google.com/file/d/1sdOAVg0bI54YvOCz5S0cZ50kGOKSrDud/view?usp=drivesdk

[@anthony445]

never use a razor as a pry tool! these connector may not break a razor, but if it did i would not want the bits getting in my eye!

[@jerryparent8270]

In a Visuo XS809HW drone. Identify the Name of the connector (plug) that connects the proprietry battery when inserted into the Drone? Thanks, Jerry Parent

[@SiieeFPV]

looks like just a regular micro usb from all I can tell. If you have a picture of what you're looking at that might help

[@abeta201]

How do you connect wires to male JST-SH connectors? I've been looking all over and as yet have not found a good way to do it.

[@SiieeFPV]

JST doesn't make male wire housings, only PCB mount. Soldering wires to a bare PCB connector is going to be pretty janky. It could be done just with careful soldering, but it's not going to last long. Better option would be to make some tiny adapter boards that have a footprint for the JST header and pads to solder your wire to, but it's going to be a bit of extra bulk. It's another reason that I really like picoBlade. Really nice to be able to do both wire-to-wire, and wire-to-board.

[@abeta201]

Thank you! Have you found any reliable seller of the Picoblade male connector wire assembly? It seems that Molex only sells the female side as an assembly.

[@SiieeFPV]

no I don't know of any assemblies, I just crimp all my own. If you're willing to order at least 100 cables you can get custom ones made at dirtyCables (same guys that run dirtyPCB) but they may only have JST micro connectors, I don't remember if they have Molex. There do seem to be a couple of extension cables that you could cut on aliExpress, but only in 2,3, and 4 pin flavors.

[@SiieeFPV]

Actually there do seem to be a bunch of assemblies on Amazon as well, just named incorrectly. Most of the ones that are labeled as JST 1.25mm are actually picoBlade.

[@sb-rj6yb]

what are the mostly used connectors that i should have in my lab

[@SiieeFPV]

It depends what you're doing. For drones JST-SH and Molex Picoblade are the most common. Personally i only stock picoblade and I use that for all of my personal projects

[@sb-rj6yb]

well i would be using my device for 3d printer and mostly steppers and sensors are used.

[@SiieeFPV]

I really like the Molex micro-fit family for general purpose on printers and motors. decent 8a current capacity with latching connectors, and nice and easy size to handle and crimp. It's the same connectors used for power on motherboards and video cards. I do use picoblade for low power sensor lines and the like these days, but if you've got room for a regular sized connector it certainly wouldn't hurt to go for something a little more robust like micro-fit

[@sb-rj6yb]

thanks for a quick reply

[@juliusvalentinas]

Just solder them, yes it's harder than using expensive molex crimper, but better then then cheap one. The PA-09 seems like cheap tool, is there no alternatives? Why would Japanese design PAD series and make it incompatible with same size PA series?

[@SiieeFPV]

There are probably alternatives, but the PA-09 works great. I can't really help it if you don't like the look of it. I wouldn't even say that soldering is harder, even when using the factory crimper soldering is faster and easier. If that's the route you want then soldering is absolutely the way to go. I still use picoblade in all my test gear and all my quads and I wouldn't consider doing it any other way.

[@juliusvalentinas]

Well to solder the connector without any crimper one still has to cut the wings away etc. still tedious slow work, same time wasted if you just crimp it then solder it. The PA-09 does not crimp the insulation properly, what about goo.gl/1SpQHy seems like the molex crimper copy.

[@SiieeFPV]

oooh I see. Sounds like the worst of both worlds to me, massive extra tedium and making an already delicate connection more likely to fatigue from solder wicking. I never solder a crimped connection, properly crimped they don't need it, and I don't even like cutting the connectors off the spool to use them, can't imagine trimming down the tail on every single one. The IWISS might work, though it looks like it's for 2.5mm connectors, so the 28awg one might just barely deal with what you need, but I doubt it will work well with the 30 and 32awg wires that these micro connectors really want. EE guy I know specifically recommends this one, for general use. Same brand and model number, but slightly different (and cheaper on amazon) smile.amazon.com/dp/B00OMM4YUY/_encoding=UTF8?coliid=I8SEIWDD7HIYX&colid=1A2F2XE2CQI7E