H

Harold Lanfear

Well Known Member
I'd like to shorten a couple of wires on my GRT EFIS units and have quality pins on hand; BUT, can I interchange pins of different manufacturers without connectivity problems later.

I don't see any indications of who made the connectors that GRT used and I see some very minor differences in the appearance of the male pins (size is the exactly the same) that indicates they are not from the same manufacturer.

I'm assuming this would not create an issue, but I'd rather not find out later and have to figure this out later when I don't remember using different pins :)
 
I used machined pins from Steinair (available from other sources as well). They are mil-spec pins and I "assumed" they would be compatible with what GRT uses. Also used them to shorten the autopilot wiring harness I bought from Steinair. I haven't powered anything up yet, however.

I had help from a local shop that does mil-spec wiring all the time and the question of compatibility never came up.
 
I have pins and sockets of mixed lineage in my harness Harold (the result of tinkering with upgrades....), and they work just fine. Leave a bit of a service loop in your cables so that if you ever have a problem, you can easily pull the connector out the front of the panel and work on it in comfort.

Paul
 
The first thing we usually do with a GRT install is cut off all of their pins and throw them away. They aren't bad pins, but they are folded sheet metal (open barrell type) that are used because they are cheap, and can be run through an automated stamping press for making harnesses.

We hate them because #1, they are a royal pain to remove with standard removal tools, and in the future laying under the panel it just isn't much fun.

Regular mil-spec pins work fine in their connectors. Just happens that the machined ones are much easier to remove/replace over the stamped sheet metal ones that GRT supplies. The don't necessarily perform worse, but once you remove and install them verses the machined ones you'll see what I'm talking about.

Cheers,
Stein
 
Pin costs

.... this is one item where Stein's machined pins (at around 30 cents each from Stein, 85 cents at Mouser) are much better than the folded ones he describes above for around 5 cents each.

You definitely get what you pay for here, but be aware, the catalog pictures look almost identical. It appears that even the cheapo D-sub connector guys use the Mil-Spec dimensions for their pins, making the pins and bodies interchangeable - which I think is based on an older Mil-Spec for circular connectors, from the time before PC computers were invented....:)

Just get them from Stein....:D

gil A

... my order went in last week....
 
Stein added 3 years to my build time!

Cheeess! I build slow enough as it is :D Seriously; I appreciate the input from all, including Stein (whose pins I already have) I agree its better to do this stuff now than later; especially given the importance of EFIS connections.

Thanks much, H
 
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