EDAC male/female connector positioning...

[lampmeister]

Hi,
I'm putting together a small 24-way multicore with edac connectors to run from a stagebox (it will be well protected!) to a couple of racks of mic-pre's / splitters. I don't have much experience of edac's (apart from a stagebox --> FOH mixer system we had when I was touring Europe in the early '90's, ex-keyboard player y'see) though I've just put a few of the solder type together with no problems.

Now, I guess edac's are normally put together with the male/female connectors the same polarity as if you were using XLR's? This is only going to be a self-contained system (I'm not going to be using the edac's for interfacing with anyone else) and I'd rather not put male edac's on the end of a multicore because of the exposed pins (yes, I know you can chain an unused female edac to it as protection in transportation, but even so...)

So, are there any disadvantages to only having female connectors on the multicore and only male connectors on the stagebox / rear rack panels? Speak now 'cos I ain't changing it all round when those pins are clicked into their new home!

Cheers!

Dave.

[Remoteness]

Here's a link to a bunch of ELCO/EDAC connector threads for your review.

Check them out by clicking the link above -- they should be very helpful...

I shall reply in detail went I come up for air.

This should keep you busy in the meantime.

[lampmeister]

Can give this a little bump?

Steve, quoting you from another thread (the one where you explain the "Wilson flip" input / output expansion thing) you wrote:

"All (most) of our ELCO harnesses or snakes are wired to male ELCOs. All of our chassis mounted ELCOs are female. If you want to combine ELCO harnesses or snakes you need a F/F ELCO adapter."

Do you mind if I ask why you use male EDAC's / ELCO's on the snakes and female on the racks? Obviously snakes are then bi-directional but I'm curious as to your reasoning behind this way of working.

Many thanks!

[Remoteness]

A lot of times our ELCO/EDAC multipins are wired to XLRs and other equipment in the rack or panel.
If we're on a gig and someone bumps into the connector with a metal object, I don't want to short out any circuit or device.
By having all female multipin connectors on every rack and interface panel there's less chance to damage any pins (pretty much impossible) and you're not going to short out anything by slaming into it.

Now, the harnesses and cables could get damaged if you're not careful or don't use connector covers or bags and such, but it's going to happen before to patch them in, not during the recording or broadcast!

Also, if you run out of one type of harness you can always use any other type since they're all the same EDAC connectors.

I also use the same 90 pin connectors even when there are less circuits in the harness or cable.
Why have three different connectors.
This way you're never stuck if you run out of an eight pair harness you can always grab a 16 or 24 channel suck and use the first eight lines.

For me it's all about options baby, options!

This system works great for me, but as they say - - YMMV!

[lampmeister]

Great stuff, that all makes perfect sense.

Very much appreciated.

[Remoteness]

We just finished the front CRM, rear driver side & passenger side ELCO XLR tie line panels in ELROY.

Here's a picture of the three vertical ELCO XLR BNC panels which llive at the base of the 2080 point Bantam patch bay and two other ELCO XLR panels on the passenger side of the truck.

The vertical rack will be surrounded with teak and topped off with a swing out teak counter top.
A mirror image of these racks will be completed on the rear driver side racks.