Multipin connectors

[amino]

That's right. The whole point with the crimp pins is that you don't have to solder...

This is how I do them. As you can see I strip the wire a little bit longer and then fold it to geta better grip and a larger contact area.

I really wish that manufacturers could publish some sort of recommendations and best practises when mounting their connectors, and that goes for companies like Neutrik as well. If I'm about to solder 100 of their XLR's I would definitely like to know exactly how they could be done as reliable and fast as possible.

[tnjazz]

I realize that the crimp pins are not really for soldering. I'm going on the recommendation of a local engineer who does his this way and builds some of the best cable in town.

Incidentally, when we did the first round and did just straight crimping, this is exactly what we did (cut long and fold over).

Nonetheless, I've decided it's time to get a professional involved. So this is an open call. Anyone out there want to quote me for a splitter? PM me for more info.

[Remoteness]

PM sent!

[tnjazz]

Well I just thought I'd provide an update to this thread.

After tearing out clumps of hair in frustration, I got a couple of splitter quotes. In the meantime, I thought I might as well see if I could salvage the splitter anyway.

The most important lesson I learned "woodshedding" with my engineer friend was that you really need the right tools to do the job properly. So I bit the bullet, plunked down a few bills on a workstation for the garage (needed one anyway!) and picked up various items like a good heat shrink gun, good wire strippers, etc. Then I sat down about 2 weeks ago and tore the whole thing apart and started over.

Slow and steady wins the race. It's so true.

I didn't set any timeframe, and we lost a little money on a couple of gigs we did because I had to rent a split for the night, but I was determined to get this thing up and running.

Just finished it all yesterday and the unit had its maiden voyage last night at a rehearsal for the big season finale of a major network TV show that will be premiering next week. Of course I tested it at home before I went out with it, but it had never been run in a live setting before yesterday, which was a bit nerve racking. Especially considering the circumstances!

I'm happy to report that it was 100% flawless - no bad channels, no weirdnesses and I even got several compliments on the construction of the snakes. I'm actually pretty shocked that there were no issues.

Right now it's still needing to be labeled (inputs, etc) and it's still in a temporary case but I'll get a pic up this evening if anyone's interested.

So I've got soldering fever now. Anyone need a splitter built?

[amino]

Great job! It surely takes time, but there's a lot of money to save. And a good thing is that soldering 25 patch cables seems like no job at all now, right?

[Remoteness]

I'm so happy to hear this my friend.

we've been using ELCOs for a very long time.
As long as you're careful and do not let anyone that isn't familiar with the suckers to connect them you're golden...

Awesome news for sure!

[tnjazz]

Here are some pics. Yes, I know, I know. Picture #2 is a bit of a disgrace. Let me just say it looks worse than it really is. All the cables are actually grouped together, I just don't have it in its final case yet and once I do I'll be running it along the sides, etc. Plus they're all about 4 feet long and it's only an 8 space rack, so they're all over the place until I can pin them up somewhere. A bit of a rat's nest right now, but soon to be remedied.

All male and female connectors are pinned to the Elco standard, even if it is less logical than the straight-across method to me. That way it should be compatible with rental gear if I ever needed to grab something last minute somewhere.

Also, I thought long and hard about "dust caps" for the cables. I couldn't come up with anything suitable to protect the pins though. Finally I thought I'd just get a couple extra female panel connectors and spray paint them black. A couple of the location folk that have seen it were pretty impressed with the idea. Not sure if it's original, but I'm quietly proud of myself.

Still need to label all the input panels and put directional arrows on the snake heads, etc. (because of course one of the isos had to be installed upside down to enable connectivity on the double connector panel) but it's fully functional. Woohoo!

[tnjazz]

Here's what it looks like in action (simulated for the GS crowd):

[nathanvacha]

steve, did we ever get to see that diagram? i still can't decide whose format i want to follow for mine, or if i'm going to go with a different one and make adapters to other pinouts. i only need to get 28 channels out of these 120 pins because it's only a 28 pr. snake, but i've seen three or four different pinout options floating around.

[tnjazz]

Originally Posted by nathanvacha

steve, did we ever get to see that diagram? i still can't decide whose format i want to follow for mine, or if i'm going to go with a different one and make adapters to other pinouts. i only need to get 28 channels out of these 120 pins because it's only a 28 pr. snake, but i've seen three or four different pinout options floating around.

I actually like Steve's suggested pinout better than the "standard", but after talking to several folks here in town they really stressed the importance of compatibility. So I took the extra time and pinned all of our gear standard.

See this post for my guide: Five components to a successful location recording & much more (The Beginners Guide)

[Remoteness]

Your standard or ours the wiring harness should look something like this.

Here's part of what will be the rear ELCO panel for our Dual Tascam X48 rack which we're wiring up in our field shop.

We're also extending the TC and video black to the rear panel using XLRS and BNCs.
Isolation XFMRs will be installed for the video inputs and timecode I/Os.

I will post the completed project when we get it done hopefully this week.

[justpushplay]

Hey Steve!

That second picture shows exactly what I need for my Radar rack. I've got the first 48, I just need two more 24 pair Elco's to 3 DB25's. It's finally time for me to get all the crimp tooling and be a grownup.....:-(

Michael

[Testing123]

Originally Posted by amino

I really wish that manufacturers could publish some sort of recommendations and best practises when mounting their connectors, and that goes for companies like Neutrik as well. If I'm about to solder 100 of their XLR's I would definitely like to know exactly how they could be done as reliable and fast as possible.

I know the quoted post is going back a ways, but Neutrik actually does publish assembly instructions for their connectors:

Neutrik - Assemblies

[Remoteness]

The completed set shows the top X48 ins and outs.
Red color code is for inputs/Record.
Geen color code is for outs/Play.

The unfinished set is for (of course) the bottom machine.

[Remoteness]

Nice find my man.

This shall be added to the Five components to a successful location recording & much more (The Beginners Guide) thread.

Thank you much...

And, I bet the forum thanks you too!

Originally Posted by Testing123

I know the quoted post is going back a ways, but Neutrik actually does publish assembly instructions for their connectors:

Neutrik - Assemblies

[amino]

Originally Posted by Testing123

I know the quoted post is going back a ways, but Neutrik actually does publish assembly instructions for their connectors:

Neutrik - Assemblies

Thanks!

[Juan T.]

Steve,

WHo makes those DB-25 multipair tails you are using? They look like Hosa but they seem larger.

Juan