Can anyone help me identify & match this 10pin electrical connector?

August 22, 2016 12:22 PM

Trying to DIY an extension to the electrical harness inside my exercise machine. If I can find a match for this 10-pin connector, that'd be ideal.

Here's a link to the connector on imgur. Sorry I didn't include a ruler for scale, but my fingers should help get a rough idea. The lettering in the plastic says "PA66" and "TZ". The other side says "J-6" and "AMP". I've searched around and found something called AMP connectors, but I'm unable to find a match, same with PA66 and TZ.

Seems like this might be a universal type of part that it should be easy to find a match for, but maybe I'm wrong. It's probably that I'm not familiar enough with the world of connectors to realize what I'm looking at in googling, so I thought I'd ask before I resort to a hardwired solution. Thanks!

posted by scrowdid to Technology (12 answers total)

Response by poster: Ah! Forgot the imgur link
http://imgur.com/a/0oS2k
posted by scrowdid at 12:22 PM on August 22, 2016

It would be useful to know what the connector plugs into. Is the visible metal the part that makes contact, or are there holes/pins that I can't see from the angle of the picture? What's the spacing and size of the holes/pins? 0.1"? Does it look anything like this fairly standard connector? If so, the magic Google term is 'IDC connector'.
posted by pipeski at 12:57 PM on August 22, 2016

Unless there are space/fit constraints, I'd just clip those off and replace it with more easily sourced 10pin molexes and wire of your chosen length.
posted by rhizome at 1:04 PM on August 22, 2016

Yeah, it's a generic header, but you may have trouble finding the exact matching part. Assuming the mating connector is not on a circuit board, just buy a replacement header pair and clip off the old one. Crimping the pins on can be a royal pain, so look for something with screw terminals. Phoenix Connector does a lot of this stuff.
posted by intermod at 1:23 PM on August 22, 2016 [1 favorite]

Used to sell industrial equipment - sourcing for these connectors was/is often "generic" in the sense that they were off-the-shelf connectors sold to manufacturers, but not sold in stores. If your googling isn't bringing it up, odds are it's one of those or could be truly proprietary. Nthing - get a pair of connectors if all you need to do is get the wires back together after building an extension and it'll be fine. Don't forget to label those wires before cutting!
posted by randomkeystrike at 1:36 PM on August 22, 2016 [1 favorite]

that looks like either an amphenol KK style connector or an amphenol EP connector, probably the EP

Do these look like what yours is?
posted by Dr. Twist at 2:26 PM on August 22, 2016

Do you think it could be these: male, female?
posted by aubilenon at 2:34 PM on August 22, 2016

Response by poster: That amphenol page looks to have some promising ones on it. Particularly the rectangle-with-perpendicular-end-tabs shape (not sure how to describe it) of the main insertable body area. The "female" link looks *very* much like my connector, in fact nearly exactly... but it doesn't have the two tabs at the end and the male doesn't match as well. I'll try to grab some better pics.

These links are very promising so far, as is the suggestion to just get some more-easily-sourced connectors and replace them.
posted by scrowdid at 8:13 PM on August 22, 2016

Response by poster: Okay I added some new pics of the connector to the same imgur album, maybe they will be more helpful. I tried to get a view of the tabs at the ends.
posted by scrowdid at 8:51 PM on August 22, 2016

This female connector has the tabs. According to the manufacturer's website it mates with the male I linked to previously (dunno if the tabs are optional or if I linked to a bad pairing). It's hard to tell from the angle but it looks like the male I found is boxier than what you have, does that sound right?
posted by aubilenon at 12:44 AM on August 23, 2016

Response by poster: Yes that new female connector looks perfect! Its corresponding male looks, yes, boxier than what i have. Its release lever looks different too. Only one corresponding male connector was listed to work with it?
posted by scrowdid at 2:46 AM on August 23, 2016

I went to the manufacturer's webpage for that part number and searched for "mating products". There's 30 but most of them are just headers. The one that looked the closest IMO turned out to be the same one I had already linked to. There's several variants on it, but I think the only difference between them is color. For instance: A, B, C.
posted by aubilenon at 8:49 AM on August 23, 2016