Seeking Pin type electrical connectors

[9F94M567042]

Hi Everyone,

I think this is the best place to post this inquiry. I have a 1969 Mercury Cougar XR7. It has power windows, speed control and is a convertible.

The wires that attach to these various switches for control purposes use a different type of electrical connector that I have not been able to locate a supplier for. The insulation on some of these wires is shrinking, no surprise there, and I would like to redo all of the connections.

I have attach some pictures of the connectors. I should have taken the photos with my ruler but I forgot to. So the dimensions are as follows-

barrel width .25

overall height .40

small barrel diameter .1

large barrel diameter .2

wire gauge should be 14 or 20

Thanks and I appricate any help

[Xander Wildeisen]

Try contacting manufacturers of reproduction wiring harnesses for your year of car.

[Laughing Coyote]

McMaster Carr has these

https://www.mcmaster.com/products/electrical-connectors/terminals-1~/noninsulated-snap-plug-terminals/

[9F94M567042]

Martin,

Thanks for that link but those won't work. These need to be the T-Style connector to fit into the housing that snaps on the back of the switches.

See picture

[Laughing Coyote]

Okay. I'm sure there out there, just finding them is the question.

[Laughing Coyote]

How about this?

https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/te-connectivity-amp-connectors/61119-2/2307399

 

You also can try Mouser electronics.

[9F94M567042]

Yep. those won't work either. They need to fit in the holes in the plastic housing. I'll take a better picture tomorrow to illustrate.

 

[playswithbrass]

Try www.connectorexperts.com 

866 300 0708

[joe_padavano]

On 7/14/2024 at 8:47 PM, Xander Wildeisen said:

Try contacting manufacturers of reproduction wiring harnesses for your year of car.

Try it but be prepared to be disappointed. The vendors I've asked only want to sell complete harnesses, not parts. I HAVE been able to buy terminals from American Autowire, but they have been the common GM-style Packard 56 series terminals.

Edited July 16 by joe_padavano (see edit history)

[zepher]

This is most likely a long shot, since they seem to be focused on modern cars only, but you can give them a shot.

https://findpigtails.com/?

 

[ABear]

Heat shrink tubing will fix that. You can buy heat shrink tubing with standard 50% shrink or they do also make some with a higher shrink 3:1 ratio (shrinks to 1/3 the unshrunk diameter).

 

Use a heat gun, not a lighter, candle or match as a heat gun gives you much better heat control.

 

I have also when needed "reworked" crimps by carefully holding connector with pliers with out smashing it and then carefully with a small enough precision flat blade screw driver to get under the crimped portion of the connector, then proceed to use the flat blade to pry the crimp open enough to remove the wire. Then insert the new wire end into the opened crimp, then carefully crimping back closed with a crimp tool. Once crimped I finish with some solder for good measure.

 

Time consuming, yep, but when faced with unobtainmium  connector parts one sometimes must get creative at repairs. Don't try to cheat and solder on top, you need that mechanical crimp as solder can break loose from vibration.

 

I would opt for option number one which is heat shrink tubing since the wires do not look frayed or damaged.

[wayne sheldon]

With that odd side connection? I have doubts you can get a shrink tubing to go on it that is small enough to shrink. 

If your main concern is the shrinkage of the insulation pulling back from the connector? The big question is how pliable the insulation is overall. Minor pull-back isn't a serious problem in itself. But it could be indicative of insulation deterioration leading to soon begin breaking up. Which in turn could quickly lead to shorting of the wiring.

If the insulation appears to be live enough (supple enough?), a reasonable fix would be to "paint" the ends with shellac. Shellac has been used as an electrical insulation for way over a hundred years. Be very careful to NOT get any inside the connector or onto the pins those connectors slide onto as it is a very good insulator and once accidentally applied you might have a devil of a time getting it to make contact again!

It may be necessary to clean the wire and insulation before applying the shellac. I am not sure what would be best these days. I used to use old fashion paint thinner. It had a good balance of removing oil and other contaminants quickly while attacking the original insulation very slowly. That is where the hazard is. Most cleaners will also have a "drying" effect on the original insulation. You want to minimize that. Drying of the insulation will eventually lead to more shrinkage, loss of flexibility, cracking, breaking, and exposing wires to shorting. Most alcohol and/or petroleum based cleaners will have some such effect. Most other cleaners will leave a residue that will prevent the shellac from sticking properly.

Quickly washed, blow dry (not hot!), then a drop to several drops of shellac over the end of the original insulation to over the crimped attachment of the end connector and the wire. One could try an eye dropper? I usually used either a toothpick or very small artist's brush.

 

In a past life, a long time ago, I did a lot of electronic repair work. Some things have changed since then. Chemicals and materials we used that worked very well are no longer available for all sorts of silly reasons. (Good paint thinner being one of them?)

 

And, I don't often recommend products, or generally believe in "magic elixirs". However. one exception I do make is "DeoxIT", by Caig.

 

If you are having problems with electrical connections not making good connections? DeoxIT might be the magic elixir.

I worked in communications systems contracting (for over thirty years). We took care of all sorts of systems within a three hundred by two hundred mile rectangle encompassing the entire San Francisco Bay Area and beyond (and sometimes even farther away!).

Much of our work was keeping systems built by others working. Often, equipment wasn't the best available. Connector failures were common, slightly incompatible metal interfaces everywhere. Being near the coast with prevailing winds from the ocean, even a hundred miles inland was affected by salt in the air. Equipment was almost always designed and (then) manufactured back East. They did not have nor understood our problem because they didn't have it. Literally hundreds of pieces of equipment was requiring servicing once or twice per year due to connection failures. This went on for more than a decade. Contact cleaners came and went, most would sort of work for awhile. Then back to failure mode again. 

Then one day, we heard from a technical supplier about this new product, just came out. It was expensive, but he said it was worth it. So we bought a can (forty years ago a two ounce can was fifteen dollars!). It was made from some exotic natural plant oil found only in the tropics (sounds silly, but if it works?), which chemically reversed the oxidation on electrical contacts, allowing them to function properly again. Then leaving a thin coating of oil preventing corrosion for a considerable amount of time. By the way, it takes only a tiny amount to do the job, less is better, so it really wasn't that expensive to use.

We experimented with it. Having a stack of equipment that had failed due to cheap switches losing contact internally, we squirted a small amount into the switch and they became useful again.  Pieces of equipment that we couldn't rely on to work for two weeks suddenly became reliable again! And single applications wound up lasting for years!

 

Caig does manufacture and sell cheaper variations, Thinned exotic oil, other additives not really needed. When I spoke to their home office about ten years ago they flat out told me they do so because that is what the customers want. But they loved hearing from me, all I wanted was one more can of the good stuff (which I could not buy locally!). Don't cheap out! Buy the good stuff (I am notoriously a cheapskate!) It works better and last longer!

My remaining can has "Part no; D100S-2.

 

There are a few certain types of circuits that the product should not be used in. Certain types of high voltage detection of switching circuits. Should not be a problem in an automotive application.

 

I hope the moderators can see fit to keep this post intact. It is a great product that could have many good applications in collector cars. And I rarely make product recommendations.

Edited July 17 by wayne sheldon
I hate leaving typos! (see edit history)

[Frank DuVal]

I agree! I use various DeOxit products on many connectors, connections, potentiometers, switches. Auto, audio, radio, etc etc.👍

[ABear]

On 7/16/2024 at 9:08 PM, wayne sheldon said:

I have doubts you can get a shrink tubing to go on it that is small enough to shrink. 

Not so.

 

Heat shrink tubing is available with 2:1, 3:1, 4:1, 5:1, 6:1 shrinkage ratio, the higher the ratio, the smaller it will shrink from the original unshrunk size.

 

See here..

 

https://www.digikey.com/en/articles/selecting-the-appropriate-heat-shrink-tubing

 

6:1 ratio would most likely work for the OPs connector..

[wayne sheldon]

The problem is, that any shrink tubing large enough to go over the cross-ways end connector probably will not have enough shrinkage ratio. A 6 to 1 might make it. But I used to use a lot of shrink tubing, and anywhere near maximum shrink it often doesn't work well. And it does not like being forced over something almost small enough.

Just my experience for whatever it is worth.

[ABear]

3 hours ago, wayne sheldon said:

The problem is, that any shrink tubing large enough to go over the cross-ways end connector probably will not have enough shrinkage ratio. A 6 to 1 might make it. But I used to use a lot of shrink tubing, and anywhere near maximum shrink it often doesn't work well. And it does not like being forced over something almost small enough.

Just my experience for whatever it is worth.

Honest to goodness, I don't know what picture you are looking at, but the one I see that the OP posted the connector barely looks like it is more than 3 times the size of the wire and even accounting for depth of the connector 5 to 1 might work and 6 to 1 should easily work

 

Here is an up close cropped pix of the OPs connector...

[wayne sheldon]

I certainly could be wrong. If a close enough size of 6 to 1 ratio is available. It may work just fine. Only way to know would be to get some and try it.

 

Regardless, ABear, I always enjoy reading your comments and very much respect your opinions. Your insights on many technical issues are greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

[9F94M567042]

Ok, to avoid further confusion, these wires have been cut from the main harness. Don't ask me why I decided to do that. That was probably over 40 years ago and the decision to make the cut was to ease in removal of the door that got damaged in her accident. I've learned a few things since then!!

Anyway, here is a picture of the wires in the connector that snaps onto the back of the power window master switch. Since they have been cut, heat shrink tubing could easily slide up the wire and over the exposed part of the wire. The wire gauge is 14 btw.

Now another question, I hate using butt splice connectors for splicing 2 wires back together. Since all of these wires were cut in approximately the same location, using butt splice connectors would be an bulky, ugly mess. My thinking is to carefully un-twist the wires for each and try to intertwine them back together and then solder the joint really well and cover with heat shrink tubing. Should produce a much cleaner looking repair. Any thoughts on doing it this way? The harness is inside the door and behind the door panel, but I would stay up nights if I created such an ugly mess. 

Always appricate the advice given here. (BTW there are 14 wires to splice back together)

Edited July 21 by 9F94M567042
Clarify statement (see edit history)

[wayne sheldon]

In that tight space, a short piece of close size but lower shrink ratio heat shrink tubing may be best. Just enough to cover the short exposed area. It probably isn't even needed as that "cradle" should be an insulator itself.

 

I dislike working on modern cars, but have had to fairly often. Sometimes they make wires barely long enough, and almost any single splice may not be long enough? A doubly crimped butt splice should work.

I understand your dislike of "bulky and ugly" wire clusters.

A method I have used more than a few times. First, do whatever you are going to do with the end connectors. Then IF you have enough length in the wires (doesn't take much, half an inch should work?)? Take both ends of each wire and trim 1/8 inch off the insulation exposing the stranded wire (hopefully it is stranded wire?). Clean the ends of the wire, and slightly fan the strands. Place about a half inch to even two inch piece of small appropriate size heat shrink onto one of the wires. Then gently push the fanned ends of the wires together. Gently squeeze the overlapping ends tighter together if needed. Then solder using a good rosin core solder if you have or can get some. If you are careful, the blended and soldered area should be about the same diameter as the insulated wire itself. Slide the heat shrink tubing into place and shrink it. The final splice should be only the shrink tubing thickness larger than the original wire, and about an eighth inch shorter. 

 

I have used that method dozens of times in tight spaces. The shrink tubing adds a little bulk, but not much.

[EmTee]

Another option would be to carefully remove the 'socket' from the short piece of wire, then crimp and solder on a new, longer pigtail.  That will allow you to stagger the splice joints in the harness.  I have used Wayne's method of splicing without a butt connector, but it can be hard to keep the ends together while soldering without something to hold the wires securely.  Rig something in a bench vise, a pair of vice-grips, etc. so that the ends stay put while soldering.

[Frank DuVal]

22 hours ago, 9F94M567042 said:

try to intertwine them back together and then solder the joint really well and cover with heat shrink tubing.

I came up with a method that is clumsy but works well in the end. Take another piece of stranded wire and remove two or so strands about 3 inches or so long, maybe more. With the two cut cables having 1/4" or so of bare strands showing and now meshed (shoved) together, take these new strands and wrap the connection tight, only need three or four hands....🤣    Once the meshed wires are wrapped with the extra strands, solder them. Try not to have the solder wick too far up into the wires, it makes them stiff and a new point of breakage. Heat shrink to finish. If in a wet area, take a sliver of hot glue stick and put it into the heat shrink so it melts with the heat gun to make a  mock adhesive heat shrink product.