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I Have 6 Connector Kits Giveaway. Tell Me What You Think of SKEDD Direct Plug-in Technology

rscasny

Back in mid-May, I ran a short blog on Phoenix Contact's SKEDD Connectors. At the time, I thought they were interesting. The connectors employ SKEDD technology which is a means mounting PCB connectors directly to a PCB via through-contacted bore holes. After I posted the story, one of our top members, , commented to me that he saw they were interesting as well; he had seen them at an Embedded World. Well, I mentioned this to my boss who asked the supplier for some connector kits. A little while I received them and had my colleague,   take a photo of one.image

 

I received 6 connectors kits last week. And now I have to decide on what I should do with them. There are any number of ways these kits could be used. I feel the best way is to have members examine the connectors in the kit, and experiment with them, as they see fit.

 

A Little About the SKEDD Connectors

I think part of the challenge is that the kit is only part of a larger system. But interconnects are an important component of a piece of hardware. This interconnect system is unique. These combine direct plug-in technology to the PCB with push-in spring termination and tool-free installation. The contact zone is made up of two flexible halves that bend easily, enabling the contacts to easily adjust to plated-through holes on a printed circuit board. Upon insertion, the contact has sufficient force to establish a gas-tight connection with no special requirements for the PCB.

 

So I'm looking for some members who want to play around with these wire-to-board connectors and write a blog in this group to tell about your experience. You might have to get a little creative to experiment with them. But that's part of the fun!

 

What you have to do to get a SKEDD connector kit for FREE

Tell me why you'd like on of these kits, what you would do with them, or how someone could use them. Maybe you want to compare the connectors in this kit with out wire-to-board connectors. Maybe you want to experiment with connectivity and durability. Go for it! Just tell me what you want to do in the COMMENTS section below. I'll contact you when I decide on who gets the kits.

Attachments:
imageSKEDD_white_paper.pdf
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  • I've read the white paper but I'm still not entirely sure what their use case is. Is the connector supposed to be temporary? I'm not sure of the benefit of being able to remove it.

  • in reply to Fred27

    Hi Fred,

     

    From what I can tell, the removability is just a possible secondary benefit. The primary benefit of the push-fit connector is that there's no need for having to put the board through manual soldering or wave soldering.

    There may be reliability benefits too, but I don't know about those. I do recall seeing that normal 0.1" headers once were available in press-fit pin options (they came pressed through tape), and a production machine would push them into the board. Some military hardware used them. But I also saw normal 0.1" soldered headers used too. This was during wave-soldering time (even for SMT), maybe it was difficult to reliably wave-solder pins at the same time as the SMT. I'm speculating heavily though : ( Processes change, maybe it's all just as reliable now.

     

    However, the ability to remove it could have some secondary applications.. thinking of boards like control panels which come with dozens of connections, but not all are used. Not having to fit so many screw or other plug-on terminals which don't get used. Also, the bare wire and the ferrule crimps are low-cost, so it might work out cheaper to use this all-in-one connector rather than a separate plug and socket and connector crimp tool, for scenarios where the wiring may need to change very infrequently.

  • in reply to shabaz

    The immediate benefit I can see with this is it provides great efficiency for production lines that require the PCB to go into the reflow oven (like for SMD solder paste). I wouldn't dare to put plastic headers into a reflow oven, not sure if there is plastic that can withstand such temperatures. Then afterwards, you just insert the SKEDD onto your board and whatever happens next in the production line (maybe test it, put it in some moulded case and sell it). This completely avoids as shabaz describes the need for manual soldering and wave soldering.

     

    But for hobbyists, researchers and students, this product just doesn't do it for me. I was thinking about using it as a connector keeping the wires in so if you had a design that required many different PCBs to connect to it but the center board was prone to fail, it would be easier trying to connect everything back than figuring out which wire goes where. However the fact it can only be placed and removed for only 25 times is unfortunate. So it seems pretty niche to me and only people who intend to make industrial production PCBs would find great use with it. It's probably better for product repairability overall too since if the connector for some bizarre reason fails, really easy to replace it and no soldering hassle required. Or if the board fails you can salvage it, but then you have 24 times left. I have an obsession with durable products.

     

    Bradlez

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  • in reply to shabaz

    The immediate benefit I can see with this is it provides great efficiency for production lines that require the PCB to go into the reflow oven (like for SMD solder paste). I wouldn't dare to put plastic headers into a reflow oven, not sure if there is plastic that can withstand such temperatures. Then afterwards, you just insert the SKEDD onto your board and whatever happens next in the production line (maybe test it, put it in some moulded case and sell it). This completely avoids as shabaz describes the need for manual soldering and wave soldering.

     

    But for hobbyists, researchers and students, this product just doesn't do it for me. I was thinking about using it as a connector keeping the wires in so if you had a design that required many different PCBs to connect to it but the center board was prone to fail, it would be easier trying to connect everything back than figuring out which wire goes where. However the fact it can only be placed and removed for only 25 times is unfortunate. So it seems pretty niche to me and only people who intend to make industrial production PCBs would find great use with it. It's probably better for product repairability overall too since if the connector for some bizarre reason fails, really easy to replace it and no soldering hassle required. Or if the board fails you can salvage it, but then you have 24 times left. I have an obsession with durable products.

     

    Bradlez

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