Dupont Connectors? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: forrestc
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 13, 2017, 12:37:32 pm
content: So, after many many years (probably close to 30 or more) of using 0.1 pitch headers in various forms, it has recently come to my attention that at least the crimp pins in a shell version of these connectors are called a "dupont connector", at least by the maker community.My question is this: Why?No manufacturer that I'm aware of has historically called these "dupont connectors". I don't think that the dupont that I think of when I think of "dupont" ever made connectors - I don't doubt the housing could be made from a DuPont polymer. But Dupont is all about glues and ahesives and plastics and Teflon and other chemicals. Not connectors. At least in recent history.This naming convention had to come from somewhere, but I'm not sure where - and oddly it seems confined largely to the maker community. Until I started dabbling in Arduinos and Raspberry Pi's I had never heard this term.Anyone know the etymology of this?

author: nfmax
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 13, 2017, 12:52:41 pm
content: Yes! There is/was a range of 0.1" pitch latching plastic header/connectors, called 'Dubox', made by DuPont. Who make plastic

author: MrOmnos
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 13, 2017, 01:30:03 pm
content: DuPont were like god tier engineering companies. I don't how they are now. They have made tons of stuff. From nuclear reactors to materials like mylar. If I ever saw a tampon in a drugstore with a DuPont tag on it, I wouldn't question it's legitimacy.

author: janoc
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 13, 2017, 03:27:11 pm
content: Quote from: nfmax on April 13, 2017, 12:52:41 pmThese?http://www.tme.eu/en/katalog/dubox-connectors-2-54mm_100352/These are by Amphenol, but I guess tons of companies use the name now.The name "Dupont connector" probably comes from the Chinese Alibaba/AliExpress/eBay vendors who use it almost universally to describe these pin headers and cables. Distributors like Adafruit or Sparkfun get their stock in China too, so that's likely how the name go into the "maker" (how I hate that stupid term) community.I have certainly not seen this term used by anyone else.

author: nfmax
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 13, 2017, 03:36:54 pm
content: DuPont sold off this business a while back, and it's now owned by Amphenol (via Berg & FCI). Cheap Chinese 'Dupont' connectors are likely to be knock-off copies

author: TheSteve
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 13, 2017, 06:12:07 pm
content: I have a Bird wattmeter that uses connectors from DuPont and they do indeed say DuPont right on them. And yes they are just 0.1 inch headers/sockets with a fancy packaging.

author: forrestc
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 14, 2017, 03:57:24 am
content: Quote from: TheSteve on April 13, 2017, 06:12:07 pmJust curious, are these the non-keyed varieties, or are they the keyed ones which apparently are 'dubox' connectors.I was unaware of the 'dubox' designation, but the connectors everyone seems to call dupont are the non-keyed rectangular ones, and the dubox ones seem to be the keyed ones, apparently with at least a partial shroud on the header.

author: TheSteve
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 14, 2017, 07:28:43 am
content: Some pictures of the DuPont connectors - really just a 2x4 of 0.1 inch headers/sockets with a fancy shroud with a locking clip.

author: janoc
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 14, 2017, 05:42:38 pm
content: Hum, that's a LOOONG way to the classic pin headers that are called "dupont connectors" today. Strange evolution.

author: aargee
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 14, 2017, 10:33:23 pm
content: DuPont always had the square plastic shroud (amongst many othe cannector formats), from single pins up and I think the square shape is where the reference comes from.

author: edavid
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 14, 2017, 11:07:10 pm
content: Here's a Dupont oddity - a daisy chain of the female crimp contacts we all know, but shrink wrapped instead of in the little boxes.The strangest thing about it is how the spool is made... 2 disks of 1/8" plexiglas glued to a wood axle. Seems over-elaborate.

author: klunkerbus
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: April 15, 2017, 01:18:21 am
content: Quote from: edavid on April 14, 2017, 11:07:10 pmThere was a day where daisy chained contacts like those weren't odd at all. They're from the days of wire wrap panels. I typically used them to hack in a new net or a change to a net so that debug could continue before the panel would be turned over to an assembly tech for formal incorporation of the wire wrapping changes per whatever engineering change paperwork was involved.

author: PointyOintment
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 15, 2017, 05:24:10 am
content: And of course the pins were square (at least in that application) because square pins are what you use for wire-wrap!