Need help identifying this connector - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / beginners

author: UV Halo
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: March 15, 2024, 02:07:56 am
content: I need help finding this pictured connector- name, type, terms associated with it, anything.Female, PCB mounted connector:https://www.smugmug.com/gallery/n-P8Kr8t/i-3DTbjJW/Ahttps://www.smugmug.com/gallery/n-P8Kr8t/i-3htB2wD/Ahttps://www.smugmug.com/gallery/n-P8Kr8t/i-bfrzZVn/AThe best found picture of the whole cable:https://www.smugmug.com/gallery/n-P8Kr8t/i-bdbBpWn/ABackground:So, I'm the owner of an old, DataRover 840. If you don't know what this is, it's a device that was a bit before it's time, and was conceived by some very young engineers who would later become giants in the tech industries. For more about that, I recommend the documentary "General Magic" on Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B07WP91W6W/ref=atv_dp_share_cu_r. The DataRover 840 was their second and final, generation device.My problem is that to install apps and transfer data to the device, you need to use a semi-proprietary cable, and nobody seems to have it. I suspect it was an optional cable but, I can't say for certain. In the last couple years of searching, I've only seen two images of the cable, from two different folks, and neither of them show the finer details of the connector. I've seen at least 30 of these devices sell on ebay in the past year, and only one had the cable.I've found a patent that describes the purpose, function and design of the cable:https://patents.google.com/patent/US5675811. However, the patent most appropriately describes the first generation of the device which used a Honda connector (14-pin, D-Sub shape, slightly larger than a USB-C connector). The second gen device also uses the same number of pins but, they moved to a different form factor (pictured), I suspect for cost saving measures. I also suspect that just like their first gen device, they used an off-the shelf connector. The patent describes the design of the cable, including the pin assignments, and even the pinout for the honda connector.Owning the DataRover, I've taken it apart to get as detailed pictures of the mystery connector as I could. I don't know how to describe this connector other than the housing is mostly rectangular-shaped with two slightly beveled corners, and two side-depressable latches. The female (pictured) connector housing (metal part) has an interior measurement of 5.3mm x 10.7mm) with 14pins, inside a female plastic insert, and a measured .893mm pitch. I've tried looking at every 14-pin connector on digikey and, Mouser, with no success. I'm hoping someone can either find this connector, or tell me terms I could use to improve the search.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 15, 2024, 10:53:26 am
content: First of all, please upload the pictures here as attachments so they don’t go missing later on. Also, smugmug appears to actively block zooming in on touch devices. Yeah there are workarounds, but just uploading here is better.Anyhow, I’m skeptical that even finding the connector will do much good, since the cable clearly has a big dongle right in the middle of it. That means it’s not a simple cable, but has active circuitry inside it. That makes the task immeasurably more complicated.

author: UV Halo
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: March 15, 2024, 10:01:01 pm
content: Quote from: tooki on March 15, 2024, 10:53:26 amThanks for the feedback!I uploaded the pictures as requested.Actually, I strongly believe that connector is the only thing keeping me from building my own cable. According to the patent, all that is needed to connect this device to a computer's RS232/RS422 port is a level shifter to bring the computers TLS levels down to CMOS level which is needed by the device. Thanks to the patent, I already know what the 14 different conductors do (and only nine of them are used for RS232). What I expect to be left is determining the pinout.

author: BennoG
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 16, 2024, 09:57:37 am
content: If you really want to do it you can make a thin pcb that fits inside the connector.And add a level shifter to the pcb so you have directly RS232 outputs.Benno

author: UV Halo
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: March 16, 2024, 09:57:46 pm
content: Thanks! I have thought the same thing. Though I know next to nothing about PCB design. I imagine that I would want something like on the inside of a USB A connector with the contacts being durable enough to not need to worry about wearing them down.

author: BennoG
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 17, 2024, 08:11:08 am
content: I prefer kicad but there are more PCB development tools.at JLC you can get 0.4mm、0.6mm、0.8mm、1.0mm、1.2mm、1.6mm、2.0mm thickness pcb's.For the connector you can get a gold plated finish so they make good contact.The placement of the contact will probably your biggest problem measuring them with a caliper (the whole width and divide by the number of pins) will probably give you the best result.I would start ordering a star shaped pcb with slightly different dimensions on each point and see what the best fit is. And use the best fit for your final pcb with components.Benno