Most popular / common JST connector range? SH? ZH? PH? XH? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / projects

author: Chendy
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: July 21, 2015, 04:31:26 pm
content: Hi all,I love standard "Dupont" 2.54mm connectors, due to their ubiquity, low cost, and general modular nature. They are great for prototyping with.However, I'm now after polarized connectors for PCB to cable connections. For currents of1A+at least 1A, what are most common polarized connectors used? It seems JST connectors are very common, with many Chinese clones available. I'm wondering if they are a de-facto standard in Chinese electronics.But which range between 1.0mm to 2.5mm is the most popular / available to buy for low cost? From browsing around, its hard to work out if a certain range is more popular than any others. The 1.00mm (SH), 1.5mm (ZH), 2.0mm (PH), 2.5mm (XH) all seem pretty common.Has anybody got any thoughts on this? Can anybody recommend suppliers with a good stocked range of generics?Cheers

author: LabSpokane
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 21, 2015, 04:33:49 pm
content: The XH off eBay are high quality and dirt cheap. There's some very nice ratcheting crimpers on eBay as well.

author: Chendy
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: July 21, 2015, 04:40:05 pm
content: Cheers LabSpokane,Any thoughts on the tighter pitch ranges? Would be nice to get some higher densities on the goAlso, forgot to mention, the context of this discussion is small-medium scale production.

author: Kjelt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 21, 2015, 04:41:42 pm
content: Tme has also the xh series, in low quantities also and decent price. Dont forget the metal pins that are sold seperately from the female wire connectors.I use xh since it is standard 2,54mm which makes it also easy to breadboard.If on the other hand you are making an smd pcb and surface (cost) is a main issue you should go to to smaller connectors.

author: Monkeh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 21, 2015, 05:05:21 pm
content: JST PH is very popular for 2mm pitch. ZH seems to be the normal choice for 1.5mm.

author: ajb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 21, 2015, 05:28:39 pm
content: If you're going to be doing the crimping yourself, keep in mind that the smaller terminals get to be difficult to crimp by hand. In fact, hand tools aren't even made for some 1.5mm terminals, and it looks like that's the case for the JST SH--the only tooling listed in the datasheet is the AP-K2N, which is a ~$9000 semi automatic machine with dies and applicators sold separately. You could try to use a generic crimping tool, such as the engineer brand tools which are popular, but with such tiny connectors you're going to have a hard time getting the crimped terminal to fit properly in the housing let alone achieve the proper crimp pressure at the contact interface. We just went through this while trying to prototype with a device that used similar 1.5mm connectors. You'll quickly gain an appreciation for just how much precision is required to make a good crimp tool and thus why the real ones are so expensive.Anyway, the point is to be sure to consider your time and tooling costs when deciding on a connector, and budget for proper tooling. If your build quantities are in the hundreds, then it's worth looking at outsourcing your cable assemblies. Remember that 100 cables with 5 wires each is 1000 terminals that you'll need to crimp! If you aren't at that point, you might also consider IDC options. There's the JST NR, for instance, which mates with XH headers. The tool is a couple hundred bucks, but will save you a tremendous amount of time versus crimping individual terminals by hand.

author: LabSpokane
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 21, 2015, 06:25:37 pm
content: Quote from: Chendy on July 21, 2015, 04:40:05 pmFor the reasons stated by others above, I picked XH to keep on the shelf. The crimpers were $25 and are every bit as good as a high zoot crimper. To go much tighter pitch, I'd probably farm out that kind of work. I will admit that even the XH feels big, but they are surprisingly robust, so I'm willing to pay the price in board area for that right now. I am in pre-production so that is my perspective, which will likely change. I just haven't found a better, cheaper solution for my level in the food chain. Going to AMP or molex would really hurt both on the BOM and tooling.

author: Kjelt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 21, 2015, 06:55:02 pm
content: Quote from: Chendy on July 21, 2015, 04:31:26 pmI just looked at the current specs and the SH and ZH series are for max. 1.0 Amps so I would not use them with your 1A+ requirement.The PH is 2.0 A and the XH even 3.0 A.

author: sleemanj
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 21, 2015, 09:22:20 pm
content: Quote from: Kjelt on July 21, 2015, 04:41:42 pmxh are 2.5, not 2.54, close enough for a couple poles, but the more poles the more misaligned you will get if you use 2.54mm pitch holes

author: Kjelt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 21, 2015, 10:02:37 pm
content: Youre right

author: LabSpokane
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 21, 2015, 10:36:39 pm
content: Quote from: sleemanj on July 21, 2015, 09:22:20 pmI've got some measuring to do because mine were listed specifically as 2.54, but I'm betting they really are 2.5mm. Thanks for the heads up!!

author: sleemanj
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 21, 2015, 10:50:05 pm
content: Quote from: LabSpokane on July 21, 2015, 10:36:39 pmYeah commonly sold as 2.54mm on ebay/ali etc, but actually 2.5 (+- 0.05)http://www.jst-mfg.com/product/pdf/eng/eXH.pdf

author: Chendy
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: July 22, 2015, 09:26:52 am
content: Thanks everybody for the very helpful info.Little clarification regarding current specification, I should have wrote at least 1A as opposed to 1A+.So it seems the main consideration is hand crimping the smaller sizes, as availability seems pretty good across the ranges.There doesn't seem to be official support for hand crimping for the sizes smaller than 1.5mm from what I can see.The WC-491 is a hand tool for the 1.5mm ZH range. Has anybody had any experience handing criming this range?And if anybody has thoughts on the official vs third party crimping hand tools, that would be great also

author: sleemanj
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 22, 2015, 09:58:23 am
content: Quote from: Chendy on July 22, 2015, 09:26:52 amNot with ZH, but PH I have hand crimped with generic crimpers, I don't think I'd want to hand crimp smaller than that, too fiddly.What's the motivation for going to teeny tiny sizes? XH and KF2510 are small enough if you ask me, PH is tiny.

author: Chendy
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: July 22, 2015, 10:04:39 am
content: Motivation is to save board area. I'm pretty good a crimping 2.54mm dupont crimps, interested in exploring the smallest its worth going before it becomes a complete pain. 1.5mm ZH sounds like it might be fine. I have good eye sight, and would only have to crimp the prototypes, which any larger orders outsourced.