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Switched from D-sub to Molex connectors on our last Cessna 172 panel job
I've been doing avionics for about 8 years now and always used D-subs for everything. Last month we had a 1978 Cessna 172 come in with a rat's nest behind the panel from three different upgrades. I decided to try Molex Mini-Fit Jr. connectors for all the power and ground runs instead. Shoved 12 circuits into one housing and it took half the time to crimp vs soldering pins on D-subs. Pulled the whole harness out three times for testing and it clicked in and out easy every time. What's your go-to connector for tight spaces behind a panel?
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ericb662mo ago
Funny you mention Molex Mini-Fit Jr. because my buddy down at the hangar swears by them now after a nightmare job on a Cessna 182. He had this old panel that looked like someone used whatever connectors they found in a junk drawer. The power wires were all twisted together and taped up, just a mess waiting to short out. He swapped everything over to those Molex connectors and said it was like night and day for troubleshooting. He told me he pulled the panel three times in one afternoon just to check routing and never had to resolder a single pin. The thing that sold him was when he had to swap out a bad master relay later and just unclipped the whole harness instead of snipping and re-splicing wires. For tight spots behind the panel I think those are hard to beat, especially when you're working blind with just your fingers.
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noah_chen172mo ago
It's always the janky wiring jobs that remind you why proper connectors exist.
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