Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] What is prefered connector for steppers to control box?

Roy J. Tellason wrote:

>On Saturday 24 December 2005 01:42 am, Jon Elson wrote:
>
>
>>I prefer gold for long-term reliability.
>>
>>
>
>I was of the impression that it was desirable for mostly low-level signals,
>and not all that necessary for situations where some amount of power is being
>handled.
>
>

Nope, not at all. At 120 V and above, there will be no problem for the
applied voltage to "burn through" any oxidation. But, for lower voltages,
especially 24 V and below, you definitely cannot count on the applied
voltage to burn through oxidation. I have seen Molex and Amp Mate-n-Lock
connectors with tin-plated pins fail to complete open circuit or high
resistance
that eventually leads to a burn up of the whole connector. This is in
circuits
running ten amps or so at 36 V, and in a pretty clean office environment.
So, I strongly dislike using anything with tin-plated pins in anything that
runs a lot of current or will be a pain to get to when it fails. I have
built
equipment that has run 30 years without trouble, so I feel my decisions
have been validated by real experience.

Jon