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Old 06-21-20, 02:24 PM
  #24  
2_i 
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Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Michigan
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Bikes: Trek 730 (quad), 720 & 830, Bike Friday NWT, Brompton M36R & M6R, Dahon HAT060 & HT060, ...

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Originally Posted by steelbikeguy
I haven't used these little banana plug style pins myself, but know that they are used by a number of individuals on their bikes.
Regarding the problem of wire weight pulling the pin and socket apart, that suggests two possible causes.
The first would be insufficient or inconsistent spring force in the contacts. I'm accustomed to buying connectors (and parts) from well known manufacturers, and they have pretty high standards for quality and consistency. It might be worth looking at the DT style pins and sockets as an alternative. They cost a little more, but if they last a long time, it's not a bad deal.
The holding force of those popular pins is quite high when you try to separate them by hand, but I think that the problem is in the fact that when they start separating it just progresses in one direction. There is no return force any type, just resistance to pulling apart, i.e., friction somewhat amplified by that spring collar there. I will likely look at these other as well, but my hope is not high as I already tried several getting to nowhere.

Originally Posted by steelbikeguy
The second potential cause is that the connectors shouldn't be supporting the wire weight. As a rule of thumb, wires (or wire bundles) should be supported at regular intervals in order to avoid putting strain on the wires, especially at the connectors. I try to support my light wires every 6 to 8 inches or so.
In some vertical wire runs you have nothing to grab, except shift and brake cables, but these move too. Below is a photo with wires held to cables and connectors secured with my cocoons. The connectors are the miniature banana types. The cocoons consist of velcro hoop collars on both connector sides, wrapped around with a velcro hook sheet. You can see there that the banana connectors try to separate and are only prevented from doing so with velcro.




Originally Posted by steelbikeguy
I will say that some of the connectors in my bike light wires are to allow "frequent" disconnection, such as at the hub dynamo. Other connections are intended to make it easier to assemble the lighting system and will only be take apart every year or two. For this group of connections, I like to put a dab of dielectric grease on the pin/socket junction, and then use a bit of electrical tape to wrap it up and seal it up (sort of).
For example, in the photo below, I've wrapped up the pin & socket for the tail light connection and zip-tied it to the Tubus rear rack. Of course, this is a tail light that I made, so it doesn't use the spade connections that seem to be the norm for commercially made lights.
There are many things you may want from connectors, including ease of separation, ease of provisional in the field repair if something goes wrong, availability of the particular connectors later in time, etc.
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