 Digi key and a to fruit present This week's ion MPI is from TE Lady Aida, what is the MPI this week? This week's MPI is a series of like really durable and cool looking. I mean the cool looking is not as important But cool-looking Weatherproof and waterproof Connectors from TE. This is called the super seal series Mcon it's part of a TE amp and There's two pin and three pin connectors. They'd look like this. These are like IP 67 to IP 6k 9k Depending on whether you use like these extra seals that you can get I think or the way you construct it. These are extraordinarily High-quality connectors and the price was really low like compared to like what I would normally expect this kind of connector would cost But they're like really nicely made They're like less than a dollar and you know, you get a lot of sealing and vibration proof and like latching protection with them So I think if you're if you have a situation where you're building a project you need to be outside You need to be ultra durable like weatherproof deal with vibration You don't want the cables to come loose and Even if you need a lot of current because they're pretty big connectors as well Well, they're not they're not that big but they're they're big enough to carry a couple amps of current Or you can kept them to solenoids or motors or whatever And that has two or three pins. I kind of like these This is one set of the connector half and then this is the other half and they mate together What I thought was really nice is you know, some people say like well Why get these connectors when I can just buy connectors off of like Amazon or eBay for like five cents a piece And what's nice about them is that you get like really good documentation like look at this step file That you can download from TV like everything is modeled for you and comes with instructions and rating and grading and all that You can get pin contacts from Digi-Key They don't have a video about this particular Product, but they there is a great video on TV and how to crimp connectors And you know, I definitely recommend checking it out because to get the the quality that you expect from this Like that if you want to be rated for the rating and actually fulfill that rating and that vibration proof and that durability You do need to crimp it correctly you try to have the right crimping tools Which are not inexpensive and you have to know how to do a good job, but it's definitely worthwhile This is one of the trade-off with connectors is like you want to do it, right? If you want to get the quality that you're paying for with the connector And then that's really neat is I think this is part of like the like the 6k 9k IP rating is there's a little like I Don't like waterproof silicone nubs that go over the contacts to add another layer of waterproofness that water can't ingress through the connector port So I can actually show that on the overhead because I thought that was this was kind of neat so this is like a pin contact and it comes on a Strip like this and then before you insert it like you know pretend I just crimped this you put this Like silicone nub thing over like this and see how it it's a very strong press fit and gives you like three little rings And then this is crimped of course and then when you insert it in You can barely see the yellow here on this side. It just makes sure that there's no you know because there's a seal Around here. This is a silicone seal, but then you want to make sure that there's no water that can get into this little spot here These little nubbins for lack of a better term Gasket nubbins will protect the contacts as well so you can put them on either side that the socket or plug and then What I also liked about this construction is that like this part can latch onto something which I thought was kind of neat There's a little latching part so you could have this like mechanically lock onto something even that's a free-hanging connector and Let me see how you I always get these little backwards. So this Yeah, so Let me get one. That's closed. Okay, so these two connect together and I think it's this way or is it this way? Sorry is this way? so they they lock in and you can kind of feel that there is this The ceiling that's made and then this part can push in and then when you push it in It's like locked and you have to pull it out to unlock it and then to open you have to press down on this piece so like basically once this is in and Clicked and then this is locked in place. This is like never coming apart like that's that's completely solid and It's one of those things where like, you know, why do I care so much about connectors? I have seen so many projects fail because of bad connectors And it's such a tragedy because it's like every other part of the project is perfect and great But then like the battery cable isn't well cramped or it's not water proof or weather proof or like solidly sealed and that's the failure point because this is this is what's going to move and vibrate and Shift around in your design more than almost anything else This is you know, the connectors are your your greatest Surface of risk in a project and so I really like these connectors their team makes really good quality connectors And this is basically like automotive or you know industrial quality connectors But the pricing is like maker and hobbyist pricing So you get you get the best of both worlds and you can get these on did you keep site? We have the short URL in the URL Yes, it's a series so check out like they have the mating connectors and the issues and they know that You can get the pins and the sockets and a 14 14 39 color coatings Variations short URLs there and we have a little short snippet of their video that I'm gonna play. Yeah higher When examining the finished crimp first check for any damage to the terminal or the conductor as a result of the crimping process Note any deformation such as bending Twisting or crushing of any part of the terminal the quality parameters can be found in the corresponding application specification When inspecting the finished crimp check the different facets of the termination to confirm that the crimp meets all of the visual requirements The crimp height is a decisive quality characteristic of a crimp connection It permits non-destructive testing and allows for continuous manufacturing control TE has performed tests that show if a terminal is crimp to the specified crimp height with the correct tooling and The wire is the correct size for the selected terminal then the electrical and mechanical performance will be within the required range And that is this week's iron of yeah, you'll never be disappointed with a T connector