What a fantastic reply!! i always suspected Deutsch parts being used, but this goes way beyond confirming it! fantastic!
Scootin159, i have looked at buying the raychem specc 55 wire, it varies depending on wire gauge really... per 100metres from 20 to 26 AWG goes from about £60 - £100 so it really is a viable solution for creating a high-end harness for a road going motorcycle, which is what i have in mind... but now i have never heard of spec 55m, i will really be hunting to use this now
Also you assumption about how the crimping works is exactly correct, the deutsch pins are a work of art, the gold coated ones are simply stunning!
Webby308,
After i move house i will be starting a build of my own, i wish to only use deutsch connectors with the deutsch crimp tools, i am very keen to use the DT series terminals, with the wedgelocks they look fantastic, a real upgrade from poor japanese made OEM connectors. Voltage loss is a massive issue and i am confident the combination of raychem and deutsch will give methe perfect harness. Would you pay more and go for the AS range, or is the DT/M range good? what about the middle ground, the HD20 and HD30 range look very nice, i like the way they have a similar appearance to the AS but made with different meterials.
If anyone is interested how to install and crimp the wires into the contact please scroll down on the below link from Daniels Manufacturing Corporation. They are a company who provide an extensive range of aircraft avionics tooling.
Once the wire is crimped into the contact, the contact would then be installed into a cannon plug or other receptacle using a simple plastic pin insertion tool.
Thank you to God for making me an Atheist - Ricky Gervais.
There is truly a dizzying array of electrical components available in this area.
For example, if you were to say "I want to use Raychem Spec 55 wire", you'd then quickly discover that there are tons of variations of Spec 55. As Paul noted above, 55A is quite common in motorsports. 55PC and 55M are also available. Within 55A, you have single wall insulation, dual wall insulation, high voltage, low voltage, un-screened, screened, single core, dual core, multi-core, tinned copper conductor, nickel plated conductor, silver plated conductor, etc. etc. etc. It goes on and on. To make things worse, if you do some research, you'll learn that Spec 55 wire is actually a pretty old specification, and there is much "better" wire available today that meets various newer military specs and is higher performance.
I'd personally recomend that you stick to 55A single wall. Buy it from IS Motorsports, as they stock lots of wire, sell by the the foot (so you don't have to buy 5000 ft spools), and have the wire that motorsports teams are interested in. An example part number is 55A0111-22-9. This is Spec 55 A wire, single wall, single core, tinned copper conductor, colored white, in 22 AWG.
The "M" in 55M stands for "metric", and just signifies that it's a metric sized conductor rather than an AWG size. It's also slightly lighter than 55A, which is why you see some F1 teams use it.
I'd recommend using Raychem DR-25 heat shrink. It's quite resisant to chemicals and noticably more flexible than many other heat shrink products. This area is like the wire - if you look into "heat shrink", you'll find that Raychem alone probably sells 200+ types of heat shrink. You can again source from IS Motorsports (they are a large distributor of Raychem products). DR-25 is the motorsports standard, but some F1 teams use DR-25TW, which stands for "thin wall". I'd personally use the standard version, since it's more damage resistant. As Paul flagged, this is part of the "System 25" system from Raychem.
If you decide to use the Deutsch Autosport connectors (interestingly, Deutsch is now owned by Tyco, which also owns Raychem), then you can use the Raychem heat shrink boots that Paul explains. Again, IS Motorsports has them. Be prepared to pay several dollars per boot. As an aside, you also see Souriau connectors on F1, in addition to Deutsch.
Raychem has very specific "Codes of Practice" that explain how to assemble your harness (i.e., how to twist the wires together, how to apply heatshrink, how to apply the boots, how to apply epoxy or other sealants, etc.). Raychem will supply these upon request and they are very helpful.
As Paul noted, Deutsch has very specific instructions on what crimp tool to use (most commonly supplied by Daniels Manufacturing) and how to strip and crimp the wires. Be prepared to spend several hundred dollars on crimp tools and positioning heads for the tools (you need two seperate crimpers to apply the complete Deutsch line).
Good luck! This is a very complicated area, and you can spend enormous sums of time and money if you want.
Seems like TE Connectivity own quite a bit in this area then!
Thankfully the deutsch connectors come in varying series, so for main harness to sub-harness interconnects i may us two 18pin connectors as required, although the DT series of connectors are very popular and very good at a fraction of the cost, they take identical pins and interlock style, and the wedge-locks mean a perfect mating of each side everytime.
I was initially worried of the cost, but even the HD series connectors are very cheap compared to the AS series, in a dream world the whole this would be AS, although you would ending up spening probably more than the road going vehicle.
Thanks for the mention of IS-Motorsport, i have been struggling to find suppliers in the UK, i was going to just pay silly shipping costs to get good deals on deutsch DT/M connectors kits.
Using the proper tools and process to get a consistent high-quality crimp is only part of the task. To ensure that the wire terminations perform as expected you also need to use proper strain reliefs at the connector backshell, proper bend radius in the wire bundle, proper clamping and restraint of the wire bundles, adequate abrasion protection, etc.
"Q: How do you make a small fortune in racing?
A: Start with a large one!"
NOt sure how relevant this US F1 video is, but you can see some techniques and they talk about modelling the wiring in CAD before making it. I never knew that.
Love the nasa video! i have the nasa crimping standards manual, i'll get it uploaded so you guys can see it as i'm struggling to find it on google...
It has probably the BEST description and how-to of service loops i have seen, but that crimping device is amazing!!! i bet it costs more than a car... wonder if i can get the same result if i crimping using the deutch crimpers whilst listening to heavy metal quite loudly
Going back to some of the connector spec questions above the DT range of parts is used widely in racing (at a guess I think around 5% of the world's connectors used in racing are in fact the Deutsch IPD range). So for those racing on a budget check the Ladd website http://www.laddinc.com. Ladd are the official distributor for our industrial parts and their website has a great section to help you choose the right parts.
Another question above was about prices - well you get what you pay for when it comes to performance stuff really. The harsher the environment the part needs to live in, usually the more expensive the engineering behind it, therefore the end cost is quite high. One of our F1 customers told me once that if a connector cost £100 for a mated pair, then it was still a bargain if it stops a £500,000 car stopping on track... Also the AS parts often run for a whole season so are not so bad when you look at them that way.
People end up using Deutsch stuff when that's what they need. The inside of a WRC car will often feature DT connectors or other solutions because the environment is not so extreme as the uprights or engine bay. I've also seen plenty of our parts survive areas where in theory conditions were getting marginal with vibration or heat. (Yes motorsport teams take our recommendations with a pinch of salt sometimes). There are no hard and fast answers to the environment that kills a connector, but it's usually a combination of events. We spec the AS's to 175C, but I know from tell-tales that they see more than that and still work fine. Vibration is usually the killer, but then we often work with the team directly to help them control the way the energy attacks the connector. We get a spate of these after a big regulation change usually - I expect the 2014 engines will give the teams a challenge initially...
We do run courses every year for Formula Student teams which gives a brief overview on harness design and best practices. Often the way a loom is constructed - contra winding, repair loops, splicing, along with the materials used determine how long a loom will do it's work on the vehicle. Over the years I've seen quite a lot of efforts and without a doubt, planning the loom is the key to surviability, even though just getting stuck in and getting on with it seems a good plan initially!
This F1 shutdown sure makes life quiet for suppliers too...
We do run courses every year for Formula Student teams which gives a brief overview on harness design and best practices. Often the way a loom is constructed - contra winding, repair loops, splicing, along with the materials used determine how long a loom will do it's work on the vehicle. Over the years I've seen quite a lot of efforts and without a doubt, planning the loom is the key to surviability, even though just getting stuck in and getting on with it seems a good plan initially!
Paul - are these materials available online anywhere? I'd love to see them.
Old and probably minimal value but it may be a book of interest:
Jim Horner, "Automotive Electrical Handbook: How To Wire Your Car From Scratch"
HP Books | 1987 | ISBN: 0895862387 | 160 pages http://www.amazon.com/Automotive-Electr ... Scratch%22
Inexpensive is Good
We do run courses every year for Formula Student teams which gives a brief overview on harness design and best practices. Often the way a loom is constructed - contra winding, repair loops, splicing, along with the materials used determine how long a loom will do it's work on the vehicle. Over the years I've seen quite a lot of efforts and without a doubt, planning the loom is the key to surviability, even though just getting stuck in and getting on with it seems a good plan initially!
Paul - are these materials available online anywhere? I'd love to see them.
Jon
you just search the Tyco sites and perhaps google a little bit it´s all there:
sure some are not mentioned but it should help a long way if you happen to have the money to spend...
