Product suggestion

[Joel Moore]

One thing that I don't like about the T100MD888+ I've been working with this week is the style of connector used for the I/O.  The main problem is that they are very difficult to pull off -- especially once the board is mounted inside a cabinet and there's no place to fit a screwdriver to pry up the connector.

I seriously worry that I'm going to damage the board -- either the header pins or else a nearby component.

I suppose Phoenix connectors are pricey options but there has to be something better than what's on there now that is still somewhat affordable.

Anyway, just a thought.

[support]

Thank you for your suggestion.

The terminals used on all our PLCs are actually supplied by Phoenix Mecano of Germany are very high quality products. But you are right that using the single piece green color Phoenix connector  will drive up the cost of the product by quite a lot. For those who wishes to use a phoenix connector it may be possible to find a Phoenix connector with 5mm spacing (not 5.08mm) that can be used in place of the supplier connectors.

It should be possible to grab the two ends of the blue connector  using your fingers, rock it slightly and pull it upward to lift up the terminal. Alternatively, if you have connected the wires using metal slugs (called ferrules) then you can hold the body of the ferrules and lift up the connector quite easily. The screw terminals grib on the ferrules is quite strong.

[PLCstar]

I have been trying to use one of these plc's in a project for more then a year. Well I finally had a customer who agreed to let me try one. So this is my first experience with your product, and I have to agree with Joel. Those connectors real suck big time.

Not only getting them off is hard, but putting them back on securely on a board sitting on standoffs worries me. I heard some major creaking noises coming from that board while putting them back on. I have a feeling that this could easily lead to a cracked board.

My designs are always a full panel where all I/O are brought to terminal blocks whether used or not, just incase of future changes. I am glad I did it with this job. If I had to remove those connectors more then a couple of times, I feel I would have a broken PLC on my hands.

I also noticed that you cannot tighten the screws too much or the connectors distort horribly.

JC

One thing that I don't like about the T100MD888+ I've been working with this week is the style of connector used for the I/O. ?The main problem is that they are very difficult to pull off -- especially once the board is mounted inside a cabinet and there's no place to fit a screwdriver to pry up the connector.

I seriously worry that I'm going to damage the board -- either the header pins or else a nearby component.

I suppose Phoenix connectors are pricey options but there has to be something better than what's on there now that is still somewhat affordable.

Anyway, just a thought.

[brettski]

I can agree with what both of you say, but come on guys, the package that you get compared to the prices of others is fantastic!

A few cents for better connectors accross the product line ammounts to less savings for all!

You got it right the first time by using ALL I/O to terminals for expansion later. This is the normal in any build anyway done properly!!!

[Joel Moore]

We've been considering for a while designing our own piggyback board to make connecting IO easier.  Triangle was kind enough to provide us with the drill pattern for their PLC however we haven't been able to find a PCB female connector that will mate with the IO pins.

We'd still like to do something, though.  We'll probably just make a short loop of wires between the two boards but that's not as nice as being able to plug them together.