Hylec-APL Offers a Fast, Low Cost Alternative to Hand Soldering PCB Connections
05 August 2010
Hylec
Hylec-APL has launched a new range of surface mounting wire to board connectors. The product uses crimping to make and secure the connection simultaneously, a perfect alternative to hand soldering which is extremely time consuming. They require a very small footprint on the board and incorporate strain relief into the design. The crimp connectors from, Zierick USA, are available exclusively from Hylec-APL in the UK, their small size and simple design means they are perfect for applications including LED Lighting and Solar Concentrators.
Hylec-APL now provides the smallest discrete connector for SMT wire to board applications. The smallest connector’s dimensions are 3.68 x 2.03 mm, meaning that it is similar in dimension to hand soldered wires. However, unlike hand soldering, the connection process takes very little time. Each connector has a flat base with two sidewalls, two insulation piercing spikes protrude from the base. The flat base facilitates vacuum pickup and terminal placement on the PCB. The crimping tool stitches the wire into the terminal which further automates the process.
An added advantage of the connectors is that they require no separate strain relief. The side walls of the connectors are crimped during the connection process which ensures the connections reliability.
Other connection methods, such as two piece pin and receptacle connections, which offer strain relief, will typically be far less compact as well as having a much higher cost.
The use of the insulation piercing spikes means that there is no need to strip the end of the wire to make the connection. This allows a connection to be made at any point along the wire, a perfect solution for inline applications which require multiple terminations. The piercing occurs as the sidewalls are crimped, in one fluid movement.
The IPC Crimp and other Zierick connectors are also ideally suited for use with Aluminium substrate PCBs where through hole connections can compromise the boards thermal properties. Hand soldering to these types of PCB also require very high temperatures and can potentially damage the circuit, whilst also looking ‘messy’.
Zierick SMT connectors provide a professionally engineered solution which removes all of these problems and leaves this type of PCB looking clean and professionally finished.
Hylec’s new crimp connectors are ideal for most PCB applications. More economical and compact than many other connecting solutions, IPC Crimp Terminals are far less time consuming to install than hand soldering and offer the most efficient solution available. Hylec-APL is able to provide free, impartial advice on all of its products.
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