Hall sensor connector

[alsmith]

What kind of connector do you use for the hall connector wiring from the wheel to your wiring harness?
My crystalyte uses a small 5 pin latching connector which I've had a few problems with soldered wires breaking (not helped by the poor quality of the original wires, I'll replace all 5 at the next motor stripdown). Soldering them is getting hard- I think age is now affecting my ability but these pins only have maybe 2mm between them on a 9mm round connector.


The connectors should be a latching type, preferably separate pins that are assembled info the connector for easier soldering but not essential, and waterproof would be nice. I was thinking about the ampseal type, but they are quite large (inline format pins).


What else is there, and what is recommended?

 

[docnjoj]

I use these small 20 -24 ga) Posilock connectors. Not perfect but very strong connections and quite small and can be waterproof. They can be reused many times and come off if you need more space to pull wires through. They do however fit through the hole of 12 or 14 mm nuts for the axles. Great for determining Hall wire order. I use Andersons for the Phase wires.
otherDoc

http://www.posi-lock.com/

 

[Samd]

Ideally it needs to fit thru the wheelnut.

 

[dogman dan]

Soldering those is a bitch, really a bitch if you are now old.

Honestly, I still kind of like the cheap scooter connectors. I can handle them, they pop out of the housing easy for putting on washers and torque arms, and are cheap and easy to find. the housing seems adequate to prevent the bending and breakage caused by the wire being able to bend at the solder.

But, you might just want to look into threading some plastic tubing or even just several layers of heat shrink over the wires exiting what you have. It would then prevent the wire bending that is the bane of those mini xlr's. What I mean is, get that clamp on the connector to hold the wires better, preventing pulling on the tiny wires at the solder.

 

[Ykick]

You've brought this up before -
http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=51385&hilit=+futaba

I've been using and suggesting Futaba servo connectors for motor Hall wires, throttle, eBrakes, practically anything that require small connector to couple signal wires. I've ditched the standard Chinese scooter connectors in my tool box for the sake of uniformity.




Are they waterproof? No. The only waterproof connectors I've found are generally HUGE. Bottom line, waterproof will never happen but a small chunk of roadie inner tube tie-wrapped on each end will secure and prevent connectors from becoming drenched. Or, just load 'em up with die-electric grease or Vaseline to keep water out.

In my workplace I have access to all the mini-XLR connectors I want. Yes, they're cool looking and fit through axle hardware but they require precise soldering which IMO is not the best way to go for connections that get jostled around. Solder wicks up into the wire and after a few connections and/or re-routing the cable, tends to break.

3-pin Futaba servo connectors must be crimped with proper yet cheap crimper and for motor Hall wiring you must use 2qty connectors to accommodate all 5 wires. I use one connector for +/-5V and another connector for the 3 signal wires.

Futaba's are used in RC models subject to vibration, crashes and harsh environments. They don't lock per say but they grip well and once you weatherproof them with a chunk of inner tube, they're not coming apart anyway.

This has been coming up more and more - after years and years looking for cheap and effective connectors this is how I roll. YMMV….

More threads -

http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=53368&hilit=+futaba
http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=51654&hilit=+futaba

 

[alsmith]

Yep, 2nd time. After the first time I replaced those tiny 5 pin things with the next size up= I think it was 9mm, 12mm, and there's another bigger one too. I'd thought the extra 3mm would help but that's only the outside diameter- the inside is nearly the same small size. Because they are captive pins it's too easy to overheat them and the plastic they are moulded into. Rather than get the next size up which will probably end up only giving marginally more space for soldering like the first size step up I'm giving in and will replace them= I've repaired them but don't have the feeling I can rely on them.

BTW I did build up the small diameter cable diameter with self amalgamating tape so the cable grips could grip the cable. It still didn't work but that's possibly due to poor soldering because of the limited space and need to keep the heat minimised.

I hadn't considered some of the connectors mentioned because they weren't latching.

Thanks for all of the suggestions!

 

[grimbasement]

There's also this thread which uses a micro USB wire. http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=28812.

 

[alsmith]

An update mentioned on a different thread, added here for completeness.

After more issues I noticed that one of the hall signal cable wires look much darker than the rest and slightly corroded/oxidised-
(co-incidentally) this turned out to be the one connected to the hall that had failed a couple of years ago. So I think that the problem I've had since building the bike has probably been down to one poor original hall wire on the Crystalyte motor. And the problem resurfaces a few months after each re-re-soldering of the connection.

I'm going to change the 5 hall wires at some stage this winter. I'm looking at the wires available now, double insulated for extra protection.
Maybe the burglar cable type looks too thin (7/0.18 mm [0.22 mm²] about 30 gauge), and 1mm² (18 gauge) too thick especially double insulated, so I will probably use 0.65 mm² (22 gauge) which seems available as 6 core burglar alarm signal cable, or there is 4 core screened.
Any thoughts on using 4 core + screened using the screening as -'ve or 6 core?

update
I've just found some 7 x 0.5mm² cable which says AUTO CABLE THIN WALL so might be a bit tougher and more flexible. Typical ebay though, they say thin wall but not what the actual diameter is. If the diameter is ok I'll get this type.