[sdiy] IDC connector reliability?

[cheater cheater]

Hi Jarno,


On Wed, Apr 3, 2013 at 9:29 AM, J. Verhoeven <jarno.verhoeven at ziggo.nl> wrote:
> Gold plating will help with the number of matings and contact resistance,

Not really true. Gold does not help with the number of matings, unless
it's PVD gold plating, in which case what helps with the number is the
substrate the gold is applied to.

Gold is used to prevent oxidation when there are long periods between
mating cycles.

If you want self-healing contacts, you use silver. They increase the
number of possible matings considerably, however you *have* to cycle
the connection, otherwise the surface covers in sulfides and you have
to clean it up. Quite often cleaning up means just mating the
connector a good several times until the sulfides have been scratched
off. For more severe cases you can mate with a steel or brass
connector made specifically for that purpose.

> I never had one fail (el-cheapo DIL sockets on the other hand.....), but I am by no means a veteran.

Now here's a good reason to start using gold: DIL sockets. Aluminum
ones fail because alu frost grows and grows until it grows between the
socket and the chip's pin and creates a non-conductive layer. Gold
doesn't do that. I am not sure, but I believe that it also prevents
the alu from building too much frost around the area where it's mated
with gold, because of some electronegativity magic that I all but
forgot.

Cheers,
D.

>> What is your opinion on IDC connectors and reliability? I'm wanting to
>> use these to carry power, audio and control voltages between boards to
>> save some time wiring and make things a bit cleaner.
>>
>> I do see that there are gold plated options, but I'd really like to hear
>> about the long term reliability of these connections in actual use.
>>
>>
>>
>>
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