So, I need to assemble some CAN Pin connectors for my team’s bot. The problem is, I can’t find a useful diagram or set of instructions for doing so. Can someone please help?
What do you mean by CAN pins? Are you having trouble with the sequencing of things, or trouble with the fabrication of the physical wire-to-wire connection?
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We need specific lengths of CAN and we bought a connector kit to build the connectors.
This?
Yes.
A GOOD pair of needle-nose pliers / wire strippers and some patience/ practice and you can do this without a crimper. However I would recommend soldering and heat shrinking tbh, one less point(s) of failure.
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I would specifically discourage soldering especially for someone (the OP) who appears to be inexperienced in working with electrical and electronic components. It is very likely that someone with little experience soldering would melt the insulation on the small wires used on the CAN bus.
The shells of the connectors that the OP is using will totally enclose the contacts so that there are no exposed parts so it is not necessary to add any extra insulation like heatshrink tubing. Also, adding heatshrink over the wires and contacts will make them too large to fit inside the connector shells.
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There are some less expensive crimpers out there that will work, but make sure it lists Dupont connectors and the size wire you’ll be using (I prefer 18 AWG, but you can use smaller stuff). With pliers and no previous experience you will need about ten times as many pins in your parts bin as you need on the wires, to get them to fit inside the housing and be securely crimpted. And +1 to @philso’s insulaton stuff for the same reason, and +1 against soldering if you do know what you’re doing, and +2 if you don’t.
I can agree with the latter part of this statement, not the case for the former.
(edit) Unless you are referring to soldering the dupont connectors… if that is the case I am firmly in your camp of do not do it. (which it turns out to be the case… my bad for the ambiguity. I was reffering wire end to wire end, no connector included.)
Even if you’re a decent solderer, there are several things that can go wrong adding solder to a crimp. (Your pin wont fit without a crimp anyway).
- You can run solder into the connector, interfering with the fit
- You can make the crimp too large to fit in the housing
- But mostly, you WILL stiffen the wire where the solder is, creating a stress riser where it transitions to unsoldered wire. The stresses and metal fatigue of the wire will be exaggerated at that point.
also recommend using these to secure the connection
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