This isn’t a ham radio post, per se, but this kind of problem could crop up in an amateur radio station, so I’m posting it here. About a week ago, my washing machine started quitting mid-cycle. I’d go downstairs expecting to find clean clothes (yes, I do my own laundry!), but instead, there’d be a tub full of water and wet clothes.
At first, I thought it was the AC outlet. One of the sockets had gotten flakey, and sometimes moving the washer’s plug from one socket to another got it running again. So, Saturday, I replaced the AC sockets. Unfortunately, that failed to correct the problem.
On Sunday, I went over to the hardware store and bought a new right-angle AC plug (which cost nearly $7!). I chopped off the old plug and put that on, but no joy.
With a sigh, I popped open the washing machine’s control panel and found the two nylon connectors that you see in the photo below. Ever since my experience with the nylon power connector on the Omni VII that we had at WA2HOM, I’ve hated the things. The AC comes in from the left and connects to the main wiring harness via the horizontal nylon connector. The connector mounted vertically connects to the motor and gearbox below.
I jiggled the AC connector, and voilá, the machine started working again. I unplugged the machine, disconnected the cable, sprayed some contact cleaner into both the male and female sides, and plugged it back together. I’d like to say that did the trick, but the connection is still flakey. Not as flakey as before, but still not 100%, either.
I asked about this on Twitter and got the following advice:
- The stock ARES answer is: Convert it to Powerpole!
- Have you got the contact removal tool? If so, slide contacts out and tighten up the sockets with pliers.
- Corrossion? Open shut open shut open shut open shut. That was the 6-month fix on a 2001 Ford Escape airbag connector (!). Friction cleaned the contacts.
- Chop it off and install a new plug maybe?
- Bypass it with a slice and be willing to cut, if removal needed.
Replacing the connector would probably be the best approach, but the cables aren’t long enough to cut off the existing terminals and put new ones on. I’m not sure that PowerPoles are the best answer, either. They seem to like to be connected and disconnected regularly to avoid contact resistance buildup, and I don’t really want to have to open up the control panel regularly.
I think that leaves me with solution #2. I don’t have a contact removal tool, but maybe the hardware store will have one. Or, now that I’m thinking about it, maybe one of our ham radio club members has one.
What do you think? Am I on the right track?
Dave New, N8SBE says
Maybe kin to the old Molex connectors used for floppy drive power and sometimes rig power? The female terminals had a bad habit of spreading when side stress was placed on them, which is what it appears to be in the photo you showed. I actually had a Molex tool in my vast junque box — the challenge will be to find it.
Anderson power poles — love em or hate em. They have virtually no retention force, unless you use the little metal roll pin to hold them together. Then if you lose the pin in the innards, it can short things out nicely. Finally, in spite of all claims to the contrary, you can actually plug them in backwards, with the attendant ‘springin sparkin” results expected. How they ever were chosen as the standard ARES connector is beyond me.
Jim, KE8CAN says
These type of connectors have plenty of room to use a fine, flat tip micro-screwdriver to push in the barbs that hold the pins and sockets in place. A little gentle squeeze to tighten the socket, gently bend the barbs back out a bit, and snap back into place.
I deal with these on the job regularly, and I haven’t bothered to pick up the removal tool. It’s just as easy and convenient to use the driver. Sealed connectors are another matter, the removal tool makes working on those much easier.
Dave K7RPM says
You are unlikely to find Molex pin removal tools at the hardware store. Best bet is amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Connector-Remover-Computer-Extractor-Sleeving/dp/B0094MIS9U/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1516713197&sr=8-2&keywords=molex+connector+pin+removal+tool
Mike says
If it was my suds tube, I’d first make all the existing contacts shiny. Spend a little time with jeweler’s file, sandpaper, whatever. Get every contact squeaky clean the very best I could. Then button it up and fire it up.
If it failed after that, I’d splice direct. Since it’s tight, two splices per line will probably be needed. But first I’d try making every contact look brand new.
Steve C - KE8HXM says
Have you considered individual male/female pairs of quick disconnect connectors? We used to call the male part spade lugs, but I don’t recall the old term for the female counterparts. Nowdays they call them quick disconnects. I’ve done some home washing machine tinkering in the past and on other various machines and electronics around the house, and when it comes to wiring I have noticed that these block wiring connectors made of nylon tend to weaken and crumble with age. You may have good results with cleaning and reforming the retainers on the individual conductors, but if it is the nylon structure breaking down and it were my choice I’d use the quick disconnects to replace the whole mess. They stay together but you can take them apart if needed, unlike direct soldering or those tube or clip splicers which are more or less permanent. It just depends on how many times you want to fix this problem. The other alternative in my opinion is to replace the nylon connectors with the same type new parts.
73, and good luck!
Doc KK4ZU says
This post takes me down memory lane; I think I can safely state that those nylon-housed tinned connectors are nearly universally despised by DIY and pro equipment repair techs. Their sole virtue is that they are inexpensive. As you have no doubt discovered, cleaning is, at best, a temporary fix for old connectors. The female plug terminals lose whatever modest bit of tension they possess when new, so as the plugs age, they just stop working as intended. This causes the heat rise in the contact set to increase, and of course heat often accelerates corrosion, and ultimately damages the very thin plating on the contact set. Even on “dry” applications, such as line level audio, they just fail: imagine a $300,000 recording console throwing craps during a big-ticket session because a 3-cent contact failed! Even worse, half a reel of 2-inch multi-track recording tape spewing across a control room because a reel motor lost power. We may safely theorize that there are two types of inexpensive nylon multi-pole connectors: those that have failed, and those that will fail.
For DIY repairs, I would personally opt to use in-line splices, either hard wired, or with single pole crimped contact pairs. The wires in your picture appear to be color-coded, so even if you have to remove the controller and timer sub-assembly, you should have no problems, right? IMO, Powerpoles are a non-starter in this application. Probably too large, and in my experience using them over many years, they tend to be pretty poor for low current contacts, and useful up to their maximum rated current as long as the connections are mated and disconnected on a pretty regular basis; the contacts are just not all that air-tight.