Worst connector ever invented

[Welchyboy1]

Am I the only one who loathes these connectors and just removes them immediately

Apparently they also turn a class 1 light fitting into a class 2 light fitting, this is surely not compliant unless you only have a single cable supplying the light fitting, so then the connector can completely enclose any single insulated piece of conductor

which is usually not the case

a loop in scenario at the ceiling and you have no chance, I have come across lots of these lately and have just been crimping a lug to the earths and screwing them to the mounting plate

not ideal but what else can you do with them?

 

[nicebutdim]

The powers that be say they're fine for use in class 2 lights to be sold in the UK, so manufacturer's make the most of this cheap solution.

The only compliant means of fitting them is through the use of an additional junction.

Hateful junk.

 

[Dustydazzler]

Unless you cut a 2 inch x 2 inch hole in the ceiling and shove all the cables up the hole then these connections are useless.
MAybe fine in Europe where they have a 0.75 multi core supplying a light but in the UK they are garbage

 

[WallaceP]

I would love to see the manufactures install one of these lights. Complete waste of time along with the screws and rawl plugs supplied with the fittings....

 

[Markyd]

Refuse to install any fittings that have these now.....pain in the aris

 

[littlespark]

Bloody awful connections.


I fitted a Next light fitting the other day. Class I, and came with a plug/socket combo.
Screw bracket to ceiling, connect up socket. Then simply lift up the fitting, plug it in and secure to bracket.

No fiddling on trying to hold it all up and connect with one hand.

 

[Risteard]

Bloody awful connections.


I fitted a Next light fitting the other day. Class I, and came with a plug/socket combo.
Screw bracket to ceiling, connect up socket. Then simply lift up the fitting, plug it in and secure to bracket.

No fiddling on trying to hold it all up and connect with one hand.

As above, in fairness to them all of the Next luminaires I've come across have been good and well designed.

 

[nicebutdim]

I was handed a decorative outdoor wall light yesterday and expected the worst. Turned out to be well designed and constructed, with any amount of space for connections. Conversely, the bulkheads and floodlights I'd picked up from a wholesaler weren't quite so well thought out.

 

[pc1966]

When I saw the title of "worst connector ever invented" my immediate thoughts were phono or jack plugs for audio where the signal makes contact before the earth FFS!

 

[Lucien Nunes]

For sure these things in the OP are not good and aren't suitable for many typical installation scenarios. But if we are talking about plug/socket connectors too then there are hundreds of claimants for the title, either because they are impossible to work with, dangerous, fragile or unreliable.

From a safety point of view in 2023, there are a couple of power types from the early to mid 1900s that are almost unbelievable now if you are not already familiar and comfortable with them. A system where you can insert your fingers - half of your hand even - straight into the live socket contacts, and the plug has its screw terminals on the outside, probably sounds like a practical joke; but it was a real thing and I have used them.

If anybody cares to listen to my rants about the fiddly ones I will happily rant.

 

[DPG]

For sure these things in the OP are not good and aren't suitable for many typical installation scenarios. But if we are talking about plug/socket connectors too then there are hundreds of claimants for the title, either because they are impossible to work with, dangerous, fragile or unreliable.

From a safety point of view in 2023, there are a couple of power types from the early to mid 1900s that are almost unbelievable now if you are not already familiar and comfortable with them. A system where you can insert your fingers - half of your hand even - straight into the live socket contacts, and the plug has its screw terminals on the outside, probably sounds like a practical joke; but it was a real thing and I have used them.

If anybody cares to listen to my rants about the fiddly ones I will happily rant.

More details of those please Lucien!

I'd also nominate high density DIN connectors. The circular type. Nightmare to get a soldering iron to some of the centre contacts, even with a fine tip.

 

[timhoward]

I second the request for a download from @Lucien Nunes remarkable brain please.

An older sparks told me that when semi-insulated 3 pin plugs became a thing, they caused a few issues when introduced as the contacts in some older sockets weren't always fully on the uninsulated portion of the pin. Don't know if any truth in it?

 

[Lucien Nunes]

I've never knowingly experienced faulty contact despite using lots of older sockets. I wonder what parameters were used to decide on the dimensions of the sleeve; whether an absolute minimum distance between the active contact area and the face of the socket could be inferred from the original BS1363 dimensions, or whether they had to measure examples of sockets and take the worst case. Perhaps there were a few specific problem sockets where a particularly slim design of shutter had resulted in the contacts being less deeply recessed.

My first contender for the worst connector is the cigarette lighter plug which, despite being one of the world's most standardised and widely recognised types for many decades, is bad in 137 different ways.

• The socket wasn't actually intended to be a socket at all, but a global standard has evolved for repurposing it as one.
• The plug actively tries to push itself out of the socket by spring force, staying in only due to friction which can't be too high to avoid pulling the socket out of the dashboard.
• Although the socket does contain a pair of sprung positive contacts, the plug doesn't use them as they're not standardised.
• Instead, the pin makes one tiny point of contact against the central rivet or strap that isn't necessarily made of an ideal metal for low resistance contact.
• This central contact zone gets corroded and grime baked on by the heat of the lighter element, but never wiped clean by the plug.
• Anything conductive that falls into its gaping mouth gets funneled towards the small gap between positive and negative contacts.
• There is no officially defined current rating.
• Many fused plugs add further high-resistance contact points by relying on the same spring pressure to contact the fuse.
• And 129 other compelling reasons.

In short, the socket and plug both have features that actively degrade their own functionality. Although other connectors can be badly designed or made, it's hard to find one that is so inherently unsuited to its job as the cigarette lighter.

 

[DPG]

I've never knowingly experienced faulty contact despite using lots of older sockets. I wonder what parameters were used to decide on the dimensions of the sleeve; whether an absolute minimum distance between the active contact area and the face of the socket could be inferred from the original BS1363 dimensions, or whether they had to measure examples of sockets and take the worst case. Perhaps there were a few specific problem sockets where a particularly slim design of shutter had resulted in the contacts being less deeply recessed.

My first contender for the worst connector is the cigarette lighter plug which, despite being one of the world's most standardised and widely recognised types for many decades, is bad in 137 different ways.

• The socket wasn't actually intended to be a socket at all, but a global standard has evolved for repurposing it as one.
• The plug actively tries to push itself out of the socket by spring force, staying in only due to friction which can't be too high to avoid pulling the socket out of the dashboard.
• Although the socket does contain a pair of sprung positive contacts, the plug doesn't use them as they're not standardised.
• Instead, the pin presses against the central rivet or strap that is not designed to make low-resistance contact and isn't necessarily made of an ideal metal.
• This central contact zone gets corroded and grime baked on by the heat of the lighter element, but never wiped clean by the plug.
• Anything conductive that falls into its gaping mouth gets funneled towards the small gap between positive and negative contacts.
• There is no officially defined current rating.
• Many fused plugs add further high-resistance contact points by relying on the same spring pressure to contact the fuse.
• And 129 other compelling reasons.

In short, the socket and plug both have features that actively degrade their own functionality.

Good call on the cigarette plug. Another issue is connecting the negative wire to the spring contacts. I've seen some really badly soldered joints here, probably because of a combination of the poor quality metal/coating and the fact that it acts as a heatsink whilst soldering.

 

[Rockingit]

I've never knowingly experienced faulty contact despite using lots of older sockets. I wonder what parameters were used to decide on the dimensions of the sleeve; whether an absolute minimum distance between the active contact area and the face of the socket could be inferred from the original BS1363 dimensions, or whether they had to measure examples of sockets and take the worst case. Perhaps there were a few specific problem sockets where a particularly slim design of shutter had resulted in the contacts being less deeply recessed.

My first contender for the worst connector is the cigarette lighter plug which, despite being one of the world's most standardised and widely recognised types for many decades, is bad in 137 different ways.

• The socket wasn't actually intended to be a socket at all, but a global standard has evolved for repurposing it as one.
• The plug actively tries to push itself out of the socket by spring force, staying in only due to friction which can't be too high to avoid pulling the socket out of the dashboard.
• Although the socket does contain a pair of sprung positive contacts, the plug doesn't use them as they're not standardised.
• Instead, the pin makes one tiny point of contact against the central rivet or strap that isn't necessarily made of an ideal metal for low resistance contact.
• This central contact zone gets corroded and grime baked on by the heat of the lighter element, but never wiped clean by the plug.
• Anything conductive that falls into its gaping mouth gets funneled towards the small gap between positive and negative contacts.
• There is no officially defined current rating.
• Many fused plugs add further high-resistance contact points by relying on the same spring pressure to contact the fuse.
• And 129 other compelling reasons.

In short, the socket and plug both have features that actively degrade their own functionality. Although other connectors can be badly designed or made, it's hard to find one that is so inherently unsuited to its job as the cigarette lighter.

I was expecting you to say Camlock......