2 cent connectors now 56 cents!

[cteno4]

I've used round pin PC board strips for over 20 years to make small connectors. You can buy the 40pin male and female usually for less than a buck for a m/f pair on ebay or $2-3 from a big electronics house. They are nice as they have indents so you can easily snip them down to as many as you need. Super simple just solder your wire onto them and add a bit of heat shrink to insulate. About the cheapest and simplest plug connector out there. Great to attach stuff to PC boards as well.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/10-Pcs-Gold-Plated-2-54mm-Male-40-Pin-Single-Row-Straight-Round-Pin-Header-Strip-/170842982053?hash=item27c70906a5:g:~IwAAOSw-vlVkQOq

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2Pcs-40Pin-2-54mm-Single-Row-Round-Female-Pin-Header-Socket-gold-plated-New-/252222252225?hash=item3ab99e24c1:g:hxQAAOSwHnFVngLf

 

My jaw hit the floor today when micro mark listed a new product. A m/f pair of 32 pin connectors and a title bit of heat shrink tubing for the bargain price of $17.95! That's a 25x markup for absurdly off the shelf items!

 

http://www.micromark.com/32-pin-micro-connector-set,12332.html?ns_md=Email&ns_sc=Marketing&ns_cn=16WS14&ns_pc=16WS14&utm_source=Marketing&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=16WS14

 

Way to go micro Mark, what the market will bare! Caveat emptor!

 

At least they did a little how to sheet!

 

http://www.micromark.com/html_pages/instructions/86559i/86559-connectors.pdf

 

Jeff

[kvp]

It's the same thing as selling leds with wires and the cheapest chinese connector attached as a 'model railroad lighting system' for way more than the price of the components. I think it's about the (lack of) knowhow and expecting enough clueless people who will buy these kits.

[Guest Closed Account 1]

How do tbeir prices compare to the local electronics supply?

[kvp]

32 huf or 11.2280702 cents (~0.12 usd) for each 40 pin connector (the cheaper variant), that's around 0.24 usd for the pair (including vat, but excluding wires and heat shrink) at the nearest store right now if you pick it up locally. (it's a 10 minute walk from my workplace) The high precision gold plated 25 pin variant is a bit below 2 usd and the 50 pin double row (also gold plated) is 3 usd (these are the two most expensive ones i could find). This is in Hungary, European Union with 27% VAT and high import taxes.

 

For that price, imho they should solder on some longer length of wire, tin the other ends and add the heat shrink.

[cteno4]

Unfortunately, local shops are very sparse these days around DC metro to pick up this sort of stuff actually. I've gotten 20 40 pin at a time for like $3 on ebay in the past! Male ends are usually more expensive than the female ends usually. Not sourced them from any of the big part companies, but they can be had wholesale (I doubt any of these are made in the USA) for pennies each. If you have the patience to wait a couple of weeks the ebay option is great as great price cheap.

 

You can cheat and just use females as the female pin fits nicely into the female socket. The just stick your wire into the hole and solder. You can get it so flush you don't even need to use heat shrink if you don't want or just dab a tiny bit of enamel paint on it!

 

This slays me as its not like the led with leads where soldering smd LEDs is a daunting for many, here they are just reselling a very common part at a way jacked up price. You still have to do all the soldering!

 

Also irks me as forever I have been preaching about this style of connector for simple stuff like LEDs and such. It's so cheap and simple to do, but this makes it seem uber expensive!

 

I actually called their product group and let them know this was not making them look good selling something that can he had for a very small fraction of the price. Just looks like they are gouging or they did something really stupid with their sourcing. I do like micro Mark as they collect all the great mini tools and are generally good quality and a not unreasonable price. Some items you can find elsewhere cheaper for the same item or a knockoff for a fraction of the price (but it is a knockoff!) but nothing like this pricking!

 

Jeff