Talk:DC connector

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This page still needs work. I think what is there is helpful and accurate, just obviously incomplete. DIN standards should be added, and also a description of the generic DC plugs especially the 2.0 and 2.5mm pin sizes. And some photos. Sony at one stage had a well-defined convention of their own, four sizes used for 3V, 6V, 9V and 12V I think, but this may have been obsoleted by the "universal" power supplies they now offer. Andrewa 17:33, 27 Sep 2003 (UTC)

I can't find the DIN standard (it can be bought from their website) or the Sony convention, but I've added something on generic plugs. I'll add some photos in time, apart from that I think it's all from me on the subject for now at least. Andrewa 00:56, 29 Sep 2003 (UTC)

I believe the "Sony standard" you recall is still around--it's the EIAJ standard, that has five different connector sizes for voltage ranges centered around those you describe, plus one for 15-18V. I've added additional details on these connectors to the page.

It should be noted that there may be some rounding errors in some of the plug dimensions. I have contacted one manufacturer recently that assured me that one of the plugs they offered (that is not on this list) was equivelant to the RadioShack adaptaplug Size H. This is not the case at all, and it may be that some of the dimensions are reported as slightly different values by different manufacturers.

[1] has a few sizes not yet included on this page.

I have heard hearsay that Brother (maker of label makers, etc.) got frustrated with the confusion over barrel connector sizes that they specified their own set of about 5 connectors for use on their products. Some of these may be sizes already included on this page but not marked as such, or they may be entirely absent from it.

Contents 1 Further questions 2 Minor stylistic note 3 Nokia Cell Phones 4 Spam tag

[edit] Further questions

• Which DIN paper standardized the DIN connectors?
• Can it be true that laptop systems always have the minus polarity on the outside of the plug (as the generic power supply I bought does not allow to change polarity)?
  • This is the typical and desired case--putting positive voltage on the outside of most barrell DC connectors is undesirable because a short to ground can easily occur if the connector touches gruond. This is why using mini headphone plugs for power is not a smart thing, because neither the tip nor ring is protected from accidental contacts with ground, but a well-designed barrell connector with the positive voltage on the interior, recessed from the tip--is the preferred design.
• Aren't there ways to construct electronics so that polarity doesn't matter?

Thanks, --Abdull 18:55, 28 May 2006 (UTC)

• What size DC plugs do the new HP/Compaq and Dell "Smart Chargers" use? It seems to be a 3 pole connector with an O/D of approx 7mm, inner diameter of 5mm and a center pin of 0.7mm. The cable has a centre core and then two layers of shielding. I think our engineer said that the centre pin was a signal, the inner contact is the power and the outer contact is the shield. --Bodlang 12:34, 29 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Minor stylistic note

Following ISO 31-0 and the SI style guide for writing units, please write a voltage always as in "9 V", not "9V" or even "9v". The suffix "DC" is rather redundant in an article about DC connectors ...

We have our own style guidelines for units, though the outcome is the same in this case. — Omegatron 19:08, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Nokia Cell Phones

Nokia lists "DC-4 compatible charger" and similar numerical references (1-5 perhaps?).

• Are these equivalent to EIAJ RC-5320A 01-05 standards?
• Are there U.S. compliance/compatibility considerations (outside the obvious voltage ranges)?

Iggynelix 02:34, 28 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Spam tag

The Manufactures section is in my opinion, spam. I followed the link from the spam cleanup page, and am thinking that deleting that section would be a good idea.

However, I do also think that the author(s) of that section did so on good faith, but are inadvertently advertising those companies as companies that sell stuff, which is not encyclopedic. Please can somebody else advise / take action. Thanks, Stwalkerster 21:54, 7 March 2007 (UTC)

I'm the editor who added the spam tag. The problem I saw was that I couldn't think of a way to determine which ones were notable. Personally, I think only the Powerpole, the Molex, and the round barrel connecter are notable. But that's because they're notable to me. At the VERY least, any site that exists solely to provide replacement laptop parts should probably be removed. --Mdwyer 21:46, 8 March 2007 (UTC)

I'm the editor that added many of those links (and who added the PowerPole section, the EIAJ section, and the Adaptaplug matrix and cross-references), and did not intend the links as spam, but as a good source of reference material for use by others and myself in continuing to refine this page. I have used all or nearly all in my research. Perhaps moving the list to References would be more appropriate?

I believe it is still an important resource, but presenting it differently may avoid it seeming as spam, such as making more of the links point to specific DC connector pages and data sheets, instead of the home page. --Peter K. Sheerin, K6WEB 00:12, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

After looking at the lists again, and realizing how many had been added after my initial list that do indeed seem to be spam, I went through the list to find the notable ones and created links specific to DC connectors and placed them in the references section, where their purpose is much clearer and useful.

Thus, I deleted the Manufacturers section.

I'm leaving the Distributors and Laptop section for now to provoke further comments. Perhaps the laptop information is useful enough it should be its own page? It could contain a table listing which connectors each major manufacturer uses. --Peter K. Sheerin, K6WEB 04:50, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

Thank you very much for adding (and maintaining!) that information. I've got an Icom with a scorched diode because I used the wrong powerpoles, once. Actually, it looks like there's enough information, there, to spin Powerpole off to its own article. If I find some time, I'll try to do just that. --Mdwyer 19:59, 27 March 2007 (UTC)