How Important are Right Angles in Connectivity?

Why Use a Right Angle Cable or Adapter?

(blogger@L-com.com)

L-com offers a lot of right angle products, including cable assemblies with right angle connectors at the ends, and adapters that allow cables to bend at 90°. And they're continuing to add more right angle equipment every month, as this recent press release shows. One question is: why? Why are right angle products so popular, and why is their popularity gaining? What is the problem that they are solving?

Dust Caps for Electrical Connectors

Covers for Your Connectors

(blogger@L-com.com)

When you look at an entire link between devices, from terminal to server, for instance, the highest vulnerability point is at the connectors. That's because they are two separate products, most often a jack and a plug, that must correctly mate and allow the signal to pass with minimal loss. It's no surprise that the more connections you have in a link, the greater the loss overall.

Because they are so important and vulnerable, many people buy inexpensive connector covers to protect the connectors from anything that could harm them, including things like dust and particulates, moisture, and damage from moving or shipping the device or cable. Did you know that investing a small amount in dust cap protectors could dramatically extend the life of your devices and cables?

Coaxial Crimp Tools

Coax Crimping Tools (customerservice@L-com.com)

Coax cables are relatively easy to put together, if you have the right equipment and know what you're doing. That is because most coax connectors are "crimp style". That isn't to say all of them are, but twist-ons don't always get as great a connection, solder styles are sometimes sensitive to bending and flexing, and compression styles are just rare.

If you are going to be making a lot of coax cable assemblies, you'll need a coax crimping tool. These are fairly wrench-like in shape and design, but in the jaws of the devices there is a "hex" shaped hole. Different coax connectors require different sized hexes to properly crimp them.

When you are buying coax connectors, make sure to check with the manufacturer what the crimping dimensions are. At L-com, we usually put them on the engineering drawing, which you can freely download from our site. Once you know the crimping dimensions, make sure that you have or that you get a crimping tool with the correct sized hex die. Many crimping tools have the dies already permanently attached so you don't have to worry about losing extra pieces. But other crimp tools are more like frames for interchangeable dies, allowing you to use the same tool in multiple situations.

If you need help selecting a tool for your job, contact us at L-com and we will walk you through it!

L-com Connector Chart

What do you call this connector?(customerservice@L-com.com)

Like any industry, the connectivity industry has its jargon and unique terms. Among the more frustrating is the complicated names of connector types. Do you need a BNC or an RCA? Do you have a DB15 or an HD15? What the heck is the difference between a MD6 and a PS/2?

Fortunately, one of L-com's more popular pages on its web site, www.L-com.com, is the connector chart page. This is a free page that anyone can access to see pictures of connectors next to their names. Need a closeup? Click on any of the pictures and you can get a blown-up version to compare to your own product.

The connector chart is just one of the free educational benefits to L-com's web page, which includes tips, tutorials, video tips, educational newsletters, and white papers. On top of that, you can get CAD models, engineering drawings, and more details on most of our products for free as well! So, even if you're not ready to buy connectivity products, if you have an interest in them our site is worth a visit. Check it out here: www.L-com.com.

DVI Video Standard

Digital Video Interface (DVI) - What is it?

(customerservice@L-com.com)

DVI is one of the video standards for the emerging field of digital video. As you get newer televisions, HDTV boxes, video cards for PCs, and other video equipment, you may see this type of connector more and more.

The connector is shaped vaguely like a D-Sub connector, with screws on either side to hold it mounted. It has up to 24 pins in the middle, plus four pins possibly around a bar to one side. I say "up to 24 pins" and "possibly around a bar" because there are actually several types of DVI connectors possible.

Three DVI signal types

In instruction booklets that reference the DVI cables you need, you may see a letter after DVI, like this: "DVI-D". There are actually three different types of DVI: DVI-A, DVI-I, and DVI-D. The -A is for analog only, the -D is for digital only, and the -I has both analog and digital pins. How can you tell the difference? The easiest way is to look at the bar at one side of the connector. The four pins around it are for analog signals, so if you do not have those pins, the connector is a DVI-D: it only includes digital lines. If you do have pins around the bar, and most of the pins in the center (there may be a strip of pins missing in the middle. More on this in a second), you probably have a DVI-I connector. If you only have 12 of the middle pins, you probably have a DVI-A connector.

On a male connector, usually on a DVI cable, it is important to know which type it is because if you try to plug a connector into a female port that doesn't have enough holes for the pins, then some of the pins may bend, destroying the cable. On the other hand, female DVI-I connectors can accommodate both DVI-D and DVI-A connectors because they have holes for all of the pins. Most newer DVI equipment is coming with DVI-I connectors standard for that reason.

Single Link and Dual Link DVI

Single Link and Dual Link has to do with how many channels of transmission are available in a cable assembly. You can visually tell a single link male connector from a dual link by the centermost vertical strip of pins. If they are missing, then the cable is single link only. If they are there (meaning all 24 pins are present), then the cable is dual link.

Contrary to many beliefs, dual link isn't really "better", in that the picture quality is the same. Dual link is primarily for getting up to very high resolutions, usually too high for most TVs to get to. Dual link DVI can reach a resolution of 2048 x 1536 at 60 Hz Refresh Rate, sometimes called QXGA or Quad Extended Graphics Array. In most commercial cases, this isn't necessary.

The holidays are drawing to a close, but L-com sales are still on!

Plenum Patch Cables (Fiber Optic and Ethernet UTP) Sell-Off (customerservice@L-com.com)

As the year ends, we took a look around our massive warehouse and noticed many boxes of custom Plenum rated cable products built for one of our customers who didn't end up needing them. Well, we don't need them either, so we've decided to sell them at incredible prices just to give us more space!

The link to the items on sale is here:

http://www.L-com.com/PlenCloseout

Among the items are a variety of multimode and singlemode fiber optic patch cables, OFNP or Plenum rated, and various colors and lengths of Cat 5e and Cat 6 rated Plenum Ethernet cables. And the prices are so low, some of them are even cheaper than our PVC cables!

Along with that, the Overstock Sale that we started a couple of weeks ago is still going on, so check that out as well.

Hope your New Years is a happy and prosperous one!

L-com's End of Year 2006 Sale!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS (customerservice@L-com.com)

Happy holidays to our blog readers and L-com customers! As a token of appreciation, our sales reps sent out the below email on Wednesday:

Hi,

Happy Holidays and thank you for being an L-com customer! 2006 was a very successful year for me here at L-com, and I’m hoping it was a good year for you too.

Because I appreciate your business, I want to make sure you know about a special End Of Year Sale going on here. I picked a couple of items I thought might interest you, but if you want to see a complete list of many more items click here.

You can’t access this special sale list from our home page, so I’m sending you the link specifically by email. Copy and paste it into your browser:

http://www.L-com.com/2006EOYsale

If you want to discuss your projects or connectivity needs, please give me a call or send me an email! I look forward to working with you in the year to come. Have a happy and prosperous New Year!

Thanks,

L-com Sales Department

TRD855BL-7 $0.99 69% Off Regular Price!

DGBH15F $3.25 60% Off Regular Price!

CC58C-5 $4.00 53% Off Regular Price!

I want to extend the same invitation to our blog readers! If there is anything we can do for you, let us know!