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Comment by benlivengood | Hacker News Reader

And Molex power connectors are actually AMP Mate-n-Lok connectors.

I didn't learn this until this year...

A lot of connector series are are multi-sourced because big clients tend to require this. For example the 38999 series connectors used in military and aviation applications are made be TE, Amphenol, Souriau, ITT Cannon, Eaton...

So it's really not uncommon to have manufacturers make something thing that a different company is known for. I think it's basically just luck that Molex got the credit for it

But 38999 refers to MIL-DTL-38999. Why is it inappropriate to call the same from any manufacturer by the same name?

38999 is a bad example, because the standard came first. Better example might be something like LEMO F-series connectors, which might just be called LEMO connectors in some contexts, yet have compatible connector series from at least a couple different vendors.

Interesting! I wonder how they came up with the standard if there were no prior examples to base the standard on.

There were similar connector standards that preceded 38999, e.g. MIL-DTL-5015 as far back as the 30's, which evolved into a couple of subsequent standards, with 38999 emerging in the 70's.

Edit: just realized you were maybe referring to the LEMO F-Series compatible connectors. Sometimes a company just designs a new connector. The F-series stuff gets used on stuff like instrumentation that may or may not be ingress protected, and has a need for extremely small size and potentially getting mated/unmated often in service. My assumption is that LEMO found that there wasn't a connector on the market that did this well, and spun up a niche.

No, your first assumption was correct. I was referring to 38999. But the additional information doesn't hurt. Thanks for the info!

Which “Molex connector” are you referring to? The ATX spec specifically specifies Molex Mini-Fit part numbers, and claims this is for compatibility with PCIe: https://cdn.instructables.com/ORIG/FS8/5ILB/GU59Z1AT/FS85ILB...

Is Mate-n-Lok perhaps a compatible product from a competitor?

"Molex" usually refers to flat 4 pin AMP 1-480424-0 or Molex 8981-04P connectors(part number taken from random pdf on the Internet[1]). Confusing as it is... Actual Molex Mini-Fit are rarely colloquially referred to as Molex.

1: https://community.intel.com/cipcp26785/attachments/cipcp2678...

I've heard it argued that "Molex" means any extruded-pin connector.

Like "Kleenex" means any facial tissue that is meant to be sneezed on.

(Both uses are wrong, but both also tend to promote efficient communication.)

And "JST" is used for any small white plastic connector with one side open showing the pins. "DuPont" means "Amphenol Mini-PV" or "Harwin M-20" or any other Mini-PV clone.

I work a lot with connectors and I'm not really sure what you mean by extruded pin connectors. Typically the terminals are formed from sheet, unless you're using fancy 38999-style pins, which I believe are machined (and very expensive).

I'm not sure what they meant, either. It's just a thing I've heard, verbatim.

I think "extruded" in this context comes from CAD terms, wherein: One builds the 2D cross-section of whatever complexity is entailed, and then mashes the "Extrude" button to add a third dimension to the shape.

I don't think the term, as-used, has anything at all to do with extrusion as a manufacturing process.

At a certain point, the genericized trademark is the correct term, like how aspirin is the correct term (only term, really) for a specific preparation of acetylsalicylic acid, even though it was a trademark of the Bayer corporation.

Yeah. The same thing also happened to heroin, which was also a trademark of Bayer. ;)

I’ve seen Molex’s part catalogue, and would expect that almost any connector could be a molex part ;)

Ah, so it does appear that Mate-n-Lok is a name that AMP/TE uses for some Molex-compatible products. For example, TE’s Micro Mate-n-Lok appears to be compatible with Molex’s Micro-Fit.

It’s the one the diagram of connectors calls “peripheral power connector” but the document doesn’t seem to go into details for it. Basically the original PC drive power connector, so 5.25” drives, older hard discs, optical drives etc. use it, in the latter cases it’s been replaced by the SATA power connector.

ATX should call out Molex Mini-Fit Junior connectors. There are many Mini-Fit.

...and Berg (0.1") connectors are now Dupont, even though Dupont doesn't make them anymore, and has had nothing to do with them since 1993. Everyone called them "Berg" in 1978 when I was first exposed to them, even though Dupont had acquired the product line from Berg in 1972.

https://www.reddit.com/r/electronics/comments/ioc6sf/i_final...

I'm a bit younger and I always called 0.1" spacing headers "Berg connectors" until the last couple of years when everyone started calling them DuPont.

I don't know which is the horse and which is the cart, but AliExpress sells them as DuPont and that's how everybody in the Arduino scene refers to them.

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