High grade connectors

[Michael D. Porter]

James Montebello wrote:
> 
> Can anyone point me to a mail-order (a Web store would be excellent)
> source of good weatherproof electrical connectors?  I don't need think
> I need Mil-Spec or aerospace grade, but something better than the stuff
> you'd see at a typical hardware store.  The car I hack on has an engine
> compartment that's pretty much open to the weather, so I need them to be
> rugged.

Two possibilities--Packard WeatherPack, which someone has already
mentioned. Try this to get an email address for a list of distributors:

http://www.delphiauto.com/electric/electric.html 

There's also another weathertight connector manufacturer out there,
Deutsch:

This is the link for the only distributor I could find in short order:

http://www.richeyelec.com/

Deutsch makes connectors similar to Weatherpack, but almost all I've
seen are in rectangular pack, while the Packard line has a wide variety
of connector packages.

Deutsch claims that, properly assembled, their connectors are
operational to three feet underwater. In actual practice, we do find
that they leak, but that, I believe, is mostly due to our own engineers'
incompetence (i.e., running a bare shield wire connection through the
seal on the connector, which wicks water like crazy). The sealing design
and seal materials for both Packard and Deutsch appear to be very
similar--both are likely some form of silicone rubber. 

The clear advantage that I can see for the Packard is that a number of
their smaller (6-pin and under) packages will take differing wire and
seal sizes, while the Deutsch has a common seal with many holes for the
same size wire. Okay if you're bundling many wires of the same gauge,
but not okay if there's lots of variance in wire size.

Cheers.