Xref: utzoo comp.sys.ibm.pc:31048 comp.periphs:1881 comp.misc:6484
Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!apple!voder!pyramid!oliveb!tymix!antares!pnelson
From: pnelson@antares.UUCP (Phil Nelson)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc,comp.periphs,comp.misc
Subject: Re: RS-232 protocol primer (long)
Summary: I prefer females
Message-ID: <473@antares.UUCP>
Date: 5 Jul 89 06:36:46 GMT
References: <24acaae5@ralf>
Reply-To: pnelson@antares.UUCP (Phil Nelson)
Organization: Tymnet QSATS, San Jose CA
Lines: 55
Keywords:

|In article <471@antares.UUCP>, pnelson@antares.UUCP (Phil Nelson) writes:
|}In article <821@cf-cm.UUCP> sme@computing-maths.cardiff.ac.uk (Simon Elliott) writes:
|}|In article <1989Jun26.155855.1680@utzoo.uucp>, henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) writes:
|}|| ...  The way these
|}|| particular connectors are built, the male connectors are much more
|}|| durable (solid post, as opposed to the springy sleeve on the female end),
|}|| so they ought to be used in the position where the connector is harder
|}|| to replace.
|}|
|}|Now I am confused.  I always thought that the male connector was the one
|}|with the pins, rather than the sockets.  It's been a long day, and I may be
|}|reading Henry's article incorrectly, but he seems to be saying that the solid
|}|block with the sockets in it is male, and that the flimsy shell with the pins
|}|in it is female.  Do I need a basic biology lesson?
|}
|} No, you're right. Henry is wrong. Amazing, isn't it?
|
|Henry is right, you've both misread him.  He was talking about the thin metal
|sleeves INSIDE the solid block of a female connector.  If one of them gets
|bent out of shape, the corresponding pin of the male connector will not make
|proper contact.  On the other hand, in the unlikely event that a pin on the
|male end should get bent, you can always use a screwdriver to bend it back
|into place....

 You're right, I misread Henry's article (sorry, Henry). I thought that what
was being said was that the female connector should be on equipment, not
the male. My experience is that the female DB-25 connector is more durable
than the male, precisely because the "sleeves" are recessed within the
connector block. The male connector is subject to bent pins, which can only
be straightened very few times before they break, split pins (most pins
are made in two halves, pressed together, these can split at the tip,
creating a "V" which can snag the edge of the "sleeves" in the socket),
and bent shells. Those installations where the where the male connector
is recessed within the equipment are not subject to the bent shells, but
the first two still apply.

 I have dealt with quite a few of these connectors, and I have never had to
replace a "sleeve" on a female connector, I have replaced bent and broken
pins on the male connectors.

 In ideal conditions, I suppose the male connector will last longer, because
it has no spring to lose tension over time, in the real world (the one I
work in, at least), rough treatment damages more male connectors.

 By the way, does anyone know how long the spring lasts?


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-- 
Phil Nelson at (but not speaking for)                  OnTyme:NSC.P/Nelson
Tymnet, McDonnell Douglas Network Systems Company       Voice:408-922-7508
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