Are plugs acceptably good considering the ease of panel removal, or
should plug connectors be avoided for the sake of reliability? Are
there any particular plug types/makes that are especially recommended or
any that should be avoided?
Without doubt more reliability is obtained without plug connectors.
Remember, for each plug/socket there are actually three connections...
wire to plug, plug to socket and socket to wire.
That said, the space behind the Europa panel is tight (too *!@
$
tight!!!) and subpanels on plug connectors make life a lot easier.
There are a variety of connectors you can use but I am using simple AMP
Universal Mate-N-Lok connectors. Each pin can nominally handle 15A but
none of the circuits you'll use on a Europa will pull that. For
'essential' circuits I have doubled up on the pin connection. Good
practice says that one connector should be hard mounted while the other
can float.
For signal connections DB9/15 connectors do the job nicely.
Tony
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