A
  • Adapter (RF Connectors): An accessory used to join connectors that are not mateable due to their series or type.
  • AIA: Aerospace Industries Association; of which BTC is on the Supplier Management Council.
  • Angle Connector: Connector that joins two conductors end-to-end at a specified angle.
  • ANSI: American National Standards Institute.
  • Anti-Rotation: Connector design which includes locking or keying provisions to sustain positive orientation for accessory hardware.
Back to top
B
  • Backplane Connector: An interconnection assembly configuration which has terminals on one side, connector receptacles on the other side, and provides point-to-point electrical interconnections. The point-to-point electrical connection may be printed wiring.
  • Backshell: The rear portion of a connector, which is normally a separate section from the connector head, used to secure the cable via a clamp to the end of the connector.
  • Basic Identification Number (BIN) Code: Identified through color bands on the wire barrel end of a contact to show contact part number.
  • Bayonet Coupling: A quick coupling device for plug and receptacle connectors, accomplished by rotation of a device designed to bring the connector halves together.
  • BNC: This is the abbreviation for "Bayonet Neil-Concelman,
  • Boot: Used in cable assembly, as a form is placed onto the boot adapter and used to environmentally seal and/or strain-relieve.
  • Boot Adapter: A mechanical device with one side threaded onto the accessory thread of a connector
  • Braided Wire (or Braid): Flexible conductor comprised of braided or woven assembly of wires.
  • Bussing: Taking two or more circuits and joining them together.
Back to top
C
  • Cable Assembly: A cable with plugs or connectors on each end, or within the actual assembly itself, and used for mil/aero, industrial and communication applications.
  • Cable Clamp: A mechanical device used to provide support to the wire bundle or cable at the rear of a plug or receptacle, to provide strain relief and absorb vibration and shock which be transmitted by the cable to the contact or wire crimp area.
  • Color Coding: Marking a terminal or contact with color to aid in identification and selection of wire size and crimping tool. Colors green, red, orange, blue, yellow and white indicate the proper tool to use for either insertion or extraction of appropriate contact size.
  • Connector: A device - either a plug or a receptacle - designed to allow electrical flow from one wire or cable to a device on another cable. This allows interruption of the circuit or the transfer to another circuit without any cutting of wire or cable.
  • Connector Housing: The insulating material
  • Contact (synonym for terminal): The conducting part of a connector that acts with another such part to complete or break a circuit or a point to which electrical connections can be made.
  • Contact Arrangement: The number of contacts, their size and spacing in a connector.
  • Contact Pin or Socket: The heart of the connector. More specifically, it is the conductive element of a connector which actually makes contact that allows the conducting of electrical current. The area touching between two conductors (pin and socket) permit the flow of electrical current.
  • Contact Resistance: The electrical resistance on a mated pair of contacts (pin and socket).
  • Contact Retainer: A device captivated in the hard plastic of the connector body or insert that secures the contacts in the insert or housing.
  • Contact Shoulder: The flanged portion surrounding the body of a contact that constricts forward motion into the insert and stops it from thrusting forward out of the insert.
  • Contact Size: The number which indicates the gauge (size) of the engaging end of the contact.
  • Coupling Nut (or Coupling Ring): The movable part of a connector plug that assists in the coupling (or uncoupling) of a receptacle and plug and then locks the two together.
  • Crimp: The actual indentation of a contact wire barrel around the conductor in order to captivate the conductor and make an electrical connection.
  • Crimp Die: The part of the crimp tool that shapes the crimp on the wire barrel.
  • Crimp Tool: Mechanical device the does the actual crimping function by holding the crimp die.
  • Crimping: Utilizing a special tool to mechanically secure a pin or socket (contact) to a wire (conductor).
Back to top
D
  • Depth of Crimp: The distance the crimp die indenter penetrates into the wire barrel. This is measured by determining the thickness of the crimped portion of a contact between two opposite points on the crimped surface.
  • Die Closure: Typically checked by a Go/No Go Gauge, it is the distance between the crimp die indenters when the crimp tool handle is at full closure.
  • Dielectric: A material that has electrical insulating properties.
  • Direct Mounting: A way of mounting terminal blocks in which the blocks are solder-mounted using the bottom terminals and is also possible with models using press-on retaining clips.
Back to top
E
  • Edge Connector: End of a PCB designed to mate with a one-piece receptacle, containing female contacts. Edge card connectors are designed to receive the edge of a printed circuit board and interconnect onto which the male contacts are etched or printed. Either a single or double row of female contacts are contained with the connector.
  • Electronic Interconnect Device: A device
  • Environmentally Sealed Connector: A connector with gaskets, seals, potting, or other devices to keep out moisture, dirt, air, or dust which could reduce performance.
  • Extraction Tool: A tool that is utilized to remove contacts from a connector. Also known as a Removal Tool.
Back to top
F
  • Feed-through Connector: Normally an IDT straight connector in which the wire or cable is terminated at one connector and then continues to one or more other connectors in "daisy chain" (Two or more connectors linked together by data bus wire) style.
  • Filter Connector: Connector that uses filtered contacts or filtered discs to filter EMI signals without changing its normal function.
  • Filter Contact: Contact that provides filtering of EMI signals without changing its normal function.
  • Flange: A projection that extends from or around the outside of a connector and has holes to permit mounting the connector to a panel or to another mating connector surface.
  • Front Mounting: Connector mounted with its mounting flange outside of a box or panel.
  • Front Release: A term indicating the direction the contact removal tool must enter the connector to allow for the removal of contacts. On a front release connector, the contact removal tool must be inserted in the contact cavity from the front or face of the connector to release the contact retention clip. Whether front release or rear release, the contacts are inserted from the rear of the connector.
Back to top
G
  • Grommet: Bonded to the rear of a connector, it
  • Ground: A conducting connection between an electrical circuit and the conducting body. A ground completes the electrical circuit.
  • Grounding Fingers: A metal band with spring fingers attached to the plug shell to ensure positive shell-to-shell grounding before the contacts engage during mating and when they disengage during the unmating process.
Back to top
H
  • Hermetically Sealed Connectors: Air tight Connectors, usually multiple contact connectors, where the contacts are bonded to the connector by glass or other materials. Additionally, BTC has the largest inventory of hermetic connectors in North America. Please insert the following image to the right of the above information: hermetic.jpg
  • High Density Connector: A connector having its pins arranged close together without sacrificing system performance.
  • High Reliability: Characterized by extremely tight tolerances and long service life; also known as Hi Rel.
  • Hostile Environment Connectors: Connectors designed and engineered for operation in extreme conditions, such as temperatures of absolute zero or severe water tight and/or a corrosive environments.
Back to top
I
  • Insert: Part of a connector that holds the contacts in necessary arrangement and electrically insulates them from one another and from the shell.
  • Insertion Tool: A device used to insert contacts into a connector.
  • Inspection Hole: Done prior to crimping, a hole placed at one end of a crimped terminal barrel that permits visual inspection to see that the conductor has been inserted to the proper-depth in the barrel.
  • Insulation Jacket: Insulating material around a cable or wire.
  • Interface: The two surfaces on the contact side of a mating plug and receptacle that will face each other and
  • Interfacial Seal: The sealing of mating connectors over the entire area of the interface and around each contact.
Back to top
J
  • Jacket Insulation: Insulating material around a cable or wire.
  • Jumper: An interconnect device used to turn circuits on and off. Also called a shunt; they have no moving parts and cannot be accidentally reprogrammed.
  • Just in Time (JIT): A production strategy that reduces in-process inventory and associated carrying costs.
Back to top
K
  • Kanban: A scheduling system that tells you what to produce, when to produce it, and how much to produce.
  • Key: A short pin or other projection which slides in a mating slot or groove to guide two parts during the assembly process.
  • Kinked PCB Tail: Feature in which tails are formed into a bent shape on a connector to hold it in place prior to the soldering process.
Back to top
L
  • Lanyard: A sturdy wire attached to plugs of certain connectors that will allow the unmating and separation of plug and receptacle by simply pulling on the wire.
  • Live Mating: Adding electronic components to a system (plugging) or removing electronic components from a system (unplugging) while the system is powered up. This enables devices to be swapped without electrical damage to the devices or the main system while avoiding a major system operation interruption.
  • Locator: Device for positioning terminals, splices, or contacts in crimping dies.
Back to top
M
  • Mate: The joining of two connectors.
  • Mated pair: A plug and receptacle joined or to be joined together.
  • Mezzanine Connector: A type of board-to-board connector that connects a PCB parallel to another PCB.
  • Micro Miniature Connector: High density connector packaging designed for applications with size constraints such as communications devices.
  • MIL SPEC (short for Military Specifications): Specific manufacturing, testing, and packaging requirements set by the U.S. military as indicated on an item by a military identification or MIL SPEC number.
  • MIL STD: A standard specification set by the US military for manufacturing, testing, and packaging requirements for products intended for military use.
  • Molded Cable: Cable assemblies with molded connectors on one or both ends.
Back to top
N
  • N-Type Connector: An input/output connector with threaded couplings that are commonly used in microwave systems.
Back to top
O
  • : A doughnut-shaped ring of rubber located around the periphery of a connector shell and is compressed internally between the plug and receptacle shells when mated to stop contaminants from entering the connector. Also referred to as peripheral seal.
  • OEM: Original Equipment Manufacturer, the main target audience for BTC.
Back to top
P
  • Passive Components: Components that have no gain characteristics, such as capacitors, inductors and resistors.
  • PCB or Printed Circuit Boards: An insulating base material, usually of rosin polymer, onto which interconnecting conductive strips have been printed using an etching process.
  • Pin Contact: A
  • Plating: The overlaying of a thin metal coating on connector shells and contacts to avoid corrosion, improve conductivity or offer simple soldering.
  • Plug: The mating half of a connector that is free to move when not fastened to the other mating half.
  • Plug Connector: A connector intended to be attached to the free end of a conductor, wire, cable or bundle, which couples or mates to a receptacle connector.
  • Polarization: The orientation of inserts or rectangular keys (projections) and keyways (slots) to ensure proper mating.
  • Positioner: A device attached to a crimping tool to position the conductor barrel between the indenters.
  • Potting: The permanent sealing of the back of a connector, after the wires have been inserted, with a material to provide strain relief, prevent short circuits and/or keep out contaminants.
  • Potting Mold: An item designed to be used as a hollow form into which a potting compound is injected to seal the back of a connector.
  • Pull Out Force: The force necessary to separate a cable from a connector.
  • Pull Test: A test on the contact crimp joint to determine its mechanical strength.
Back to top
R
  • Rack-and-Panel Connector: Connector that connects the inside back end of the cabinet (rack) with the drawer containing the equipment when it is fully inserted. The drawer allows easy removal or portions of the equipment for examination or repair.
  • Rear Accessories: Also known as backshells; they are mechanical devices that screw onto the accessory threads on the rear of the connector.
  • Rear mounted: Also known as back mounted; it
  • Rear Release Contacts: Connector contacts that are released and removed from the rear (wire side) of the connector.
  • Receptacle: The fixed or stationary half of a two-piece multiple contact connector. Also the connector half usually mounted on a panel and that contains socket contacts.
  • Receptacle Connector: A connector intended to be installed or mounted onto a fixed structure such as a chassis, panel or electrical case which couples or mates to a plug connector.
  • Removal Tool: A device utilized to remove contacts from a connector.
Back to top
S
  • Safetying: A connector design feature that allows safety wiring of receptacle and/or plug to prevent the loosening or vibrating free of the plug from the receptacle.
  • Sealing Plug: A small plastic plug that is inserted to fill the unoccupied space of a connector to seal and prevent the entry of contaminants. Sealing plugs are predominately found in environment connectors.
  • Selective Plating: The applying of plating material to a limited area of a contact, especially areas vulnerable to wear and tear.
  • Service Rating: The maximum voltage or current that a connector is designed to continuously carry.
  • Shell: The outside case of a connector that holds the dielectric insert and contacts.
  • Socket Connector: A connector that contains socket contacts, into which a plug connector with male contacts is inserted.
  • Socket Contact: A contact whose engaging end is designed to accept the entry of a pin contact.
  • Solder Contact: A pin or socket contact that accepts a conductor (wire) which is soldered onto the
  • Surface Mount Technology (SMT): The basic technology related to mounting components on the surface of a carrier.
Back to top
T
  • Tensile Test: A controlled pull test on the contact crimp joint to establish its mechanical strength.
  • Terminal Block: An assembly that contains connection provisions to facilitate the connection of one or more conductors.
  • Terminal Board: Board fabricated from an insulating material that contains a single or multiple arrangements of termination points, for the reason of making connections.
  • Terminal Connector: A connector that joins a conductor to a lead, round terminal stud of an electrical apparatus or terminal pad (which can be solid or laminated block).
  • Thermocouple Contact: Contact made of special material used in connectors that are employed in thermocouple applications. Most common materials are copper, iron, constantan, alumel and chromel.
  • Threaded Coupling: A means of coupling a mating pair of connectors by engaging threads on the exterior of a receptacle with interior threads of the plug.
  • Two-piece Connector: An interconnect device in which one mating piece is permanently mounted (usually soldered) to the PCB and the other is attached to equipment.
Back to top
U
  • UL: Underwriters Laboratories; a US organization that sets certain standards for connector testing.
Back to top
V
  • Value-Added: A term used to describe custom assemblies.
©2024 BTC Electronic Components - 2709 Connector Drive - Wake Forest, North Carolina 27587
Phone: (800) 526-2828
Live Chat Support Offline