Do your 2.1mm barrel jacks and plugs not want to talk to each other?

[Mark Hammer]

I finally managed to build an EA tremolo to fit in a 1590A box (or should I say that I finally did so properly, rather than haphazardly).  Works great, as expected...when there is power.  Getting power to the circuit, however, is a problem.  The various 2.1mm jacks and plugs I have been using seem to not want to talk to each other unless pushed very hard.

They are both ostensibly 2.1mm, but I find a bit of wiggle in the plug.  Not loose enough to suspect that someone sold me 2.5mm plugs by accident or neglect, but certainly not anything you'd describe as snug.

Is this common in your experience?

[antonis]

Quite common, Mark..
(at least, to my experience..)

No cause found - No cure established   

[davent]

Haven't ever had that issue, where are you sourcing your various bits?

dave

[italianguy63]

I had one recently, I pressed hard, and the contact broke out of it... had to put in a new jack.. yes, I have seen this lately.

[deadastronaut]

i use the small 8mm/ 2 prong sockets...no issues at all..

[Rob Strand]

There's no know-how and "design" in components they just are.  Things generally work in spite of the way they are designed.   There's plenty of connectors from the 60's still working, and plenty of new connectors that don't work out of the box.

It's usually to do with tolerances and spring forces.    An issue becoming more common is the plating is totally crap.  Pitted and corroded on a fine scale when new!

The tale of the golden turds:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZASKMqgrY70

[Mark Hammer]

"Jeez, I could fart halfway across the room and this thing's gonna change!"

There are some expressions you immediately want to use as part of your sig-file, and that's one of them.

[Rob Strand]

"Jeez, I could fart halfway across the room and this thing's gonna change!"

There are some expressions you immediately want to use as part of your sig-file, and that's one of them

He's pretty strong on the Australian slang and phrasing.  We might use those phases but not as much as him.

I like his phrase for cheap brands from China: a "Wun-Hung-Lo" brand.

[sssteeve]

Totally unrelated to your question but you can get cheap Asian 2.1mm DC splitter cables on eBay dirt cheap if you don't mind wanting for the packet delivery: 3 way splitters for $2 and 5 way splitters for $3.

I picked up some for my 9vdc rechargeable power supply project — you get two 2400mAh portable power packs for a few bucks each, glue them together and then wire up a cable with 2 USB connectors in series to get 10vdc. Add a diode for polarity protection and to drop voltage closer to 9vdc if you like. Put velcro on the bottom and you can stick in on your pedalboard. (You would recharge the two power packs separately using regular USB adaptors.)

I started this project almost 3 years ago and have glued several power packs together for 10vdc, 15vdc and 20vdc but still haven't gotten around to wiring up the harnesses. Procrastination is great — it gives me something to look forward to in another 3 years... ;-)

Here is the thread over at the Music Electronics Forum:

http://music-electronics-forum.com/t39860/

Steve Ahola

Signature line: Irrelevance is next to Godliness.

[duck_arse]

"Jeez, I could fart halfway across the room and this thing's gonna change!"

There are some expressions you immediately want to use as part of your sig-file, and that's one of them.

"I've been flat out, like a cat burying sh!t in a marble floor" - from a customer's email. I'd never heard this before.