Good source for connectors and cables?

I'm working on getting my new Pixhawk2 up and running in an RC plane, and I keep running into the problem that I don't have specific connectors or cables for making connections between the various components.  For example, I don't have a 3-wire cable to connect the PPM receiver to the RC IN port on the Pixhawk2.  Is there a vendor that stocks the wide variety of connectors needed for both RC gear and the Pixhawk2?  I don't mind making my own cables if necessary (though I'd prefer to buy pre-made, if the cable exists).

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  • For the Pixhawk2.1 (by HEX) (by ProfiCNC) the sensor connectors are JST-GH here is a link to a Digikey search that has all the housings:

    https://www.digikey.ca/products/en?FV=ffec095b,ffe0013f

    The power plugs use a different connector

    https://www.digikey.ca/products/en?FV=ffec095b%2Cffe0013f


  • Robert said:

    This will detail the various connector types on both the Pixhawk and Pixhawk2 and how they are different.

    Pixhawk connectors

    Very useful page.  However, there is only one reference to Pixhawk2 (under Molex CLICK-Mate) and that's to the "3DR version".  I got my Pixhawk2 from the source (Australia, if not mistaken), and I didn't think it was a 3DR product.  Can someone clarify where the Pixhawk2 I have fits in on this page?  Thanks!

  • The switch is really not that difficult. I switch connectors all the time and am constantly making my own cables because I do not like 4 feet of extra wire for something that only needs 3 inches. That being said I do understand what you are saying. The pico blade molex connector is the standard on alot of different things that or the jst SH? I believe. Which the pico molex can plug into anyway.

    I would also have to say that the majority of people would probably have both types as I doubt everyone buys purely  genuine equipment in the world with so much cloning going on. And alot of the clones come with pico blade.  So people buy the 3DR pixhawk and then buy the peripherals that come with pico blade and have to change them to  DF13.

    I agree it would be nice to have a set standard. But it would have to be across the whole industry in my opinion.

  • MR60

    I know I will get probably flamed for criticism of Pixhawk2 because it is a real taboo, but after the "cube" + carrier board design inconvenience in terms of practicality,  here is another practical problem: incompatible connectors with equipment people have spent a lot of many for until now (receivers, sensors, telemetry, GPS, compasses, etc.) combined with the practical impossibility for people to make their own cables with these new connectors.

    The decision to change the DF13 or JR servo type connectors, for the reason it was difficult to unplug (although it really was not so bad once got the trick), to move to a connector that nobody has on its current equipment, is rather questionnable in terms of practical gain.

    So we are regressing a few years back in the hobby when the only way was to buy loads of expensive cables, of various lengths, with all possible combinations of connectors you'll need for your equipment. And when you discover you need a cable you did not purchase, you're, by Murphy's law, in the middle of an urgent build.

    In my opinion, it would have been good to design a Pixhawk2 with a "migration" phase in mind to let people have time to migrate from their legacy DF13/Servo type equipment to the new better Molex/Clickmate type; for example by offering dual ports on the most used ones : power port, GPS, telemetry, I2C. And then announce that after a couple of years, the DF13 connectors would be completely phased out.

  • This will detail the various connector types on both the Pixhawk and Pixhawk2 and how they are different.

    Pixhawk connectors

    Connector for Pixhawk Family of Flight Controllers - LambDrive.com
  • Developer

    Molex clickmate on power connector, JST-GH on others. jDrones have all those cables ready made. They also carry DF13 - GH adapter cables from 2 pins to 8 pins. Various lengths. 

  • Thanks for the leads.  Could someone say what the precise connector types are on the Pixhawk2 so as to make it easier to search from them on various vendor sites?

  • 100KM

    Good to know. Does anyone know where to find pixfalcon connectors? I know DigiKey carries at least some of it, but t's not crimped, mght not have the same pitch, etc.

    Is there anywhere I can buy pixfalcon plugs off the shelf?

  • Ugh! Auto correct. That's Digi-Key
  • Might also try Digi-Key.
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