Morning, everyone.
Does anyone know of a source of DC connectors for the FT817? It’s not just the diameters that matter and as far as I can tell the FT817 is 4mm od with a 1.7mm pin. The outer “tube” of the connector on the Yaesu-supplied lead is longer than the one obtainable from Maplin. It’s possible to modify their offering but the connector is, frankly, awful anyway. After soldering one of the tags, it became loose.
Help please!
73, Richard
In reply to G4ERP:
I bought a couple from a supplier on eBay. Seemed of reasonable quality. I’ll try to find the invoice…
73 Graham G4FUJ
In reply to G4ERP:
Hi Richard,
I have an “off the shelf” DC connector from Maplin that I use in my 817 on the bench. It is not the good fit that the original provides, but it has never come adrift (however, this is on the bench, not on a wet and windy hillside). They are indeed horrible quality - I think that we need to go back to the days of bakelite! I also obtained a snap on choke while I was there.
73,
Dave M0MYA
In reply to G4ERP:
Hi Richard,
These connectors are available here in the electrical shop.
The price … I can not remember.
Here below some flickr-photos about my connection for the FT817 and tuner.
A tip: After soldering I use a little rapide quick glue and hot glue to fasten everything. This gives extra strength, especially on the outgoing black/red DC-wire.
Note the yellow heat shrink … again extra strength.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21351505@N08/3979414799/in/pool-sota_pics
73
Luc ON6DSL
In reply to G4ERP:
The FT-817 DC connector is a Yaesu spare part. It comes with about a meter of cable attached and unterminated on the other end. I got one for free from my Yaesu dealer just for asking and I bought a few more. They were a few Euro each, don’t remember exactely.
73 Heinz, OE5EEP
In reply to OE5EEP:
Thanks everyone for your suggestions. I’m a big fan of moulded connectors from a reliability point of view so I think first of all I will be following Heinz’s suggestion and contacting Yaesu tomorrow.
The Maplin connectors are heading for the bin.
73, Richard
In reply to G4ERP:
I have a stack of these connectors complete with about 2m of cable. If anyone is interested email me at mm0fmf AT hotmail.com.
Andy
MA0FMF
In reply to OE5EEP:
The FT-817 DC connector is a Yaesu spare part.
My oldest FT-817 has the tiresome property that only the cable supplied with it will work. If I use any other, including official Yaesu cables, the centre pin connects but the outer sleeve does not. In the shack, another cable often appears to be OK because there is an alternative earth connection via some other equipment, but try to run off a battery and there is no connection.
The only difference I can see is that the connector that works has the metal part of the outer sleeve extending the full length, whereas all of the others end with a small insulating ring. I am dreading the failure of this one cable that works.
In reply to M1MAJ:
My official Yaesu cable has the insulating bit. Possibly the socket on your rig is gubbed in some way?
Andy
MA0FMF
In reply to MM0FMF:
My official Yaesu cable has the insulating bit.
Indeed, all but one of mine do.
Possibly the socket on your rig is gubbed in some way?
Quite likely, but it’s odd that it works with the original cable. The socket doesn’t seem particularly easy to change.
In reply to MM0FMF:
No, it’s a feature. That’s why I referred to the barrel length in my original post. In order to get my Maplin connector to make contact on the outer, I had to shorten the centre pin and insulator by about a mm.
Also, I notice there’s an interesting taper profile on the Yaesu-supplied one.
73, Richard
Hi.
Thinking that the genuine Yaesu part must be right, I bought the proper E-DC-6 lead. This didn’t work either. The connector is 1 mm longer than my original and it just fell out whilst still not making contact.
As all the distibutor’s stock is the same, I decided to modify it by carefully removing the protruding insulator with a sharp knife.
It now works.
The distributor wonders if there is a difference between the 817 and the later ND model. He’s going to make some enquiries.
73, Richard
In reply to G4ERP:
The FT-817 DC connector story is a pain in the a… Even within a series of models they dare to use different connectors. The situation is not much better with other manufacturers. It shows how desperately we would need some standardization in ham radio equipment, like a universal DC connector.
I hope the design engineers at Yaesuwoodcom read and react to my posting (but I doubt).
73 Heinz
PS: Grounded today because of wind and rainy weather, might eventually clear in the late afternoon.
In reply to G4ERP:
The distributor wonders if there is a difference between the 817 and
the later ND model.
That would be consistent with my experience.
If you find a connector that reliably fits the older model I’d be interested in getting hold of a spare.
In reply to M1MAJ:
Well, mine is the ND so I wonder if diferent batches of radios used connectors from different suppliers.
Trimming the surplus insulator from the end of the E-DC-6 is very easy using a sharp Stanley knife. Take a bit off at a time until it’s flush with the end of the barrel.
The result is just as positive a fit as the one supplied with the radio and it makes electrical contact.
73, Richard
(Also in the shack. The forecast shows sunny intervals. Cutting hedges with electric trimmers in the rain seemed like a bad idea …)
In reply to G4ERP:
FT-817s are beginning to sound like Morgan cars - we’ve got these in stock so we’ll fit them for now… ;o)
73 Graham G4FUJ
In reply to G4ERP:
Just noticed this thread.
About the time of the release of the first ND’s there was a lot of stuff on the '817 groups about power leads leaving part of the insulator (yellow) in the socket. The fix was to get a friendly dentist to tease it out with one of their prods or failing that cut off the insulator on a new lead (I did this yonks ago).
Most agreed that it was far too fiddly to change the conector. I did hear of aomeone who fitted a flying lead through the connector 
Roger G4OWG
edit : perhaps this is why the tapered plug appeared?
In reply to G4OWG:
Hi, Roger.
Thanks for that. I just examined the end of the original DC lead connector and there’s some evidence that the insulator has sheared off. Without proper inspection equipment I can’t see if the residue is stuck at the bottom of the socket but there’s a pretty good chance based on what you say. I’ll have a look at work tomorrow.
Quality - or what?
73, Richard
In reply to G4ERP:
I have just had to replace the connector on an 817 (the board mounted part not the plug). There was nothing actually wrong with the connector if you wiggled the plug, the internal switch would not break with a genuine Yaesu plug but with another I had it was fine.
The replacement part from Yaesu (P0091072) is easy enough to fit as long as you are happy with surface mount but you do have to remove a 100uF electrolytic directly behind it to access the fifth connection (bright piece of design!)
Looking at the socket I removed it is obviously made from Junkite. The centre pin wobbles all over the place and the mating plug has very little tolerance between operating the intenal switch (to open circuit a 1K resistor) and not. I am sure it would be possible to find a more satisfactory solution to eliminate the fault with this socket. I suspect that the plastic gubbins on the end of the plug is actually the switch actuator so removing the plastic may well leave the resistor in circuit.
73
Barry GM4TOE
In reply to GM4TOE:
Hi, Barry.
Thanks for the comments. I think I’m going to go the external inline connector route. I have never been very happy with the quality of the DC connection - even before this happened. I can imagine a scenario where on a multi-day expedition you use up the internal battery then swap to an external one only to find the DC connection has failed. That’s game over.
Until now I have been using NiMH AAs in the supplied carrier as my spare but that little Molex 5-pin worries me just as much! (That’s how I charge the battery BTW.)
Anyway, it will have to wait as the FT817 is going back in my rucksack this evening before heading off somewhere midweek …
73, Richard