Tip 2 - Don't over-pay for power connectors

JRC transceivers and transmitters use an Amp/Tyco Mate-N-Lok connector setup for their DC power feed. A number of online sellers I've encountered will provide a complete package involving connector body, pins and strain relief for a non-trivial amount of money. The problem with these is that the pins provided are only usable with 14-16ga wire. JRC's manuals state that 2x #10 per polarity (total of four conductors) is to be used for runs of up to 3 meters. I can verify (through tests at max power out) that a pair of 14ga conductors for each side of the supply run is marginal - if simply not up to the task at all.

Doing a little shopping at Digikey, we find the following:


  • 1-480704-0 (A1456-ND) - Conn, plug, 6POS 94V-2
  • 1-640721-0 (A14353-ND) - Conn, strain relief, enclosed, 6POS
  • 350922-6 (A25386CT-ND) - Conn, pin, 10-12AWG gold (male)
  • 350923-6 (A25387CT-ND) - Conn, pin, 10-12AWG gold (female)


I listed both types of pins. All of my JRC gear (and the Raytheon "clone") uses male in the chassis socket and female in the power cable plug; thus, most people building their own cables will only need the female pins.

A complete plug assembly can be sourced here for roughly $5 and is suited to the 30A DC requirements of these transceivers.