Harwin Strengthens Off-the-Shelf Cable Assembly Offering Through Addition of Compact Gecko-SL Products

Accelerating project completion, without tooling expense or allocation of engineering resources

Portsmouth, UK, 14 November 2019 – Fully leveraging its considerable expertise, so that customers have rapid access to simple and cost-effective interconnect solutions, Harwin has broadened the scope of its portfolio of ready-made high-reliability cable assemblies. The award-winning Gecko Screw-Lok (Gecko-SL) 1.25mm connector family builds on the options already available using the company’s popular Datamate products. A wider range of cable assemblies can be sourced, avoiding any upfront investment in equipment and staff training costs to carry out such work in-house.
Available in both single- and double-ended arrangements, the Gecko-SL cable assemblies fully comply with the established IPC-620 cable and wire harnessing industry standard. They can be specified for either cable-to-cable or cable-to-board implementations. Each cable has a 26AWG wire gauge PTFE construction, and comes in 150/300/450mm (6/12/18 inch) lengths. The assemblies are fully compatible with existing metal backshells, for both added mechanical robustness and strong EMC resilience. Thanks to the hexagon-slotted screw fixings and mate-before-lock mechanism, these rugged assemblies are straightforward to deploy, especially in space-constrained environments. They benefit from the inherent resilience that Gecko-SL connectors exhibit to high degrees of shock/vibration and extreme temperatures, as well as their relatively strong current carrying capacity (2A per contact, despite the narrow pitch).
Customers can choose from 6 to 50 pin arrays for their assemblies, all available from stock via Harwin and through the company’s global network of distribution partners. This means that there are no lead times to factor in and end system production is not delayed. The necessary fixing hardware is provided – either directly or as part of the backshell kit.
All supplied assemblies are 100% continuity checked. This significantly streamlines the system integration process, saving customers time and effort. Evaluation samples of the assemblies are available on request.
“We have already seen a big of uptake of our Datamate-based off-the-shelf cable assemblies, and received a lot of positive feedback on their convenience, so bringing this capability to other connectors that Harwin manufactures was clearly a valid course of action,” explains Harwin’s High Reliability Product Manager John Brunt. “Gecko-SL is the preferred high-reliability connector in situations where there are multiple mating operations involved. By offering these cable assemblies, we are now better able to address a more extensive spectrum of customer needs, so they can source the optimal solution.”