U.fl RF connectors have some quirks you may not realize. How to maximize reliability for drone / UAV applications. Featuring Airborne Innovations' Picoradio datalink. Please like and subscribe! Headband magnifier: www.amazon.com...
One small point, I always inspect the centre pin blades in the cable connector to ensure they are not off centre, I've also had a couple get pushed to one side from an inadvertent roll while pushing the new connector on. A needle tool can be used to re align them, but the plug can also be pushed on with these blades bent over. They may still make contact but will probably adversely affect the connectors performance. I've started using a piece of popsicle stick to help ensure the plug doesn't roll sideways when connecting, although only for the first connection. Cheers.
Really glad I watched this( I almost didn’t ) very helpful. My ipex connector on dx6i module was trashed, so I decided to direct solder the antenna. Thx for the advice. Greeting SJ
They sure are tiny!! The MHF4 connectors are a bit smaller yet. it would be interesting to see them made because those things are like the size of a dull pencil point.
Get some digital calipers and do your measurements it's either going to be a ipex one gin which is a 2 mm male on the circuit board and it will cover that or it's going to be an MH f4 which covers a 1.5 mm mail end on board
Alignment is key. If you can't see it well, a magnifier would help. Pushing down when misaligned will definitely cause problems. Also don't connect while powered up..
Tiny is right, these things are a heck of a lot smaller than they look when seen on the internet. If you have big fingers and or bad eyesight get someone to help you with these things.
You should avoid putting the cable on any angle, when removing it, since it wears it out (that's why there are "fork" tools to lift them up properly in only the vertical direction). Ideally lift it up equally on all sides and slightly rotate it.
I disagree.. if you can sensitize yourself to the tiny forces you will find that you exert less total force on the connector with this motion and it wears the connector less not more. There is some rotation clearance built in for insertion/removal and it actually helps with alignment. Certainly there is an elastic limit to the deflection, but if you're within 30 degrees or so you're good. In any case the cable connectors wear quickly regardless (they're only rated for 30 cycles). It's important to be alert to the forces and replace the cable when the forces are too low. You are more likely to damage the connector if you push hard straight down when the connector is misaligned (viewing with a head magnifier helps a lot). With many thousands of cycles at this point I just have a feel for it.
Are the signal and GND pins on the U.fl connectors shorted? I checked continuity on three PMDDL modules and they all seem to have continuity between the signal pin of the U.fl and the GND. There is also continuity between the signal pins of both the U.fl. I find this very strange as I cannot verify this anywhere on the internet to be a common occurrence amound PMDDL or other RF devices.
I think mostly people have trouble with the alignment (a magnifier might help). After a while you can get a feel for when it's aligned. The angled insertion technique in the video also helps quite a bit.
Same. I have literally spent the last 2 HOURS trying to get this damn connector on. No connector should be this difficult to line up. Granted I don't have as an easy access as he does, but I can see that it is lining up but it just won't snap in. The only time I've been successful in the last two I did was after an hour or two on each. It's infuriating...
@@DevilTravels same, I just thought I was the only one having problems lol. Once again I spent an hour yesterday trying to connect one. Never got it. I can't understand how it could be this difficult!
@@goldmund22 did you get good at it? connecting and snapping in place? been dealing with these recently as Im replacing systems boards. any tools or tricks that you came up with is great appreciated thx
Using a bent tweezer is the best I think, rather than rocking it. If you can extract it straight, the number of repetition can increase too. If you use a tweezer, again you don’t have to remove the chip first just to unplug a tiny connector 😢
I have to disagree. I have seen connectors damaged by customers who used tools. It's one of the reasons I created this video. The issue is the tiny spring tabs on the connector get bent very easily. No tools are necessary, the rotation does it perfectly and everything is in the elastic range for the connector. If you are able to look closely at the connector while you do it you will be able to see this. The connector is designed with a +/- entry angle range. At the end of the day though these connectors are not good for very many cycles.
One datasheet (Hirose) says the material is: Phosphor bronze Silver plated / Nickel plated (Contact gold plated) www.hirose.com/product/document?clcode=CL0311-0300-2-40&productname=HRMP-U.FLJ(40)&series=U.FL&documenttype=Catalog&lang=en&documentid=D31697_en
