Need help identifying these connectors (similar to GX16 aviation, but not same)

[wb0gaz]

Attached are two photos (male.png and female.png) of mating connectors I wish to identify so I can source additional pieces. The female is panel mounted 8-pin. The male is cable mounted 5-pin (5 of the 8 pins present, this mates with the female 8-pin shown.) The threading part of the connectors appears to be identical or nearly identical to GX16 (I have a GX16 cable end shell without contacts assembly and it appears to mate with the panel end female shown in the photo.)

The connectors are found on a Chinese clone of JBC soldering station and associated handpiece (Yihua 982).

[Bobson]

Looks like DIN connectors. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DIN_connector

[Benta]

No.

[tooki]

Attached are two photos (male.png and female.png) of mating connectors I wish to identify so I can source additional pieces. The female is panel mounted 8-pin. The male is cable mounted 5-pin (5 of the 8 pins present, this mates with the female 8-pin shown.) The threading part of the connectors appears to be identical or nearly identical to GX16 (I have a GX16 cable end shell without contacts assembly and it appears to mate with the panel end female shown in the photo.)

The connectors are found on a Chinese clone of JBC soldering station and associated handpiece (Yihua 982).

Thanks for a decent description of context, but when asking for connector ID, please always provide some clear measurements of key dimensions. There are tons of connectors that are essentially scaled up/down versions of others, and end up looking practically the same in photos if there are no measurements for scale. (And measure accurately, since it sometimes comes down to fractions of a millimeter.)

[wb0gaz]

Thank you for asking clarifying question, Tooki!

With the following two exceptions, the connectors appear to be mechanically same as GX-16 series (as I have a pair of GX-16 connectors with which I can compare.)

1. On these connectors, male pins are 0.8mm OD. On GX-16 connector, female pins are 1.0mm OD.

2. The connectors themselves are reverse gender from GX-16 types I've seen. The panel connector is female (holes in a plastic body) on this application; the panel connector on GX-16 is male (bare pins). The cable-end connector is male (bare pins) on this application; the cable-end connector on GX-16 is female (holes in a plastic body.)

Hope this is helpful; I may not be able make other dimensional measurements.

Dave

[p.larner]

they look like standard transceiver mic connectors to me?.

[CaptDon]

I don't know the part number but I agree that they look like the connectors used on Kenwood and Yaesu radios. Depending on pin setting some of the 5 pin males can plug into the 8 pin female. This facilitated microphones with more or less built in features like D.T.M.F. or channel up /down.

[Edison]

It looks like the M12 - the classic GX has thicker pins and the M16 has a different pin arrangement
But the M12 has the opposite threaded system and if they don't make an inverse shape like the XS connectors then it won't be an M12

[Edison]

Bobson - forget it - these connectors are miles away from DIN connectors

[wb0gaz]

Thanks for the continuing discussion on this (as-yet unsolved) task!

The connector threaded housings are closest to GX16 (16mm) in physical size - I failed to include any sort of visual measurement reference (like a metric ruler) in the photos  - sorry!

They do bear some similarity to the similar-size connectors on kenwood microphones but the gender of the metal housing is reversed vs. the plastic internal casting, and the pins are smaller diameter on the subject connector.

[Arcturus]

What a weird connector! I can confirm that they aren't reverse gender GX16. The screw thread is the same, but the plastic housing diameter is different. I tried mating Yihua's 716C tweezer’s male plug with a GX16 8-pin female housing, but the GX16 is a wee bit too big. The pin thickness is also different. So, it looks like Yihua is moving to proprietary circular connectors for their latest stations. What's worse is the plug and strain relief assembly is molded so you can't access the solder terminals without cutting the boot open.

I've attached images of the plug. Apparently, they designed it to be modular. It's composed of two sections - A flexible boot with molded strain relief, and a hard plastic housing for the male pins. The plastic housing is a module that can be inserted into the boot. The boot is a keyed receptacle with female contacts in it that mate with male pins at the rear of the plastic housing. It took quite a bit of effort to pull the housing free of the boot, but hot air and shimming helped weaken the adhesive. I don't recommend trying it yourself though, because I'm not 100% sure the procedure was damage-free.

Even though Yihua's different station models have distinct housings (pin counts, configurations), I'm guessing they only need to produce one cord type. This modular approach prevents damage or underperformance from plugging in unsupported handles, and enables on-demand production of any handle/cord combination as needed.

As far as I can tell, the quality of these proprietary connector assemblies is pretty high. The investment in custom tooling needed to manufacture them can’t be cheap. Which is surprising considering the company’s past reputation for cost-cutting. These upgraded new stations with their proprietary connectors and higher prices make it clear that Yihua is making aggressive moves in the JBC compatible space. Let’s hope they’ll let us buy the connectors separately so we can build adapters, extensions, and mods.

[Arcturus]

More photos