mitchell.mark•4d agoProlific Poster

Overhead bin cable routing job at DFW was a nightmare because of one bad crimp

That FA said "the IFE screen's been flickering for 3 weeks" and what I found was a D-sub pin 8 that was barely hanging on, has anyone else seen lazy crimps from those cheap tools cause intermittent faults like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_alex4d ago

Bad crimps are the gift that keeps on giving... I had a similar thing at LAX a few years back where a whole row of overhead displays would just cut out during turbulence. Pulled the panel and found pin 22 on a high density connector that looked like it was crimped with a pair of pliers at the factory... The wire was barely making contact inside the barrel. Replaced that one crimp and the issue disappeared completely. It's always the one you least expect too, the ones that look fine from the outside are the ones that drive you crazy chasing phantom faults across three terminals. Those cheap ratcheting crimpers from the hardware store just don't put enough pressure on the contact barrel to hold the wire properly over time with vibration.

ruby4944d ago

@the_alex I had the exact same problem with a pin on a D-sub connector a while back. Swapped out the whole cable assembly before I thought to check the crimp itself. Turned out the wire was just barely hanging on inside the barrel. Re-crimped it with a proper tool and everything was solid after that. Those cheap crimpers are a joke for anything that sees vibration.