ADC patchbays - wiring question

[ckeene]

I have an TT solder-type ADC patchbay with connector lugs that look like this:

http://home.flash.net/~motodata/patchba ... _adc3a.jpg

I have been soldering balanced cable directly to the lugs, right along the flats, which works ok, but it's a real pain in the butt to solder. Is there a faster way to go about doing this? Should I be wire-wrapping, and if so is there a special tool? Or is there a type of spade terminal that fits nicely over these lugs?

Also I'm at the poing where I'm going to need another PB specifically for IO<>Mixer connections, so I'm wondering if I'm better off getting one of the punch-down bays.

Thanks

-chris

[rockstudio]

It is tricky to get in to the tight spots! there is another method to soldering them, however. You can remove the screws that keep the modules on the frame (the modules divide the patchbay into quadrants, I think, on the ADC), pop them into your panavise and solder the modules instead of the whole works. I am pretty sure your ADC modules contain 24 jacks each. All you have to worry about is connecting your normalling jumpers from top to bottom when you get the frame back together, if you are normalling.

[ckeene]

It is tricky to get in to the tight spots! there is another method to soldering them, however. You can remove the screws that keep the modules on the frame (the modules divide the patchbay into quadrants, I think, on the ADC), pop them into your panavise and solder the modules instead of the whole works. I am pretty sure your ADC modules contain 24 jacks each. All you have to worry about is connecting your normalling jumpers from top to bottom when you get the frame back together, if you are normalling.

oh yeah, I figured that out eventually, which definitely helped. I was more wondering if my soldering technique could be simplified. As it is the process is:

Strip the wires about 3/4 inch, then tin them
Tin the contact
Solder the tinned wire flat on the contact, praying the wire doesn't slip while doing it.

Basically, doing the above is a drag, so i was wondering if there's some "standard" way to hook up wire to the terminals that I'm too dumb to figure out on my own, ha.

-ck

[rockstudio]

soldering onto those pins must be a drag, my ADC bays have actual lugs, but I am not sure that yours are not considered "solder lugs" without the common hole. I am also not certain that there is an easy way to solder to them, in my area of the deep south, technicians get $500 a day to do that stuff! It is definately a drag.
You can probably strip only 3/16th of an inch of wire, that eases things up a bit, also shrink-tube your drain wires! neatness sometimes counts (especially when there are 288 wires and 192 possible normalling jumpers residing in such a small space).

[brianroth]

Those appear to be set up for wire wrapping, but only solid conductor wire can be used with that type of (solderless) system. That is common with telephone systems.

Bri

[ckeene]

Ok, well the deal is it's time for me to build out a new 96 point TT PB that will be dedicated to having normalled (half norm is prob ok, too) connections to and from digital i/o boxes and a mixer.

I'll probably get something here:
http://home.flash.net/~motodata/patchbays/ttbantam.html

would like something that's easy to wire up with standard belden (or what have you) balanced cable. I might consider ELCO connectors, but have never used them. If I went ELCO, could I just get some snakes and be done with it?

Basically, I don't mind soldering to save a few bucks as long as it's not a completely miserable experience!

[brianroth]

Bays prewired with Elco connectors exist but they tend to be quite pricey. You might look at DAC bays with their "QPC" punch down pins.

Bri

[dwelle]

i've got a bunch of the adc's with punchblocks. they rule.

straight up.

i've set up a couple of bays at my place that i soldered.


never again...

[sparky]

What is the tradeoff of solder vs. wirewrap vs. jacks vs. dsub vs. punchdown? I need a new patchbay I started looking at them and saw that most of them didn't work like the $50 guitar center neutrik/dbx specials I'm accustomed to (four 1/4" jacks soldered to a simple PCB, flip/rotate to change normalling).

[brianroth]

For typical audio systems, wirewrap isn't an option since it requires specific types of solid conductor cable.

Bays with "bare" solder lugs are the least expensive but then require hours of painstaking work to attach the wire harness. This is NOT a project for a beginner, especially on a 96 point TT bay.

Bays with any sort of terminations (Dsub, QPC punchdowns, Elcos, etc) are far more expensive because you are paying someone to do all of the tedious soldering to the terminals on the jacks.

Bri

[ckeene]

So I can use multi-strand wire on a QPC punchdown? It doesn't need to be solid-core, right?

Any opinions on this model:
http://home.flash.net/~motodata/patchbays/ttbantam.html

Then search for "PPB3-14MKIINS"

Should work, right?

[brianroth]

Unlike telephone blocks, QCP is designed for stranded or solid wires. You DO have to use plastic tubing over any bare ground/drain wires before punching it down.

http://www.adc.com/Library/Techpub/8011 ... t_Products

Bri