A senior tech told me to stop trusting connector pin contact resistance specs and actually measure every single one after a flap actuator failed mid-flight on a Cessna 172.

Ever since that day I check each pin with a micro-ohmmeter before pinning up the connector, has anyone else had a book value burn them on a critical system?

2 comments

2 Comments

king.dakota8d ago

Used to be one of those guys who'd just glance at the datasheet and think "good enough," especially for something as basic as a connector pin. Then I had a buddy's plane spend a weekend grounded because a brand new relay had a pin that was barely making contact, and the spec sheet said it should be fine. Watched him chase that gremlin for hours before someone suggested checking the actual resistance on each pin. Now I don't trust any of those numbers until I've seen them with my own meter. That story about the Cessna flap actuator is exactly the kind of thing that changes your whole mindset real quick.

reese5518d ago

Yeah man, getting burned like that changes everything. What ended up working for me was just keeping a cheap multimeter in my go bag. Anytime I'm doing anything with connectors now, I just give them a quick check before I even bother installing them. Saves me so much headache. I mean, it's like ten minutes of my time vs potentially hours of troubleshooting later. The real kicker for me was when I started checking brand new parts too. You'd be surprised how many pins are just slightly off from the factory. Now it's just part of my routine, like checking that the battery is on before I start work.