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ES-00079 Molex pins price?

Dgamble

Well Known Member
I'm finally doing the conversion from the old-style wing electrical connection to the more modern blue Molex connectors. I've had the update kit for years, but now that I want to install the lighting kit I need to go ahead and do it. I ran into a problem: the 26 ES-00079 pins that go inside the Molex connectors are missing. The kit is so old that I can't definitively say that they were ever there or just got lost over the half decade that its been sitting in the hangar.

I went to the Vans online store and tried to order the from The List, but they came up as costing a $1.85. That seems a little steep - has anyone else ever bought them?

I'm going to try to call them, but they are understandably swamped right now. If that seems like a legit price I'll go ahead and order them.

Follow-up question: the lighting kit came with 10 pins - does that mean I would only need 16 more, not the 26 called out in the inventory sheet for the connector update?
 
Wing connector update

Hi Dave,
I thought I'd respond to your post because as an early builder I had the old style connectors like yours. They did not work well at all and the newer blue connectors work 100%. I don't think they are Molex, I read somewhere they are made by Amp, and the pins are not Molex either but much higher quality. I believe I had to order some way back but don't remember the cost.
This is the connector. It's an old picture that shows a homemade tool for removing the pins. They are almost impossible to remove if you make a mistake in wiring things up. The tool is made by grinding a SS tweezer until it fits into the removal openings in the connector.

i-knqT9Hw-L.jpg


For the left wing there are 5 wires to the connectors: Nav, Strobe, Sync, Stall Warning and Ground. For the right wing there are 6 wires: Nav, Strobe, Sync, LDG Light Steady, LDG Light Pulse and Ground. So that would be a total of 22 pins needed for the 4 connectors. It's a good idea to have some extras, just in case.
The biggest problem I had with this upgrade was pulling in the extra wires needed for separating the NAV from NAV/STROBE only operation that I had with the old D-180 set-up and adding the sync function. My wings were built before there even was a lighting kit, not to mention the Skyview wiring. You may recall I pulled out all the D-180 harnesses and put in all new Skyview harnesses about 4 years ago.
 
It’s definitely worth the upgrade - I’ll order them in the morning. Thanks for the additional info. Hopefully I won’t have to pull any of them out!
 
I went to the Vans online store and tried to order the from The List, but they came up as costing a $1.85. That seems a little steep - has anyone else ever bought them?

I'm not picking on Dave, but all the aircraft in the hangers around me are certified and I hear the price of replacement parts etc... quoted every week. Can't help but snicker when one of us on here complains about prices for our experimental parts.
 
For instance... I just ordered new plastic faceplate for Garmin SL40 comm radio because original started delaminating. Strictly cosmetic piece of thin plastic with Garmin logo. Has sticky tape on back side - just pull off old and slap on new. $92.00 from Stein Air... :eek::eek::eek:
 
I'm not picking on Dave, but all the aircraft in the hangers around me are certified and I hear the price of replacement parts etc... quoted every week. Can't help but snicker when one of us on here complains about prices for our experimental parts.
I don’t disagree. I seldom see a Cessna high wing that doesn’t have umpteen stop-drilled cracks in the plastic wing fairings because replacements are so expensive. The guy that hangars next to me has a 310 - he showed me a little air valve that cost him $1,800 to replace. We could probably re-skin a wing for less than that. That’s actually why I was surprised at the cost of tiny little pins. I’m used to Harbor Freight pricing, those sounded more like NASA. 😄
 
I don’t disagree. I seldom see a Cessna high wing that doesn’t have umpteen stop-drilled cracks in the plastic wing fairings because replacements are so expensive. The guy that hangars next to me has a 310 - he showed me a little air valve that cost him $1,800 to replace. We could probably re-skin a wing for less than that. That’s actually why I was surprised at the cost of tiny little pins. I’m used to Harbor Freight pricing, those sounded more like NASA. ��

Over the years I've learned that quality electrical connectors are just expensive. Not because they're regulated aviation parts but because they're industrial components and you're paying for the tight tolerances and quality control that make them reliable. You'd be using the same connectors and paying the same price in an industrial setting, and for the same reasons.
 
I had the old type "screw head connectors" and I replaced them with a connector plug from Spruce, I made a coil of sheathed wiring about 12" long, when I remove wings I pull them out about 10" and disconnect plug, has worked flawlessly for over two years, I think I spent less than $25.00 for plugs and pins....I made a note in my M/M for wing removal as to the procedure.
 
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