Board-Level Connectors: Reading a KYOCERA Part Number

Connector part numbers carry more structure than most component numbers and are correspondingly easier to misread. A long hyphenated string is not noise: it encodes the family, the pitch, the number of positions, the mounting style and often the plating, in an order that is consistent within a manufacturer’s catalogue.

A real record. KYOCERA 00-9177-003-001-106, filed under <a href=”/product-category/connectorsinterconnects/”>Connectors & Interconnects</a>:

KYOCERA 00-9177-003-001-106 — product detail

The family also appears in our catalogue with related numbers, which is useful when you need the mating half or a different position count rather than this exact variant.

Why connector numbers are read differently from component numbers. For a resistor, the number is essentially one parameter. For a connector, the number identifies a mechanical system: the housing, the contact, the mating interface and the mounting. Two connectors can share a pitch and a position count and still not mate, because the series is different. The part number is the only reliable statement of which system a connector belongs to.

The fields to establish first. Position count, because it decides the pinout and the footprint. Pitch, because it decides the board space and the routing. Mounting style — through-hole, surface-mount, right-angle or vertical — because it decides the mechanical envelope and the assembly process. Contact type and plating, because it decides the current rating and the mating cycles. And gender, because a header and its receptacle are different part numbers that are usually ordered together.

The mating half is part of the selection. A connector is only half a connection. When specifying one, identify the mating connector and, ideally, the cable-side part as well; a design that specifies the board connector and leaves the cable side to be resolved later tends to discover the constraint during qualification. Where the two halves come from the same series, the catalogue record for the series is the place to confirm it.

Mechanical qualification is not optional. Connectors are the components most exposed to mechanical risk: insertion force, retention, soldering process and repeated mating all have published limits. For anything that will be mated in the field, the durability rating and the recommended mating cycles belong in the design file alongside the electrical ratings.

Reading the record, then the drawing. Use the catalogue entry to confirm the part exists and to get its attributes; use the manufacturer’s drawing for the dimensions, the recommended land pattern and the mating information. For a connector, the drawing is not optional reading the way it arguably is for a chip capacitor.

This article describes general connector selection practice, not the specification of any particular part. Confirm position count, pitch, mounting style, plating, current rating and the mating half against the datasheet and the manufacturer’s drawing for the exact part number.