short pin in coupler

[acourtjester]

Attached is a image of the connector on my PM65 for a Duramax torch. One of the pins is shorter then the others I tried to pull it out but it will not move. My question is if any of you have this on your torch connector for that torch? I do not think this is normal!

[urbnsr]

Mine is the same. I figure it has a controlling purpose. I would not try to pull it out.

Paul

[WyoGreen]

Quite often the pins in connectors are of different lengths to allow some connections to be made before others. An example would be to connect the ground connection first to drain static charges before connecting sensitive electronic circuits.

Steve

[acourtjester]

Thanks for the reply
by pulling it out I did not mean remove it just to make them the same height.
Pins in connectors like these are not completely installed (meaning they have a retainer which needs to catch when completely installed). When this happens the pin can back out of the connection and then not make contact when the connector is inserted into the jack.
In this image you can see the pin retainer that holds the pin in place when installed fully into the plug.
As a retired Electronics Field Engineer I have never seen this arrangement before but life goes on.

pin image a.jpg (16.75 KiB) Viewed 536 times

[urbnsr]

Yeah - I meant to type pull up. Not out. That pin does look to be a smaller diameter, too, so being shorter would make sense, also. I have been told that the power supply will compensate it's auto settings based on setups and one aspect is torch lead length - Air pressure may be different. Some how the unit needs to be told what torch/torch lead length was plugged in. I have an idea what you mean about being in the field. I have been around electronics building for almost 30 years and many things have changed. Electronics are used in many more areas than they used to and Steve's post might be spot-on. I don't know, but it's plausible. Here is a snip from my service manual.

Schematic.png (23.96 KiB) Viewed 529 times

[jimcolt]

WyoGreen wins the prize on this one with his correct answer! The shorter pin is on all of the torch connectors, it is shorter for a reason.....to make contact slightly after the others have made contact when plugging the lead in under power up conditions.

The pins are in different locations on different lead length torches and different with hand and machine torches.....this identifies the torch and lead length so that air flow is automatically adjusted (lead length, additional flow restrictions) and so that the safety interlock for hand torches functions properly.

I have hand and machine torches in my shop for Powermax65 and 85, all four have the short pin just as you have pictured. Each torch is tested on production fixtures at Hypertherm based on their part numbers, pinouts are verified, if incorrect they will not ship.

Best regards, Jim Colt, Hypertherm

Attached is a image of the connector on my PM65 for a Duramax torch. One of the pins is shorter then the others I tried to pull it out but it will not move. My question is if any of you have this on your torch connector for that torch? I do not think this is normal!

DSCN1621.JPG

[acourtjester]

Thanks for the reply question answered
Thanks to all