PPC12-427/Best Practices
v1.0
www.winsystems.com
Page 39
Gauge Wire
Use the largest gauge wire that you can. Most connector manufacturers
have a maximum gauge wire they recommend for their pins.
Contact Points
WINSYSTEMS boards mostly use connectors with gold finish contacts.
Gold finish contacts are used exclusively on high-speed connections.
Power and lower speed peripheral connectors may use a tin finish as an
alternative contact surface. It is critical that the contact material in the
mating connectors is matched properly (gold to gold and tin to tin).
Contact areas made with dissimilar metals can cause oxidation/corrosion,
resulting in unreliable connections.
Pin Contacts
Often the pin contacts used in cabling are not given enough attention. The
ideal choice for a pin contact would include a design similar to Molex or
Trifurcon designs, which provide three distinct points to maximize the
contact area and improve connection integrity in high shock and vibration
applications.
Power Down
Make sure that power has been removed from the system before making
or breaking any connections.
I/O Connections OFF
—Turn off all I/O connections before connecting
them to the embedded computer modules or any I/O cards. Connecting
hot signals can cause damage whether the system is powered or not.
Mounting and Protecting the PPC12-427
The PPC12-427 panel PC adheres to safe mounting and protecting
practices. At no time should the motherboard inside of the PPC12-427 be
removed for any reason. Improper removal can result in damage to the
processor and doing so will void the PPC12-427 warranty.
Do not bend or flex the WINSYSTEMS Modular IO80 Expansion
Modules
—Bending or flexing can cause irreparable damage. Embedded
computer expansion modules are especially sensitive to flexing or
bending around ball grid array (BGA) devices. BGA devices are extremely
Power Supply OFF
—Always turn off the power supply before
connecting I/O modules to the attached embedded computer.
