LOD plug from hell

[CarlSeibert]

If you see an LOD plug that looks like this one, you might consider running in the opposite direction.

Being the fair-minded guy that I am, I will say that this connector has certain things going for it and if those things are really important to you, you might not brand it a sadistic work of the devil.

It's the most compact plug I've seen. The locking barbs work great. And the case itself is relatively easy to assemble.

On the other hand... the contacts are staked in place. You can't pull out the ones that you don't want that are in the way. You have have to bend the pins that are adjacent to the ones you want out of the way to make any room to work at all. Then you have to make sure you haven't shorted any. Then, this is the best part - the working parts are contained in a half-shield frame affair that's crimped together. It's solid on the back/bottom. Meaning, you somehow have to find a way to reach around to the bottom row with your soldering iron to get to the pin in the back. That's through the tiny little opening you were able to make by bending pins out of the way. ARRRRGH! What a pain. There's no insertion arrow molded into the top of the case, either.

When/if you get this connector attached, it comes out nice and sturdy and compact. But what a hassle!

AFAIK, there are no brand names or specific markings on these. All we have to go on is how they look. And there may be one that looks identical that goes together like a breeze. Who knows. Personally, the next time, I'll use a slightly bigger one that has removable pins.