DIN 41612 was a DIN standard for electrical connectors that are widely used in rack based electrical systems. Standardisation of the connectors is a pre-requisite for open systems, where users expect components from different suppliers to operate together. The most widely known use of DIN 41612 connectors is in the

VMEbus VMEbus (Versa Module Europa or Versa Module Eurocard bus) is a computer bus standard, originally developed for the Motorola 68000 line of CPUs, but later widely used for many applications and standardized by the IEC as ANSI/IEEE 1014-1987. ...

and NuBus systems. The standard has withdrawn in favor of international standards IEC 60603-2 and EN 60603-2. DIN 41612 connectors are used in Pancon, STEbus, Futurebus,

Multibus Multibus is a computer bus standard used in industrial systems. It was developed by Intel Corporation and was adopted as the IEEE 796 bus. The Multibus specification was important because it was a robust, well-thought out industry standard with ...

II, NuBus, VXI Bus, eurocard TRAM motherboards, and Europe Card Bus, all of which typically use male DIN 41612 connectors on Eurocards plugged into female DIN 41612 on the

backplane A backplane (or "backplane system") is a group of electrical connectors in parallel with each other, so that each pin of each connector is linked to the same relative pin of all the other connectors, forming a computer bus. It is used as a back ...

in a

19-inch rack A 19-inch rack is a standardized frame or enclosure for mounting multiple electronic equipment modules. Each module has a front panel that is wide. The 19 inch dimension includes the edges or "ears" that protrude from each side of the equ ...

chassis.

Mechanical details

The standard describes connectors which may have one, two or three rows of contacts, which are labelled as rows a, b and c. Two row connectors may use rows a+b or rows a+c. The connectors may have 16 or 32 columns, which means that the possible permutations allow 16, 32, 48, 64 or 96 contacts. The rows and columns are on a 0.1 inch (2.54 mm) grid pitch. Insertion and removal force are controlled, and three durability grades are available. Often the female DIN 41612 connectors have press fit contacts rather than solder pin contacts, to avoid thermal shock to the backplane. Andrew Fletcher
"Connector Industry: A Profile of the European Connector Industry"
p. 67.

Electrical details

The headline performance of the connectors is a 2

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per pin current carrying capacity, and 500

volt The volt (symbol: V) is the unit of electric potential, electric potential difference (voltage), and electromotive force in the International System of Units (SI). It is named after the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta (1745–1827). Defin ...

working voltage. Both these figures may need to be de-rated according to safety requirements or environmental conditions.

Performance Classes

The DIN 41612 specification identifies 3 different classes or "levels"; it's more complicated than this, but, essentially: class 1 is good for 500 mating cycles; class 2 is good for 400 mating cycles, and, class 3 is good for 50 mating cycles.

References

External links

VME Bus Connector Mechanical Dimensions
41612 Electrical signal connectors {{Electronics-stub