Car/bike electrical connector suppliers

I keep needing to buy a variety of car/motorbike electrical connectors - the kind of N-way crimp connectors used for wiring up auxiliary circuits, often with weirdly shaped plastic housings.

Ordinarily I'd go to the usual suspects of Farnell or RS for electronic components, but these seem to be a bit different. Often they aren't covered - perhaps because they're often made by different manufacturers (not the usual Molex/TE/Samtec/FCI/Tyco/etc, maybe from Japan/China/etc manufacturers)

Shops like EuroCarParts are useless because they tie everything to vehicle reg - no use going there saying 'I want a 7-pole connector that looks like this'. Likewise local car parts shops don't carry useful stock.

There's a few ebay stores that sell them in ones and twos for no doubt large markups, which leads me to deduce they must have a supplier they buy them from - I doubt they buy in the thousands from the manufacturer direct. They must be getting from a wholesaler - who probably have a better range at lower prices (witness all the Farnell bits that turn up on Amazon with some ludicrous markup).

So what's the Farnell or TLC of car/bike electrical bits?

Thanks Theo

Reply to
Theo
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I have nothing to add, but I want to know the answer to this too!

Reply to
Scott M

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Reply to
Redstar

Me too. I want to make up a "special" to link into the aux power connector of my Renault Master Van, local Renault main agent claim to have searched all their systems and that no mating part exists.

Reply to
newshound

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Reply to
Chris Bartram

My search terms were "vehicle electrical supplies"

RS

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If you want some really high grade stuff.

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Reply to
Peter Hill

There's lots of two-bit e-shops that Google brings up that sell a small range of common connectors, but it's easy to run out of road quite rapidly.

For instance, my current test list includes: Harley 7-pin throttle-by-wire connector, aka TE/AMP Mini Multilock, stocked by RS:

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|rel (plus pins)

Sumitomo 3-pin throttle connector:

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(various ebay sources)

120 amp Anderson connectors
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Assorted Chinese white plastic connectors (exact names unknown):

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These are just examples, next time it'll be a different list. Some of these are widely available, some aren't. I've not found anywhere near a one-stop-shop.

The trouble with buying from multiple e-shops is the postage starts to mount up rapidly. For instance, in the first case the only UK supplier is RS who force me to buy 5, which works out at about 17 quid [1]. I could buy one from the US or from Germany, but after postage it works out about the same. Imagine this repeated over lots of connectors - it soon gets silly.

Hence the wish to buy from someone with a wider range.

(That said, I should probably stare at what RS have in more detail: pity there's no sensible classification)

Theo

[1] RS' stupid MOQ rules are one reason they're ordinarily a last resort for me
Reply to
Theo

There are loads of them. Not all stock everything. My favourite is Vehicle Wiring Products. Not the cheapest but very good service.

Google on vehicle wiring for some more.

Lots of car connectors are specific to that make or model. Although made by the usual suspects. Those that are shared can usually be obtained, as can those that are needed when using proprietary bits in say a kit car. Things like the connectors for EDIS, for example. But as I said others may be exclusive to a maker. The only real way to get them is from a used loom. Luckily new terminals can usually be obtained - it's just the housing which is a special. Sadly you might have to try a dozen companies to find what you want. Google is no help for this sort of thing.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

If you find one, let me know.

Take the connector which is common for things like injectors and sensors. The Junior Timer. Easy enough, you'd say - provided you just want black. But they are made in a variety of colours for identification purposes. I ended up sourcing four different colours from four different suppliers.

It's the same with wire. No one place I've found stocks the entire range of colours with tracer colours.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

I've also used this lot

Reply to
Andy Burns

I have been in this situation with other items, I buy best deal for small amount, use what I need and sell the surplus on ebay. In many instances I have gained from this so effectively got what I need for zero £s.

If you only want a couple of something then chances are so do others so they will usually sell on ebay.

One example, I needed an item that would have cost £4-5 in the UK, sourced on ebay (from china) 25 of the items for £1.99 with free postage. I sold the other 24 at £3 each and made probably about £40 net after postage/fees etc.

Reply to
ss

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circa 11 solid colours and 42 with a tracer in 1mm2

Reply to
The Other Mike

Yup. But not the entire range. And only in some sizes.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

beal.org.uk possibly.

Reply to
Chris Green

To cut a long story short, since this time I'm looking for Japanese motorbike bits, I've just put an order in to

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which was the only place that had all the bits I wanted.

It's in the US, which is a big pain because it adds on a couple of weeks (maybe more at this time of year) and risks getting held up for import fees. But some of the parts were unobtainable anywhere else.

Theo

Reply to
Theo

Neighbour has a modern Harley, even he is less than chuffed at the interesting mix of AF and metric fasteners used by the factory.

Torberry are UK supplier of Anderson

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Reply to
Adam Aglionby

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