MC4 International Solar Panel Connector ?standard?

[spanner48]

Has anyone tried connecting up 12 volt solar PV panels recently? There is [meant to be] an international standard - MC4 - which specifies the exact dimensions for the connectors. They are all "Dog-puppy" couplings, with Male-inside Female-inside Male and Female-inside Male-inside Female configurations. Each polarity uses the opposite sequence; so, once you start correctly, it's impossible to mix them up.

Except it's NOT a standard. We've been working with connectors from three different [Chinese] manufacturers. Systematically, the connectors of one either physically cannot [or can, only with great difficulty, or modification] lock in with another. And in more than one case there are moulding errors which make ANY locking-in impossible. Disconnecting is even worse; in most cases, once the connectors are clicked into place, it is impossible to disconnect, without physically pulling the wires out.

A simple job - connecting up three panels in parallel - which should have taken less than an hour, has taken 5 hours so far, and is still not complete.

Has anyone else met the same problems?

Does anyone know of a source of non-Chinese connectors?

 

[Skeety]

Try RS Components, CPC, Farnell, Mouser or Digikey. All should have high quality connectors.

 

[Sideways]

Austrian company Staubli, now renamed "Multi- Contact" make a range of high quality connectors including ones specifically for connecting up solar panels.
You sometimes see the connectors and the (expensive) crimp tools that are needed to fit them as used or surplus on ebay.

If I saw the initials MC associated with solar panel connectors, I'd just assume they were referring to a particular Multi-Contact (aka Staubli) product.