Oh, boy. Picking a good connector is a surprisingly deep task. Engineers get into shouting matches (ok, not usually literally) over this because a lot of it comes down to personal preferences. Tooling (crimpers, etc.) can be a major concern for casual users mostly due to cost. Solder type connectors don't need special tooling, but you then of course have to solder the wires to the connector which can be challenging for novices.
The old "Pin and socket" Molex 0.093" and 0.062" connectors are go-tos in the arcade industry, at least in the USA. They're pretty cruddy connectors by most metrics, but they're readily available, cheap, and you can mash the contacts with cheap tools and/or solder the wires to the contact if you don't have a suitable tool. These were widely used on US arcade and pinball machines in the '80s.
In larger size wire-to-wire connectors, I'm fond of the AMP (TE) Universal Mate-n-Lok series. They have fully shrouded pins on both gender housings, can handle several amps per pin, and have a pretty nice latching mechanism that's easy to undo and unmate even when the connector gets contaminated with dirt. It's also available in a wire-to-board variety for times when that's necessary.
The JST VL series is also decent and widely used for AC and DC power connections with larger wires in Japanese games and is readily available in the USA from Digi-Key. The Europeans like the AMP UP ("Universal Power") series. It's decent, but it's hard to get in the USA.
There is also the JST YL series which is similar to the VL but smaller. I like it less since it's prone to being hard to unmate when contaminated with dirt, and it's hard to get in the USA.
Going smaller, many people like "D-Sub" connectors like you would find on an old computer for the serial and parallel ports. These are available in a wide variety of sizes and are cheap. They don't have individually shrouded male pins, though, and they're not suitable for AC line voltages. Current handling is moderate. These are available in crimp and solder-cup varieties. Crimp tools are readily available for quite low cost (~$10-15), but those are kinda dodgy.
When hobbyists need 8 or fewer wires, they often use 8P8C ("RJ-45") connectors with standard category 5 or similar phone wire. These are readily available and very cheap, but the wires are tiny and can't handle hardly any current. The latches also break easily.
For small wire-to-wire connections, I do like the JST XM series, but it's hard to get in the USA. AMP/TE has a somewhat similar system in its 0.1" AMPMODU MTE series, IIRC, that should be easier to get in the USA. This is about as small as is practical for these type of applications.
You might also look at the old DIN 41524 type connectors. These were used for old PC keyboards (XT/AT, prior to PS/2), MIDI, etc.
I could expound more, but that's probably already more than you wanted...
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Topic: Best connectors to use for arcade conv? (Read 1741 times)
