Where to buy?

[urbecrisch]

Where can I buy a 9 pin molex connector for my pinball cpu board?

[LLUncoolJ]

Radio Shack, or whatever they call theirself now, should have them. Ask where they are when you walk in, you will save yourself 15 minutes of looking.

[ChadTower]

Ask where they are when you walk in, you will save yourself 15 minutes of looking.

The cashier will just spend 20 minutes looking it up in the computer and failing.  They won't have any idea what a molex is or where they keep it.

[shardian]

Ask where they are when you walk in, you will save yourself 15 minutes of looking.

The cashier will just spend 20 minutes looking it up in the computer and failing.  They won't have any idea what a molex is or where they keep it.

I was shocked when I called about a capacitor a few weeks ago. Not only did the CS rep know what a cap was, but he asked me if I needed radial or axial...before he even went to look at packaging.

[ChadTower]

Every question I ask at our local Radio Shack, no matter what it is, gets answered with "what model phone is that for?"

[urbecrisch]

Any special tool I need to crimp the wiring to the pins for the molex or will a regular wire crimper do the trick?  First time doing this so I don't want to make another trip if I don't have to. LOL.

[LLUncoolJ]

Any special tool I need to crimp the wiring to the pins for the molex or will a regular wire crimper do the trick?  First time doing this so I don't want to make another trip if I don't have to. LOL.

Probably, but I just crimped them with a regular cheap crimper/cutter/stripper tool.

I went in to Radio Shack looking for the exact same thing. They asked if they could help and took me straight to the bin and pointed out the correct drawer...shocked the hell out of me. I too thought they only dealt with cell phones these days.

[Jeff AMN]

My Radio Shack is really good about knowing their stock, but the biggest issue with that place now is the loss of what they used to carry. It used to be that you could walk into any RS store with a part number and they'd have it. Now they say, "uh, we don't carry that anymore, but we have some Monster Cables over there if you need anything for your home theater setup."

Yeah, man. I came in looking for a bunch of capacitors, molex plugs, fuses, and solder but I'm going to walk out with overpriced HDMI cables instead... 

[urbecrisch]

Went to Radio Shack and all they had were 9 pin headers that were 2 rows.  I need a 9 pin header in 1 straight line.  Any other ideas?

[urbecrisch]

I found a few websites that sell the 9 pin molex terminal but I can use my old one if I can remove the pins.  Most websites I have been to have what seems overpriced pin removal tools.  Anything around the house  Ican use to remove .156" pins?  Has anyone tried using a bobbi pin?

[LLUncoolJ]

I am at a loss on where you can find them locally. Maybe google electronics and the name of your town and something you haven't thought of will pop up. Otherwise, the internets have everything. Happ keeps Molex connectors and probably thousands of othersites do as well. If you order them online, they are cheap, buy 2...in case you screw one up!

One other thought...have you considered buying a male and female 2 row 9 pin that Radio Shack stocks and switching out the existing end?

[urbecrisch]

One other thought...have you considered buying a male and female 2 row 9 pin that Radio Shack stocks and switching out the existing end?

The 9 pin 2 row connectors I saw maybe too big for my pin.  I'm looking for .156".  I'm thinking of just playing the patince game and ordering my molex connectors and pins online and I can start from scratch, although I may try the bobbi pin trick tonight (Have to ask my wife if she has any and where in the world they would be .

[ChadTower]

Depending on what is around the connector, you can probably use the two row, and only populate one row with pins.  Or you can get the two row and cut it down to one.  Or you can extract the pins from the one you have and reuse that.

If you don't need to SAVE the pins it's easy to get them out.  Just cut the line and use a tiny screwdriver to get the pins out if they don't fall right out.

[shardian]

Ah, you should have said .156 edge connector or trifurcon from the start! (note, you still haven't said if it's and edge connector, or stand up connector  )

Rat Shack doesn't carry that stuff anymore. I, along with everyone else, probably assumed you wanted the big molex connector with the bannana style plug pins. Those come in 3 rows of 3, and are used on alot of power supplies, in wiring harnesses, etc.

All of the online pinball suppliers or electronics suppliers can hook you up with what you need. The extraction tool sucks. Go to the dollar store and buy a $1 pack of flat blade jewelers screwdrivers. Take the smallest one and grind the edges parallel to the flat sides a bit to make it thinner. Now wrap the screwdriver in something to protect your hand. Insert screwdriver in back of pin, and twist left then right to flatten the retainer barb thing. Pull out pin, clip it off, and crimp new one on.

Did I mention you will need a special crimping tool? You can do it without it, but it is a PITA and looks like crap.

[urbecrisch]

Ah, you should have said .156 edge connector or trifurcon from the start! (note, you still haven't said if it's and edge connector, or stand up connector  )

Yeah...sorry about that.  I finally figured what I need and where to get it.  I'm going to order some connectors and pins online since I don't have any pins anyway.  I'll try the mini screwdriver trick and I have a decent set of wire crimpers so that should do the trick.  Hopefully the problem lies in this one header and nowhere else