Why is the Pigtail Connector the best for multiple circuits

We know that there is a wide variety of cables and plugins for different purposes, but not all people know all these variations and do not know how much they make production and assembly of audiovisual equipment possible. While connecting your light fixtures, you have to connect multiple circuits to a single outlet. This could be tiresome if you don’t have the right connector to accomplish this task. This is where pigtail connectors come in handy.

Besides, you can also use these connectors to elongate the short circuit wires, thus ensuring easy connection.

WHAT IS A PIGTAIL CONNECTOR?

A pigtail connector is a unique connector type that can be handy during repair and maintenance projects. But cannot be used as a standalone project.

It is a special cable with a connector on one end and loose wires on the other one. With this connector, you can attach two or more electrical conductors with an electric box.

They are small cables connected at their ends. They are used for interconnection between antennas and equipment, whether RF, GSM/GPRS, among others.

The pigtail connector is a thin, short cable (usually 30 cm or less) used as an adapter between the tiny output used on cards and the N-type connector on the antenna cable. There are also pigtails for RP-SMA connectors and other combinations.

Pigtails invariably cause a small loss of signal; they are small precisely so that this loss is the best possible. Generally speaking, a well-built pigtail with 30 cm cable causes a loss of 0.4 to 0.6 dB, which is added to the loss caused by the cable to the antenna (if used).

When you combine a pigtail with 0.4 dB loss with a longer cable, with 2.6 dB loss, for example, you have a total loss of 3dB, both in sending and receiving, eliminating some of the gain offered by the antenna.

In comparison, better shielded cables used in antenna cables, for example, can deliver less than 0.2 dB of loss per meter.

That way, it ends up making more sense to use a short pigtail to connect the longer cable to the connector on the board, than to try to find a longer pigtail to connect it directly to the antenna.

 

Anyway, it is important to emphasize that the signal sent to the antenna is quite weak, so cables and connectors always represent an important point of loss. So the shorter the cable length, the better.

If you need to install the antenna on the roof, or other remote location, make sure you can't also take the access point by installing it next to the antenna.

Even if there is no electrical installation on site, you can use an access point with PoE support, using its own network cable for power transmission.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Step 1: Take a scrap wire and use strippers to cut ¾ inch of insulation from each end of the wire,

Step 2: Loop one end of this wire around the screw terminal of the device. Make sure to wind in the clockwise direction. Needle-nose pliers can prove helpful in this regard. Make sure the entire bare wire is looped without leaving any part of it exposed.

Step 3: Connect the other bare end of the wire with the circuit wires. Even at this end, loop the bare wire fully. Suppose you attach a green grounding pigtail to an electrical box. In that case, the green grounding screw attached to the pigtail must be connected to the screw opening at the back of the electric box to complete the circuit. Attach the free end of the pigtail with the ground wires using the wire connector.

Step 4: Tug the wires to check if they are properly connected

Step 5: For an electric fixture, you can tuck all the wires back in, put it inside the wall and cover it with the main plate, and you are done.

Also check: T Tap Connectors

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