How to choose waterproof connectors for LED displays in thunderstorm weather?

　　Thunderstorms are frequent in summer, so it is necessary to pay attention to the waterproofing of outdoor LED displays . Strengthening waterproof protection can extend the service life of the display, so waterproof protection needs to be checked from the source. Among them, the selection of waterproof connectors is particularly important. There are many varieties of waterproof connectors on the market, but the quality is uneven. So how to choose?

　　When choosing a high-quality LED waterproof connector, you can generally consider the following aspects.

　　First, it must comply with relevant electrical, installation, connection, insulation, protection and other technical standards, which is the basis for selection.

　　Second, we should not only look at the standards, but also go beyond them and focus on the situations encountered in actual applications.

　　Because some of the standards used in the design and production of connectors in the LED industry are actually borrowed from other industries, and because the industry has been applied for a relatively short time, many clauses do not conform to and meet the rapidly changing requirements of the LED industry. For example, the assessment of aging-resistant materials only generally says that they are suitable for outdoor engineering use, but how to define it, whether to look at the UL yellow card or to be based on the test, and whether the life of outdoor engineering use is based on the commercial contract of the project manufacturer or a "technical service life" that everyone can recognize. These directly affect the selection and design of product materials, and are also the reason for the variety of LED connector materials.

　　In addition, the requirements of some standard clauses are still relatively low, that is to say, the quality threshold is very low, which has resulted in various home workshops being able to produce at will. Some test standards are tested under a "standard static environment". Often after an engineering accident, the connector is retested and found to be qualified according to the standard. Why? Because laboratory tests all choose standard clauses and standard environments, while the environment of the application site varies greatly. For example, the M16 cable fixing head at the end of the connector has requirements for cable grip and torque resistance. The standard only states that the tensile force reaches 80N and the torque resistance value is greater than 0.45Nm. However, the connector may be pulled and twisted manually in actual use, so the actual data may be far from the standard value, and this force is maintained between the two connectors for a long time. After long-term outdoor use, it often causes the connector to be not waterproof or have poor contact and break.

　　Third, look at the production quality control system of the connector factory. It is easy for a connector company to provide testing for a pair of connectors and get good test scores, but when you arrive at the factory, you will find that there is no inspection standard for raw materials, no necessary testing link for finished products, no procedures for repairing and testing unqualified products, etc., which all affect the overall quality of the product. In other words, it is only 100% qualified, not 1,000th or 10,000th qualified. In the long run, good quality system control is even the most important reference factor for lighting manufacturers to choose connector manufacturers, otherwise they will "lose the big picture for the small". In general, companies with larger production scales and technical testing equipment have higher product quality control and stability.

　　Fourth, look at the structural principle design, which is very important. If the design of waterproof, connection and other principles is more advanced, it is already one step ahead. If you choose an outdated structural principle design, even if the quality control in the production process is very good, it is often not as reliable as the innovative generation of products in terms of reliability and long-term outdoor weather resistance.

　　Fifth, check the tolerance size control accuracy of the assembly parts. Because connectors often involve connection, waterproofing, male and female contact matching, etc., they need to have very high precision requirements on the size. At first glance, high-end and low-end connectors are almost the same in appearance and structure, and it is difficult to tell the difference. But if you spend some time and use a caliper to carefully measure the matching dimensions of multiple pairs of connectors, you will find that the matching dimensions of poor quality connectors vary greatly, which means that the stability of the connection is not guaranteed and the consistency of batch products is poor.