need ideas for high-density, high-amperage quick connectors

I have to replace a couple of doors on my beater, and I figured I will go ahead and do the doorless mod while I'm at it. Since I've got power doors I want to keep all that stuff working, but I don't want to mess with the kickpanels every time I pull a door either.

Separately, I also want a quick disconnect plug for my trailer hitch wiring.

All this means I need some kind of weather resistant plug that I can use for my doors and hitch. The driver's door has 12 wires, the front right has 10 wires, the hitch has 7 wires, and I'm guessing the two rear doors have 6 wires but I haven' looked yet. The wires on the Jeep range between 12-16 gauge, but the hitch block wires are 10-16 gauge (I can shave the 10 gauge down if needed).

The AMP Mate-N-Lok stuff looks perfect but it is insufficient gauge from what I can tell--there seems to be a max of 14 gauge--although I can't really figure it out.



Some of the Amphenol mil-spec connectors would be good but I can't find any kind of retail catalog sales for them



Anybody got any ideas for me?

Thanks

Painless Jamb-Tacs are set up for some unGodly current per circuit - you may want to check them out.

Also, you can usually find Amphenol metal (MIL-spec) or CPC (Circular Plastic Connectors) online - check out Mouser, or NewarkInOne (Google them. I don't recall the URLs offhand.)

Power windows/locks are usually breakered/fused around 30A - you running anything bigger than that?

Also, there are a batch of standard trailer plugs (4-pin, 5-pin, 7-pin - usually all in round or flat) so you can adapt back and forth and use any trailer, so you might want to stick with the standards. If you can't find anything on your own, let me know and I'll see what I can come up with for you - I have a few vendors that you probably do not, and they just run minimum orders. What you don't get, I can always add to stock.

It doesn't look like the Jamb-Tacs will be easy to work with

I looked through Mouser and NewarkInOne (thanks) and the latter shows a bunch of good circular connectors. Damn those things are expensive--like $80 for a pair of 12-pin connectors.

You are right that the locks and windows are on 30-amp circuits. I think the hitch wiring is the same. However only one of the door wires is 12 gauge and everything else (even the hitch with full-time power draw) is only 14 or 16.

The hitch wiring unit I bought is the Hopkins 7/4 multi adapter, which has the round 7-pin connector along with an integrated 4-pin connector. The XJ factory hitch wiring is 7-pin so I get it all in one hookup. Hopkins uses the standard trailer wiring which calls for 10 gauge on the full-time power circuits (bookmark this) but the XJ factory hitch wiring only uses 14 and 16 gauge. Right now I am using some water resistant quick-disconnects on each wire but I would prefer to put a single connector, and one that is smaller than the traditional 7-pin plug (too big to fit in the drop box)

Unless you're using some heavy-duty electric trailer brakes, or you're charging batteries on there, I don't think trailer wiring is set up to carry anything like 30A that far (and I know the lighting circuits aren't that high!) If you do have to carry something that high back there, I'd probably do a 50A feed with a small Anderson connector, and use the 7-wire stuff for kicking relays to make things easier to handle. 50A Andersons will usually handle 8AWG or 6AWG, and some will also handle 4AWG as well (depends on the terminals you use.)

Jamb-tacs are goofy to align the halves of, and they'll "break" every time you open the door, but I wanted to present them as an option for you.

As I said, if you get totally stuck, hit me backchannel and I'll see what I can do. My wife and I will be on (well-deserved!) holiday next week and out-of-state, but I'll see if I can find anything for you before, I may check during, and I'll have to catch up after anyhow.

I talked to my electrical mechanic today and he said the same thing--unless I have a battery in the trailer don't worry about it.

He also said that 14 AWG was plenty enough for the power windows, given the distance and amount of usage.

That being the case, I think I can get away with the AMP Mate-N-Lok connectors. They are pretty cheap (a couple of bucks per), they have lots of weather resistant sleeving, and they look like they can be disconnected by hand (won't need to pry with a screwdriver). I'd much rather mount up some of the circular mil-spec connectors, but at $80 for a pair I'm just not interested.

Here's a PDF page from Waytek Wire's catalog that shows the connector parts

Here's a PDF catalog from AMP/Tyco that shows the options. Some of the bulkhead connectors look pretty useful for the removable door application.

I just trimmed my kick pannels so they snap out and back in place. Very easy to use factory connectors.

Watch the sharp steel around the access hole for the factory loom. It will strip the insulation off the wires. I just put black tape over the edges.