The Dimensions of a D-Sub Connector
The D-subminiature, or D-sub, connector is an electrical connector long associated with computers, communications equipment and related electronic devices. It gets its name from the trapezoidal shape of its sides that resemble a “D.” It is a multi-pin connector available in several sizes accommodating from nine to 104 separate pins.
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Description
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A D-sub connector has a protruding metal shroud formed in a D shape surrounding a plastic inset piece that holds the connector’s pins. The shroud on the male connector fits into the female, forming a grounded shield that reduces radio-frequency interference from the signals in the pins. The inset of the male connector holds two or more parallel rows of pins that "mate with" corresponding sockets in the female connector. A pair of short threaded stand-offs, one on each of the D’s short sides, mate with screws on the opposite gender connector. The screws secure the connection between two connectors.
Dimensions
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The smallest D-sub connector is the nine-pin size. The overall width is 1.228 inches with a height of .509 inches. The long side of the D is .671 inches, the short sides are .334 inches and are angled 80 degrees with respect to the long side. The body of the connector is a maximum of .595 inches deep. Larger-size D-sub connectors have similar proportions.
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Shell Sizes
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The D-sub connector comes in six shells, the sizes of which increase with the shell number. Each size supports two different numbers of pins, one that has a standard pin spacing and one that has a high-density spacing. The two most common are the 9- and 25-pin types; these are shell sizes one and three, respectively. The high-density versions of these shells have 15 and 44 pins. Shell size two supports 15 and 26 pins, size four has 37 and 62, size five has 50 and 78 and size six has 104 pins.
Uses
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Personal computers use the size one D-sub connector for video and serial ports. Older PCs have a size three connector for printers. Disk drives have used the 25-pin connector with the SCSI interface. In the 1970s and 1980s, many minicomputers used the 25-pin connector for communicating with character-based video terminals. Some uninterruptible power supplies use a nine-pin D-sub connector to communicate the unit’s status to a host computer.
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References
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