I tried a number of products for quick disconnect of rotator cables outside.
Nothing seemed to prevent corrosion.
Then about five years ago at Dayton a vendor of electrical connectors had an
eight pin connector that has been in use without failure since.
The key to the connector is that it has a rubber gasket (actually two) that
does an excellent job of sealing water out. As I looked at the weatherpack
connectors that Tim N9PUZ described, I could see that on the side where the
connector halves fit together, it has a rubber seal similar to what I'm
using.
With my connector the other seal is at the ends where the wires enter the
connector halves. It's a flat rubber seal that fits snugly in the end of the
connector and has eight holes through which the leads are passed.
I did a little research and it appears that the weatherpack jobs do the same
thing.
I wish I could remember who manufactured the connectors I have. They are a
German automotive connector.
I think the weatherpack connectors look like they would be ideal for the
purpose of quick disconnect of outside control wires.
We have successfully used the trailer wiring connectors as described by
Dennis N6KI as well. Spring in Virginia is usually pretty wet (that's an
understatement this year) and we've had no issues where they have been used.
With them, the control wires need to be spliced to the pigtails, but that's
generally not an issue.
73 de Lar K7SV
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