When designing industrial and commercial transportation vehicles with high-voltage batteries and related systems, manufacturers and system integrators face an important question: Is a high voltage interlock, or HVIL, necessary at every high-voltage interface? Article Contributed By Daniel Domke, Senior Manager, Product Management, Industrial & Commercial Transportation, TE Connectivity For trucks, buses, construction equipment, and miningRead More

Antenna connectors are specialized RF coaxial connectors used to link antennas to coaxial or RF cables that connect to an electronic device such as a router, radio, transceiver, television, or wireless infrastructure. They are used in Wi-Fi and IoT devices, GNSS and navigation, aerospace and defense, and automotive systems. They carry radio-frequency signals through aRead More

Solid-state lighting (SSL) connectors are interconnects developed for LED (and OLED) illumination products. DigiKey described these products this way: “Products in the solid-state lighting connector family are interconnect products designed and marketed with particular focus on the needs of LED-based illumination applications. In general, this implies a focus on low product and assembly costs, predominantlyRead More

An ultrasound cable is a multi-conductor micro-coaxial cable assembly that links an ultrasound transducer or probe to the imaging system. It carries dozens to hundreds of individually shielded signal channels between the transducer array and the console. These assemblies are typically custom-built per probe and imaging-system platform, with channel count, conductor gauge, and connectors specifiedRead More

Police and security patrol vehicles are adopting new and emerging technologies from both the military and automotive worlds. This unique market combines defense-grade signal integrity demands with automotive-grade ruggedization requirements, often in the same harness. Police and security patrol cars have become mobile electronics platforms, with huge investments in recent years outfitting these fleet vehiclesRead More

Upcoming industry events, as well as recent award, partnership, promotion, personnel, facility, distribution, standards, association, and certification news from across the connector industry. September 2026 Connector Industry News September 2026 Connector Industry News > Event News DigiKey’s annual Back to School Giveaway, which gives U.S. university students a chance to win a $1,000 DigiKey shoppingRead More

A first mate-last break (FMLB) connector is an electrical connector engineered so the ground contact connects before any other pins when mating and disconnects after all other pins when unmating. According to Mill-Max, this ensures that the ground path is established before any other power or signal connections are made, eliminating stray currents that canRead More

Upcoming industry events, as well as recent award, partnership, promotion, personnel, facility, distribution, standards, association, and certification news from across the connector industry. August 2026 Connector Industry News August 2026 Connector Industry News > Event News DigiKey and Arduino have launched the Dream Lab Challenge to award a custom lab with professional-grade test equipment to theRead More

A manual service disconnect (MSD) connector is a removable, touch-safe high-voltage connector used to manually break the electrical circuit of an electric or hybrid vehicle’s battery pack. It meets the performance requirements of SAE/USCAR-2 and its high-voltage supplement, USCAR-37. Technicians, first responders, and tow operators pull the MSD before servicing a 60–800V system so thatRead More

A cable tie (also called zip tie, wire tie, or tie-wrap) is a simple engineered fastener commonly used in electronics. It consists of a strap with a row of teeth (a ratchet) on one face and a small housing at one end. When the tail is threaded through the housing, or head, and pulled snug,Read More

There’s a frustrating pattern familiar for anyone who has operated or worked on commercial trucks, agricultural machinery, or construction equipment: a fault appears, the vehicle goes into the shop, technicians run diagnostics and find nothing. The fault code is gone, and the connection looks fine. The vehicle goes back into service, and within days orRead More

Upcoming industry events, as well as recent award, partnership, promotion, personnel, facility, distribution, standards, association, and certification news from across the connector industry. July 2026 Connector Industry News July 2026 Connector Industry News > Award News Sager Electronics was named Distributor of the Year for 2025 by EAO, 2025 Americas Distributor of the Year by RECOMRead More