General Question

winblowzxp's avatar

Plugs that go into female headers?

Asked by winblowzxp (498points) November 27th, 2012

What are the little plugs that you put into a female header to key it called? You see these on things like IDE cables, and some computer cases have them for connecting USB ports to the motherboard.

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4 Answers

jerv's avatar

There is no standard name; they are generally named after their function.

winblowzxp's avatar

Thanks for your answer. On Mouser’s website, I found that “keying plugs” yielded what I was looking for.

gasman's avatar

Usually male connectors are plugs, female connectors are sockets. I’ve seen headers simply identified as male or female, usually with respect to the innermost conductors (not the surrounding enclosures, which sometimes give the appearance of opposite gender).

“Keying” is an extra feature of connectors that prevents wrong-way connections of rectangular grids. Headers are keyed by small projections that mate with corresponding channels in the opposite enclosure, allowing only one correct way to match plug with socket.

winblowzxp's avatar

@gasman: Right. What I was asking was what the little plastic plugs that go into the receptacle to key it were called. I was successful by searching for Keying Plugs.

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