Installing A Molex Connector
Molex connectors can provide a handy way to easily remove or replace items (such as a monitor chassis or control panel) without rewiring. In this post, we’ll discuss how to install a Molex connector into your preexisting arcade cabinet wiring.
Installing A Molex Connector
Most people tend to use Molex as a term for any and all types of connectors, however, Molex is actually a brand of connector. The brand Molex has become so popular that, like Kleenex, it has become the name by which all connectors are called. Molex connectors are great to use in places where you might have to disconnect wiring in the future as it eliminates the need to rewire and solder. Today, we’re going to discuss how to install a Molex connector into your arcade monitor power cord.
Before we get started, it’s important to have the Molex connectors and pins you’re going to use on hand. For this job, we will be using size 0.93″ Molex round pins and 2 pin Molex connectors. There are more sizes (such as 0.100″ and 0.62″) and types (such as flat) available but we have found that 0.93″ is easier to work with for jobs that require round pins. Make sure you order both male and female Molex connectors and pins as you need both to make the connection.
Once we have our Molex connectors, we can begin our project. Take the wires that you want to place the Molex connector on and strip them about 1/4 of an inch from the top. This should give you enough wire to make a good connection with the Molex pin. Pick up your D-Sub Pin Crimper and one of your Molex pins. Place the pin in the correct slot of your crimper with the open part of the pin towards the floor. A good way to remember this is to use the tee pee and indian analogy from the video. It sounds silly but it really does help you remember.
Now that you have correctly placed the pin in your crimper, place the wire you stripped earlier into the open end of the pin and then squeeze the crimper. It’s good to squeeze the pin using the crimper a second time from a sideways position to make sure that it’s making a good connection to the wire. This is known as Tim’s Patented Double Squeeze method.
Let’s now place our Molex pin we crimped into the correct Molex connector. Take a look at your pin and see if it’s male or female. A good rule of thumb when placing your pins into connectors is to place female pins into the male connector and vice versa. While this is not a requirement, this is a very common configuration. Push your pin into your connector and you should hear a snap. This snap indicates that the pin has been successfully installed. If you do not hear the snap, you can take a small flat head screwdriver (such as a jeweler’s screwdriver) and push on the pin until you hear it snap.
If you screw up on a Molex connector or if you just need to repin it, you can use a Molex pin extraction tool. The Molex pin extraction tool allows you remove the pins from a connector without damaging the connector or the wire. You can order it from the Amazon.com link below. To use it, push the extraction tool into a connector with a pin in it and gently pull on the wire connected to the pin. The pin should pop out of the connector allowing you to repin the wire. The alternative is to cut the wire but you might have limited length to work with.

Installing Molex connectors is a valuable skill for any arcade repair technician to have. For more information on Molex connectors, please visit http://www.marvin3m.com/connect/index.htm. Please feel free to leave any questions or suggestions below.
Thank You very much for your time and effort at putting together these videos and information. I haven’t yet purchased a video game but would want to be as informed as possible about it prior to purchase. I am most interested in electrical/ electronic safety as I don’t to injure myself, the game or people who use the game in the future. I was fortunate to download a repair manual on a monitor that with other website and you tube instruction should prepare me for competency in repair/ maintainance of these games. Again I appreciate your help and will refer people to your site and company in the future.
Best Regards,
ent