Agilent probe power connectors

Jul 22, 2009 1 Replies

I was thinking of powering some of my own hacked-up scope/spectrum analyzer probes from the "probe power" connectors on most newer Agilent spectrum analyzers and VNAs (you get +15V and -12.6V -- handy), and did some Googling to get part numbers. I didn't have much luck, so I posted to Agilent's forum, where a helpful Agilent employer clued me into the part numbers, with pictures and pricing available on

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Probe Power cable connectors --



5060-0466 - female connector assembly, $39.38
5040-0494 - sleeve, female connector, $76.58

Those prices are just insane -- $116 for a dinky little 3-pin plastic connector!



Clearly Agilent has no interest in people homebrewing accessories for their products. How sad...


---Joel



P.S. -- In the process I happened to come across the part number for a Tektronix probe power connector... it's Lemo FFA.0S.304.CLAC42. About $30 in quantities of 1, in stock at Heilind.Com (possibly the same as FFA.0S.304.CLAZ, a mere ~$20 at Mouser), which -- while expensive -- suddenly seems a much better deal than Agilent's offering, and it is mostly metal to boot.


You have to remember that Agilent deals with huge companies that think nothing of spending $300k for one instrument. Agilent is not interested in the homebrew/hobbyist. An a long time employee there, I try to give hobbyists some access to info to let them repair older HP/Agilent equipment, but you really don't want to buy from Agilent...the overhead is too much and our labor rate is north of $100/hour. I even tell some of our current customers that they can do better by buying some parts through Newegg or similar.

These connectors are somewhat unique....at one time I provided the name of the manufacturer for this, but I no longer have that info. Sorry.

cv

Joel Koltner wrote:

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