DIN 41612 is a DIN standard for electrical connectors that
are widely used in rack based electrical systems. Standardisation of
the connectors is a pre-requisite for open systems, where users
expect components from different suppliers to operate together. The
mostly widely known use of DIN 41612 connectors is in the VMEbus
system. They were also used by NuBus.
The standard has subsequently been upgraded to international
standards IEC 60603-2 and EN 60603-2.
Mechanical details
The standard describes DIN 41612 connectors which may have one, two or three rows of contacts, which are labelled as rows a, b and c. Two row connectors may use rows a+b or rows a+c. The connectors may have 16 or 32 columns, which means that the possible permutations allow 16, 32, 48, 64 or 96 contacts. The rows and columns are on a 0.1 inch (2.54 mm) grid pitch. Insertion and removal force are controlled, and three durability grades are available.
Electrical details
The headline performance of the DIN 41612 connectors is a 2 amp per pin current carrying capacity, and 500 volt working voltage. Both these figures may need to be de-rated according to safety requirements or environmental conditions.