AVX, a leading manufacturer of passive components and interconnect solutions, has announced the completion of its innovative 70-9296 Series wire-to-board, dual beam, closed box contacts. The full series offering of 4mm, 3mm, and 2mm single poke home contacts now accommodates solid or stranded wires ranging from 12-28AWG with current ratings up to 20A, facilitating increased design flexibility and enabling simple, reliable, and solderless wire termination in an even broader range of industrial and solid-state lighting applications. Integrating several key design features within the stamping to facilitate SMT pickup, wire guidance, high force retention, and easy wire removal, the 70-9296 Series contacts provide all of the benefits of a full-function connector while both negating the labor and materials costs associated with the insulator and contributing to smaller and more cost-effective end designs. "The complete family of insulator-less 70-9296 single poke home contacts provides design engineers with full connector performance, maximum mechanical stability, and enhanced design flexibility in a wide range of ruggedized wire to board applications, providing them with a solution for satisfying the continual demand for smaller and more cost effective end designs," said Tom Anderson, Product Manager at AVX. Featuring an enhanced solder pad for maximum mechanical stability on the PCB and a unique closed box design with dual opposing high spring-force contacts, providing outstanding wire retention, AVX's 70-9296 Series single poke home contacts feature upper and lower tines that guide stripped wires down the center of the contact zone and an integral end-stop to ensure proper insertion depth. The series also facilitates easy wire removal, which can be achieved by twisting or using a small blade removal tool to help release some of the contact force. Tape and reel packaged for automated SMT placement, the RoHS-compliant 70-9296 Series contacts are made of phosphor bronze with tin over nickel plating and are rated for five-cycle durability and -40°C to +125°C. Voltage rating for the series is dependent upon placement distance. AVX