A Raven boom valve that chatters, a pressure reading that flickers, a flow meter that drops to zero on a rough headland and comes back on the next pass. Before you buy a node or a sensor, look at the gray plug. On a Raven system almost every sensor, valve and node lead ends in a Deutsch DT connector, and an intermittent fault that follows vibration or rain is a connector problem until proven otherwise. The fix is a five dollar contact and ten minutes. The trick is knowing what a bad one looks like.
If the console shows no rate at all, start with our rate reads zero article; if a node light is doing something odd, see node lights.
1. Find the bad connection
- Fault comes and goes with bumps, works on the shop floor — a backed-out contact. The pin or socket was never clicked into its locking finger, so it slides back when the halves mate and only touches sometimes. Pull the plug apart and look at the face: every contact should sit at the same depth.
- Fault after rain or a washdown, clears up in a day — water in the shell. Look for green or white crust on the contacts and a rear seal that is split or has a wire pulled out of it.
- One sensor dead, others on the same cable fine — a single corroded or spread socket. Sockets open up after a pin is forced in crooked, and then they grip nothing.
- Whole boom section or node drops out — a power or ground contact, or a CAN pin, rather than a signal pin. Check the main harness plugs at the node and the cab first.
- Plug will not click together, or comes apart by hand — missing or broken wedge lock, or a broken latch on the shell. Without the wedge the contacts are not held in line and the halves do not stay sealed.
- Fault stays after a new cable — the mating half on the sensor or valve. Boom valves and pressure transducers have molded receptacles; look at their pins too.
2. Why it fails
DT connectors are good when assembled right. Size 16 contacts take 16 to 20 AWG wire and are rated 13 amps continuous, the rear grommet seals each wire, and the wedge lock holds the contacts straight. They fail when a contact is pushed in until it feels snug instead of until it clicks, when a wire is tugged out of the seal, when someone probes the sockets with a test lead and spreads them, or when a plug is left hanging open in the field over winter. Raven's own troubleshooting guide puts it plainly: inspect all cables for pinched or stripped wires, non-secure connections, rust and corrosion, and damaged pins, and watch for pulled or pushed pins on boom cabling. Water inside a CAN line through a damaged plug is a classic cause of nodes going offline.
3. The parts
| What you need | Part |
|---|---|
| Replacement socket (female) contact, 16–20 AWG, for the plug side | Raven 408-4001-063 Deutsch DT socket contact |
| 3-pin DT plug (wire side) for sensors and valves | Raven 408-4001-014 3-pin plug, 16–20 gauge |
| 3-pin DT connector, female | Raven 408-4001-015 3-pin connector |
| 6-pin DT receptacle to 3-pin DT plug, 20 ft | Raven 115-0172-275 adapter cable |
| Granular product control cable, Deutsch DT | Raven 115-0172-353 |
| 12-pin to four pressure sensors | Raven 115-0172-357 adapter cable |
| RFM 200 flow meter cable | Raven 117-0159-441 cable kit |
| Pressure transducer with DT connector | Raven 422-0000-119, 0–250 psi |
| High-flow 3-port boom valve, 3-pin Deutsch | Raven 063-0172-868 |
| Section control cable, 10 section, 15 ft | Raven 115-0172-404 |
| ISO CAN adapter, Viper 4 / 4+ | Raven 115-0172-481 |
4. Inspecting and repairing a DT plug
- Key off. Unplug the connector and look straight into the face with a flashlight. Contacts all the same height, no green, no bent pins. Push each wire gently from behind; a good one does not move.
- Pop the wedge lock out with a small screwdriver, hooked pick or needle-nose pliers. Now each contact can be released: pull the wire back a little, push the locking finger away from the contact with a small screwdriver, and draw it out while holding the rear seal in place.
- Green or white crust: replace the contact. Cleaning gets you through the day; it comes back.
- Crimping a new contact: strip about a quarter inch, no nicked strands, and use a four-indent Deutsch crimper (HDT-48-00 or equivalent) set for the contact size. Pliers do not make a crimp that lasts. The wire shows in the inspection hole, nothing sticks out the back.
- Push the contact straight into the grommet until it clicks, then tug it. If it comes back, it was not locked. Reinstall the wedge lock until it clicks.
- Dielectric grease: the DT seals on its grommets, not on grease, so it is not required. A thin film on the interface seal and rear grommet helps keep water out of a plug that hangs in the open. Do not pack the cavities; grease between pin and socket does not conduct, it holds grit, and a full cavity can push a contact back out.
- Never probe a socket with a meter lead. Back-probe at the wire, or use a pin of the right size.
- Cable tie plugs so they do not hang below a boom tube where they collect water, and leave a drip loop.
- On a CAN fault, measure at the plug: about 12 VDC on power, about 2.5 VDC on CAN high and low, and, per Raven's troubleshooting guide, about 75 ohms across the CAN pair with both terminators in place (150 with one).
Not sure which contact or cable you need? Send a photo of the plug face and the cable label to sales@spraycenter.com or call (509) 838-2209.
Spray Center Electronics stocks Raven Deutsch DT contacts, plugs, adapter cables and sensors in Spokane, WA. Part numbers here come from the manufacturers' parts sheets; if your meter, boom or fittings have been changed over the years, send a photo of the tag or the part and we'll match it before you order.