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Information on the Kenwood 2-Pin Radio Power Connector Compiled, HTML'd and Maintained by Mike Morris WA6ILQ

Click on any photo below for a full size image.

The Kenwood 2-pin radio power connector is not a common one… and can be hard to find a mating connector for the power cord or a replacement connector for the radio pigtail. I've seen a number of radios with it cut off and replaced by 1/4 inch spade lugs, by Anderson Power Poles™, by Jones connectors, and more than once just butt spliced to a hot wire from the vehicle underdash harness. Recently the author needed to replace the power connector on several TK-8160, TK-8360 and TK-8180 mobiles and a friend was kind enough to share his results of his research that he had done a couple of years earlier…

In this article I'd like to give you a source other than Kenwood.

DigiKey™ says that the manufacturer is "JST Sales America Inc.".   Mouser says it's JST Connectors It looks like Mouser carries some connectors from JST but not this particular product line. Clicking on the DigiKey part numbers will open the description page in a new window.
Manufacturers Part Number	Function	DigiKey Number	Price	Notes
VLR-02V	2-pin Connector Body (radio pigtail end)	455-2355-ND	$ 0.34	Use Male Pin
VLP-02V	2-pin Connector Body (power cord end)	455-2374-ND	$ 0.30	Use Female Pin
SVM-61T-P2.0	Male pin for connector body on radio pigtail (20-14 AWG)	455-2379-1-ND	$ 0.15
SVM-81T-P2.0	Male pin for connector body on radio pigtail (12 AWG)	455-SVM-81T-P2.0CT-ND	$ 0.15
SVF-61T-P2.0	Female pin for connector body on power cord (20-14 AWG)	455-2376-1-ND	$ 0.19
SVF-81T-P2.0	Female pin for connector body on power cord (12 AWG)	455-2377-1-ND	$ 0.20
VLS-02V	2-pin connector Pin Keeper or Pin Retainer Two needed (one for each half of the connector set)	455-3615-ND	$ 0.17

• Prices shown are as of December 2023.
• A lot of the internet vendors make and sell their cords without the keepers. There is a reason they exist…
• As shown on the photo at the top of this page you will need a "Keeper" or "Pin Retainer" on each half of the connector bodies… so you need to order twice as many keepers as sets of plugs and sockets.

Power cord connector with keeper (not installed).		Connector with keeper placed in position but not snapped.		Connector with keeper snapped in place.		One of Allan's power connector kits. The crimping tool lives in the top compartment.

Acknowledgements and Credits:

The author would like to thank Allan Lyon KA6WRN of Radio Service Inc. in Orange, California for sharing his list of Digikey part numbers.

Contact Information:

The author, Mike Morris WA6ILQ, can be contacted here.

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Hand-coded HTML © Copyright 2023 and date of last edit by Mike Morris WA6ILQ.

This page was first posted on 16-Jan-2024 by Mike Morris WA6ILQ.

Photos, hand-coded HTML and article text © Copyright 2023 and date of last update by Mike Morris WA6ILQ

This web page, this web site, the information presented in and on its pages and in these modifications and conversions is © Copyrighted 1995 and (date of last update) by Kevin Custer W3KKC and multiple originating authors. All Rights Reserved, including that of paper and web publication elsewhere.