Difference between 38943-22 and 38943-22L autosport contacts?

I was wondering if anyone knows more about the regular size 20 autosport sockets with partnr 38943-22 (https://www.te.com/en/product-38943-22.html) and the same part-number suffixed with an L (i.e. 38943-22L https://www.te.com/en/product-38943-22L.html).

I bought an L variant just because I was curious :P Picture with it next to the regular one is attached.

It obviously looks different/isn't fully gold plated, which seems to align with the specification drawing which states selective plating for the L variant and gold over nickel for the regular one.

Is this this only difference? Does this have any practical impact on us making wire harnesses for cars?

The same L variant also exists for pins (https://www.te.com/en/product-38941-22.html vs https://www.te.com/en/product-38941-22L.html

Hey De Aap,

Looking at the datasheets, you’re right, the only real difference is the plating specification. In an automotive context, that’s not going to affect performance in any meaningful way, apart from the fact that the “L” variant usually costs about a dollar more. Availability is also worth noting, the “L” version often ends up on backorder and isn’t stocked as widely by the looks.

At the end of the day, there are a lot of different mil-spec contacts for various connectors. If you dig deep into the aerospace side, you can get lost in the details of different specs, plating variants etc.

Personally, I just go with the most common, readily available option. There’s usually a reason manufacturers mass-produce certain contacts while the special variants stay niche, they’re often designed to meet a very specific military requirement that makes no real difference to us.

As a sanity check, look at what the big motorsport suppliers like Race Spec are selling and using, it’ll be more than adequate for the job.

Hi Caleb,

Thanks, that makes sense.

I was just curious about the differences, if there are no practical differences for our application better indeed to stick with the most commonly used option, all of this is already expensive enough ;)