916 Ducati 916 And 998 Round 19 Pin Connector

Could be a Souriau Sunbank by Eaton, Circular Connector

https://www.digikey.co.uk/en/products/detail/souriau-sunbank-by-eaton/UTG116-19S/1243055

 

In aviation, this type of connector is commonly referred to as a Cannon Plug.

 

To answer the first question, old Monsters have a similar connector but not certain how many pins and can't check because I cut mine off to fit a different dash setup.

 

If memory serves me right I think there were 19 and 21 pin connectors throughout the 748-998 range. I think Shazam covered this in a 748 to 996 engine swap along with lots of other information.

 

+++Long rant post warning+++

In the world of electronic component supply Ducati are very much a low volume user, and as such are completely at the mercy of the connector suppliers who are a law unto themselves.
Coupled with the relative high cost of some multiway connectors, and constant pressure to reduce inventory at a manufacturing facility, I’m not surprised at all that Ducati have swapped and changed this connector they use.
It could simply be down to what they could get hold of that will do the job at the time they need it.

In my world of low volume, high quality, ultra legislated Aviation electronics, connector suppliers are the bane of any procurement departments life, and I know that all low volume vehicle manufacturers feel the same way.

At the design stage you do all you can to ensure a connector is designed in that is well covered within the supply chain, and that the manufacturer has declared is not scheduled for obsolescence, but even if they are only £20ea it’s a big discussion to put 1000pcs in stock to cover the programme quantity and life.
Also consider that some of these low volume multiway connectors can be £200 - £1,000ea. Not these though.

When the design stage is over months later, the design is signed off, and you try to order say 100 or 200pcs for a month or so production you can find the stock is all gone everywhere in distribution.

Most of the connector suppliers refuse point blank to deal with any customer who wants to order under 5,000pcs at a time, and point you at their distribution partners.

And then the Connector manufacturers play their trump card(that may have a different meaning now) when contacted by your chosen distributor.
They are more used to dealing with requirements from the electronics industry for 1,000s of pieces at a time, usually 10s or 100s thousands.
So when you try to get hold of 100pcs, or even try to button down a lead time, they tell you they have plans to manufacture more but only when they’ve received enough orders to cover say a 50,000pc production run.
So they quote you a years lead time, with a note that it may be longer or sooner depending on what orders they receive.

Obviously that’s no good to anyone, but they don’t care because they have orders from Ford or Samsung for 100,000 pcs of other connectors.

They also have a propensity to suddenly decide they are no longer manufacturing a connector, and declare it obsolete, even whilst they are waiting to build up enough orders for the previously mentioned production run.
They of course only tell the distributors, and the likes of Ducati will need to rely on the distributors to tell them the order is cancelled, and not wait until Ducati chase for an update.
Again they don’t care, because they can fill their production schedules with orders from high volume OEMs.

At that point the only course of action is see what similar connector is in stock somewhere, and a 22pin version of the same connector is a good decision if you can also get hold of the mating half.
Keeping within the same family of connectors reduces the need for requalification and paperwork etc.

The situation is getting worse, as like with all industries the bigger manufacturers are buying up the smaller ones and streamlining the range of products they manufacture.

Rant over.

 

I have a 19 pin connector pre wired if you’re still looking for one. I had it made up for fitting a digital dash to my 998S but went a different direction in the end.
Drop us a DM if interested