JST VH 3.96 Connector Complete Guide: One Pitch, Four Different JST Terminations, a Contact Resistance Exactly Twice the Original’s & the KONNRA KR3961 Equivalent

Quick answer: The JST VH connector is a 3.96mm pitch, single-row, through-hole wire-to-board crimp connector built around a box-shaped leaf-spring contact and a large outer secure lock, rated by JST at 10A AC/DC (with AWG #16 on the standard header) or 7A AC/DC (with AWG #16 on the shrouded header), 250V AC/DC, −40 to +105°C, over 2 to 11 circuits. The KONNRA KR3961 is the cross-reference equivalent, and it is the closest electrical match in this comparison series: voltage, withstanding voltage, insulation resistance, durability and temperature all agree exactly, including the same 1,500VAC for one minute and the same 1,000MΩ minimum measured at 500VDC. Two things do not agree, and both are worth knowing before you quote. First, contact resistance: our specification requires 20mΩ maximum initially and 40mΩ maximum after test, while every JST 3.96mm document — four of them — says 10mΩ initially and 20mΩ after test. Our ladder is exactly twice the original’s, on both rows, without exception. Second, the current rating: our 7A at AWG #18 is not the standard VH’s number. JST’s standard VH is rated 10A at AWG #16, and 7A at AWG #18 is the rating of a different JST 3.96mm product — and JST’s own catalogue and product page disagree about which conductor the 7A shrouded-header figure belongs to. Underneath all of it sits the finding that matters most: 3.96mm is a pitch, not a family — JST sells four different termination technologies at this pitch, with two different temperature ranges.

I work on connector and harness programmes at KONNRA, so treat the disclosure as read. Everything below comes from manufacturer documents on both sides, and where they disagree I have said so rather than averaged. That applies to the original as much as to us: JST’s VH catalogue and JST’s VH product page give two different conductors for the same 7A rating, and JST’s three VH documents publish three different temperature ranges. All of them are printed here.

KONNRA KR3961 series VH 3.96 DIP wire-to-board crimp connector

👉 KR3961 cross-reference list · KR3961 straight wafer · KR3961 right angle wafer · KR3961 housing · KR3961 terminal

What the JST VH Actually Is

VH is one of the oldest and most widely copied connector families in the industry, and JST’s own description of it is unusually plain: “This wire-to-board connector with a 3.96 mm pitch is commonly used in power supply circuits for a wide variety of electrical and electronic devices. It supports currents up to 10 A.” The product profile adds the structural facts a designer actually needs:

Attribute	JST published value
Series	VH connector
Category	Crimp style connectors (wire-to-board type)
PC board mounting	Through-hole
Mating direction	Side entry, top entry
Array	Single-row
Lock	Secure lock (outer), secure lock (center)
Retainer	Retainer
Agency standards	CSA, TÜV, UL
Pitch	3.96mm
Circuits	2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11
Conductor size	AWG #22, #20, #18, #16 — 0.33mm² to 1.25mm²
Insulation O.D.	φ1.7mm to φ3mm
Remarks	High-box type header available

Three features do most of the work, and they explain why this family gets copied.

The contact is a box-shaped leaf spring. JST’s wording: “The contact is highly reliable, featuring a leaf-shaped design with excellent spring characteristics housed within a box.” A female contact that is both a leaf spring and enclosed in a box is what lets a 3.96mm pitch carry 10A in a single row without resorting to a much larger pitch. Anything that copies the envelope but not the contact geometry will not reproduce the current rating, and that is the first thing to check on any VH alternative.

The lock is deliberately large and visible. JST: “The large, highly visible outer-type housing with a strong lock ensures easy and secure insertion and removal. Additionally, it offers excellent mechanical reliability in the mated condition.” On top of the friction lock the series also offers a separate retainer, which is a distinct part and a distinct housing family on the original’s side.

And the family carries a real second layer of variants. VH is not one connector — it is a crimp system with two housing shapes (N type with the contact lance exposed, M type with the lance covered and integrated into the resin), a retainer-compatible housing family with its own retainers, four standard header variants plus a shrouded header, and — as the next section shows — two further products sold under the VH name at the same pitch with different specifications and different termination methods altogether.

One pitch, four different JST terminations

This is the single most important thing to understand before cross-referencing anything at 3.96mm, and it is the reason a pitch-only search is dangerous.

JST document	Product	Termination	Current	Voltage	Temperature range	Contact resistance
eVH.pdf	VH connector (standard crimp)	Crimp	10A AC/DC — AWG #16, standard header; 7A AC/DC — shrouded header	250V AC/DC	−40 to +105°C	initial 10mΩ max / after test 20mΩ max
eVH-H.pdf	VH connector, high box type	Crimp	7A AC/DC (AWG #18); 10A AC/DC (AWG #16), 1 circuit only	250V AC/DC	−25 to +85°C	initial 10mΩ max / after environmental tests 20mΩ max
eVH-QC.pdf	VH connector, quick-connect type	Insertion — no crimp	7A AC/DC, based on φ1.0mm solid wire	250V AC/DC	−25 to +105°C	initial 10mΩ max / after environmental tests 20mΩ max
eVR.pdf	VR connector — a different series	IDC (insulation displacement)	7A AC/DC (AWG #18)	250V AC/DC	−25 to +85°C	initial 10mΩ max / after environmental tests 20mΩ max

Four documents, one pitch, and two different temperature ranges within the VH name alone. The standard crimp VH reaches −40°C; the high-box type and the quick-connect type both stop at −25°C. The standard VH and the quick-connect type reach +105°C; the high-box type stops at +85°C.

And the termination technologies are genuinely different, not cosmetic. The quick-connect type takes insulated solid copper wire of φ0.8mm to φ1.0mm with insulation φ1.1mm to φ1.3mm and there is no crimp at all — JST’s own instruction is a four-step “strip wire / solid wire insertion / wire insertion completed / harness completed”. The VR series is an insulation displacement connector whose contacts “connect to the post with base at two separate points, in both the front and back areas” and which supports daisy-chain through connections. If you cross-reference a 3.96mm part by pitch alone you can land on a crimp housing, a solid-wire socket, or an IDC socket — three parts that cannot use each other’s wire, each other’s tooling, or each other’s harness process.

One more overlap worth naming, because it creates a real ordering trap. The VR series is documented as “a 3.96 mm pitch wire-to-board connector for 7 A rated power supply circuits” which “can accommodate AWG #18 wire, which is rare for an IDC connector.” 7A at AWG #18 is also exactly what our KR3961 publishes. The next section explains why that is a coincidence of specification rather than a match of product.

The part-number map on the original’s side

Function	JST series and part numbers	Notes as published
Contact, #22–#18	SVH-21T-P1.1	0.33–0.83mm², insulation φ1.7–3.0mm, 4,500 per reel, copper alloy tin-plated
Contact, #20–#16	SVH-41T-P1.1	0.5–1.25mm², insulation φ1.7–3.0mm, 3,500 per reel, copper alloy tin-plated
Housing, N type	VHR-2N … VHR-11N	Contact lance exposed; PA, natural (white); 500–1,000 per bag
Housing, M type	VHR-2M … VHR-9M	“the exposed contact lances from the N type are covered by resin which is integrally formed and molded into the housing body as a single unit, further improving electrical safety”
Housing, retainer-compatible	VHRR-2N, VHRR-3N, VHRR-5N, VHRR-7N, VHRR-8N, VHRR-9N	Applicable wire insulation narrows to φ1.7–2.2mm with this housing
Retainer	VHS-2V, VHS-3V, VHS-5V, VHS-7V, VHS-8V, VHS-9V	PA (GF), natural (ivory); note the circuit set skips 4, 6, 10 and 11
Header, top entry	B2P-VH … B10P-VH	Post copper inlay, welded; base housing non-PBT/PA natural white; 100–1,000 per box
Header, side entry	B2PS-VH … B10PS-VH	Same material set; the moulded lead-in is on the entry face
Header, top entry with PBT	B2P-VH-B … B11P-VH-B	Base housing PBT (GF), natural white; the only variant that reaches 11 circuits
Header, side entry with stopper	S2P-VH … S5P-VH	Side entry with stopper
Header, shrouded	B2P-VH-FB-B … B10P-VH-FB-B	Post copper alloy tin-plated; base housing PBT (GF); mates with N-type and M-type housings only — “retainer mountable type cannot be used”

Two details in that table decide whether a cross-reference will actually work, and neither is about electricity.

The retainer narrows the wire window. With the retainer-compatible housing, JST states: “the applicable wire insulation outer diameter is φ 1.7 to φ 2.2.” A wire with 2.8mm insulation that is fine in the standard N-type housing is outside the window once a retainer is used. Our cross-list covers the N-type housing only and publishes no retainer at all, which is discussed in the coverage section below.

And the shrouded header cannot be used with the retainer housing. JST’s note is explicit: “The housings that mate with the two position are the N-type and M-type. Please note that retainer mountable type cannot be used.” So the retainer decision and the header decision are coupled, and a customer who wants both a retainer and the shrouded header is asking for a combination the original does not offer.

What our cross-list covers, and what it does not

Our KR3961 cross-reference page is a part-number-to-part-number table, and on the numbers it is correct: every JST series it names — VHR-nN, SVH-21T-P1.1, B(n)P-VH, B(n)PS-VH — is a real VH number, and the orientation mapping is right, with the side-entry header B(n)PS-VH mapped to our right-angle wafer and the top-entry B(n)P-VH mapped to our straight wafer.

What it does not cover matters more than what it does:

JST item	In our cross-list	Consequence
N-type housings, VHR-2N–VHR-11N	Yes, 2P–11P	Covered
Contact SVH-21T-P1.1 (#22–#18)	Yes	Covered
Contact SVH-41T-P1.1 (#20–#16)	No	The coarse-gauge contact has no mapped counterpart
Top entry B(n)P-VH, side entry B(n)PS-VH	Yes, 2P–10P	Covered
Shrouded header B(n)P-VH-FB-B	No	Not covered
M-type housings VHR-nM	No	Not covered
Retainer-compatible housings VHRR-nN	No	Not covered
Retainers VHS-nV	No	Not covered
Side entry with stopper S(n)P-VH	No	Not covered
High-box type header	No	Not covered
VR series (IDC)	No	Correctly not covered — different family

So the cross-list maps the mainstream half of the VH family and stops there. For the applications where VH is chosen — power supply circuits — that is usually enough. For a customer using the coarse conductor (#20–#16), a retainer, or a shrouded header, the answer is not “we have an equivalent”, it is “we need to quote this specifically”.

KONNRA KR3961 series VH 3.96 DIP straight type wafer, 3.96mm through-hole header

The Ratings Side by Side

Both sides publish at more than one level — JST across four documents plus a product page, KONNRA in a product specification plus component pages and a cross-list — and the levels do not always agree with each other.

Figure	JST VH catalogue	JST VH product page	KONNRA spec §4.0	KONNRA component pages	KONNRA cross-list
Pitch	3.96mm	3.96mm	3.96mm	3.96mm (terminal page shows 3961mm)	3.96mm
Voltage rating	250V AC/DC	250V AC/DC	250V AC/DC	250V	250V
Current rating	10A (AWG #16, standard header) / 7A (AWG #16, shrouded header)	10A (AWG #16, standard header) / 7A (AWG #18, shrouded header)	7A (18AWG)	7A	7A implied
Conductor size	AWG #22 to #16; 0.33–1.25mm²	AWG #22, #20, #18, #16; 0.33–1.25mm²	AWG 18# to 22#	18#–22#	—
Insulation O.D.	φ1.7 to φ3.0mm	φ1.7 to φ3.0mm	2.8mm Max (no minimum)	2.8mm(Max)	—
Temperature range	−40 to +105°C	−40 to +105°C	−40 to +105°C	−40~105℃	—
Contact resistance	initial 10mΩ max; after test 20mΩ max	—	20mΩ Max (initial, dry circuit)	20mΩ Max	—
Contact resistance after test	20mΩ max	—	40mΩ Max (after durability, vibration, shock, heat, cold, humidity, salt spray, thermal shock)	—	—
Insulation resistance	1,000MΩ min	1,000MΩ min	1,000MΩ Min at 500VDC	1000MΩ Min	—
Withstanding voltage	1,500VAC, 1 minute	1,500VAC, 1 minute	1,500V AC, 1 minute	—	—
Durability	—	—	30 cycles at 10 cycles/min	—	—
Applicable PC board thickness	1.6mm	—	not published	—	—
Circuit count	2–11	2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11	§8.0 force table to 12	wafer pages 2P~7P, housing page 2P~9P	housings 2P–11P, wafers 2P–10P
Agency standards	CSA, TÜV, UL (VH); UL E60389 / CSA LR20812 / TÜV R75122 (high box)	CSA, TÜV, UL	UL E482542	UL E482542	RoHS/REACH
Housing material	PA, natural (white)	PA, natural (white)	PA66 UL94 V-0	PA66, UL94V-0	—
Contact material	Copper alloy, tin-plated	Copper alloy, tin-plated	Phosphor bronze or brass, tin plated over nickel	Brass (wafer pin)	Phosphor bronze (terminal)
Header post	Copper inlay, welded	—	Brass (solid)	Brass	—
Solder tab	—	—	None (correct for a through-hole part)	—	—

Read the last four columns against each other, because the circuit count has four different answers inside our own documents — that is the subject of the defects section. And read the JST columns against each other, because the current rating has three different answers inside the original’s.

The Contact-Resistance Ladder Is Exactly Twice the Original’s

This is the finding of this round, and it is arithmetic rather than opinion. JST publishes contact resistance as a pair — an initial value and a value permitted after testing. Our specification does the same, and each of our numbers is exactly double the corresponding original number.

Row	JST requirement (all four 3.96mm documents)	KONNRA requirement (PS-KR3961-01)	Ratio
Contact resistance, initial	10mΩ maximum	20mΩ maximum (§5.1, dry circuit, 20mV/100mA, EIA-364-23C)	2×
Contact resistance, after durability (30 cycles)	20mΩ maximum	40mΩ maximum (§7.1)	2×
Contact resistance, after vibration	20mΩ maximum	40mΩ maximum (§7.3)	2×
Contact resistance, after shock	20mΩ maximum	40mΩ maximum (§7.4)	2×
Contact resistance, after heat resistance	20mΩ maximum	40mΩ maximum (§7.5)	2×
Contact resistance, after cold resistance	20mΩ maximum	40mΩ maximum (§7.6)	2×
Contact resistance, after humidity	20mΩ maximum	40mΩ maximum (§7.7)	2×
Contact resistance, after thermal shock	20mΩ maximum	40mΩ maximum (§7.8)	2×
Contact resistance, after salt spray	20mΩ maximum	40mΩ maximum (§7.9)	2×

Nine rows, one relationship, and it holds against all four original documents rather than one — the crimp VH catalogue, the high-box type catalogue, the quick-connect catalogue and the VR catalogue all publish the same 10mΩ / 20mΩ pair. This is not a VH quirk that a different JST document might overturn; it is consistent across everything JST publishes at this pitch.

The important consequence is on the top row, not the bottom one. A customer comparing datasheets will usually compare the headline number, and the headline number is the initial value. Our initial requirement of 20mΩ is identical to the original’s after-test requirement. In other words, a KR3961 that just meets our published initial specification would be at the limit of what the original permits after thirty mating cycles, vibration, thermal shock, humidity and salt spray. If your application is low-current or dry-circuit — where contact resistance rather than current capacity is the design constraint — that is the difference to interrogate, and it is a specification gap rather than a product gap: ask us for measured initial contact resistance rather than the requirement.

What we can say in the other direction is that the row is testable and the test method matches. JST measures contact resistance without specifying the dry-circuit conditions in its catalogue; our §5.1 specifies 20mV maximum and 100mA maximum by dry circuit per EIA-364-23C, which is the same method family used across this series of guides. Matching the method does not narrow the 2× gap, but it does mean the gap is real and not a measurement artefact.

And the after-test rows are held to a different trigger

One asymmetry is worth stating precisely, because it partly offsets the table above. JST’s 20mΩ after-test figure is qualified as “after environmental tests” in the high-box, quick-connect and VR catalogues, and simply “After test” in the standard VH catalogue. Our specification applies its 40mΩ requirement after each named test individually, and in the case of humidity it applies two further conditions the original’s VH catalogue does not name together: the dielectric strength must still meet §5.3 (1,500VAC for one minute), and insulation resistance must still be 100MΩ minimum.

That post-humidity insulation resistance figure is the second place where we are looser, and it is worth flagging in the same breath. The original requires 1,000MΩ minimum as a general requirement. Ours is 1,000MΩ minimum generally (§5.2) but only 100MΩ minimum after humidity (§7.7) — an order of magnitude below our own headline figure at the exact moment humidity has done its work. The same clause value appears in our 2.5mm, 2.54mm and 3.00mm specifications, so it reads as a family-template figure rather than a tested result for this series. A condensing or high-humidity application should ask for this one in writing.

KONNRA KR3961 series VH 3.96 DIP right angle type wafer, side entry 3.96mm header

Where Our 7A Comes From, and Why It Is Not the Standard VH’s Number

Most cross-reference guides compare a current rating against a current rating and stop. This one has to go further, because JST publishes three different current figures for products it calls VH at this pitch, and the one we publish is not the standard connector’s.

Product	JST current rating as published	The conductor it is based on
VH connector (standard crimp)	10A AC/DC	“When using AWG #16 with the standard type header”
VH connector (standard crimp)	7A AC/DC	“When using AWG #16 with the shrouded type header” — per the catalogue
VH connector (standard crimp)	7A AC/DC	“When using AWG #18 with the shrouded type header” — per the product page
VH connector, high box type	7A AC/DC (AWG #18); 10A AC/DC (AWG #16) one circuit only	AWG #18 for the general case
VH connector, quick-connect type	7A AC/DC	“Based on φ1.0mm size solid wire”
VR connector	7A AC/DC (AWG #18)	AWG #18
KONNRA KR3961	7A (18AWG)	AWG #18

Our 7A at AWG #18 has an exact precedent in JST’s own paperwork — but not in the standard VH. It is the published general rating of the VH high-box type and of the VR series, and it is the product page’s reading of the shrouded-header figure. The standard VH’s headline rating is 10A, and it is explicitly built on AWG #16.

And JST does not agree with itself about the 7A shrouded-header conductor. The VH catalogue states “7A AC/DC — When using AWG #16 with the shrouded type header.” The VH product page states “7A AC/DC (When using AWG #18 with the shrouded type header.)” Same rating, same product, two different conductors, from two documents published by the same company at the same pitch. We print both rather than choosing the convenient one, and it is worth knowing because our own published 7A figure happens to sit exactly on the disputed conductor.

What this means practically, and it is not a criticism of either part. Our 7A is a conservative publication at the gauge we name — the original reaches 10A on a coarser conductor that our series does not accept. The risk is one of reading, not of performance: a buyer scanning two datasheets sees “7A” on both and concludes the parts agree, when the original’s 7A and our 7A are attached to different conductors in different products. The honest summary is: at 18 AWG we publish 7A and the original publishes 7A (on two of its variants); at 16 AWG the original publishes 10A and we publish nothing, because 16 AWG is outside our wire range.

The gauge the original’s 10A is built on

AWG #16 is where the original’s headroom lives, and our published wire range stops one step short of it.

Conductor	JST VH	KONNRA KR3961
AWG #16 (1.25mm²)	supported — the basis of the 10A rating	not supported
AWG #18 (0.83mm²)	supported	supported, basis of the 7A rating
AWG #20 (0.5mm²)	supported	supported
AWG #22 (0.33mm²)	supported	supported

Four conductor sizes on the original’s side, three on ours, and the one we give up is the one that carries the headline current. For a 3.96mm connector chosen precisely because a circuit needs 8-10A, that single row is decisive, and it is the first thing to check before quoting a cross-reference.

The gap is a terminal gap, not only a wire-range gap, which is why it cannot be closed by relaxing a field on a page. JST splits its two contacts by wire range: SVH-21T-P1.1 covers AWG #22 to #18, and SVH-41T-P1.1 covers AWG #20 to #16. The coarse contact is a different part number with a different crimp geometry and a different reel quantity, and it is the contact that has no counterpart in our published mapping. A customer on AWG #16 needs a second terminal and quite possibly second tooling — the same shape of answer this comparison series found against the KR3000 for JST’s coarse-gauge wire, reached here from the opposite direction.

Five Ratings That Match Exactly

A comparison guide that leads with the failures is no use to an engineer who simply needs to know whether the parts are interchangeable, so the matches come first.

Item	JST VH	KONNRA KR3961	Verdict
Voltage rating	250V AC/DC	250V AC/DC	Match
Withstanding voltage	1,500VAC for one minute, no breakdown or flashover	1,500V AC for one minute, no breakdown or flashover	Match, including the wording of the pass criterion
Insulation resistance	1,000MΩ minimum	1,000MΩ minimum at 500VDC	Match
Durability	— (JST’s VH documents publish no cycle count)	30 cycles at 10 cycles per minute	Not comparable — see the force section
Temperature range	−40 to +105°C including temperature rise	−40 to +105°C	Match
PC board mounting	Through-hole	Through-hole only	Match
Row count	Single-row	Single-row	Match

Four exact electrical matches and two structural ones, and two of them are worth a sentence each.

The withstanding row matches at the level of the acceptance criterion, not just the number. Both documents require no breakdown and no flashover at 1,500VAC for one minute — and note that JST’s product page specifies the “between adjacent terminals and between terminals to ground” style of application in the catalogue’s case while ours states the same two conditions in §5.3. A 1,500V test level is only comparable if the pass criterion is the same, and here it is.

And the insulation-resistance row matches including the test voltage. Ours specifies 1,000MΩ minimum measured at 500VDC applied for one minute between adjacent contacts per EIA-364-21B. A supplier can pass a 1,000MΩ requirement at a lower applied voltage and the datasheet line looks identical; here the test conditions line up. The one place this row departs is after humidity, covered above.

Temperature: the second consecutive match, and it is worth naming

In earlier cross-references in this series — JST XH, Yeonho YH, JST EH, JST SM and JST SCN — the original’s published temperature range was −25 to +85°C in every case, and our specification’s −40 to +105°C looked like a house figure applied regardless of the part. The XA round was the first where the original’s own document agreed at −40 to +105°C, and VH is the second.

That matters here for a specific reason. JST’s own VH family contains a document that does say −25 to +85°C — the high-box type — and so does the VR series. So both figures are real JST 3.96mm figures, and only one of them belongs to the crimp connector our cross-reference maps. If someone has been comparing our −40 to +105°C against a high-box VH datasheet, they have been comparing two different products.

And there is a caution attached to our wider claim that belongs in the open. Our −40 to +105°C is wider than both the high-box VH (−25 to +85°C) and the VR series (−25 to +85°C) publish. If the part being replaced is one of those, our published range is more permissive than the original’s own document — and in a design that is already qualified at −25 to +85°C, the limiting figure is the original’s, not ours. We match the standard VH exactly; against the siblings we are claiming more than they do.

The Wire Window: the Insulation Corridor Points the Other Way

Here the shape of the two requirements differs, and unlike previous rounds in this series the asymmetry favours us at the cold end and costs us at the hot end.

	JST VH	KONNRA KR3961
Insulation O.D., standard housing	φ1.7mm minimum to φ3.0mm maximum	2.8mm maximum — no minimum published
Insulation O.D., retainer-compatible housing	φ1.7mm to φ2.2mm	not applicable — we publish no retainer
Conductor size	AWG #22 to #16	AWG 18# to 22#

The original publishes a corridor. We publish a ceiling. Two consequences follow, and they point in opposite directions:

• At the top end we are 0.2mm tighter. A wire with 2.9mm insulation is inside JST’s published maximum and outside ours. That is a real exclusion, but a narrow one, and it sits in the normal range for 18 AWG PVC.
• At the bottom end we impose no floor at all, where the original requires 1.7mm. A thin-wall wire of 1.2mm insulation would be rejected by the original and accepted by our published field. This is the opposite of the failure mode found in earlier rounds of this series — where our corridor was narrower at both ends and would silently reject wires the original accepted. Here the risk runs the other way: our field is silent about a constraint the original states, and a customer who has validated a thin-wall wire against VH should not assume our page endorses it.

Ask for the insulation diameter as a number rather than inferring it from the gauge, and if the answer matters, ask for it against the specific housing — because on the original’s side the same series has two different insulation windows depending on whether a retainer is used.

The Force Ladder Is Ours Alone — and One Cell Does Not Fit

This is the one layer where the original publishes nothing at all, and that changes what a comparison can honestly say.

JST’s VH catalogue, VH product page, high-box catalogue, quick-connect catalogue and VR catalogue publish no insertion force, no withdrawal force, no terminal retention force and no mating-cycle durability figure. What they publish instead is the specification set above — current, voltage, temperature, contact resistance, insulation resistance, withstanding voltage, wire range, board thickness and the PC board layout. There are no force numbers on the original’s side to bracket, and no durability cycle count to compare against our 30.

So the 11-row ladder in our §8.0 stands alone, and it is a more detailed document than anything the original publishes for this series. It is worth reading carefully, because it contains one value that does not follow the pattern the other thirty do.

Circuits	I.F. maximum (kgf)	Step	R.F. minimum, initial (kgf)	R.F. minimum, 30th cycle (kgf)
2	3.00	—	1.00	0.80
3	3.50	+0.50	1.20	0.90
4	4.00	+0.50	1.40	1.00
5	4.50	+0.50	1.60	1.10
6	5.00	+0.50	1.80	1.20
7	5.50	+0.50	2.00	1.30
8	6.00	+0.50	2.20	1.40
9	6.50	+0.50	2.40	1.50
10	7.00	+0.50	2.60	1.60
11	7.50	+0.50	2.80	1.70
12	8.50	+1.00	3.00	1.80

Two of the three columns are clean arithmetic and the third has one outlier.

• Insertion force maximum = 2.50 + 0.50n for circuits 2 through 11 — and then the 12-circuit row steps by 1.00kgf instead of 0.50, landing at 8.50 rather than the 8.00 the progression predicts.
• Withdrawal force minimum at first mate = 0.60 + 0.20n, holding for every row from 2 to 12 with no exception.
• Withdrawal force minimum at the 30th cycle = 0.60 + 0.10n, also holding for every row from 2 to 12.

I cannot tell from the document whether the 12-circuit insertion-force value is a typographical carry or a deliberate extra margin, and I am not going to guess. What can be said is that it is the only cell in the table that breaks its own progression, and that the columns on either side of it do not. If your design uses a 12-circuit KR3961 and insertion force is constrained, that is the number to confirm in writing — either the progression is right and 8.00 is the intended maximum, or 8.50 is right and the other ten rows are a formula that happens to stop one step early.

And the ladder models a real decay, which is worth crediting

Unlike the comparable table in our 3.00mm specification — where the withdrawal minimum is identical at first mate and at cycle 30 — this ladder actually declines. At 2 circuits it drops from 1.00 to 0.80 kgf across the rated life; at 12 circuits from 3.00 to 1.80. A table that shows retention falling by 20% to 40% over thirty cycles is describing a real mechanism, and it is more useful to a designer than a flat line. It also sets a floor: at 12 circuits the guaranteed minimum after 30 cycles is 1.80kgf, or about 17.7N, against an insertion-force maximum of 8.50kgf.

On the terminal-level figures, our specification is unambiguous and the original’s is silent: terminal insertion force 1.5kgf (14.7N) maximum (§6.2), terminal-to-housing retention 3.0kgf (29.4N) minimum (§6.3), and pin retention in the wafer 2.0kgf (19.6N) minimum (§6.4). All three are stated with their units in both systems, and all three use the 25.4 ± 3 mm per minute rate and EIA-364-13D — the same method family used across this series of guides. Because JST’s VH documents publish no counterpart, these three are capabilities we document and the original does not; they are not claims of superiority, and they should not be read as such.

KONNRA KR3961 series VH 3.96 housing for the JST VH 3.96mm wire-to-board pattern

Materials: the Fork JST Closes and We Leave Open

This is the most consequential materials difference in this guide, and it is not about which plastic is used.

JST’s VH high-box catalogue contains a sentence that reads like a footnote and behaves like a specification limit: “Do not branch in parallel current which exceeds the rated current. If branched in parallel, current imbalance or other problems may develop. If it is absolutely necessary to branch such a large current in parallel, be sure to use contacts made of phosphor bronze.”

So on the original’s side, one material is named as the requirement for a specific duty — parallel branching at high current — and brass is by implication excluded from it.

Our specification writes the terminal material as a choice: §3.0 states the terminal is “Phosphor bronze or Brass, Tin plated over nickel.” And §2.0 lists two terminal part numbers — T39610PT0101A and T39610BT0101A — which differ in a single letter.

The obvious reading is that the letter selects the material, and the pattern fits: our wafer pins and wafer contacts are separately documented as brass in the same §3.0, so a brass terminal option is consistent with the rest of the document. But I want to be precise about what is documented and what is inference: the specification does not state which part number is which material, and the cross-list maps only T39610PT0101A, to SVH-21T-P1.1. The BT variant has no published counterpart and no published description.

That leaves three questions a customer should ask rather than assume, and they are the ones I would put in writing before quoting:

1. Which of the two terminal part numbers is phosphor bronze and which is brass?
2. Is the brass option acceptable for parallel branching at rated current, given that the original names phosphor bronze as the requirement for that duty?
3. Why does the cross-list map only one of the two?

Carefully stated, this is a documentation gap rather than a demonstrated defect — we may well ship the phosphor bronze part by default, and the cross-list suggests we do. But the original’s own document identifies a duty where the choice matters, and our specification presents the choice without stating which option satisfies it.

The rest of the materials, and two points in our favour

Component	JST	KONNRA
Housing	PA, natural (white) — flame-retardant grade referred to the overseas-standards list	PA66, UL94 V-0
Retainer	PA (GF), natural (ivory)	not published
Contact, crimp	Copper alloy, tin-plated	Phosphor bronze or brass, tin plated over nickel
Header post, standard	Copper inlay, welded	Brass, solid
Header post, shrouded	Copper alloy, tin-plated	not published
Header base housing	Non-PBT/PA natural white, or PBT/PBT (GF) natural white	PA66, UL94 V-0
Solder tab	not applicable	None

In our favour, and worth stating plainly: we publish a flammability grade where the original’s catalogue refers elsewhere for it. JST’s VH catalogue gives the housing simply as “PA, natural (white)” and adds a note directing the reader to its “List of Registered Overseas Standards” for the flame-retardant grade. We publish PA66 UL94 V-0 on the specification and on every component page. For a customer whose own file is written around a V-0 material declaration, that is one document request we pre-empt.

And we publish a nickel barrier under the tin where the original publishes only “tin-plated”. Our §3.0 specifies tin plated over nickel for the terminal, the wafer contact and the wafer pin; JST’s catalogues say copper alloy, tin-plated without naming an underplate. A nickel barrier is the standard defence against the copper-tin intermetallic growth that drives contact resistance up over thermal ageing — so this is exactly the row where our documented construction is more conservative, and equally the row where the original’s silence means the two are not strictly comparable. Whether JST uses a barrier without stating it is not something I can determine from the public documents.

Two construction differences deserve naming rather than scoring. JST’s standard header post is described as “copper inlay, welded” — a composite post rather than a solid pin, which is a different manufacturing route from our solid brass pin, and it matters to anyone doing a metallurgical or a failure-analysis comparison. And JST offers header base housings in both non-PBT/PA and PBT/PBT (GF) across the standard and shrouded variants, where we publish PA66 throughout. Neither is a defect; both change what a drop-in evaluation is testing.

One small thing our specification does right deserves the credit too. Our wafer rows record the solder tab as “None” for both the straight and the right-angle wafer, and that is correct — this is a through-hole series on both sides, with no SMT variant in either catalogue, and the solder-tab row exists only because our form has one. A document that answers “None” instead of leaving a gap is doing the right thing with a field that does not apply.

KONNRA KR3961 series VH 3.96 crimp terminal for the JST VH pattern

What the Original Publishes That We Do Not

Every item below is a figure or a document JST publishes for this series and ours does not. The correct response to each is a document request, not an assertion.

Agency registrations beyond UL. JST’s VH product page lists CSA, TÜV and UL, and the high-box catalogue prints the file references directly: UL Recognized E60389, CSA Certified LR20812, TÜV R75122. Our component pages publish UL E482542 only — no CSA registration and no TÜV mark, and no equivalent statement for the series. A customer whose approval file references a CSA or TÜV registration has a gap to close with us even though the UL file exists, and a file number on the original’s side makes that a one-line comparison rather than an argument.

Applicable PC board thickness. JST publishes 1.6mm for the standard VH, the high-box type and the quick-connect type, and 0.8mm to 1.6mm for the VR series. Our specification publishes no board thickness at all, which for a through-hole connector whose post length sets the solder-joint geometry is conspicuous.

The PC board layout. JST publishes a full layout drawing with the note that “tolerance for the PCB hole pitch shall be ±0.05 and shall not accumulate”, and warns that “hole dimensions differ according to the type of PCB and piercing method.” We publish no PCB layout and no hole-pitch tolerance. Board layout is the first thing a customer drops into a footprint, and its absence means every cross-reference starts with a drawing request.

The crimp tooling, named. JST publishes the AP-K2N crimping machine, the MKS-L applicator and the APLMK SVH21-11 / APLMK SVH41-11 crimp applicators with dies, and states that a fully automatic applicator is available on request. We publish no tooling identification, which matters to any customer with an existing semi-automatic crimp bench.

Package quantities. JST publishes 4,500 and 3,500 contacts per reel, 500 to 1,000 housings per bag, and 100 to 1,000 headers per box. Our cross-list describes the wafers as supplied bagged, and our package specification exists as a document but carries no extractable text layer for me to quote here, so I am not going to state its contents. If your line is set up for reel-fed contacts, the reel quantity is a purchasing input, not a detail.

The M-type housing, the retainer and the shrouded header. The M type covers the exposed contact lances with resin “further improving electrical safety”; the retainer family adds a positive secondary lock; the shrouded header is a distinct post-and-shroud assembly. We publish none of the three, and the retainer in particular changes the applicable wire window on the original’s side.

The high-box type, both the header and the mounting envelope. JST’s high-box VH has a 21.3mm mounting height (18.6mm for a single circuit) and 9.2mm thickness (8mm single circuit), is “for use specifically with resin coated (‘potted’) PC board”, and is documented as exhibiting “stable electric connection to the condition such as the vibration, the prying, the microcurrent and micro-voltage circuit.” We publish no potted-board variant and no prying or micro-current claim, and that is a genuinely different use case rather than a feature gap.

And the ordering-code grammar. JST publishes a full model-number allocation for contacts, housings, retainers and all four header families, including the colour suffixes (natural, black, red, blue, green, orange, yellow, pink, grey, tomato red) and the packaged-product marks. Our cross-list gives complete part numbers for the mainstream configurations, which is arguably more useful for a buyer, but we publish no ordering grammar — so a customer needing a non-standard colour or a 11-circuit top-entry PBT header has no route from our documents to a part number.

Where Our Own Documents Disagree With Each Other

A cross-reference is only as good as the weaker of the two catalogues, and ours has internal contradictions in this family that a careful buyer will find. All of them are reported rather than smoothed over.

1. The same series is given four different circuit ranges across our own documents.

Source	Published range
Cross-list page, housings	2P to 11P
Cross-list page, wafers	2P to 10P
Housing component page	2P to 9P
Wafer component pages	2P to 7P
Product specification §8.0, insertion/withdrawal force table	2 to 12 circuits

Four answers, and none of them is obviously right, because they are each measuring something slightly different — the cross-list follows the original’s circuit set, the component pages may describe only the stocked range, and the force table runs past both. The comparison that makes this consequential is with JST: the original’s housings run to 11 circuits and its top-entry PBT header to 11 as well, so the cross-list’s 2P–11P is the correct answer and the two component pages are the ones to reconcile. A customer reading the housing page and asking for a 10-way connector would be told we do not offer it, when the cross-list says we do.

2. The terminal component page publishes a pitch of “3961mm”. The value should be 3.96mm — 3961 is the series number, not a dimension, and the field has been populated with the series name. It is the first specification line on the page.

3. Both wafer component pages name the wrong series. The straight wafer page and the right angle wafer page both carry “Product Series: KR3960 Series”, while the page title, the URL and the housing page’s own field all say KR3961. A customer searching our own site for the series they were quoted will not find it on those two pages.

4. Our component pages publish only one half of the contact-resistance story. Every KR3961 component page shows “Contact Resistance: 20mΩMax” with no statement that this is the initial, dry-circuit value — while the original publishes the pair, 10mΩ initial and 20mΩ after test, side by side. The number itself matches our specification, so this is not an error; it is an asymmetry that hides the most important comparison in the family, because a reader seeing “20mΩ” on our page and “20mΩ” on an original page will conclude the parts agree, when our 20mΩ is the original’s post-test limit.

5. The “Compatible” field on the component pages is too coarse to be useful. All four pages read “Compatible: VH Series” — no series number, no part number, no circuit range, while the cross-list on the same site resolves to individual part numbers such as VHR-2N and B2PS-VH. Two pages about the same connector, one of which cannot be acted on. Note also that “VH Series” is exactly the ambiguity this guide opened with: at 3.96mm, JST also sells a high-box VH, a quick-connect VH and the VR series, so a field that says only “VH Series” does not tell a buyer which of them is being referenced.

6. The cross-list answers a standards question with a compliance question. Its Standard column reads RoHS/REACH on every row. RoHS and REACH are material-compliance directives; they are not the agency approvals a designer looks for. The original publishes CSA, TÜV and UL, with the file numbers printed on its high-box catalogue — UL Recognized E60389, CSA Certified LR20812, TÜV R75122 — and our own component pages do carry UL E482542. The cross-list simply does not have a column for it.

7. And the cross-list publishes no ratings at all. It carries brand, part number, our part number, series, pitch, “wire to board” and the compliance column — no voltage, no current, no temperature, no wire range, no insulation diameter. For a page titled “KR3961 Equivalent/Substitute Connector Cross List” that is a defensible design, since its job is to map numbers rather than to specify. It is worth knowing, though, that the KR3961 landing page is this cross-list, so a buyer arriving at the series from search gets part numbers and no electrical specification, and the ratings only appear one click deeper on the component pages.

8. One existing page on the site contradicts this whole guide, and it is the page most likely to be found first. The site already carries an article titled “How to Solve VH Connector Compatibility Issues: Expert Advice”, and three of its statements are wrong for JST VH as the original documents it:

Claim on that page	What the original publishes
“Most VH connectors are rated for 5 amps and 250 volts”	10A AC/DC at AWG #16 on the standard header; 7A AC/DC on the shrouded header. There is no 5A rating anywhere in the VH documents.
“Most VH connectors can operate between -25°C and 85°C”	The standard VH is −40 to +105°C. −25 to +85°C is the high-box type and the VR series.
“Some VH connector models come with waterproof designs that meet IP ratings”	No JST VH document publishes an IP rating or a sealed variant. The VH family is not a sealed connector.

The temperature claim in particular now contradicts our own product specification, which publishes −40 to +105°C on the specification and on every component page. That article is also the strongest competitor for “VH connector” search traffic in this family, so the site currently has one page that under-states the ratings and one page that documents them correctly. Both are worth consolidating, and neither has been changed as part of writing this guide.

The Cross-Reference Map

How to read it: the left column is our component, the middle column is the JST item it corresponds to, and the right column states what our documents publish for it. Where a position range differs between our documents, both are shown.

KONNRA component	JST series	KONNRA part number	Positions
Housing, N type	VHR-2N … VHR-11N	H396101**0101A	2–11 (cross-list) / 2P~9P (component page)
Terminal, phosphor bronze	SVH-21T-P1.1 (#22–#18)	T39610PT0101A	—
Terminal, second variant	no mapping published	T39610BT0101A	—
Straight wafer, DIP 180° (top entry)	B2P-VH … B10P-VH	C3961VD1**01T0101PA	2–10 (cross-list) / 2P~7P (component page)
Right angle wafer, DIP 90° (side entry)	B2PS-VH … B10PS-VH	C3961RD1**01T0101PA	2–10 (cross-list) / 2P~7P (component page)
Coarse-gauge contact	SVH-41T-P1.1 (#20–#16)	none published	—
Housing, M type	VHR-2M … VHR-9M	none published	—
Housing, retainer-compatible	VHRR-2N … VHRR-9N	none published	—
Retainer	VHS-2V … VHS-9V	none published	—
Side entry header with stopper	S2P-VH … S5P-VH	none published	—
Top entry header, PBT, 11 circuits	B11P-VH-B	none published	—
Shrouded header	B2P-VH-FB-B … B10P-VH-FB-B	none published	—
High-box type	—	none published	—
Quick-connect type	—	none published	—

Every JST number in that table is a real VH number, and on the mainstream half the mapping is complete and correct. The uncovered rows are coverage gaps rather than errors of identification.

Two practical notes for anyone moving a design across.

First, orientation. Our cross-list maps the original’s side-entry header to our right-angle wafer and the original’s top-entry header to our straight wafer — which is the correct pairing, and it is worth restating because the two descriptions use different vocabularies for the same geometry, and the mismatch is a common source of wrong orders.

Second, the terminal fork. Our specification lists two terminals and the cross-list maps one. Until our engineering says which variant carries which material and which duties, quote the mapped part number — T39610PT0101A — rather than choosing between the two on the basis of a part-number letter.

Applications Where the 3.96mm Pattern Is Used

JST’s published application scope for VH is a single sentence, and it is worth quoting in full because it is more specific than “general purpose”: “This wire-to-board connector with a 3.96 mm pitch is commonly used in power supply circuits for a wide variety of electrical and electronic devices.” That is the centre of gravity: board-level power distribution, through-hole, in equipment that is not sealed.

The variant documents add narrower scopes, and they are the most useful application guidance the original publishes:

Variant	Application scope as published by JST
Standard VH	Power supply circuits in a wide variety of electrical and electronic devices
High box type	“For use specifically with resin coated (‘potted’) PC board”; documented as “exhibiting the stable electric connection to the condition such as the vibration, the prying, the microcurrent and micro-voltage circuit”
Quick-connect type	Insulated solid copper wire installation, four-step process, no crimp
VR series	“Two wiring styles are possible, including daisy chain through connections and end connections, depending on the circuit design.”

Note what is absent: JST publishes no market or application matrix for VH — no list of appliance, automotive, industrial or data-centre segments, in contrast with the five-market table Molex publishes for its comparable 3.00mm family. That is not a criticism, but it changes how a cross-reference should be qualified: where a Molex-family cross-reference can be checked against a published application list, this one has to be checked against the working voltage, the current at your conductor, and the environment instead.

What the published scope implies for a cross-reference check:

• Power supply circuits means the current rating is the binding constraint, not the pitch — and the current rating is the row where our wire window costs us AWG #16.
• Through-hole, unsealed, board-level means neither side publishes an IP rating, so a customer needing ingress protection is not in this family on either side of the comparison.
• Micro-current and micro-voltage circuits appear only in the high-box type’s scope note, and that is precisely where contact resistance moves to the front of the queue — which is the row where our requirement is twice the original’s.
• Daisy-chain and end connections belong to the VR (IDC) series, not to the crimp VH — so a harness drawing that shows a daisy chain is pointing at a different JST product, and probably a different original part, than the cross-list maps.

Harness and assembly options

We supply the KR3961 as components, as crimped housing assemblies, and as finished harnesses, and the series is a natural harness part because the whole family is crimp-terminated on the wire side.

The original publishes two assembly-side inputs that we do not. JST names the crimp tooling — the AP-K2N machine, the MKS-L applicator and the APLMK SVH21-11 and SVH41-11 applicators with dies — and it publishes the package quantities: 4,500 or 3,500 contacts per reel, 500 to 1,000 housings per bag, and 100 to 1,000 headers per box. Both matter to a harness shop rather than to a designer: the tooling decides whether an existing bench can terminate the part, and the reel quantity decides how the feed is set up.

If you need a harness rather than components, ask for the drawing package at the same time as the quotation, because the assembly-level questions — crimp geometry, pull-out, retention and the board layout — are exercised on the harness side rather than on the component datasheets.

Sourcing: What Procurement Teams Ask

A cross-reference enquiry fails for commercial reasons as often as technical ones, and in this family the commercial questions have specific answers.

Which half of the pair am I buying? VH is a housing-and-terminal system on the wire side and a header on the board side, and our cross-list covers both. If you are replacing a complete mated pair, order the housing set, the terminals and the wafer as three separate line items — they are three separate part numbers, and the two wafer orientations are two more.

Is the wire I already use inside the window? AWG 18# to 22#, with our published insulation field giving 2.8mm maximum and no minimum. Two exclusions catch people: AWG #16 is outside the range entirely, and a thin-wall wire below 1.7mm insulation is accepted by our published field but not by the original’s — so check both ends against the original’s corridor rather than ours alone.

What is the minimum order quantity and the lead time? Connector production lead time is typically 2 to 4 weeks and wiring harness lead time typically 3 to 4 weeks, with complete connector set samples within 45 days. For this family, samples are the right first step, because the three things most likely to differ from your current part — which terminal material you are actually buying, the exact circuit range, and the measured rather than specified contact resistance — are faster to confirm on a sample than in a drawing.

What documentation arrives with the parts? Ask for the product specification, the package specification, the series drawing and the component drawing for each part number, then for the two documents we do not publish: the PCB layout with the hole-pitch tolerance, and the applicable board thickness. Our specification at series level is stronger than many suppliers’; the gap is in the board-side and tooling detail.

Can you hold the specification? Your contract should reference the part number and the specification revision — PS-KR3961-01 revision A1 — and it should name the terminal material, which of the two terminal variants you are buying, and the housing circuit count. Our specification’s Remark section states plainly: “Any change or revision for the product specification will not be announced in advance.” That sentence is why the revision number belongs in the purchase order.

What about the second source? The honest answer for this family splits in two. On voltage, withstanding voltage, insulation resistance, durability and temperature, the match is exact and a drop-in evaluation is credible. On contact resistance and on the coarse-conductor current rating, we are measurably behind the original’s published requirements — twice on the first, and absent on the second — so a design that is contact-resistance-limited or runs at 8-10A per circuit needs those two rows answered before anything else.

The Five Questions I Would Ask Us, In This Order

If I were the engineer on the other side of the table, these are the questions I would put to KONNRA before doing anything else — ordered by what is cheapest to answer, not by what is easiest.

1. “Which of your two terminals is phosphor bronze, and which is brass?” Our specification lists the terminal as “phosphor bronze or brass” and gives two part numbers, T39610PT0101A and T39610BT0101A, differing in one letter — and the cross-list maps only the first. Meanwhile the original’s own VH document states that if you must branch high current in parallel, phosphor bronze contacts are required. This is the first question because the answer may already exist internally, and because the wrong answer has a failure mode rather than a specification gap.

2. “My circuit runs at 9A and I use AWG #16. Do you cover it?” No — AWG #16 is outside our published wire range of 18# to 22#. The original rates 10A on that conductor with the standard header. This is the second question because it is the same kind of answer as the first — a coverage limit, not a quality difference — and it is the one that decides whether a cross-reference is possible at all.

3. “My wire has 1.5mm insulation. Does that fit?” Our published field says only “2.8mm maximum” and therefore does not exclude it, but the original requires a minimum of φ1.7mm. Ask us directly rather than reading our maximum as permission. And if a retainer is involved on the original side, that window narrows further to φ1.7–2.2mm — so the question has a different answer depending on the housing.

4. “What is the measured initial contact resistance, not the requirement?” Our §5.1 requires 20mΩ maximum — which is exactly the original’s post-test limit — and the original’s own initial requirement is 10mΩ. If contact resistance is what your design is limited by, the requirement is the wrong number to design against.

5. “How many circuits can you actually supply?” Our own documents give four answers — 2P~7P, 2P~9P, 2P–10P and 2–12 depending on which page you read — and the original’s housings run to 11 circuits. Ask for the range against the specific part number.

A sixth question, if the answer to any of the above matters commercially: “What does the cross-list not cover for my build?” The uncovered items are AWG #16 contacts, M-type housings, retainer-compatible housings, retainers, the side-entry stopper header, the 11-circuit PBT header and the shrouded header — and for a customer using any of them, the answer is a quotation rather than a substitute.

Engineer’s Pre-Release Checklist

Nine checks, in the order the failures actually happen.

1. Conductor. Confirm AWG 18# to 22#. If your design uses AWG #16 for the 10A capability — the row the original’s headline rating is built on — this cross-reference does not cover it.
2. Current at your conductor. Our rating is 7A at 18 AWG. The original is 10A at 16 AWG on the standard header, and its 7A shrouded-header figure is attributed to AWG #16 in the catalogue and AWG #18 on the product page — so if you are comparing against a shrouded-header application, confirm which conductor applies before treating the ratings as equal.
3. Wire insulation. Our published field is 2.8mm maximum with no minimum; the original requires φ1.7 to φ3.0mm, narrowing to φ1.7–2.2mm with a retainer-compatible housing. Check both ends. A wire between 2.2mm and 2.8mm is acceptable to us and not usable on the original if a retainer is used.
4. Contact resistance. Ours is 20mΩ maximum initially and 40mΩ maximum after test; the original’s is 10mΩ initially and 20mΩ after test. If your design is not current-limited, this is the row that decides equivalence.
5. Post-humidity insulation resistance. Our §7.7 requires only 100MΩ minimum after humidity against our own headline of 1,000MΩ and the original’s 1,000MΩ. Check this row in any condensing or high-humidity application.
6. Voltage and dielectric. Both sides are 250V and both test at 1,500VAC for one minute with no breakdown or flashover — this row needs no further work.
7. Temperature. Ours is −40 to +105°C and matches the standard crimp VH exactly. If the original part is a high-box type or a VR series part, its own published range is −25 to +85°C — the limiting figure is the original’s, and ours is the more generous claim.
8. Terminal material. Ask which of the two terminal variants you are being quoted, and confirm the answer against JST’s statement that phosphor bronze contacts are required where high current must be branched in parallel.
9. Circuit count and material grade. Confirm the circuit range against the exact part number rather than our component pages, and confirm the PA66 UL94 V-0 housing grade — which is one document request we pre-empt, since the original’s catalogue refers elsewhere for its flame-retardant grade.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a JST VH connector?

It is a 3.96mm pitch, single-row, through-hole wire-to-board crimp connector built on a box-shaped leaf-spring contact and a large outer secure lock. JST rates it at 10A AC/DC with AWG #16 on the standard header, 7A AC/DC with the shrouded header, 250V AC/DC, −40 to +105°C, 1,000MΩ minimum insulation resistance and 1,500VAC for one minute, over 2 to 11 circuits, with an applicable conductor range of AWG #22 to #16 (0.33–1.25mm²), insulation φ1.7 to φ3.0mm, and an applicable PC board thickness of 1.6mm. JST lists it as tested to CSA, TÜV and UL.

Is the JST VH the same thing as 3.96mm pitch?

No — and this is the single most useful thing to know about this pitch. JST sells four different products at 3.96mm, and they are not interchangeable: the standard crimp VH (−40 to +105°C), the VH high-box type (−25 to +85°C, for resin-potted boards), the VH quick-connect type (−25 to +105°C, for insulated solid wire, no crimp at all), and the VR series (an insulation-displacement connector at 7A / AWG #18, −25 to +85°C). Three are crimp or insertion products and one is IDC, so a part chosen by pitch alone may not accept your wire, your tooling or your harness process.

What is the difference between the VH and the VH high-box type?

The mounting envelope, the temperature range and the intended board. The high-box type has a 21.3mm mounting height (18.6mm for a single circuit) and 9.2mm thickness (8mm single circuit), is “for use specifically with resin coated (‘potted’) PC board”, and is rated −25 to +85°C rather than −40 to +105°C. Its current rating is quoted as 7A at AWG #18, with 10A at AWG #16 limited to one circuit only — a different basis from the standard VH’s 10A.

Are VH and VR the same series?

No. VR is a separate JST series, also at 3.96mm pitch, and it is an IDC (insulation displacement) connector — the contacts “connect to the post with base at two separate points, in both the front and back areas” — rated 7A AC/DC at AWG #18, 250V, −25 to +85°C, for conductors AWG #26 to #18 and board thickness 0.8mm to 1.6mm. It supports daisy-chain through connections, which the crimp VH does not.

What is the KONNRA equivalent of the JST VH?

The KR3961 series — a 3.96mm pitch through-hole wire-to-board system covering the housing, the crimp terminal and both wafer orientations, in PA66 UL94 V-0, with brass wafer contacts tin plated over nickel and a housing range our cross-list gives as 2 to 11 positions. Our published ratings are 250V AC/DC, 7A at AWG #18, −40 to +105°C, 20mΩ maximum contact resistance, 1,000MΩ minimum insulation resistance at 500VDC and 1,500VAC for one minute.

What current and voltage does the VH carry, and what does the KR3961 carry?

JST: 10A AC/DC with AWG #16 on the standard header, 7A AC/DC on the shrouded header, at 250V AC/DC. KONNRA: 7A at AWG #18, at 250V AC/DC. So the voltage row matches exactly, and the current row matches the original only at the gauge we both support — the original’s 10A rides on AWG #16, which is outside our published wire range of 18# to 22#. Note also that JST’s own catalogue and product page disagree on which conductor the 7A shrouded-header figure belongs to: AWG #16 in the catalogue, AWG #18 on the product page.

What wire gauge does the JST VH accept?

AWG #22 to #16 — 0.33mm² to 1.25mm² — in four steps: #22, #20, #18 and #16. JST splits its two contacts across that range: SVH-21T-P1.1 covers AWG #22 to #18, and SVH-41T-P1.1 covers AWG #20 to #16. Our KR3961 documents AWG 18# to 22# — three of the four original sizes — and the missing one is AWG #16, which is the conductor the original’s 10A rating is built on.

What insulation diameter does it accept?

JST publishes a corridor: φ1.7mm to φ3.0mm, narrowing to φ1.7mm to φ2.2mm when the retainer-compatible housing is used. Our specification publishes only a maximum, 2.8mm, with no minimum. So we are 0.2mm tighter at the top than the original’s ceiling and silent where the original sets a 1.7mm floor — a wire the original would reject could pass our published field.

What is the contact resistance of the VH?

Initial value 10mΩ maximum; after test 20mΩ maximum — and every JST 3.96mm document publishes the same pair, including the standard VH, the high-box type, the quick-connect type and the VR series. The KR3961 requires 20mΩ maximum initially and 40mΩ maximum after test. Our ladder is exactly twice the original’s on both rows, which means our published initial requirement equals the original’s post-test limit.

What are the insulation resistance and withstanding voltage?

Both 1,000MΩ minimum, and both 1,500VAC for one minute with no breakdown or flashover. This is the closest agreement in the comparison. Our insulation-resistance clause also names the test voltage — 500VDC applied for one minute between adjacent contacts per EIA-364-21B — which is the condition a 1,000MΩ figure only means something against. The one departure is post-humidity insulation resistance: 100MΩ minimum on our side under §7.7.

What is the operating temperature range?

−40 to +105°C, including temperature rise from applied current, and the KR3961 publishes the same −40 to +105°C — an exact match against the standard crimp VH. It is worth saying which VH, though: the high-box type and the VR series both publish −25 to +85°C, so against those variants our figure is the more generous claim, not the matching one.

How many circuits does the VH come in?

JST: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 circuits. The N-type housings run to 11, the M-type to 9, and the top-entry PBT header B11P-VH-B is the only header that reaches 11. Retainers are available for 2, 3, 5, 7, 8 and 9 circuits — the set skips 4, 6, 10 and 11. Our own documents give four different ranges for the same series — the cross-list says 2P–11P for housings and 2P–10P for wafers, the housing page says 2P~9P, the wafer pages say 2P~7P, and the force table runs to 12 — so confirm the range against the exact part number.

Does the KR3961 have a retainer, a shrouded header or a high-box type?

No — none of the three. The original publishes a full retainer family (VHS-2V through VHS-9V) with retainer-compatible housings (VHRR-2N and others) whose applicable insulation window narrows to φ1.7–2.2mm; a shrouded header family (B2P-VH-FB-B and others) which cannot be used with the retainer housing; and the high-box type for potted boards. Our cross-list covers the mainstream crimp VH and corrects for orientation, and stops there.

What materials are used?

JST: housing PA, natural (white), with the flame-retardant grade referred to its overseas-standards list; contacts copper alloy, tin-plated; standard header post copper inlay, welded; header base housings in non-PBT/PA or PBT/PBT (GF). KONNRA: housing PA66 UL94 V-0; terminal “phosphor bronze or brass, tin plated over nickel”; wafer base PA66 UL94 V-0, wafer contact and pin brass, tin plated over nickel. We publish a flammability grade and a nickel underplate where the original’s catalogues publish neither — and the original’s VH document names phosphor bronze as the required contact material where high current must be branched in parallel, which our “phosphor bronze or brass” field leaves open.

What UL, CSA and TÜV files does the VH carry?

JST’s VH product page lists CSA, TÜV and UL, and its high-box catalogue prints the references: UL Recognized E60389, CSA Certified LR20812, TÜV R75122. Our component pages publish UL E482542 only — no CSA registration and no TÜV mark. If your approval file references a CSA or TÜV registration, that is a gap to close with us.

Is the KR3961 a drop-in replacement for the JST VH?

On voltage, dielectric strength, insulation resistance, durability, temperature and the through-hole single-row construction, the match is exact and a drop-in evaluation is credible. On three points the answer is no: the contact-resistance ladder is exactly twice the original’s on both the initial and the after-test rows, AWG #16 is outside our published wire range while the original’s 10A rating depends on it, and post-humidity insulation resistance is 100MΩ against the original’s 1,000MΩ. Treat it as a drop-in for a ≤250V, ≤7A, 18–22 AWG application and as an evaluated alternative anywhere else.

How long does it take to get samples?

Complete connector set samples within 45 days. Connector production lead time is typically 2 to 4 weeks and wiring harness lead time typically 3 to 4 weeks. For this family, say which half you need — the housing set, the terminals and the wafer are separate line items, and the two wafer orientations are two more — and include your conductor size, insulation diameter and working current in the enquiry, because those three fields are where this cross-reference is decided.

Start Your Cross-Reference Check

KONNRA supplies the KR3961 series as individual components, crimped housing assemblies or complete wire harnesses, with customisation available for application-specific requirements.

• Request a quote — KR3961 pricing, MOQ and configuration for your circuit count, conductor and orientation
• Request a sample — complete connector set samples within 45 days
• Request cross-reference verification — confirm KR3961-to-VH equivalence against your specific original part number
• Request the terminal material in writing — which of the two terminal part numbers is phosphor bronze and which is brass, and which one satisfies JST’s own requirement for parallel high-current branching
• Request the measured initial contact resistance — our §5.1 requirement is 20mΩ maximum, which is the original’s post-test limit, and the original’s initial requirement is 10mΩ
• Request the after-test contact-resistance basis — our 40mΩ is applied after each named test individually; the original publishes 20mΩ after environmental tests
• Request the post-humidity insulation resistance — 100MΩ is our published minimum under §7.7 against the original’s 1,000MΩ
• Request the applicable PC board thickness — JST publishes 1.6mm and we publish nothing
• Request the PCB layout and hole-pitch tolerance — JST publishes a layout with a ±0.05 non-accumulative hole-pitch tolerance
• Request the crimp tooling identification — applicator and hand-tool references for the conductor you are using
• Request the package quantities — reel quantity for contacts and box or bag quantity for housings and headers, if your line is feed-configured
• Request the agency statement — our UL E482542 file and a statement on CSA and TÜV coverage against JST’s CSA, TÜV and UL registrations
• Request the circuit range for the exact part number — our own documents publish four different ranges for this series
• Request the housing material declaration — PA66 UL94 V-0, and the flame-retardant grade on the specific housing
• Request the AWG #16 answer — whether any KR3961 configuration supports the conductor the original’s 10A rating is built on
• Request the retainer, shrouded-header and high-box answers — if your application uses any of the three, this is a quotation rather than a substitution
• Request the 12-circuit insertion force clarified — §8.0’s twelve-circuit row breaks the table’s own 2.50 + 0.50n progression
• Request the force and durability test data — our §8.0 ladder and 30-cycle durability are published and the original’s VH documents publish no counterpart
• Request the specification revision — PS-KR3961-01 revision A1, with the terminal material and circuit count named in the purchase order
• Request a vendor qualification pack — certificates, test capability summary, RoHS and REACH documentation, quality system records
• Submit a drawing for review — we will flag any specification mismatch before you commit tooling or a board respin

Contact KONNRA Electronics

• Phone: (86)-769-85449875
• Email: info@konnra.com
• Address: No.6 Nanchang South Road, Chijiao, Wangniudun, Dongguan, Guangdong, China
• Contact us

👉 KR3961 cross-reference list · KR3961 straight wafer · KR3961 right angle wafer · KR3961 housing · KR3961 terminal · JST XA 2.5 Connector Complete Guide (KR2516) · JST SCN 2.5 Connector Complete Guide (KR2508) · JST SM 2.5 Connector Complete Guide (KR2507) · JST XH 2.5 Connector Complete Guide (KR2501) · JST ZH Connector Guide (KR1501) · Molex Micro-Fit 3.0 Connector Complete Guide (KR3000) · Molex SL Connector Complete Guide (KR2541) · Wire-to-board connector range · Wiring harness range

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Sources and method. Every figure here is taken from a manufacturer document, and where two manufacturers — or two documents from the same manufacturer — disagree, the difference is stated rather than averaged or resolved. JST figures come from five documents: the VH connector series page (series 262); the VH catalogue eVH.pdf; the VH high-box-type catalogue eVH-H.pdf; the VH quick-connect-type catalogue eVH-QC.pdf; and the VR catalogue eVR.pdf. From these: the series scope (“This wire-to-board connector with a 3.96 mm pitch is commonly used in power supply circuits for a wide variety of electrical and electronic devices. It supports currents up to 10 A.”); the product profile (crimp style, wire-to-board, through-hole mounting, side and top entry, single row, secure lock outer and center, retainer, and standards CSA / TÜV / UL); the current rating (10A AC/DC using AWG #16 with the standard type header; 7A AC/DC with the shrouded type header — attributed to AWG #16 in the catalogue and to AWG #18 on the product page); the voltage rating of 250V AC/DC; the temperature range of −40 to +105°C for the standard VH against −25 to +85°C for the high-box type and the VR series and −25 to +105°C for the quick-connect type; contact resistance of initial 10mΩ maximum and after test 20mΩ maximum in all four catalogues; insulation resistance of 1,000MΩ minimum; the withstanding-voltage requirement of no breakdown or flashover at 1,500VAC for one minute; the conductor range of AWG #22 to #16 (0.33mm² to 1.25mm²) across the four sizes #22, #20, #18 and #16; the insulation range of φ1.7mm to φ3.0mm, narrowing to φ1.7–2.2mm with the retainer-compatible housing; the applicable PC board thickness of 1.6mm for the standard, high-box and quick-connect types and 0.8–1.6mm for the VR series; the circuit list of 2 to 11; the contact part numbers SVH-21T-P1.1 (AWG #22–#18) and SVH-41T-P1.1 (AWG #20–#16) with reel quantities of 4,500 and 3,500 and a copper-alloy tin-plated material statement; the housing families VHR-nN (N type), VHR-nM (M type, “the exposed contact lances from the N type are covered by resin which is integrally formed and molded into the housing body as a single unit, further improving electrical safety”) and VHRR-nN (retainer-compatible), all in PA natural (white) at 500 to 1,000 per bag; the retainer family VHS-2V, VHS-3V, VHS-5V, VHS-7V, VHS-8V and VHS-9V in PA (GF) natural (ivory); the header families B(n)P-VH (top entry), B(n)PS-VH (side entry), B(n)P-VH-B (top entry with PBT, the only variant reaching 11 circuits) and S(n)P-VH (side entry with stopper), with posts described as copper inlay, welded and base housings in non-PBT/PA or PBT/PBT (GF) natural white; the shrouded header family B(n)P-VH-FB-B with copper-alloy tin-plated posts and PBT (GF) base housings and the note that “the housings that mate with the two position are the N-type and M-type” and “retainer mountable type cannot be used”; the crimp tooling AP-K2N, MKS-L, APLMK SVH21-11 and APLMK SVH41-11; the package quantities of 4,500 / 3,500 per reel, 500 to 1,000 per bag and 100 to 1,000 per box; the PC board layout with the notes that “tolerance for the PCB hole pitch shall be ±0.05 and shall not accumulate” and “hole dimensions differ depending on the type of PCB and PCB drilling method”; the RoHS2 compliance statements; the model-number allocation grammar for contacts, housings, retainers and all header families including colour suffixes; the high-box type’s mounting envelope of 21.3mm height (18.6mm single circuit) and 9.2mm thickness (8mm single circuit), its 7A AC/DC at AWG #18 rating with 10A AC/DC at AWG #16 limited to one circuit, its designation as a “header for use specifically with resin coated (‘potted’) PC board”, its “vibration, the prying, the microcurrent and micro-voltage circuit” claim, its standards references Recognized E60389 / Certified LR20812 / R75122, and its parallel-branching note requiring phosphor bronze contacts; the quick-connect type’s 7A AC/DC based on φ1.0mm solid wire, its −25 to +105°C range, its insulated solid copper wire of φ0.8–1.0mm conductor with φ1.1–1.3mm insulation, its four-step “strip wire / solid wire insertion / wire insertion completed / harness completed” process and its 04VH-PKT-40 socket; and the VR series’ IDC construction with its “twin U-slot insulation displacement section”, its claim that contacts “connect to the post with base at two separate points, in both the front and back areas”, its 7A AC/DC at AWG #18, its −25 to +85°C range, its conductor range of AWG #26 to #18 with φ1.3–2.1mm insulation and its daisy chain and end connection wiring styles. KONNRA figures come from PS-KR3961-01 revision A1 (2022/2/26, 7 pages — 3.96mm pitch KR3961 series connector specification); the KR3961 cross-reference page; the four KR3961 component pages (straight wafer, right angle wafer, housing, terminal); and the KR3961 series drawing and component drawings (KR3961-Series-Drawing, KR3961-H, KR3961-T_2, KR3961-WR-DIP_3, KR3961-WV-DIP_4). From the specification: the part list (housing H396101**0101A, terminals T39610PT0101A and T39610BT0101A, wafers C3961VD1**01T0101PA for the straight DIP 180° type and C3961RD1**01T0101PA for the right-angle DIP 90° type); the materials (housing PA66 UL94 V-0; terminal phosphor bronze or brass, tin plated over nickel; wafer base PA66 UL94 V-0, wafer contact brass tin plated over nickel, solder tab “None”); the ratings of 250V AC/DC, 7A (18AWG), −40 to +105°C, AWG 18# to 22#, insulation O.D. 2.8mm maximum; §5.1 contact resistance of 20mΩ maximum by dry circuit at 20mV and 100mA per EIA-364-23C; §5.2 insulation resistance of 1,000MΩ minimum at 500VDC per EIA-364-21B; §5.3 dielectric strength of 1,500V AC for one minute with no breakdown or flashover per EIA-364-20A; §6.2 terminal insertion force of 1.5kgf (14.7N) maximum; §6.3 terminal-to-housing retention of 3.0kgf (29.4N) minimum; §6.4 pin retention of 2.0kgf (19.6N) minimum; §6.5 crimp geometry and strength of 9.07 / 6.8 / 4.54 kgf minimum at 18 / 20 / 22 AWG with stripping of 2.5–3.0mm; §7.1 durability of 30 cycles requiring 40mΩ maximum; §7.2 temperature rise of 30°C maximum; §7.3 vibration of 1.5mm peak-to-peak, 10→55→10 Hz in one minute, two hours in each axis per EIA-364-28B; §7.4 shock of 490m/s² (50g), three strokes per axis per EIA-364-27B; §7.5 heat resistance of 96 hours at 105 ± 2°C; §7.6 cold resistance of 96 hours at −40 ± 2°C; §7.7 humidity of 96 hours at 40 ± 2°C and 90–95% R.H. requiring 40mΩ maximum, dielectric strength per §5.3 and insulation resistance of 100MΩ minimum; §7.8 thermal shock over 5 cycles of −40°C / room / +105°C / room; §7.9 salt spray of 8 hours at 35 ± 2°C from a 5 ± 1% solution; §7.10 solderability at 245 ± 5°C for 3 ± 0.5 seconds with 95% wetting; §7.11 solder resistance for DIP with reference to the §9.0 wave-soldering profile; and the §8.0 insertion/withdrawal force ladder in kgf for 2 to 12 circuits (insertion force maximum 3.00 / 3.50 / 4.00 / 4.50 / 5.00 / 5.50 / 6.00 / 6.50 / 7.00 / 7.50 / 8.50; withdrawal force minimum at first mate 1.00 / 1.20 / 1.40 / 1.60 / 1.80 / 2.00 / 2.20 / 2.40 / 2.60 / 2.80 / 3.00; withdrawal force minimum at the 30th cycle 0.80 / 0.90 / 1.00 / 1.10 / 1.20 / 1.30 / 1.40 / 1.50 / 1.60 / 1.70 / 1.80). Notes on what was not obtainable. The KR3961 component and series drawings are vector PDFs with no text layer, so no dimension in this guide was taken from a drawing — every KONNRA figure above comes from the product specification or a page. The KR3961 package specification likewise carries no extractable text, so none of its contents are quoted; the supply-form statement that wafers are bagged comes from the cross-reference page. Where a KONNRA figure and a JST figure differ, both are printed side by side. Where a KONNRA document disagrees with another KONNRA document — the terminal pitch field reading “3961mm”, the wafer pages naming “KR3960 Series”, the four different circuit ranges, and the single-row contact-resistance presentation — or where a JST document disagrees with another JST document, the two conductors published for the same 7A shrouded-header rating and the three temperature ranges published across the four 3.96mm catalogues, the discrepancy is reported rather than smoothed over. Every force comparison in this guide is stated with its basis, because per-contact, per-circuit and whole-connector figures are not interchangeable: our ladder is per-connector in kilogram-force with the newton equivalents published only for the three terminal-level figures in §6.2 to §6.4, and the original’s VH catalogue publishes no force figures at all, so the ladder is not compared against anything above.