The Molex 398800304 is the 4-circuit member of the Eurostyle 39880 series — a side-entry PCB terminal block with a 5.08 mm pitch and a 13.5 A per-circuit rating at 300 V. The housing is black polyamide (nylon), and the contacts are tin-plated copper alloy with nickel-plated clamps and M3 screws torqued to 0.68 Nm. Wire range is 16–30 AWG, terminated via a rising cage clamp — the wire seats under the clamp head as the screw tightens, which means the conductor lands on solid metal before the grip engages, not on the insulation. Operating range is -40°C to 105°C.
Where the class is used
Eurostyle 39880 terminal blocks are used as board-level power and signal interconnects in industrial control panels, DIN-rail-mounted I/O modules, and machine-tool wiring — anywhere a discrete wire harness terminates to a PCB through a panel face or enclosed assembly. The interlocking feature on the housing allows side-by-side stacking to build multi-pole bus bars without additional mounting hardware.
Plating and hardware — what the grades mean
The contacts are tin-plated, not gold — correct for this rating class. Tin plating is the right choice for power-signal interconnects at 13.5 A per circuit because the primary failure mode in industrial harness is thermal cycling fretting, not low-level signal corrosion; tin's wipe action at the contact interface handles repeated mating cycles well within the expected service life of an industrial panel install. The M3 screw and cage clamp are nickel-plated copper alloy, which resists the galvanic issues that arise when mixing dissimilar metals in a control-panel environment.