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Socapex is a brand of electrical connectors, known in the entertainment industry primarily for their 19-pin electrical connectors, commonly known as Socapex connectors, and used in film, television, and stage lighting to terminate the ends of a multicable. They are wired with six hot/live pins, six neutral pins, six ground/earth pins, and a final central pin used to aid alignment of the male end of the connector with a female receptacle. The Socapex was first created by a company called Socapex in 1961, which later on became Amphenol Socapex. "Socapex" became a brand name owned by Amphenol Socapex, the term "Soca" is now often applied to similar off-brand connectors as a 
Some fixtures and assemblies containing several lamps, such as PARbars, may use a panel mounted Socapex connector to avoid the need for a separate breakout, and many such fixtures also incorporate a female Socapex connector to allow further similar fixtures to be chained from the same supply.
Amphenol Socapex is still manufacturing and selling the original Socapex. These connectors are keyed to prevent insertion into a circuit with the wrong voltage, or to prevent insertion of audio cables on power circuits.Nick Moran ''Performance Lighting Design: How to light for the stage, concerts and live events'', Bloomsbury Publishing, 2014, , chapter 2 section "Socapex multicore protocols"
Official website
Stage Lights
Mains power connectors Stage lighting {{Electronics-stub
Socapex is a brand of electrical connectors, known in the entertainment industry primarily for their 19-pin electrical connectors, commonly known as Socapex connectors, and used in film, television, and stage lighting to terminate the ends of a multicable. They are wired with six hot/live pins, six neutral pins, six ground/earth pins, and a final central pin used to aid alignment of the male end of the connector with a female receptacle. The Socapex was first created by a company called Socapex in 1961, which later on became Amphenol Socapex. "Socapex" became a brand name owned by Amphenol Socapex, the term "Soca" is now often applied to similar off-brand connectors as a genericized trademark
A generic trademark, also known as a genericized trademark or proprietary eponym, is a trademark or brand name that, because of its popularity or significance, has become the generic term for, or synonymous with, a general class of products ...
.
"Breakouts" are often used to connect fixtures to the cable. The breakout consists of a male Socapex connector with six "tails" with female parallel blade receptacle, stage pin connector, IEC 60309
IEC 60309 (formerly IEC 309 and CEE 17, also published by CENELEC as EN 60309) is a series of international standards from the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) for "plugs, socket-outlets and couplers for industrial purp ...
16 A, NEMA L5-20P & L6-20P 'twist-lock', BS 546
Plugs and sockets for electrical appliances not hardwired to mains electricity originated in the United Kingdom in the 1870s and were initially two-pin designs. These were usually sold as a mating pair, but gradually de facto and then officia ...
15 A, PowerCon or Schuko
"Schuko" () is a registered trademark referring to a system of AC power plugs and sockets that is defined as " CEE 7/3" (sockets) and "CEE 7/4" (plugs). A Schuko plug features two round pins of 4.8 mm diameter (19 mm long, centers 19&n ...
connectors, according to the standards of the region in which the assembly is being used. A "breakin" is the opposite, consisting of "tails" with male Parallel Blade, stage pin connectors, IEC 60309 16 A, NEMA L5-20R & L6-20P 'twist-lock', BS 546 or Schuko connectors feeding a female Socapex connector. These are used to connect Socapex cables to dimmer packs that do not have Socapex outputs.
Some fixtures and assemblies containing several lamps, such as PARbars, may use a panel mounted Socapex connector to avoid the need for a separate breakout, and many such fixtures also incorporate a female Socapex connector to allow further similar fixtures to be chained from the same supply.
Amphenol Socapex is still manufacturing and selling the original Socapex. These connectors are keyed to prevent insertion into a circuit with the wrong voltage, or to prevent insertion of audio cables on power circuits.Nick Moran ''Performance Lighting Design: How to light for the stage, concerts and live events'', Bloomsbury Publishing, 2014, , chapter 2 section "Socapex multicore protocols"
References
External links
Official website
Stage Lights
Mains power connectors Stage lighting {{Electronics-stub