This part of IEC 60512 applies to the electrical overload test of mated contact pairs of connectors. The object of this test is to draw up a standard method to assess the performance of mated contact pairs of connectors with an electrical overload current flowing through them for a limited period of time between 100 ms and 20 s. The test procedure is based on measuring the increase of temperature during the specified period of time when the electrical overload is applied to the contacts. Temperature increase over time is measured for an electrical overload current, specified as an integer multiple of the rated current, and an overload current-over-time diagram is plotted. NOTE Practice shows that, for limited periods of time, contacts can conduct a multiple of the maximum permissible current without damage to the contact area.