[TriLUG] [TriEmbed] Favourite electrical connectors?

Fri Sep 25 17:17:06 EDT 2015

    You arw right.  Its been too long.  5.08mm is .2 inches.  5.08 and 5mm are both connector standards.  I find 5.08 to be easier to work with in most circuits, especially if you're doing the layout.  I would use a .1x.1 grid as standard.
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------ Original message------From: Scott LambdinDate: Fri, Sep 25, 2015 5:00 PMTo: Matt Flyer;Triangle Linux Users Group General Discussion;Subject:Re: [TriLUG] [TriEmbed] Favourite electrical connectors?
These are different sizes -  5.08mm / .100 inch
On Fri, Sep 25, 2015 at 1:47 PM, via TriLUG <trilug at trilug.org> wrote:
It has been a few years, but I used to do circuit board design for
embedded systems.  Picking connectors was one of the big job challenges.
I've gone around this subject a few times.  The short answer is that I
think either of the styles you picked in the links would work but both
have advantages and disadvantages.

First, if you plan to plug and remove the connectors, pretty much at all,
I would highly recommend staying away from SMD / SMT style and go with
through hole.  The costs to have a second pass on the soldering is
insignificant compared to the advantages.

Second, when it comes to the connectors, you need to first settle on the
style.  This becomes a choice trade off of cost, labor, size, and
convenience.  You can get insulation displacement connectors, such as
AMP's MTA style which requires a hand tool but are cheap and reliable.
These look much like the ones in the first link.  You can go with pinned
style, such as Molex KK series, which also require a tool, but are also
inexpensive and reliable.  A third option would be Phoenix style
connectors, which can be either screw terminal or cage clamp.  This will
be bigger and more expensive but only require a simple screw driver.
Another option, especially for board to board connectors is ribbon cable
which are mechanically reliable and hard to screw up.

If you're concerned about customers or field personnel doing wiring the
Pheonix style (use a cheaper alternative such as On Shore Technology or
Wiedmueller) should really be considered.

One thing I would suggest is consider staying with a 5.08mm / .100 inch
pitch which is standard and easy to layout a board for.

> On Fri, Sep 25, 2015 at 10:18 AM, Charles West via TriEmbed
> <triembed at triembed.org> wrote:
>> Hello,
>>
>> I'm working on a board for the CanInstall autoregistration project and
>> I'm
>> not really sure what connectors to use for it.  I'm currently leaning
>> toward
>> either DF13-4 connectors or simple 4 pin headers.  If I may ask, are
>> there
>> any other connectors that you would recommend or have used in your
>> projects?
>>
>> Pros/cons:
>> DF13:
>> The upside is that they are very small, connect very securely and SMD
>> female
>> connectors are $.41 per.  The downside is that they are extremely hard
>> to
>> get out (don't pull on cable, very gently pry with finger nail on one
>> side,
>> then the other) and cables for them are extremely hard to find/expensive
>> ($1.5 per in lots of 20 is the cheapest I've found).
>>
>> Vertical Headers:
>> The plus is I can get break apart SMD headers at roughly $.05 each
>> including
>> shipping at lots of $5
>> (http://www.ebay.com/itm/10pcs-2-54MM-1-40Pin-SMD-SMT-1-40Pin-Male-Single-Row-Pin-Header-/261879748701?hash=item3cf93fd85d),
>> cables at $.22 per in lots of $5
>> (http://www.ebay.com/itm/20pcs-2-54mm-to-2-54mm-Dupont-Wire-Cable-Connectors-4P-to-4P-Pin-Header-20cm-YG-/111487505711?hash=item19f52c552f)
>> and they are pretty standard for hobbyist projects (and extremely
>> similar to
>> servo connections).  The downsides are that they have no polarity
>> control,
>> are much more likely to slide out and take up a lot more board real
>> estate
>> (translating to either bigger boards or less connectors).
>
>       IMHO:
>
> 1) For pin spacing, use the same standard one everyone -- arduino,
> raspberrypi, a terminal I saw when I took apart something I can't
> remember what it was -- else uses.
>
> 2) Do you need SMD headers? If I plan on yanking a connector I would
> like the pins to be going through the board and soldered on the back;
> only question would be 90 degrees or not. But, I do not know how your
> design looks like.
> 2.1) If you really have to have SMD, I would run some wires to a
> header that would then be on the case of whatever you are doing.
>
>
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Charlie

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