Idea for "Low Profile" headers! Arduino etc.

[Macavity]

A good idea that "came to me in a flash"! OK, I may not be first but...  

The perennial issue I have with making (final boxing-up of!) Arduino etc.
prototypes is getting wires to fit vertical dimensions of smaller boxes!
Bending wires close to headers never seem to be very convincing and
notably when you start to use (stack) SHIELDS, the "sky" is the limit!

Putting a right angle bend in "shield-type" headers is NOT very robust?
Genuine pre-made *right angle* headers don't have long enough legs!

Then it came to me:

If you want to interface a TWO row female headers buy a THREE row
right angle header --  snip off / carefully(!) pull out the most bent row:

You can now push the remaining longer pins into the Arduino header!
(It also works quite well for TWO to ONE row header convertors) 

As another TIP: If you use an Arduino shield, check if it is *really*
to connect ALL the Arduino pins to the shield. Often NOT! You can
then slip a "low-profile" header between the Arduino and shield. 

My "Current Record" so far! An Arduino MEGA with (Mayhew) 48 Chan 
Analogue OR Digital Multiplexer... Standard 32 Channels of Digital I/O,
Four Serial I/O Channels... Additional pins for I2C / SPI etc. etc.



The whole setup (Around 90 inputs!) can still read at about 5Hz!

P.S. And finally (lol): If you start running short of Digital inputs, it
is always worth considering using an Analog Input and connecting
e.g. a series of buttons, switches etc. via a "resistor ladder" etc.

[Peter Drew]

Lost me already!  

[xtreemchaos]

ya me too, I thought you was on about heavyrock gigs and Arduino was a new band . charl.

[Macavity]

My TALENTS are clearly wasted on you lot! lol.   
Maybe Gina will arrive at some stage, later on...

[saac]

Chris I haven't yet played around with Arduino boards much but I'm planning a robotics/electronics club to run at school. I'm aiming to learn as much from the kids as a few of them already have experience with Arduino. Your tip on modding the headers is well timed so I'm going to bookmark your post. My first challenge for the club will be to get them to learn how to operate stepper motors leading up to some sort of robo focuser.

Jim

[Gina]

I'm here now   That's a great idea, Chris - I too have had this problem.  I have used two row right angle headers but with three row as you have is sheer genius   I have also used a resistor ladder with analogue input to connect a series of push buttons for remote control.  This also saves wiring as the resistor ladder can go on the switches and reduce wires to the Arduino.

[Macavity]

52 minutes ago, Gina said:

I have used two row right angle headers but with three row as you have is sheer genius   

@GinaSometimes genius -- Sometimes chance? lol Or should I say "Serendipity" Dog|Cat?  
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Tom_(TV_series)  (So obscure, even I had to look it up!)

Having to read out a LOT of switches (toggle and rotary!) worried me... re. de-bouncing etc.
But the inherently slower nature of Analog Reads (paradoxically) helped a lot. Just read them
all twice - At the beginning & end of the "loop"! If the values change by more than "a bit"? 

@saacGood luck with your (splendid) project, Jim! After years not doing amateur electronics
(far before / long after the current miniaturisation!) it is pleasant / surprising to see there are
still such possibilities? lol! As ever a personal challenging is moving beyond "the prototype" 

The "connection dilemma" remains a perennial? All I need now is a hot Glue Gun to fix my
wires / connections in place! Youngster use them often? But that delight I have yet to try.

If any of your "students" use standard (push-in) "Prototype Boards" the following is a source
of rather nice (double sided solder) boards to make any of their projects more permanent:
https://thepihut.com/products/adafruit-perma-proto-half-sized-breadboard-pcb-single  etc.  

P.S. Came across cheaper (working!) Velleman Arduinos clones should yours "start breeding"! 
http://cpc.farnell.com/velleman-kit/vma100/microcontroller-arduino-uno-compatible/dp/SC14388
http://cpc.farnell.com/velleman-kit/vma101/microcontroller-arduino-mega-compatible/dp/SC14389

[Gina]

1 hour ago, Macavity said:

Having to read out a LOT of switches (toggle and rotary!) worried me... re. de-bouncing etc.
But the inherently slower nature of Analog Reads (paradoxically) helped a lot. Just read them
all twice - At the beginning & end of the "loop"! If the values change by more than "a bit"? 

 

That's exactly what I did

[Ravenous]

By the way I think it IS possible to get double-row and single-row right angled versions.  Recently i've been looking at these (for a musical project):

http://www.rapidonline.com/truconnect-36-way-r-a-single-row-plug-22-0795

http://www.rapidonline.com/bkl-10120179-2-x-36-pin-header-2-54mm-pitch-3a-gold-plated-50-8061

I should add I haven't actually tried these yet, so don't know for sure if they fit arduino connectors.  My guess is they will though...

EDIT: the above links don't seem to work directly! Anyway these things are often called "PCB interconnects", that phrase might help when searching for them...

[Macavity]

I think my point was that most of the readily available headers do NOT have pins
that are long enough on BOTH sides of the right angle bend to work effectively... 
Certainly ONE of the above seems to suffer from that very pathology, but Hey! 

[Ravenous]

Oh I see your point!

Just looked at the data sheets for the ones I found - it looks like some ranges are available a bit longer and might work - if I can find a supplier of those versions.  I think if I'd gone ahead and ordered that single row version they might not be long enough after all as you say!

I'll have to do a rethink. Maybe I could take a two-row strip and remove the shorter ones, as you describe.  (I only need single rows of pins, I'm using the 16 analogue inputs on an Arduino Mega)