Hi,
I have spent several days bashing my head against the wall. All I want to do is to have male header pins, either as integrated into an existing Arduino shield, or the break off variety soldered to strip board. I then want to attach a female header connector to the male pins. The back of the female connector is then wired to a servo or sensor. Not a big deal you would think. Hah!
Here are the problems I have had, mostly so far with the stripboard version:
The standard male header pins will not do the job because a male pin can only connect to one female socket.
A female socket appears to be able to swallow as many male connectors as it likes and will do so totally if the male connectors are located at the same x and y, regardless of z.
A female connector cannot be plugged onto a male, you have to bring the male to female, so to speak. If that is the same for when I start to do the shields, that will be a major issue.
Here’s what I have achieved:
To do this I have had to create a custom male header with two y staggered male pins, one for up, one for down, at each connection point. Similarly for the female plug. I placed the female plug over the stripboard, then slipped the male header between the plug and the stripboard. Any other way, you get the board connected or the plug, but not both.
There must be an easier way??? Should I make a feature request, but what for?
I know I can use small pieces of wire in some cases to bridge the gaps, but I would like a ‘clean’ solution. I’ve a number of parts to post, like the Dagu servo (done) and the DFRobot sensor shield and Dagu Commotion shield (in progress). I would like them to work for other folk with the minimum of fuss.