Arduino Mega, Screw (Terminal) it

rockerpeller:
I came across this thread while trying to source the same thing. I've been told about a Mega screw shield here

AquaLED Light – Shop

You will have to run it through a translator if you don't understand Portuguese. I was trying to find an online shop so I didn't have to email for an invoice, but this is all I've found so far.

Bing translates it as

Main characteristics of Screw Shield for the Arduino Mega:

-Works on any Arduino Mega 2560/ADK/1280/Other/Clones.
-Can be stacked with other shields over.
-All pins of the Arduino Mega are replicated by terminals with screws being so simple to make any link without welds.
-Have extra for signs of terminals GND, 5V, 3.3 V and VIN in order to easily feed on other external circuits.

General appearance:

What is not clear is what sort of wires or wire terminations it accepts. Maybe the slots beside the screw heads are where the wires go or maybe there are conventional round holes not shown in the photo.

These kinds of parts
http://www.dipmicro.com/store/DG126-3P
Slightly smaller was designed in, 3.5mm vs 5mm.
Wires go in horizontally, the screw holds them in.

There are other variations as well.
Search digikey.com for Phoenix, then select "terminal blocks - wire to board", then filter on 0.138"(3.5mm) for pitch.

Or you can add pins in the holes if you'd prefer, or solder wires right to the holes.

I haven't ordered yet, will look at adding these, maybe on the unpopulated side.
"-Have extra for signs of terminals GND, 5V, 3.3 V and VIN in order to easily feed on other external circuits."

Docedison:
Does anyone have a clue as to a shield for the mega that would allow a 40 pin cable, short but long enough to access the other I/O on the mega... I have an LCD (Itead) and a shield for my mega but there is NO access to anything under that shield...
I would hate to make one... 40 dollars or so??? the time isn't an issue just a one of or two of circuit board is more than I want to pay. Any Idea's?

Doc

Hi there.

I had that same needs, so I decided to build one for my project.

It will be multiplatform, and will go for testing soon. Arduino Mega 2560 R3 is also supported.

I can leave a 3D photos of it.

Top:

Bottom:

It supports Itead and TFT pinout and is built with two tft sockets to support the smaller landscape versions, and the bigger 5" version in portrait.

Besides this, I've added RTC to it that can be completly disconnected if needed.

If everthing goes well, this will be available soon.

Thanks for info Robert :slight_smile:

An email reply from aqualed-light.com confirms they are using terminal blocks very much like that (they are in pairs rather than triples) and that they might add the extra R3 pins on a future version.

Ok, routing cleaned up, names added, board size trimmed over the USB/power connector.
Any comments before I let it rip with iteadstudio for 10 boards?
Size is 125mm x 77mm.

Excellent Robert! It looks correct to me.

Just one comment, ... set aside one for me, please! :wink:

Yes, of course Bill!

I will commit to one as well.

Ok, I have another board routing, will let that finish & get these ordered.

Thanx, I appreciate it very much !!!!! :slight_smile: 8)

Upon arrival, I'll deploy it immediately over my MEGA which only has very few improvised (Mexican style, hahaha) connections at present. I will be using almost all of the screw pin terminals except for Rx & Tx eventually.

Please let me know when you're ready. :slight_smile:

Boards are ordered.
Get past 100mm & price jumps.
Bare boards will be $7.30 mailed to US locations.

Folks, I've had several requests for a kit with screw terminals and header pins.
I'm up to at least 16 kits so far.
I don't mind doing a group buy for the connectors, prices drop with quantity.

I've worked up the best combination of Phoenix screw terminals from mouser.
For the life of me I can't figure out what they call stackable headers like these:
http://www.dipmicro.com/store/HDR08X1FL
http://www.dipmicro.com/store/HDR10X1FL

Any ideas?
Thanks
Robert

Alright, I am going with 2 sources.
Mouser for the 3.5mm screw terminals. They don't carry stackable headers in 1x8 and 1x10 0.1" configuration.
Dipmicro for the stackable headers. They don't carry 3.5mm screw terminals.

Great! :slight_smile:

Okay, here's what I'v worked out.

I originally said $7.30 for a bare board. That was incorrect and was based on 10-lot boards from itead, the larger sizes are 5-lots.
So a bareboard will be $13.60.
I've priced up material for5 kits, since I'm getting 5 boards.
Total with shipping for itead, mouser, dipmicro, USPS to you, and paypal's 2.9% + $0.39/transaction fee comes out to $41.25.

First 5 paypal payments to cardinalflyer @ comcast dot net get a card.
bibre asked for the first one, a university teacher asked for 1, so it's really the next 3.

If there's enough interest, I'll order more.
Cards will be here in 2 weeks or so.

Robert/CrossRoads

$41.25 per board?

$41.25 per board is for a kit - board, ten stackable headers, 21 screw terminals.
Sizes selected to yield lowest cost per pin or terminal.

$13.60 for just a board.

Price is material cost, supplier shipping, and my mailing costs.
Passing on the benefit of bulk buy on the parts.

$41.25 is a very good price. Do your math.

I paid for a similar screw shield (the Wingshield) for the Ardiono UNO $16 bucks. But the MEGA 2560 has at least 3.5 times more pins than the UNO. And that's 3.5 times more terminals and headers!

So I guess, if you need it, go for it. It's a fair price, for a lot of hardware. :wink:

On the other hand, just buy the bare bones board. :slight_smile:

My brain got hung up on the "materials for 5 kits" comment, and registered that as $41.25 for all 5 boards.

No, that's $41.25/kit.
Larger board, 86 screw terminals.