Hi
This is a very simple question , I apologize. I'm sure someone is going to say it has been discussed before but I can't find it, sorry.
When we are developing a project of course we use mainly the nice dupont connectors in prototype. But what about for the final build?
The task is mainly connecting the Arduino to various breakout boards and switches and power supplies.
I have seen some people use single core cable and a strip of screw down terminals in their projects but I don't really like that, it seems fiddly and prone to loose connections etc.
Others have used a large piece of vero board (or similar) and mounted everything on that. But that can be expensive and bulky.
Of course I thought I knew better!
I hit the ground running , and fell flat on my face. I got lovely multi-strand ribbon cable and just soldered it straight on to the various boards. This was an almost immediate disaster as the multi strand cable can take almost no flexing at the soldered end (the strands being so tiny) and they quickly broke.
My solution so far has been to use the sets of header pins on the boards then solder low down on the pin and heat shrink round the pin and first part of the wire insulation to give it strain relief. This seems durable and gives good connections but if you later decide another wire needs to go on a particular pin it is a pain stripping the heat shrink off. Also if you have quite a few wires going to one pin it is quite awkward to do in the first place.
I am sure there is a better way well know to all seasoned constructors?
There is no one connector that works with all of those. Please post a wiring diagram and we can offer recommendations for each type of connection. The environment in which the device operates often has some bearing on the choice, too.
Generally, there is nothing wrong with the screw terminal strips that you mentioned. I've always found them extremely reliable. They're commonly used in commercial applications.
Search the internet for "strain relief". All solder connections will break if flexed. Copper wire strands are particularly easy to break when soldered. Some designs use a clamp to hold the cable to the board.
I am one who likes vero board with headers for this application, but only for prototyping and maybe one-off projects. Not expensive but yes a bit bulky.
If doing more than one or need it to be more compact and/or durable, I buy individual components and have a PCB made so that everything including the microcontroller is on one board. I try to keep the rat's nest of wires in my project's to a minimum.
I Generally use a Nano and make a PCB for the project. I place the socket to plug in the Arduino and then add many of the chips to the "motherboard" as reasonable. Things such as the RTC are less expensive to purchase already assembled so I just put in a header and plug them in. My I/O is generally I2C controlled on external boards designed for the application. I make sure to have reasonable mounting holes so I can mount it in the project box when finished.
Sometimes I solder the wires to boards, on the one I am working on now I solder will wires to the motherboard and use dupont connectors to connect to another board such as the LCD.
Hint this does not work very well with frizzies, I use KiCad which generates the needed Gerber files etc.
The dupont style jumpers are fine as long as they are secured. You can use zip ties to group them together into a wire harness and then fasten them to something so they can't work loose.
Yeah, I know these aren't duPont jumpers (I ran out so I made my own), but what I'm trying to show here is grouping the wires together and the green zip tie in the lower right that holds them down on the board. This was for an instrument that was banged around a lot outdoors, so nothing could be loose.
I also use screw terminals a lot. Use good quality ones, possibly with wire ferrules if you are using stranded wire and you'll have long-lasting, reliable connections.
I usually don't like laying out a PC board without good reason: e.g., I have to build multiple units, or something needs to be very small or I'm concerned about good grounding and controlling noise, etc.
Most of my builds use crimp connectors. The one I'm working on right now has 4 different types of connector housings and two different types of sockets to handle the arduino (an STM32 black pill) and the peripheral modules: a GPS unit, a few motor drives and some other stuff. It would be impossible to put the motor drives on a PC board or protoboard since they're designed for discrete cabling. The advantage is I control the wire length and it's easy to replace components and not too much work if I need to build more than one unit.
tl;dr:
Use wire jumpers and keep things neat. It's the fastest way.