Hello all, I am new to the Arduino scene, and this is my first post!
I am attempting to build Dougs word clock (Sorry, can't post active links yet as I'm still a newb..)
His plans call for a 26 wire ribbon cable, and I am stumped. I have researched quite a bit, but am still flummoxed. Here is what I think I know, and am hoping someone can help me out.
I have come to find that ribbon cable comes in two flavors, .050" spacing, and .1" spacing. I ordered a 26 pin, .050" header and corresponding .050" IDC. These pins are WAY too small for my soldering skills... So I would like to use the .1" headers and IDC. But... .1" (or 2.54mm) ribbon cables do not come in 26 wire configurations. Or at least anywhere that Google can find I have also read that you can use .050" ribbon cable with a .1" IDC.
So, the questions become:
-Do I order a 26 conductor .050" ribbon cable and I can just use that with .1" headers?
-Can I order 3 10 conductor .1" ribbon cables, and put them side by side in a 26 pin IDC?
I've found ribbon cable with connectors at several thrift stores selling electronic 'junk' for cheap. Most come from the several parts of PC internal components, disk drives, parallel port, serial port, floppy, etc. These all interconnected with different widths of IDC/ribbon cables. Some times I just cut the connectors off and strip of the number of wires I need and then solder the ends to single strip header pins for plugging into the Arduino shield connectors.
I would advice to stay away from the .050 .025 in ribbons and connectors. The ones used for disks (Ultra-ATA) used 40pin connectors but the ribbon has 80 wires, of which every other wire is designed to be a ground wire shorted together in the IDC connectors, it's weird and not very useful for hobbyist use and even using just the raw wire is very hard to slice of pull apart and is pretty small gauge wire.
Thank you all for the quick reply! After some more in-depth searching, I have answered my own question. .050" ribbon cable is to be used with .1" pitch IDCs, which will mate nicely with my unshrouded .1" headers.
I have created my own LED PCB, using the awesomely free Kicad, and using an IDC will greatly simplify my life.
Once again, thank you for the replys, and I am grateful that the Arduino community is so active. I am happy to consider myself in your company!
Thank you Richard, thats a pretty in-depth post! I am using the IDConnectors instead of ripping apart the wires as in the Instructable for both cosmetic and ease considerations. I have attached my very first schematic and PCB layout (Reversed already... I don't have the un-mirrored original...) for any who may wish to use it. Thanks for your response!
I have also read that you can use .050" ribbon cable with a .1" IDC.
