I'm using 0603 led SMD with 0.1mm copper wire for my project, and i've been looking at ways to connect the wire to the arduino without the need to solder.
dupond wire is the best way for me to go, i can use 32 - 34 AWG wire, but I can't find dupond wire / wire to board connector solution for wire with such a small diameter.
Can anyone think of a solution to connect the wire to the PCB / arduino pro mini without soldering, knowing that the ultimate goal is to sell my project for people with no soldering skills
I've made thin magnet wire connections to an Arduino module (having Dupont headers). I just soldered the wires to the solder connection on the header pins. Perhaps you could adapt this idea to something?
I'm not sure what this is being used for, but I know of applications where the wire should stay small. Hobby like trains and doll houses etc. for example. That's usually to place LEDs in places where space is very small or the wires have to be hidden because there's no way to hide them behind a barrier.
Thank you everyone for your replies, here are more informations:
I created a PCB board, and I will be selling that PCB board, and the 0603 LED SMD wired with 0.1mm copper wire.
The customer would then place the LED onto a die cast vehicle (drill a hole, glue the LED where it should go) and then would have to connect the LED SMD cable to the PCB board I designed.
I would like to make it as easy as possible for the customer and Idealy offer a ''plug and play'' type of product, hence the reason dupond wire was Ideal.
@anon57585045 I thought of it but 0.1mm coper wire is reallllly small to even get into the connection on the header pin but i didn't think of soldering it, maybe that would help indeed.
Also, copper wire is really complicated because it get all mixed up and creates a huge knots (I have about 30 wires of 0.1mm soldered to the PCB board), so going with PVC / silicon wire would also help fix that issue lol.
Sure, and I use silicone wire for microphone connections. But just be aware that it's thicker than its equivalent gauge "Dupont wire".
Where I use the AWG#26 magnet wire, is cross connections on prototypes. Those are stationary, soldered at both ends, and always installed in a protective housing of some sort. So it's easier than what you described.
Those carry some pulse signal well in excess of a typical full brightness LED current of about 20mA. But for very short runs, say 10cm or less, you could probably go to the thinnest silicone wire. That would be okay for the LED load but not for heavy current loads.
Oh, I think you mean the kind that has jaws that bite into the wire and then a clamp goes on, like a 3M header? I was referring to the bare header strips, double ended pins with a plastic retainer holding it together. Such as you find on modules.
What I have in mind is idealy a screw shield type of connection where you just insert the wire inside and screw to hold it, and then glue the hole thing. that would be the easier for the customer, but again 30 AWG wire won't work since it's too small (from what i've been told, 26 AWG is the minimum I can use with screw shield)
Maybe strip the end twice as long and fold that back, in half, and so crimping that 'doubled' end might suffice. (I don't have wire small enough to try.)
Issue with that is that the LED is placed from the outside of the die cast model, and the wire goes through the hole and is pushed inside so I'd have to make a bigger hole than the LED to fit the bigger wire.
One wire at a time goes thru the hole all the way up to the 30AWG wire.
Then the next wire goes thru the hole up to the 30AWG wire.
Then inside the box, the two Dupont connectors plug in to a Dupont plastic housing.
The LED solders to the 30AWG red and green wires as in the image above ?
The Dupont connectors fit in a plastic housing and plug onto the PCB inside the enclosure ?
The LED and its solder connection to the 30AWG wires would be covered with UV clear glue/resin ?
FYI
28AWG ( .045" ~ 1.2mm outside diameter) is not that much bigger than 30AWG.
Is there a reason you require such small wire? Else you could purchase some premade dupont jumpers and cut one end off. Else @LarryD's suggestion is right on.
If the OP is using 0.1mm wire (~38g), I suspect that 30AWG silicone wire is going to be MUCH too thick.
OTOH, I don't have any suggestions for how to make wire in that size range "usable" by customers who can't solder. It sounds pretty difficult even for people with lots of soldering experience ...
