I've been using the stiff jumpers from radio shack but I want to upgrade to some nicer ones. The ones I see folks using in videos look a lot more flexible than the ones I have. Plus, I never seem to have enough.
Any input on a decent assortment?
Thanks!
I've bought all of these:
Excellent quality, very pricey:
https://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10001_10001_126342_-1
https://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10001_10001_126325_-1
https://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10001_10001_126360_-1
These are really nice, no reservations on them.
Cheaper quality, way less expensive:
https://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10001_10001_2150467_-1
There as some "cons" with these I should mention. 1. The ends are square, not circular like the better ones so sometimes require a little more insertion force into breadboards, 2. The length of the stripped end varies a little on some. Some need additional stripping. 3. Lengths are approximate for some reason, there is some variance. 4. The insulated ends that cover the solder junction between the solid rectangular tip and the stranded wire can easily come off. But it isn't really necessary anyway.
What ever is cheap... moulded pins work the best, male/female ones about 6 and 8 inch long are great they're called Du Pont wires I guess because of the plastic colors, don't remember Du Pont making wire at all. I bought a bunch of 40 wire 8" long cables From Electrodragon for a dollar or so and the cable shells for 1,2,4,8 wire F to F jumper cables was about 8 dollars for 160 wires and shells. The reason I did that is so I can make my own cables with the colors I want instead of 10 cables all the same for $1.99 I got 40 of my own choice.
Doc
Docedison:
What ever is cheap... moulded pins work the best, male/female ones about 6 and 8 inch long are great they're called Du Pont wires I guess because of the plastic colors, don't remember Du Pont making wire at all. I bought a bunch of 40 wire 8" long cables From Electrodragon for a dollar or so and the cable shells for 1,2,4,8 wire F to F jumper cables was about 8 dollars for 160 wires and shells. The reason I did that is so I can make my own cables with the colors I want instead of 10 cables all the same for $1.99 I got 40 of my own choice.Doc
I see what you are talking about at Electrodragon. I also see these completed jumpers. They look "cheap" like the kit I linked above, but the price is very nice:
I like these
Nice molded ends, flexible wire.
As I get into electronics, I tend to be bothered by the forest of wires on my breadboard, and for wires that stay on the breadboard, I've moved to using 22 gauge wire, and cutting my own length.
At the moment in connecting the wires to the Arduino, I'm still using various wires from the MM, MF, and FF wire packs I've bought, but I really want to move to 2, 3, or 4 connector wires to use with my sensor shield IV. You can buy rainbow wire in groups of 40 that are joined together that you can then split apart. I like the idea of using different colored wires to more easily identify connections. Unfortunately when I bought it last week, I didn't realize I was buying F-F when I wanted M-F. Here is the ebay seller that I bought the F-F wire from: Nooelec | eBay Stores.
Another possibility is to make your own set of jumper wires with various sized headers, either crimping the ends yourself, or buying pre-crimped wires. Pololu has a complete set:
Thanks! I like the idea of the ribbon cable jumpers. I had no idea it existed.
So I guess 22-24 ga. wire is the size I'm looking for?
I had bought 3 spools of hook-up wire from Radio Shack, but I don't remember the gauge. These wires would fit barely in my old breadboard, but when I upgraded to a larger breadboard, they no longer fit. I bought some 22 gauge hookup wire last night, and it fits fine in the new breadboard.
One of the cheapest ways to get jumper wires in a variety of colors is to take a pair of pruning shears/loppers down to a business office that is being remodeled. If you are lucky, you can go to the contractor's office and ask if they have pulled out any old 25 pair telephone cable from the building, and if you could cut a length off, if they have. Be nice, and you can easily walk away with several feet (and beyond, if you want) of 25 pair cable; tons of colors, cut and strip to whatever lengths you need. Price: $0.00 + some time.
I just recently bought these male-to-male:
http://www.seeedstudio.com/depot/breadboard-jumper-wire-70pcs-pack-p-234.html?cPath=175_187
They are a little bit on the cheap side.
After using these female-to-female for years:
These are very high quality.
Over the past 6 month's I have purchased about 400 jumper wires and discarded about 50%, The Best were from Electrodragon for 2 reasons, one is that I can see the connector ends so I don't have poor, loose or defective connectors and/or bad crimps on the ends. The Main reason was the low cost of both the wires and the shells that I've Never seen on sale except @ Electrodragon. I inspect molex type connectors closely as they (Female) usually are good for 3 or 4 insertions before they become loose enough to not work reliably.
There is an issue with the molded type jumpers (M/M) and that is that the wire itself looks to be about 30 Ga... Not so very great if one "Daisy Chains" Vcc from point to point. Until I got a breadboard "Plug in" type supply I had to use a separate 5V supply (an old cell charger wall wart) LCD backlights and analog measurements just wouldn't work well together. One other consideration is the "pins" in the breadboard, I have a cheep 4X breadboard with a single rail on each side of each "Panel" and with 22Ga wires jumpering the rails together I was able to measure .1 - .3 V drop, reference the ground shell on the wall wart connector... Both Vcc and ground were affected equally. Apparently Not All breadboards are created equally. My take from all of this is first Cheep is cheep and second, inspect and test jumpers before use. untested I had a dozen or so of the square and 4 or 5 of the molded ones fail as intermittent and as a class the molded ones are not very good for anything that wants more than 20 or so mA. My time is precious to me, I Hate to waste it "Fixing" my equipment so I can then fix my code.
Doc