Jumper Wires For Finished Project

My 8ch relay came in today and I thought I was going to graduate from a breadboard with LEDs to my 8ch light controller today. That didn't happen. I just noticed my relay has male pins and needs female jumpers or some kind of IDE-like ribbon cable unless I want to attempt to soldier directly to it.

Big Question
I'd like to be sure this kind of thing doesn't happen again. Is there some kind of big assortment kind of thing I can buy that will have 99% of all the wires I'd ever need for current and future Arduino projects?

If I wait for male-to-female jumpers I'm going to lose 4 days on this and I want to finish this project up. (I'm not even sure if jumpers are the way to go here and maybe there is something more reliable for a finished, enclosed project). :grin:

Brandon

I find having male & female terminated wires come in real handy.

I bought 50-packs of male-male,male-female, female-female, different lengths,
and housings in various sizes

to make up different cables.

What exact kind of connector is it? There may be a specific connector (eg Molex KK) that will mate with it securely. Unless it's just bare pins, of course, in which case you might be better off removing them completely and either soldering direct to the board or replacing them with a more "standard" connector (like the Molex KK).

Here's the relay in question. 8-Channel 5V Relay Module for Arduino Raspberry Pi – SainSmart.com I've power, ground, and the voltage to control the 8 relays for a total of 10 pins all lined up in a row. This APPEARS to follow this Molex KK standard, but I'm only guessing. I guess I need to stock up Molex connectors. :smiley: Thanks for the help!

I find having male & female terminated wires come in real handy.
http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/1800
I bought 50-packs of male-male,male-female, female-female, different lengths,
and housings in various sizes
http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/1901
to make up different cables.

Yeah, I bought the bullet (and a bunch of jumper wires) last night.

Brandon

Hmmm

Those are just plain bare pins with a 2.54mm (0.1") pitch.

You can get crimp and shell connectors for them, but there is nothing to protect against reverse polarity or anything to lock the connector in place to prevent accidental (or vibrational) disconnection.

It may well be worth removing those pins (if your soldering skills are up to it) and replace with a proper connector like the KK series or similar.

Be careful not to damage the through-hole plating when removing the pins though. It can be easiest to remove those pins one at a time - the plastic softens easily with the heat in the pin as you de-solder, and the pins come out of it one by one.

The easiest method I have EVER found is to VERY carefully pry off the pin separator and them heat each pin to melt the solder and I usually just bang them against my left leg. The pin is knocked out and usually most of the solder.
I do it this way because that causes the pin and hole to be heated the least amount. If I really need the hole clean, I have an old towel I put on my leg and heat a second time to melt the solder and it will 9 of 10 times completely clean the hole.
The exception being pins soldered to the ground plane even with thermal relief's... are harder to clean. The other method I use is to again remove the pin separator and heat the pin and with a pair of needle nose pliers pull the pin and then use a solder sucker or wick to clean the hole, Either way you don't have the pin heated for more than 3 or 4 seconds for both the pin removal and the subsequent solder removal.
This is compared to as much as 15 seconds to heat both the pin and the solder wick or to re-heat the pin if the solder sucker or wick doesn't work the first time.
Speaking of solder wick I sometimes "make" my own.
A very useful thing to have on the bench is a soldering flux sold by Radio Shack Part# 64-022. It is make by Kester and packaged for Radio Shack. It is a rosin flux in a petroleum jelly base.
Perfect for SMT components (it's purpose, I think) I've used the commercial product from Kester and the Radio Shack product and there is no difference.
Great for "dipping" an SMT part into (With Tweezers) as it is Very messy if you let it get away from you... Dip the part and solder it to one pre-tinned pad then solder the other one.
The shield from RG174 or '316 co-ax is perfect for solder wick on the cheap. Dip a piece of shield braid into the flux and go remove solder. It is also great for solder rework/removal.
I recently bought a 220Vac Hakko soldering iron from Electrodragom. A discontinued 936 to replace my severely aging 926 and it is a great iron. I made the purchase because I had a 110 to 220 V step up transformer in my junk bin and I don''t think it would take much at all to convert it to 120Vac. The iron cost me $50.00, a "New Hakko 888 is $85.00+ and that yellow/purple colored case looks horrible.
I would rather work with the nice black and gold 936 case than the new 888... regardless of the price... it even uses the same parts as (Mostly) the 926/36 (iron and controller)
I am sure I can buy an appropriate transformer for $10-$15.00.
Bosity (Ebay) or Uxwell has 900/26/36 series tips @ $1.00 ea (10 for $9.95 Free Shipping).
They are a great assortment for conventional SMT, Repair and Production.
The kit contains several tips fine enough for MSOP a 'knife blade' for flicking SMT resistors and caps off the board as well as the conical chisel types that are best for production (better heat flow) and they are Identical to the $6 - $7.00 tips sold in the United States.

Doc