Protoshields and things!

Using Arduino Project Guidance
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Im not sure quite how to phrase this question so please bare with me.

I have an Arduino ADK board (which I understand to be very similar to a Mega 2560) and a 4Display Systems 4Display-shield-160 which sits nicely on the ADK and works fine.

My problem is I have a few extra bits and pieces such as a 9DOF stick and a GPS unit (406a) that I want to connect too, and some the pins I want to use are "covered" by the 4Display-shield-160 but not actually used.

Accordingly I went out and bought a Mega Proto Kit (http://proto-pic.co.uk/arduino-shield-mega-proto-kit/). Now this doesn't have pass through pins, but each of the pins that comes through from the board below has a "sister hole" that I can connect to to use that signal/function, but obviously I can't stack the display shield on top of it.

I then went out and bought a Mega Shield Kit (http://proto-pic.co.uk/megashield-kit-for-arduino-mega/) which has the pass through for the pins so it will work fine with the display shield, but it doesn't have the parallel "sister holes" allowing me to connect the other signal/functions required.

What is the usual way for dealing with this kind of problem?

I hope I have explained it in a way which can be understood.

Thanks for your time.

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Looks like you should be able to solder wires to the little stubs of pin sticking up through the shield.

If you don't want to solder to the display shield you could build a Mega Proto shield with stacking headers instead of the included male headers. You can buy stacking headers separately or use the ones from the MegaShield kit.

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You could try something like the Quick Shield or the DoubleWide ExtenderShield.

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Hi,

My approach is to use old parallel cables, some can be run direct to devices, others such as power I run To strip board and then branch them out to the devices. It's not pretty compared to stacked sheilds, but it's very low cost, very flexible and so much easier than wiring things individually and if your housing your project, no one will ever know :wink:

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Duane B

rcarduino.blogspot.com

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