Recommend a Connector for 8 conductors

Hey Forum,

I'd like to connect my (many) LED's to a board with a connector that I can easily 'snap' in place. I'm using multiple 8bit shift registers and would like to use 8 conductor (22AWG ?) ribbons for the connections.

Any advice on what to use that I can solder to my board, but give me the ability to quickly remove the connections would be appreciated.

I thought about RJ45 but cannot find a female that I can mount to my proto-board, and I don't want to break it out.

Thanks!

You want "IDC" plugs/jacks. Here's a 10 pin male/female with the pins on .1" spacing:

http://www.dipmicro.com/store/IDCC10
http://www.dipmicro.com/store/IDCM10

I'm sure you could find 8 pin parts with a search of Mouser/Newark/Digikey if that's critical to your karma. Dipmicro is pretty good with price and shipping though.

Any unpluggable connector is a reliability concern, especially if handmade.
Can you decide in advance the length of 8-core ribbon and solder both ends of it?

If you want demountable, soldering "header pins" 0.1 inch pitch to you cable seems ok ish to plug into the top of your arduino. That makes one end of your cable detachable. I've not found a good source of 0.1 inch single row pcb headersockets to go at the other end, so perhaps I'd solder that on and the cable is always with it.

Ribbon cable with IDC crimp on female connectors to plug onto male pins is good.
www.Pololu.com also carries crimp housings, use female headers on the board, and wires with male terminations on both ends mounted into crimp housing to keep it all aligned.
Can be higher current than 28 (26?) gauge ribbon cable.

ad2049q:
Any unpluggable connector is a reliability concern, especially if handmade.
Can you decide in advance the length of 8-core ribbon and solder both ends of it?

If you want demountable, soldering "header pins" 0.1 inch pitch to you cable seems ok ish to plug into the top of your arduino. That makes one end of your cable detachable. I've not found a good source of 0.1 inch single row pcb headersockets to go at the other end, so perhaps I'd solder that on and the cable is always with it.

That's another thought I hadn't considered.

But, with this project there is zero vibration/motion so I'm not too worried about that. I would like to be able to pull out the boards later on as I add on features to the board and software.

Thanks

@Chagrin and Bob,

Thanks, I think I have what I need to go and get!