Need advice and clarification on Wire Connector Tutorial

[Inigo Montoya]

First  I would like to say I am incredibly grateful for the wire connector tutorial (http://www.societyofrobots.com/electronics_wire_connector.shtml), this website has been an great inspiration to me.  I have had some confusion following in the author's footsteps.  Mouser.com returns 6610 pin and socket connectors, and digikey.com is an ocean of parts and it's way too easy to get lost because I've never done this before.  No single manufacturer seems to have all the parts I need, and I'm concerned that they won't work with each other.

The tutorial has links for the female pins, and for connectors with 2, 3, and 4-pin housings.  Very handy, but I had a difficult time finding the other ones, and I found myself wishing for a bit more comprehensive list of links.  Specifically, I am looking for the link for the proper male pin that is shown in the tutorial near the end, as well as 1-pin, 5-pin, 6-pin, 7-pin and 8-pin housings.  Sounds simple, but I got lost, especially looking for the 1-pin housing, and the male pins.

Also, would Digikey be a good supplier to Canada?  Any Canadians out there who can attest to which supplier is best in your opinion?

[ErikY]

I think what you are looking for are these:

http://www.digikey.com/product-search/en?x=0&y=0&lang=en&site=us&KeyWords=WM6436-ND

you can break off as many male pins as needed for a particular header.

I have also bought something similar from spark fun.

I am in the states, so I cannot comment on shipping to Canada.

[Inigo Montoya]

Thanks for the link I will add it to my list of useful links.  I haven't even thought of those, that was not what I was thinking about when I said male pins.  If you see the second-last and third last image on the tutorial, that is what I mean by male pins.  They attatch to wires by crimping in the same way as their female counterparts, and are also permanently inserted into the rectangular housing.  What I am looking for is more links to these:

http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/0050579002/WM2800-ND/115002?cur=USD

as well as the male crimp pins.  1 conductor ones, and the higher ones like 5, 6, 7 and 8 I couldn't find.  Well, I did find some, but I have no idea if they are interchangeable with that style of pin, I read somewhere that there can be incompatibility issues with pins and housings.  I hope that clears things up.

[waltr]

Goto the DigiKey page you linked to. Scroll down in the produce description to "Mating "Products".
The first one is what I think you want.
http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/0705510001/WM4236-ND/2421652

[Inigo Montoya]

Thanks for your post Waltr.  I went through all the "mating products" links and couldn't find what I was looking for.  I will try to explain what I'm trying to find in pictures.


See what is connected to the end of the yellow cord?  That is what I am searching for.  It's the male version of the following on the white cable:



Also, the tutorial has links to buy connectors with 2pins, 3pins and 4pins.  Look at the picture below to see the power LED connectors, they are 1-pin connectors and I can't find that on digikey.  A am also looking to find 5 pin and 6 pin connectors if possible.


My concern is that not all such mating pins and black housings are compatible.  In the tutorial there is a metal tab on the pin that connects to the black plastic part, and to disconnect it one must press on that same metal tab.  (See picture below.)  On some of the similar connectors that I removed from old computer parts, it's instead a plastic tab that needs to be moved.  I'm concerned that various pins and housings may not be interchangeable.  Does anyone have any advice about this?

[Inigo Montoya]

With enough work, I was able to find everything I needed at polulu.com.  The website was very friendly and everything was easy to find with no fuss.  Score +1 for Polulu and -1 for Digikey for usability.  Taking a close look at the connectors at both Polulu and Digikey, it seems that they are incompatible.  It's a good thing I didn't buy at Digikey, because they didn't seem to have some of the housings like the 1x1.  Here is a slightly more comprehensive list of links from Polulu

Female Crimp Pins:  http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/1930
Male Crimp Pins:  http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/1931
1 Pin Housing:  http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/1900
2 Pin Housing:  http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/1901
3 Pin Housing:  http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/1902
4 Pin Housing:  http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/1903
5 Pin Housing:  http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/1904
6 Pin Housing:  http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/1905

This is sounding like a plug for Polulu, but it's not, I just like how easy to find everything is on their page, and the prices seem reasonable.  I haven't bought anything yet, but I plan to very soon.  Can anyone else share their adventures in purchasing pins and housings?  Cheaper/better suggestions are welcome.

[waltr]

Ok, glad you did find what you needed.
DigiKey is great but they have many, many more part choices and therefore makes picking the correct parts difficult. I use DigiKey for parts at work (RnD) but start with info from the manufacturer then go to DigiKey with the manufacturer's part number.

Pololu is a great resource for hobbyist and I do buy stuff from them. I like their selection, quality and prices (I have no other connection).

[Gertlex]

Good to know you found what you were looking for... I too was curious and spent an hour searching the other day, but didn't find it on Digikey/Mouser

Pololu, among other things, too, has the best documentation of consumer-level hardware sites.

[jwatte]

Pololu is very nice. They have pretty good documentation for most of their things, and they go through the hard work of figuring out what things will work together, so you don't have to.

Pololu does *not* have the same level of documentation as "industrial" sources, like data sheets for hardware components (from TI, IRL, STM, etc,) or mechanical CAD drawings for parts (from McMaster or similar.) They are a lot better than most hobby/RC shops, though, where even the most basic measurements are often not well specified.

Anyway -- I'm a fan of the Pololu pre-crimped wires, and their various housings. They snap together easily, and you can get your cable going and be on your way without any additional detail work. Stripping/crimping your own cables saves a few cents, but take a lot of time that I'd rather be spending on something better :-)

Get a couple of "rainbow packs" of pre-crimped wiring:
http://www.pololu.com/catalog/category/71
and a few different sizes of housings:
http://www.pololu.com/catalog/category/70
and off you go!
Personally, I prefer to use female/female cabling, and use male headers on my circuit boards. This of course doesn't work for hooking up to, for example, an Arduino, where M-F wiring might work better. YMMV.

[Inigo Montoya]

Well, this isn't really a plug for Polulu, but my shipment has arrived and I've been working on my electronics, and I have to say I couldn't be happier.  Thanks for all the advice guys!