Interconnects

David Betz

This is a rather silly question I guess but I'm trying to find the best way to connect a control panel that I've built to a FLIP module. My control panel has 5 buttons that each contain an LED as well as three 4 digit 14 segment displays that use an i2c interface. This means I need 12 signal lines and power and ground. The 14 segment displays want to run on 5v so I'll have two power rails, one 5v and one 3.3v.

Obviously, I can just solder a bunch of wires to these devices and plug them into a breadboard along with the FLIP module but I'm trying to avoid a rats nest of wires. I'm wondering about locally wiring all of the I/O devices to a junction point and then having a single ribbon cable connect the panel to the FLIP. So my question really is whether there are any standard off-the-shelf modules that collect together a bunch of signal, power, and ground wires into a single cable. I guess what I mean is a breakout board for a ribbon cable. Is there such a thing? I couldn't find anything like that in the Parallax store.

JonnyMac

Yes -- I use one for connecting a Raspberry Pi to a breadboard. If you use "ribbon cable to breadboard" as a search phrase you can find a few.

I found the attached image in a tech forum; you can with a bit of soldering make your own.

David Betz

JonnyMac wrote: »

Yes -- I use one for connecting a Raspberry Pi to a breadboard. If you use "ribbon cable to breadboard" as a search phrase you can find a few.

I found the attached image in a tech forum; you can with a bit of soldering make your own.

Yeah, that's pretty much what I was looking for. I found something similar on the AdaFruit site. It was a 26 pin header with the bottom pins spread apart enough to plug into a breadboard. I think I'll use one of their solder breadboards on the control panel side and a normal breadboard with the FLIP on the controller side with a 26 pin ribbon cable in between. Thanks for the suggestion!

iseries

I like the adafruit Silicone wire that is very flexible and easy to use. Silicone Wire.

I then use a .1 pin header like this one. Harwin connector.

I use a standard layout of Plus, Gnd, pin1, pin2 and so on.

So whatever device I want to plugin I just select the voltage for that pin configuration and attach the device. Wifi Module, Temperature sensor, GPS, IMU, LEDs.

I call it my mini plug and play.

Mike

Cluso99

David Betz wrote: »

This is a rather silly question I guess but I'm trying to find the best way to connect a control panel that I've built to a FLIP module. My control panel has 5 buttons that each contain an LED as well as three 4 digit 14 segment displays that use an i2c interface. This means I need 12 signal lines and power and ground. The 14 segment displays want to run on 5v so I'll have two power rails, one 5v and one 3.3v.

Obviously, I can just solder a bunch of wires to these devices and plug them into a breadboard along with the FLIP module but I'm trying to avoid a rats nest of wires. I'm wondering about locally wiring all of the I/O devices to a junction point and then having a single ribbon cable connect the panel to the FLIP. So my question really is whether there are any standard off-the-shelf modules that collect together a bunch of signal, power, and ground wires into a single cable. I guess what I mean is a breakout board for a ribbon cable. Is there such a thing? I couldn't find anything like that in the Parallax store.

If you post a pic there may be other ways too.

Mickster

I found that Winford, out of MI has the biggest variety.

Not the cheapest but they were my only solution when I needed a breakout for a 44 HD connector.

MJB

or this

ALIEXPRESS

yisiguro

How about this?

Conversion Boards (2 rows into 1)
https://wakutuku.com/shop/breadboardmaniac/bbm-2t1.html