Warning : compatibility of shield stacking headers

NETMF & Gadgeteer
1

Hello friends !

I just spent a few bad days troubleshooting weird problems with a new shield I was trying to address from a panda II. Several panda II actualy :wink: and never the same problem.

The trouble is so simple that I really took days to find it, so I thought about sharing with you guys.

So this is my conclusion after 2 days of tests: some shield stacking headers are NOT compatible between them, as bizarre as it sounds. The ones mounted on GHI panda II (at least) work very well with legs having a square or round section. However, those with rectangle/flat section (and the small side is very thin), like adafruitā€™s headers are not reliable to use. About 30% of the pins were not making a proper contactā€¦

The same headers connected inside the big double long connector at the end of the panda II (D20-D52) are making good contact. However not with the arduino standard hearders on the sides !

I now understand why GHI is using 2 different connectors for its shields, for upside and downside :wink:

2

@ Nicolas3 Thanks for the heads up! However, Iā€™m not clear on what you recommendā€¦ Is there an extra long (single) header that you recommend or are you only recommending that we use separate male & female parts? Can you provide links to the parts you recommend? Iā€™ve been using the Adafruit extra-long headers w/o problems but it sounds like Iā€™ve been lucky.

3

Right now I would only recommand using those flat legged headers with care. I solved the problem by tinning the legs all the way long. Itā€™s ā€œroundingā€ them a bit / or maybe making the flat side ā€œless flatā€.

I am not sure why I am having the problem. Used too many different shields of my pandas ?
Maybe better find long legs headers with golded square section legs ? I will look for them 8)

It is just a clue to follow if someone encounter some bad contacts with a shield !

4

Another reason to use gadgeteer :slight_smile:

5

Hopefully GHI will not give up on the ā€œarduino shieldā€ format ::slight_smile:
I love the little pandas, and beeing ā€œcloseā€ to the hardwareā€¦

Gadgeteer and the littles FEZes are just two different styles :wink: of assembling bricks !

6

We are not giving up, but making it better. I said too much again!

7

Gus :naughty:

8

Gus :clap:

Canā€™t wait to meet the dog with 3 heads !
And built in ethernet :wink: ?

9

With one ā€œgatewayā€ stacking shield to the gadgeteer world :whistle:

10

Maybe if we all virtually whistled/clapped/yelled/[random emoticon] at exactly the same time the GusBot would overload and the real Gus would tell allā€¦ whaddaya think?

11

Gus, donā€™t you dare dropping the shields :naughty: ;D

12

ā€œCanā€™t wait to meet the dog with 3 heads !
And built in ethernet ?ā€

No Thatā€™s not what Gus is talking about. It is something else :slight_smile:

13

Okay Joe

What is the something else? hmm? nudge, nudgeā€¦ wink, winkā€¦ know what I mean, know what I meanā€¦

Monty

14

Let me guess. ā€œArduino inspiredā€ Fez with tons of gadgeteer sockets on the bottom.

15

Domino II ? Domino seems to be out of stock right now :wink:

16

Persoanlly, I will dance the day all these stacking designs go away. When you get more than one board stacked on another you will have problems. It is just a very bad idea and never works out well.

17

Now that sounds like FEZ Medusa!