Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
You want to use enough solder so that you cannot see air between the pin and the ring,
but not so much that you make a connection between neighboring pins. Really, it
doesn't take much, just a tiny bit. This solder will be completing the electrical con-
nection, but it will also be providing a mechanical bond that holds the device together.
Repeat this process for all 26 pins, until the header connector is neatly soldered to
the PCB, and then put your soldering iron back on its stand (you'll use it again in a
moment).
Get your breadboard and place it in front of you. Place the two sets of male header
pins into the breadboard, with the long ends into the breadboard, until the middle
header plastic on each pin is resting against the breadboard.
You want to do this so that they are in the same spacing and alignment as they appear
on the PCB Cobbler. For the original Cobbler, this is about five breadboard rows apart;
for the T-Cobbler, this is only three rows apart.
Flip the PCB back over and set it into the short ends of the male header pins. The
breadboard is acting as a stand for us now. Push the PCB gently down until all of the
pins are poking through the labeled rings, and the PCB is resting up against the plastic
header middles. Pick your soldering iron up again, and solder each of these 26 rings
and pins.
When you're finished, clean off the tip of your soldering iron with a moist sponge and
unplug it. Put it back on the stand to cool off. You can now connect the ribbon cable
between the completed Pi Cobbler and the Raspberry Pi GPIO pins. You'll notice that
the cable will only go into the Pi Cobbler one way, because of the notch on the con-
nector. However, be careful, because the Raspberry Pi GPIO pins do not have any
connector, and the cable can connect two possible ways. The ribbon cable included
in your kit will have two indicators to help you align it properly:
• The ribbon cable has one wire of a different color. This uniquely colored wire
should be on the edge closest to the SD card slot on the Raspberry Pi.
• Both ends of the ribbon cable have a notched connector. The notch on the con-
nector going to the Pi should be pointed
toward
the Raspberry Pi logo on the
board, as shown in
Figure 1-8
, never away from it.
The finished and connected Pi Cobbler will look something like
Figure 1-9
(this is an
original Pi Cobbler).
