Connector standard
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Most PC mainboards have various 'headers' (why are they called that?) for attaching I/O sockets on the back, LEDs on the front, internal fans etc. Micros such as Arduino have lots of them - super simple, naked pins, no shielding, no locking holding the plug in position. Sometimes the board has the male pins, sometimes it has the female receptacle. They are far less robust that the power connectors. I believe that the distance between pins are 1/10", commonly in a single row, but two rows is not uncommon. The number of pins vary from 2 (or even 1) up to at least 36. The cross section is usually square, but is is always? Always the same size (pin thickness)? Always 1/10" apart? I have tried to find out what these connectors are called, to learn about their specification. There must be some standard defining them. What is the name or number of that standard? Maybe there are several standards - I suspect that some of them have a pin distance smaller than 1/10". Sometimes, there is a lock and release on the plug (typically on fan connectors), but maybe that is a different standard? (Or several different ones - 'The good thing about standards' etc. Can anyone provide the name of the connectors, so I can google for more complete information? Or possibly give me a link to more information about them: Physical dimensions/distances, pin shape/length, male/female usage, lock/release usage, acceptable voltages and current/power and so on.
Thanks to everyone who replied to my request. I guess some of you wonder why I asked the question, and was so eager about the formal standard. I'll tell: A while ago, I got so frustrated over the enormous numbers of 'standards' I (have to) relate to (ref. Tanenbaum: The good thing about standards:-)), that I sat down to make survey of 'Standards I Have Met'. I went though a large number of areas, from storage media to lightbulb sockets to battery cells to SCSI plugs (my equipment used 8 different ones - but there is said to be 14 ones in use) before I ditched SCSI), USB plugs (one more now, and I will be tempted to let USB go the same way as SCSI), ... I also made sections of software standards I have tried to adhere to, such as document formats, character encodings, binary numeric formats etc. In almost every every, there were so many 'standards' that it turned my frustration into fascination. I never thought there would be that many! So I decided to try to make the list as complete as possible. I took a look at my PC mainboard to see which I had forgtten (I put my PCs together from separate parts, so I do relate to the 'standards'), and asked about the standard for these front panel(++) headers to get it into my list. I guess they go into my list as something like 'Unidentified standard(??) #27' :-)
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Most PC mainboards have various 'headers' (why are they called that?) for attaching I/O sockets on the back, LEDs on the front, internal fans etc. Micros such as Arduino have lots of them - super simple, naked pins, no shielding, no locking holding the plug in position. Sometimes the board has the male pins, sometimes it has the female receptacle. They are far less robust that the power connectors. I believe that the distance between pins are 1/10", commonly in a single row, but two rows is not uncommon. The number of pins vary from 2 (or even 1) up to at least 36. The cross section is usually square, but is is always? Always the same size (pin thickness)? Always 1/10" apart? I have tried to find out what these connectors are called, to learn about their specification. There must be some standard defining them. What is the name or number of that standard? Maybe there are several standards - I suspect that some of them have a pin distance smaller than 1/10". Sometimes, there is a lock and release on the plug (typically on fan connectors), but maybe that is a different standard? (Or several different ones - 'The good thing about standards' etc. Can anyone provide the name of the connectors, so I can google for more complete information? Or possibly give me a link to more information about them: Physical dimensions/distances, pin shape/length, male/female usage, lock/release usage, acceptable voltages and current/power and so on.
Back in my younger days we had these same pin's on the underside of the BBC Micro, and the sockets, slots variations on devices etc. The standard they where known by, along with the ribbon cables that attached them where "IDC Connectors" Sometimes single row, sometimes double, some where male, some where female, some where 10 pins long, others where 20 pins or more, then there was the flat ribbon cables and the square plugs that went on the end, we just called all of them by the same name. These days, I have a crimping tool and pins/sockets rows, double blocks, 1x2 2x1, 2x2, 4x2 and so on... Those wires and connectors (According to my crimp tool manual) are called "Dupont Connectors" Dunno if that's the info your looking for. Shawty