AVR Dragon: Cables

[HarveyH42]

After a aggrevating week of fixing Windows, finally back on the programmer track. Read through the docs, but mostly to see what I need to find and buy, not so much for what I got myself into... Have to read in more detail about the fuses.

The USB cable was an easy find, price ranges from $1.65 to $9.00, some kund of mark up there (bet the shipping is outragious too). Oh, while on the USB port... The docs say it needs to supply 500mA. Not sure what is normal to expect, but a little concerned as they mentioned a few times about posably needing a self-powered hub. If anybody knows what a USB port on a PC should handle, please share.

For ISP and JTAG programming I'll need to find a 6 pin and 10 pin header connector 2.54 mm (guessing the space between pins). I've got header pins (just have to find them).

I ordered a universal 40 pin ZIF socket with my chips, good thing I decided to, the price seemed reasonable.

Something that might be a real pain to find are some 1 and 2 pin header connector cables. Will have to change various connections to the ZIF, depending on which chip I'll be programming.

Should probably have waited a few months, The dragon might come with a ZIF and connectors by then...

Anybody got a good source for header connectors. I'm a little search burnt from the Windows thing all last week...

 

[nickelflippr]

I have used futurlec for my pins and sockets

http://www.futurlec.com/ConnHead.shtml

. It takes about 10 business days for standard shipping to U.S. tho. Maybe premades with different colors like

http://www.ere.co.th/(gsoz5m55axq3ipz0cnwcw3eq)/default.aspx?RedirectPage=Products&RedirectPage1=ProductsDetail&ProductID=46

There is Velleman kit with like 10 colors of stranded wire that might be of interest

http://cgi.ebay.com/10-color-Solid-Core-Hookup-Wire-Assortment-for-QRP-Kit_W0QQitemZ140052017122QQihZ004QQcategoryZ1502QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Also there are single premade cables with male pins each end available thru the likes of Jameco. Good luck.

 

[nickelflippr]

Oops: used wrong format for html, sorry.

 

[evandude]

The USB cable was an easy find, price ranges from $1.65 to $9.00, some kund of mark up there (bet the shipping is outragious too). Oh, while on the USB port... The docs say it needs to supply 500mA. Not sure what is normal to expect, but a little concerned as they mentioned a few times about posably needing a self-powered hub. If anybody knows what a USB port on a PC should handle, please share.

a USB port is rated for 500mA. The only time you would have to worry is if you plugged a bus-powered (not self-powered) hub into a port and tried to plug the device into the hub instead; bus-powered hubs are only good for like 100mA per port. But, if you're plugging the device directly into your computers' USB port you should have no problem.

For ISP and JTAG programming I'll need to find a 6 pin and 10 pin header connector 2.54 mm (guessing the space between pins). I've got header pins (just have to find them).

2.54mm is of course 0.1" which is pretty standard, and the connectors on the site linked by nickelflippr should be what you need.

 

[hjames]

Digikey and Mouser and Newark have everything you need. Jameco is a more hobbyist oriented place with a more limited selection, but will have headers and stuff.

You should get some "Breakaway pin headers", or "pin strip headers". They come in a strip of ~40x2, and you just snap off the number of pins you need. A strip should run ~$2-3

If you want to make it "pretty", you can get shrouded headers, and they run ~$0.3 if you can buy 100 at a time.

Lately Mouser has been my favorite catalog distributor for the odds-n-ends.

pin header:
https://www.mouser.com/search/Produ...36-Ivirtualkey51750000virtualkey517-665-01-36
take a look at the catalog page to see what they look like:
https://www.electro-tech-online.com/custompdfs/2006/11/1114.pdf
And incidentally usb cable:
https://www.mouser.com/search/Produ...027virtualkey53830000virtualkey538-68806-0027
https://www.electro-tech-online.com/custompdfs/2006/11/890.pdf

 

[HarveyH42]

I've been searching, shopping, and learning a lot. Checking the links now.
I order the micros and ZIF from Futurlec, should be any day. Their connectors were a little confusing. Some seem to be pinless, and a few other uncertainties.

First, I start looking for ready made cables, and basically everything else from one source (save some shipping). Not too productive, seems like these are more of a custom (DIY) item. Saw a few that clamp onto ribbon cable, but nothing in a 6 pin double row.

The ERE site will likely be the choice. They have the USB cable $2.50, 10-pin IDC ribbon cable $1.06. The singles are packs of 10/color, no rainbow packs, in 15 and 30 cm ( have to figure out how many inches). Something around 3 inches would be good for configuring the ZIF, maybe 12 inches to run from the programmer to target board for ISP and debug.

 

[justDIY]

a USB 2.0 fka USB High Speed aka 11mbit port must source 500mA

a USB 1.0 port aka 1mbit port must source 100ma

The USB 2.0 spec states devices must limit themselves to 100mA, and enumerate and ask for 500mA if they need it (ie a usb hub or high power device)

Sometimes notebook ports, when running on battery, will be limited to 100mA and will not provide the full 500mA

A single USB port on a desktop computer or 4 port self-powered hub will supply up to 2000 mA (as per usb 2.0 spec 500ma * 4 ports), however, this is not recommended and may result in tripping a self-resetting fuse.

 

[HarveyH42]

Thanks for the USB info, should be fine with what I've got.

For the cables... Think I'm going to buy some header pins and try some clip leads. Hopefully good enough to get me started anyway. Not sure about ERE site, its in Thailand. The single pin leads sounded great, a little longer than needed for configuring the ZIF on the programmer. Got a hunch I'll have to make my own cables with sockets.

The chips still aren't here yet. UPS mostly comes late afternoon for me, so still good chance for today.

 

[philba]

If you are going to do a lot of prototyping, I'd stock up on header pins. the surplus places usually have good prices on them. I like the IDC approach better as it is simpler to use. I use 2x5 headers and a 10 pin IDC header with 10 connector ribbon cable. The cables take a little skill to make but are much much easier to use. I have a small arbor press that works great for pressing the header but I've used vise grips to do it also. 10X cleaner than the single row connectors where you have to hand crimp each pin. Laying out 2x5 headers on the PCB is a little more work and you need to make an adapter for solderless BBs but it makes ICSP really really clean.

I really dislike clip leads for ICSP. I have to look up pinouts every time I use them.

 

[HarveyH42]

I'll get the ribbon cables eventually, but just want to get started and going to make do with what I have handy. I've got a lot of learning to do, so making things like nice isn't real important to me.

I just got the chips and ZIF a few minutes ago. The box of header pins I had laying around are a different spacing then on the Dragon board, so can't use them there, but could use them for future target boards (another custom cable...).

Will have the USB cable and header pins in a week (or so), and will be set to burn some chips.