• Please review our updated Terms and Rules here

Single inline Connectors for 0.1" pitch spectra-strip (Rainbow ribbon cable) ?

S

SiriusHardware

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 15, 2014
Messages
815
Location
UK
The subject of rainbow coloured ribbon cable or 'Spectra-Strip' came up in another thread in this forum. One of the reasons I prefer it over grey cable is the fact that the colours used in rainbow cable correspond to the colours used in the resistor colour code, so the first wire is black=0, second wire brown=1, third wire red=2, fourth wire orange=3, and so on - this makes it very intuitive to use for wiring up 8-bit parallel connections (actually, ten-bit since the colours go up to white=9). I have just such an application in mind at the moment.

I already have some Spectra Strip with 0.1" spacing between the individual conductors - note that's the same spacing as the track strips on veroboard / stripboard, whereas 'common' ribbon cable has a pitch of 0.05" between conductors.

I need to find clamp-on 0.1" pitch single-inline female connectors to put on the ends of my spectra-strip so that a 20-way parallel connection can be carried from one PCB to another - the two PCBs will have 0.1" pitch single-inline male pin connectors mounted on the boards.

The problem with going looking for these things is knowing what to call them in order to narrow down the search. In days of searching, I have managed to find just about everything but what I'm looking for. Does anyone know where I could start looking, or at least, what the connectors I'm looking for are called? The closest in concept are the commonly available cable-mounting double-row IDC female connectors, but they are for 0.05" pitch cable and I don't want the connections in two rows, but in one single inline row of 0.1" spaced pins.
 
Like this?

But note that you'll need special ribbon cable with conductors spaced on 0.10" centers. The more usual approach is to use a shell with crimp pins and spread the conductors of a standard 0.05" ribbon cable.
 
Last edited:
Yes, that's exactly it. So those ones are considered to be IDC connectors as well?

My cable has, as stated in post #1, 0.1" spacing between the conductors rather than the more usual 0.05" spacing of cable used with conventional double-row IDC connectors, so the ones you've indicated there are the correct ones - thanks for looking, although I may try to find them closer to home (Europe / UK in my case).
 
SiriusHardware said:
Yes, that's exactly it. So those ones are considered to be IDC connectors as well?
Click to expand...

IDC == Insulation Displacement Connector, so anything where the wire is pushed into a fork (or similar) which splits the insulation and makes contact. 66 blocks and 110 blocks are a type of IDC, too.
 
Stone said:
Why does it matter where they're shipped from? They're all coming from China, anyway! :)
Click to expand...

I prefer to send my money to someone I can remonstrate with (ie, punch) if I don't feel I got what I paid for. China is a little bit too far away for me. I don't mind if someone else buys them from a supplier in China, imports them to the UK and sells them to me.

But in any case, I followed your link and not one single one of the results is the type of connector I need, namely a 0.1" pitch, cable mounting, clamp-on female single inline connector. They are surprisingly hard to find in the wild. The ones Chuck pointed to are the right type, though.
 
Yup, sometimes they're called Tulip Connectors too, as the old ones had IDC mechanisms that kinda looked like a tulip.

You might try Phoenix Enterprises ( http://www.phoenixent.com/ ) -- I've used them for hard-to-find interconnects before.
 
SiriusHardware said:
I prefer to send my money to someone I can remonstrate with (ie, punch) if I don't feel I got what I paid for. China is a little bit too far away for me.
Click to expand...
You're actually better off in that situtation if buying from China, in my experience. Because there's no need to punch, you just tell them what's wrong and they'll ship a replacement for free, or refund you.
 
Frank S said:
This is the classic version of these connectors
Click to expand...

Wow, I haven't seen those available for many a long year although I do have a set of interconnecting leads which I made up using connectors like that in the mid nineties. From what I remember they weren't a very strong design, as the connection and anchorage relied only on the hold that the cable receptacles had on the cable - there wasn't really any kind of 'lid' on top of the cable to hold it in place, the way there is on an IDC connector.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top