help extending board to board connection that uses male pins to a female socket via wires

[mathematics28]

Hey guys and girls. Here's what I am doing: I have a home audio DAC that i am installing in the trunk of my car near my amps. i want to remove the face plate of the DAC and mount it in the front of the car so i can turn it on and off, select inputs, and see the status LED's. I attached pics to show you what i am dealing with. i purchased 2x8 2.54mm (pitch) x 2.54mm (row spacing) housings along with all the pre-crimped female to male pins already attached to 36" of wire (i'll be extending that to reach the front of the car). it would have worked, but the 2.54mm pitch is a little too big. when i try to line it up with the pins, there's an overhang of about 2 holes on each row (about 4mm overhang). i'm thinking i need a 2.00mm pitch x 2.00mm row spacing, but i'm not sure which to buy or what crimp pins to buy since they're probably different sizes.

 

[mathematics28]

sorry, i can't get multiple picture uploads to work

 

[mathematics28]

last pic

 

[VEBill]

In a pinch, you could extract the individual pins and sockets, insulate them with heat-shrink tubing, and use them one-by-one. Of course it'd be far superior to procure the appropriate connectors.

Beware that there are interfaces, both standard or unique, that may not be happy working with long cables out in the noisy real world. You can bench test it before bothering to install it, and avoid other cables on installation.

eBay seems to have listings for connectors with '2mm pitch'. You could browse there to find something that fits.

 

[Comcokid]

A quick check showed that Mouser had 3M IDC ribbon cable assemblies, 2mm pitch.
Digikey carries Samtec, and it appears you can get a header plug on one end and a socket plug on the other.

http://www.samtec.com/ftppub/pdf/TCMD.PDF

You might be able to find these up to 36" long. This was just a quick check I did. You need to search these or other sites more completely, and check to see it they will meet your needs

 

[mathematics28]

ribbon cable won't work because i need to extend this thing from my trunk to the dash of my car. only reason why i went with 36" wire with crimped pins is because that's how it was sold to me. i was just going to extend that. the panel i am extending has soft buttons for tun on and source select, along with a few small LEDs that light up to show incoming bit rate and which source is selected. i don't believe there should be a problem with making this 16' or so extension, but i won't know til i try. i guess i could try to solder wire straight to the board. that would be the most secure connection since the original pin to socket is a friction fit and doesn't lock at all. thoughts?

 

[VEBill]

If you solder things, it might (depending how you do it) preclude easily changing your mind in case the extension cable doesn't work out.

Ribbon cable can typically be used with insulation displacement (press on) connectors. It would be a very simple cable assembly process. Unfortunately, ribbon cables lack both twisted pairing and shielding.

 

[MacGyverS2000]

Why are you installing a piece of high-end home audio equipment designed for ultra-quiet environments and 120VAC into a noisy automotive environment using 12VDC?

Dan - Owner

http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com

 

[mathematics28]

Well, I can always cut the wires off if I need to after soldering.

 

[1gibson]

You are currently installing this; have you fired it up yet as-is? It may already be too noisy and extending this cable certainly won't help.

You might also need to consider the ambient temperature. 110*F in a trunk with no airflow is a bit different than 75*F with a large volume of air sitting on a shelf at home.

But to answer the question, I have done something similar by just making loops of wire and soldering to the male, manually pin in to the female. Use multi-strand, it will wick in pretty easily. Tin the ends for the female connection. Solder as close to the base of the connector as possible, in case you want to remove them that will give you the best chance at being able to put it back together normally. I forget what the application was.

 

[mathematics28]

I just got it all wired up into the car last night, actually. Everything works great with the voltage regulators i built. It's an apple airport express via optical out into the DAC and from the DAC to my amp. works great. i haven't attempted to move the face of the DAC. right now i am just opening the trunk and turning it on before i get into the car. i was just thinking...if i maybe made a timer circuit, i could use the amp's turn on signal (12v, 100-200mV)to send a short pulse to the actual switch on the DAC to mimic what i would be doing with my finger. then, i wouldn't need to move the things at all.