Comment by Ernest Schirmer on March 2, 2012 at 4:02pm

I bought a DFROBOT 2 line display for the Arduino but the spacing between two sets of header pins is non-standard so it can't be plugged into a standard proto board.  Any suggestion would be welcome.

Comment by Fernando Gil on March 3, 2012 at 7:33am

Hi Ernest,

Can you post a link or picture of your module? Usually they have same spacing of protoboards.

Comment by Ernest Schirmer on March 3, 2012 at 7:02pm

The problem is the spacing between the set of header pins.  It results in a slight offset from 0.1" spacing between the pins in each header.

Comment by Marcelo Rodrigues on March 4, 2012 at 4:22am

I have already tried the same thing. I don't know why Arduino made the distance of 2 heads different than the distance between 2 pins (which is the same as breadboars).

You could try to resoldier the headers using longer headers, then bend them to fit the breadboard. This shouldn't look very nice, but can help.

Another idea would be an intermediate shield. You could made a new pcb which would act like a breakout, correcting the position of the pins. This way you would keep your shield the way it is, and create a new accessory to use with any shield.

Oh! If you make this, please make two! *LOL*

Good luck!

Comment by Ernest Schirmer on March 4, 2012 at 5:40am

Would it be correct that these types of Arduino accessories are for prototyping only?  Are there suppliers that offer the Arduino sub-systems in a more conventional form factor such as a PCB with an edge connector?

I ask because, in addition to the issue of pin spacing, the display is raised above the main PCB and only supported in one corner by the pins on the display that are soldered to the main PCB.  Is would require inserting spacers between the main PCB and the display PCB to mount the display in an enclosure. 

For now I think I'll solder jumpers to the header pins to connect the display to the proto board.

Would you know of any displays that do have the correct pin spacing?

Thanks for your comments.   

Comment by Andrew Michie on June 23, 2012 at 6:51am

Use an IDE cable (mo)

Comment by Steve Spence on November 5, 2012 at 10:23am

I have this shield. All Arduino shields are designed to fit the Arduino, which has non standard spacing between those two headers. No one seems to know why, and the original design team isn't talking about it. See http://arduino.cc/forum/index.php/topic,23090.0.html

Comment by chukroast on November 9, 2012 at 12:38pm

I believe the spacing was deliberate so the Shields would only plug together one way.  This would hopefully eliminate the possibility of connecting boards in the wrong manner and burning up something.  This is otherwise known as "keying".

Without the keying, they would have had to design the bords so reverse plugging would yield the same results....  a device that still works as planned, and doesn't burn up because of the reverse plugging.

Comment by Steve Spence on November 9, 2012 at 1:59pm

There's a different number of pins on one side, than the other, and the shield is usually shaped like the underlying Arduino. If that was the reasoning, it's not a very good one ;-)

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