[EE] alternative to Tag-Connect

[Martin K]

Are there any more reasonably priced alternatives to tag-connect?
I'm tired of paying $34 for an ICD/programming cable.
-
Martin

[Marc Nicholas]

On July 9, 2014 at 5:08:59 PM, Martin K (***@nnytech.net) wrote:
Are there any more reasonably priced alternatives to tag-connect? 
I'm tired of paying $34 for an ICD/programming cable. 
I hear you.

We just put 2.54mm spaced through-holes in a row on the edge of the board and build our own pogo-pin beds. Works reasonably well and has the advantage of being easily integratable into a programming jig, unlike Tag-Connect.

-m

[peter green]

Post by Martin K
Are there any more reasonably priced alternatives to tag-connect?
I'm tired of paying $34 for an ICD/programming cable

I wonder if the trick shown at https://www.sparkfun.com/tutorials/114
could work, by staggering the pins on a header footprint slightly you
make the header a much firmer fit

They did it to make soldering the connector easier but I suspect that
with the pins staggered like that it would make a good enough connection
for programming without being soldered.

[Brent Brown]

Post by peter green
I wonder if the trick shown at https://www.sparkfun.com/tutorials/114
could work, by staggering the pins on a header footprint slightly you
make the header a much firmer fit
They did it to make soldering the connector easier but I suspect that
with the pins staggered like that it would make a good enough connection
for programming without being soldered.

I just tried the staggered pin method, wroks well. On my target PCB I used 6 x SIL
0.1" pitch pads with 0.9mm (0.035") holes offset alternately 0.05mm (0.002") either
side of the centre line. Pins are a fairly loose fit, but ok for programming. Next time I
might increase the offset, perhaps by as much as 100%. In this case the PCB is
immersion gold finish, likewise mating with gold plated header pins. I'm sure it would
still work acceptably well for solder plated PCB's, at least for production
programming when everything is new and clean.

[Sergey Dryga]

Post by peter green

Post by Martin K
Are there any more reasonably priced alternatives to tag-connect?
I'm tired of paying $34 for an ICD/programming cable

I wonder if the trick shown at https://www.sparkfun.com/tutorials/114
could work, by staggering the pins on a header footprint slightly you
make the header a much firmer fit
They did it to make soldering the connector easier but I suspect that
with the pins staggered like that it would make a good enough connection
for programming without being soldered.

the pads for Eagle from sparkfun library work well for programming without
any header soldered in. I have done about 15 boards this way.

Sergey