I have a Plasma 2040 and will probably get Plasma 2350; would like to add IR remote control.
Aye Arr IR receiver + remote have 3-pin JST-SH cable but the Plasma have 4-pin QW/ST port
The shop says “The Skully (Wireless Plasma Kit) demo uses Plasma 2350 W as the controller, which doesn’t have a 3-pin sensor connector. We connected the IR receiver via a custom 4-pin to 3-pin JST-SH cable into the Qw/ST port”
What is the difference between JST-SH and QW/ST? I’m confused.
Where can I get the custom 4-pin to 3-pin cable that is mentioned?
I can’t find it on Pimoroni. Prefer to avoid soldering
The Tiny FX has both the 4 pin QW/ST and the 3 pin Sensor ports. On the Tiny FX you’d just plug the IR Stick into the 3 pin S plug.
On a Plasma, they plugged it into the QW/ST plug with the custom cable. PWR, Ground, and one of the Data Pins. And coded it to use that pin in the micro python file run to use it.
They likely used one of these,
And one of these,
There are several variants of the QWIC cable.
There will be some cutting and splicing of the two cables to make it work.
JST-SH is the technical name for that style of connector, which can come with different numbers of pins. QW/ST is our name for the JST-SH 4-pin that carries power and I2C data.
Here’s a picture of the actual wiring that was used on the Skully demo, so perhaps not as custom as implied
I suspect that text is a holdover from when we were hand making custom cables, by transplanting a JST-SH 3-pin connector onto the end of a QW/ST cable using tweezers, like so
Thank you for the detailed responses: much appreciated
we were hand making custom cables, by transplanting a JST-SH 3-pin connector onto the end of a QW/ST cable using tweezers, like so
Is this something I can feasibly do myself with tweezers? The photo of the end result (thank you!) makes it clear where to aim for. But I’m not sure how I would get there!
If you’ve got sharp enough tweezer’s yea. What you’ve having to do is get the tweezer underneath the tabs that hold the cables in, to be able to pull them out with minimal force. Here’s all that’s needed for the QW/ST end of the cable.
For the other end, you need to remove all wires from the connector, then insert them in the correct order [RED +, BLUE Sig, BLACK -] into a JST-SH 3 pin connector (likely taken from the included sensor cable).
I just gave @ZodiusInfuser 's method a try and can confirm it’s possible with non-engineer fingers - pointy tweezers are a must though. Skully’s wiring is a lot nicer now!
(Initially I plugged two JST-SH to DuPont cables into each other but didn’t really want to recommend that as the connections didn’t feel very secure and as you can see, you end up with a bunch of ugly spare wires to deal with).
This is great. Thank you. Not only does it help me understand, but also:
I’m now going to order the kit from Pimoroni 💰
I have a set of instructions to follow 🧭
I’m going to show this helpful thread and my gratitude for the community to my son, who I’m trying to inspire with this project (some remote-control LED lighting for our campervan). 🤝
If you don’t have the tweezers: I have used a simple carpet knife with success. Another option: you can buy pre-crimped SH-cables and the housings separately.
