Combine Inky wHAT & button SHIM

Hello,

Would it be possible to combine the Inky wHAT with the button SHIM.

Or is there another simple way to add a few buttons to a Raspberry Pi Zero W which as Inky wHAT connected.

Thanks a lot.

Martin

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There shouldn’t be an issue, the button shim uses i2c and the inky uses SPI.
The button shim requires soldering, keep that in mind. If you want to use a header on the button shim you’ll need to use a stacking header so you can plug the inky in on top of it.

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Great!

Would it work to solder this extended male header to my pi zero W (so not the WH model) or do I misunderstand how I should connect it.

Thanks for your time!

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You could use that header and solder the Button shim to it, then plug the inky in on top. You’ll need long standoffs. These “may” be the right length, not 100% sure.

Another way to do it is to use this 11mm stacking header.
https://shop.pimoroni.com/?q=11mm
The female end plugs into the Pi’s male header, the button shim is soldered to the male pins, and the inky is plugged in on top.

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Just a quick update here, it works! I do have some small troubles to update the screen while a button is pushed but I worked around it.

The standoffs seem to be the same length as included with Inky WHat

Currently, I did not use any standoffs, because my pi-zero does not reach the bottom ones and the button-shim and pi-zero line so it is not easy to attach the standoffs.

The extended header which I ordered is approximately 4mm too long, too bad that Pimoroni does not include the actual lengths:

I’m planning to trim the header to an appropriate length.

I will post a picture of the build if it is a bit further.

Hmm, that’s right, if you solder the button shim right to the Pi, you can’t attach a stand off.
Not easily anyway. I have been using these quit a bit.

They also have a tall 16mm version. If you have room you could slide the nut in between the Pi and the button shim, then screw the standoff to it. Then attach another nut of standoff on the bit that’s sticking out the back of the Pi. I usually have extra nuts kicking around as I sometimes screw two headers together and don’t use them.

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Just wanted to add thanks to you for sharing, and a slight change I made.

I used the 2x20 pin 11mm female GPIO header, put some spacer tape (approx 2mm thick) under the button SHIM between it and the aluminium heatsink case that I’m using, and soldered it in place.

After that, the Inky pHat fits perfectly on the top of the header; AND I can remove the button shim if necessary.

Those stacking headers do come in handy. I have the red version of that case.
For a while I had a Blinkt
Blinkt! – Pimoroni
on a booster header.
Booster Header – Pimoroni
I had it showing CPU temperature. It just fit nicely with the booster header. Looked nice too.

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