Pimoroni Micro Dot pHATwith right angle headers

Support
1

Hi - There is a similar questions posted 16-August though it was for a different Pi and a differnt product (Pi0 PiBow).

Is it possible to use a right angle header with the Micro Dot pHAT so as to mount the display perpendicular to a Pi3. I know if I buy the kit I can run short wires between a pi without headers and the pHAT board. I’d prefer to use right angle headers for structural rigidity.

Thanks for your help.

2

You could, but you’d have to also use one or more booster headers if you want it right side up. The 90 GPIO header has to be at the top, on the back side, pointing down for the Micro Dot to be facing you and right way up. That leaves a big gap to fill between it and the Pi’s GPIO header.
I’d also double check that those IC’s on the back of the Micro Dot aren’t going to get in the way, before i solder on my 90 header.

3

Hi - Thanks for answering my question and the great advice. I’ll look a the back the pHAT later today. What ever I end up doing I will post the results. :-)

4

I don’t think the IC’s will be an issue, won’t hurt to doublecheck though. It would suck to solder on your header and then not be able to plug anything into it. ;)

5

This could be made to work,


90 female where the ribbon cable would normally be connected to plug into the Pi. And the Microdot soldered to one of the other header positions. The pin numbering won’t match but electrically all will be fine. Pin 1 on the Pi will go to pin 1 on the Micro dot etc.
If you use a male on the microdot, you could solder it right to the mini Hack3r board. Just the one header soldered on both sides. You won’t be able to unplug the microdot from the Hack3r board, but it will be a nice slim sturdy setup.
6

Hmmm - the Mini Black Hat might be a solution without using the ribbon cable (to keep the installation compact). I might order a few with some various headers and experiment with the possible configurations. I already let the magic smoke out of a sense hat because I forgot to verify with pin is #1 when I used the ribbon cable (duh - expensive mistake). As an aside I now use a bit of red nail polish on the ribbon cable connectors so I have a hint where pin 1 is. I really miss the old style ribbon cables that had one red cable in the ribbon to assist when using non-polarized connectors.

Many thanks

7

Just ordered on from Amazon Business (I’m in the US). It is shipping from your US warehouse in a few days. I will let you know as I progress.

Cheers!

8

I’ve used the pHat Stack and Mini Black hacker in a few projects. I just put a female header on the back side of a Pi Zero so I can plug it in like you do the pHat’s. Use a 90 female and its pointing up with all the plugs on top. ;)

9

Got It. Again many thanks for your helpfulness.

10

Sorry for the very long delay - it took a while to obtain the right angle headers. After measuring the Mini Black and the right angle header I realized I did not have enough space in the existing case. Since the Micro Dot only requires four wires I am using some 28ga silicon wire. The wires are so soft and easy to maneuver.

Thank you for your suggestions.

Hank