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Assembly

Timothy Woo edited this page Sep 30, 2018 · 6 revisions

Header Options

The LTE shield comes with complimentary stacking female headers (the ones you see on most Arduino shields) but you have the choice to solder wires directly to the pins without using any headers at all or use different headers. The different options are described in this section.

Male Headers

These are the most common types of headers and they allow you to easily connect Dupont wires your board to breadboards, other boards, etc.

If you are using the LTE board as a shield, that is, as an add-on attachment to an Arduino, please note that you will not be able to use Dupont wires after you place the shield on top of the Arduino using this option because the pins would go into the Arduino. Also make sure you have the pins pointing the right way!

Standard Female Headers

NOTE: If you're using the LTE shield as a "shield", that is, as an add-on attachment to an Arduino, then you won't want to use this option. These are the standard female headers that you see on Arduino boards and many other boards that accommodate the male headers described above. These are useful if you want to quickly connect Dupont wires to the board in cases where you might want to use the LTE board as a standalone module instead of a shield. You can buy this Arduino-compatible female header kit.

Stacking Female Headers

Stacking female headers are the same as the standard female headers above except with much longer pins. This enables them to stick out below the board they're mounted on so that another "host" board with standard female headers can attach to the first board from below. This is why most Arduino shields use these pins, and they are included as a loose (not assembled) kit with the LTE shield. Note that depending on the quality of the headers on your Arduino (or clone) board, the pins of the stacking headers might be a bit loose when inserted into the Arduino. To fix this, simply tin (or "coat") the pins with a little solder, making it a bit larger for a tighter fit and better connection.

Soldering

If you're a complete newbie to soldering I would suggest going through Adafruit's Guide to Excellent Soldering.

For this shield the easiest way is to simply insert all the headers then flip the board so that the plastic parts of the headers are against a flat surface with the metal pins facing up.

Solder one pin on each connector, then inspect the connectors to make sure they're properly aligned. If everything looks good, continue to solder the rest of the pins.

Note: if you are using male headers attached to the bottom of the LTE shield for attaching to an Arduino, it would be easiest to simply place the headers into the Arduino first, then put the LTE shield on top and solder all the pins on.