Adafruit Terminal Block Breakout FeatherWing User Manual

Adafruit Terminal Block Breakout FeatherWing

Created by lady ada

Last updated on 2018-08-22 03:52:46 PM UTC

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Guide Contents

Guide Contents Overview Pinouts Assembly Downloads Datasheets & Files Schematic Fabrication print

Overview

The Terminal Block Breakout FeatherWing kit is like the Golden Eagle of prototyping FeatherWings (eg. majestic,

powerful, good-looking). To start, you get a nice prototyping area underneath your Feather, with extra pads for ground,

3.3V and SDA/SCL. Not one to stop there, we expanded the PCB out to 2" x 2.5" with 3.5mm pitch terminal blocks

down each side. There's also four mounting holes so you can attach the breakout to your enclosure or project.

The terminal blocks allow you to connect to any of the external Feather pins, great for wiring temporary or permanent

installations. We also give you a few extra terminal block pins for ground and 3.3V connections since those are so

useful.

Finally, there's a spot for soldering in a slide switch. This connect the EN pin to ground when in the 'off' position,

cutting off the 3.3V regulator. Note that the FONA Feather uses both VBat and 3.3V as power supplies so you wont be

able to fully turn off the FONA Feather with this switch.

Comes as a kit with a nice PCB, socket headers, terminal blocks, and a slide switch. Soldering is required to assemble

the Terminal Block Breakout FeatherWing, but it's not too tough if you've got a soldering iron and some basic hand

tools.

Pinouts

The Terminal Block Featherwing doesn't have any active components. Instead, it just breaks out all the existing

connections from a Feather. Note that Feathers use different chipsets so not all pins are labeled on purpose!

The only pins you can depend on are:

3.3V power

3.3V enable

VBat power

USB power

GND

Reset

I2C: SDA & SCL

SPI: MOSI, MISO, SCK

UART: RX & TX

Check your Feather documentation and product page for details on what other pins are available and what they are

connected to

Assembly

Start by grabbing the blue terminal blocks. Terminal

blocks only come in 2 and 3 pin sizes, but can be slid

together to form longer strips. Start by connecting a 2

and 3 pin piece together. There's nubs on either side so

line those up and you'll be able to slide them together

This FeatherWing comes fully assembled as of 2017 but if you have an older kit, it's easy to put it together

yourself!

Keep sliding more 3-pin blocks on until you get a 2-pin

block with four 3-pin blocks in the middle and then

another 2-pin block at the end

Make two of these long strips

Place the two strips on either side of the breakout PCB

with the terminal block holes facing out

Flip over the board and solder in all of the terminal block

pins with plenty of solder

Be sure to solder all pins for reliable electrical contact.

(For tips on soldering, be sure to check out our Guide to

Excellent Soldering

(https://adafru.it/aTk)

).

Check the first row once its done, to make sure each pin

is shiny and completely soldered

Do the other row of terminal blocks

Next up place the 12-pin and 16-pin headers in the

center part of the breakout in the outer-most set of

holes

If you have a Feather, plugging it into the headers will

keep them nicely aligned so you dont need to tape

them in place

Flip over and solder in one row of the header

Solder in the other row of header

If you'd like to install the slide on/off switch, snap it into

place at the end of the PCB and tape it down so it

doesn't fall out when soldering

Solder in the two large mechanical points and the three

signal pins in the center

That's it! You're done

Downloads Datasheets & Files

EagleCAD PCB Files on GitHub (https://adafru.it/okF)

Slide Switch datasheet (https://adafru.it/lFt)

Fritzing object available in the Adafruit Fritzing Library (https://adafru.it/aP3)

Schematic

Fabrication print

Dimensions in inches