STM32World 2
After working on our STM32World boards for some years and having produced a number of them, a number of things that were sub-optimal emerged. For this reason, we have started developing ideas which could rectify these issues.
Video
The concept and reasoning behind it is described in this video:
Issues with original version
The main issues of the original system revolves around the use of the through-hole stack-able headers. These cause multiple issues:
- They are expensive - about $ 1.50 each - so $3 per board
- They bend easily and once bend they are almost impossible to straighten out and reconnect
- They are very hard to disconnect
- Take ages to hand solder, increase the price significantly if wave soldering is needed
- The connector is not "keyed" and can be connected wrongly.
Proposed new approach
The proposed solution would be to use a passive backplane as can be seen in the image to the right.
The boards themselves will then only have an edge connector which slots into the backplane. This approach will require a backplane board which will have a cost associated with it, but the individual devices will be cheaper as no connector is necessary.
Searching around for receptacles the ideal one appeared to be PCIe X8 which includes 98 connections. These are readily available in both through-hole and SMD and can be reasonably cheap (around $1 each). As the backplane will be passive the total cost for a 6 position one should still be well below $10.