Ben Heck's Essentials Series 1 - Connectors

On the Ben Heck Show we use many connectors. In this episode we will talk about all the different types, how to use them, how to identify them and how the pin numbering works. We will also show examples on how best to use them.
Join The Ben Heck Show on the element14 Community, suggest builds and projects and what you want to see on the show: ow.ly/NC394

[@tobymiller3585]

As a total noob to electronics, this video was incredibly informative! Keep the videos on the basics coming!!!

[@haze42082]

AAAAAHHHHH Im so happy they did this video, this was much needed, thanks Ben Heck and crew!

[@ChrisFredriksson]

Great video as always! Love the new haircut also, at least it looks new.. Looks more like summer! =D Also I love the background for the first part of the video, before the TBHS splash. Felt like home =D Good job on the video guys, keep up the great work! =)

[@tubeDude48]

I was bored until you got to ZIF connector. So the idea of using a piece of plastic was cool!

[@compuzeme4552]

Love the series Ben (and people who help make it). Have watched from almost the beginning (well, all the videos on KZbin anyway). Love the injected humour of what could otherwise be a very dry topic. You make it very enjoyable to watch and look forward to your videos week on week. Love the difference across there compared to UK sayings.... e.g. "ZEE 80" instead of "ZED 80"...... very comical! Keep up the good work.

[@danniedarko4835]

giving guys like me more insight into electronics weekly. I'm very big Novice at this but I'm learning thanks to you Ben....

[@vini1277]

Now that i have seen almost all your videos i want to say this: BEN YOU ARE A DAMN GENIUS

[@AmeenAltajer]

Such an amazing show.

[@chrisrudy1969]

Thanks for the vid! I have a question about your solder temp. Around 15:40-14:50 you are soldering the IC connector to the breadboard. What temperature are you running on your solder gun and what type of solder are you using. This always seem to be the most challenging.

[@OzzyCPT]

Learnt a hell of a lot in this episode.Nice

[@PrinceXTC86]

Felix is a cool guy, I like him.

[@ryanamberger]

True dat.

[@Super6502]

I think Ben has to watch out for Felix before he takes the show over....

[@kerndesertpreppers1274]

PrinceXTC86 This is Felix's secret profile lol jk

[@TheRangeControl]

What do you recommend for the storage & organization of your IC components? Do you use ESD storage options or are they mostly overkill? Please advise...

[@Rickmakes]

HDMI and DisplayPort can also carry audio and other signals.

[@BinaryDNA]

Thanks Ben! Knowledge appreciated.

[@zairoxs]

"Aside from the fact that I'm gonna eat them for lunch..." hahahaha I fucking love Felix!

[@Sonicdude10]

"I'm hungry. I'll eat a laptop. Take a mega bite out of it." I see what you did there...

[@PatrickAllenNL]

great video...I feel like you guys listened to my input

[@jonmayer]

Nice tip on the zif socket. I've broken a few in my day. Hard to find the right wedge thickness usually.

[@oaea2219]

This was so helpful Ben!... haha you have no idea how many times i broke ZIF connectors, i had no idea there was such an easy fix

[@DDBAA24]

anyone know what type of board that is in the background, its attached to the wooden desk, plugged into the large monitor. The fan looks very similar to the pandas fan, I am not really familiar, it could be a panda from 4 years ago who knows.

[@Dingus5555]

Would there be any problems caused by hot gluing components in place before soldering?

[@Stjaernljus]

vga connector being a High Density D-sub(three rows of pins instead of two) connector is sometimes called HD-15

[@sdm.1980]

Hi.I have a 8 pin din cable (female) from my car stereo and I need a 8 pin din(male)to usb to connect to my dab+ receiver antenna.Where can I find that type of cable?Wait for an answer.Thank you.

[@robmitchell5954]

When installing a dB connector in a plastic enclosure, I use the metal mount from a PC serial board as a template. Screw it in place and use a Dremel to cut out the plastic for the DB to fit through. Clean look.

[@FireDragonAndromeda]

The composite video wasn't totally removed from the raspberry pi, they added it to the 3.5mm jack and a 4 pole 3.5mm adapter will give you video & audio.

[@peppenewyork1]

I'm looking ro a connector that has 4 pin (3+1 thicker ) round like aviation connector where can I find it ? it has a name ? 3 pin are equal and one pin is fat .... thanks

[@thebigirishpotato]

I can't find the wire to board connectors anywhere online? Where can you get them?

[@BagoZonde]

Nice video. Looking for something more modern but still easy to apply than classic PCB edge connectors brought me here, as I work on some retro Commodore 64 project :). By the way, love your ZOMBIE ADVENTURELAND PINBALL t-shirt! I didn't play it but love the design.

[@ernestomartinez5464]

This does not connect with the video but.... Is there a way to fix the PS4 gold Headset usd trasmiter? Mine got broken it seems that a part got loose but not sure.

[@madkvideo]

I didn't know you could fix broken ZIF sockets like that! Thanks for the tip!

[@MrMartinZockt]

Good overview.

[@NN-DMT]

I've accidentally damaged a few ZIF connectors in the past, thank you for this insight!

[@AlForte13]

Looking for specifications and sizes for JST connectors but love the video-thanks

[@allluckyseven]

Ben et al. Don't you think the text in the lower portion of the video is many times redundant? Example: 11:30 speech vs. 11:58 text.

[@Tall_Order]

DisplayPort definitely sounds promising. I'm still using DVI on a monitor that only supports VGA (using adapter that came with my Nvidia card). The Nvidia card supports HDMI and DVI, so I plug HDMI to a TV for a second monitor.

[@mitb]

Watching him solder the IC socket one handed. Best technique ever!

[@James-sm1lh]

Anybody know a pretty standard soldering iron temp to keep the tip tinned without burning it?

[@favattinho4789]

hey ben can you do a sd card reader for snes/n64 please? because i have those and i cant find more games for they

[@gaming-zombie1392]

Ben you're Amazingly Awesome...

[@TheRealObiWahn]

The better crimp pliers to crimp the wire-to-board connectors (molex type) have 2 radii so the longer arms of the connector bite into the wire insulation to help prevent that the wire gets ripped out. And even when I buy new DIP Chips, I usually bend them on a flat surface (like the table) a little bit since the pins usually won't be exactly 90° to the chip and by bending them to the 90° angle, they slide in way better. Also, on the board-to-board connectors I cut off pins somewhere in the strip and seal the female connector with my desoldering iron so I get a indicator how the board has to connect and prevent therefore a potential deadly connection for the boards. Saved my bacon a couple times when working with mirrored layouts....

[@Seapig]

Hi random question for the comment section. i need to transfer old client data off 5¼-inch floppy disks and i have tried but i cant find anything so i was wondering if anyone can find or even find me instructions on making a usb 5¼-inch floppy disk drive

[@lilbigyell]

Can you make the Pip-boy From Fallout Series. Like make a python program on a Raspberry PI but keep it wearable.

[@Novashadow115]

Try and do it yourself. You can order 3D printed pipboy parts and assemble them yourself with some acetone welding. Then, try and figure out how to fit all the electronics in. It's a challenge but I managed to do it

[@lilbigyell]

3d printed pipboy parts are overpriced

[@ShadowBurn680]

iGuardian Or 3d print your own pip boy for iphone or android phone and paint it then use the app or take some refrence photos and sculpt the pip boy out of clay then cast it and paint it just get creative

[@lilbigyell]

I was going to have a friend 3d print it for me then use that app

[@ShadowBurn680]

good idea

[@halgerson]

You should get a pen cam or some such to show the really up-close shots. I couldn’t really see what you were talking about with the cold solder joint on the DIP part. Maybe even just show a photo or some such

[@toddhensley880]

I agree, half the screen could have been used to show a close-up or diagram of what they were looking at.

[@paulmidgley2447]

Excellent video one of your best for a novice like me

[@el1061]

Beeeeeen! Benny Ben Ben Ur the Best !!!!! Thanks

[@EastyyBlogspot]

I have a monitor with a display port and was looking to hook up a console to it but i could only find devices that connect a display port to a hdmi tv/monitor but nothing that could connect a hdmi to a display port monitor ( i did find one but heard it is very unreliable)

[@CullenLogan]

Make sure it's an active DP to HDMI converter. Passive likely won't work well at resolution.

[@botkiller147]

Sir in thumbnail your show a circular connector what is the name of it ?

[@jorenmartijn]

Hey Ben, could you possibly make a GameCube portable some time? I'd love to see your take on it. Besides, you can use the WASP chip to replace the entire DVD drive to save on space. :)

[@meckatz]

love how felix just stands there and appears to be 100% unimpressed but at the same time he is like...i hear ya,i see ya and i won't forget what you showed me there! true sponge!

[@jaxxonrees9618]

Can ben heck build a v wire port in a small tv with coaxial only on it? ? ? ?

[@jarboer]

Can u show how to make a HDMI to rca converter? I want to plug a AppleTV into a older monitor that doesn't have HDMI. I read that just a cable doesn't work. So I would have to buy a box converter, or make one, should I?

[@EnUsUserScreenname]

You could also just use a small FPGA-board for that.

[@jamesrobinson1547]

Jarrett Boersen HDMI and "rca" or CVBS (composite video baseband signal) are very different signals. HDMI is all digital, and Composite is all analog. You would need a converter like this www.amazon.com/Etekcity%C2%AE-Composite-Video-Audio-Converter/dp/B008FO7PQA and you would almost certainly lose some picture clarity.

[@jarboer]

+James Roberson I don't care about the quality of the picture. Because it would be playing on a mini DVD player with a screen. Thanks for the help and ideas!

[@jarboer]

I was looking at those and I guess I was in the right place! Thank you!

[@BGBTech]

I make a lot of use of screw-terminal connectors. advantage over molex is that it is only the board-side connector, no need to put crimp-connectors on wires or similar. there are pros and cons to tinning the wire though with screw-terminals: pro: stranded wire doesn't fray; con: doesn't sit as nicely in the connector (they clamp down better on stranded wire, whereas solid and tinned wire is often more wobbly). some bigger connectors exist, but can't really be easily used with perfboard (no pins that fit in holes, ...). have sometimes ended up using the tacky strategy of tying-down a 12AWG wire or so to the perfboard (with thinner wire), and then soldering the crap out of it, and maybe using some spade connectors on the wires. then again, it goes right along with tackiness like using clay+steel dust+PVA glue as heat-sinks (just make big gobs of it for TO-220 components...). has very different properties from the commercial aluminum heat-sinks though (heats up and cools off very slowly vs the commercial ones, which go straight from cold to crazy hot to cold again). yes, comically bad, I know... for signal and low-power connectors, I use pin-headers and dupont connectors, but face the issue of not having enough of the connector pins (so end up sometimes resorting to the ugliness of doing wire-wrap around the pin-header connections). need more of these connectors, and maybe some 24 or 26 AWG stranded wire (dupont connectors don't work well with 22 AWG wire). a few times, I have also used DIP sockets as wire-connectors (used vaguely similar to breadboard connectors, in a few cases using hot-glue to keep the wires from falling out).

[@elocremarc]

Brendan Bohannon I typically now ferrule crimp all my wires I put into screw terminals makes for a more secure connection. You gotta get the Ferrule crimps for the gage of wire your using. www.amazon.com/Signstek-Adjusting-Ratcheting-Crimping-AWG23-10/dp/B00HPRYIL8/ref=pd_bxgy_hi_img_y

[@BGBTech]

Cole Cramer ok, but does it make enough of a difference to offset the cost of the tool and crimp ends vs just tinning the wires?... I guess a person could get fancy, and flatten the wires some before tinning them, or tin and then shape with pliers. my world is partly one of tacky solutions in the name of saving money. well, and occasionally nifty things like finding a physically large 12V 18A laptop-style power-brick in a junk bin, then was using this to power my CNC machine (more reliable than the ATX PSU I had been using, and cheaper than buying a specialized power supply). had used wire and hot glue to make a makeshift connector for it.

[@-CrippledNinja-]

Thanks, Ben! This was actually helpful. Although I misheard something like "bork de bork -connectors." :D

[@joewell6435]

My first soldering experience was with an iron with a tip that looked like a big flathead screwdriver. I was able to manage with but I thankfully was able to borrow my uncle's nice Weller station with a nice small tip.

[@Novashadow115]

Ha, I had to use one of those for soldering some stained glass projects together. It was uncomfortable to say the least

[@joewell6435]

***** and I was using it to solder headers onto a dev board only about a 3rd of my joints were cold.

[@TheNomadluap]

On those molex connectors the back set of wings is designed to grasp the insulation around the wire conductor. You'll find your connections much more solid if you crimp it that way.

[@WeAreMovieMakers]

Some close up macro shots would be nice in the future.

[@sandpiper1515]

do you live in Wisconsin?

[@MindMeetMaker]

Hi Ben Just saw the D sub wiring / soldering section, and saw you make the same mistake as me when I was an apprentice telecoms engineer 6 years ago, I was quickly taught that if you fill all the cups with solder first then clip your wires very small and just heat the pin and push the wire in it makes a much cleaner finish, I dont me this as a criticism just thought I would share this tip, try it out, its a much quicker method. Regards Olly

[@Spongman]

PAL is almost identical to NTSC. the only difference (apart from the timing and line count) is the phase of the color subcarrier is alternated each line effectively halving the vertical color resolution but significantly reducing the hue errors that happen with non-corrected ntsc.

[@bglinuxexaminer354]

Composite video isn't removed from the Raspberry Pi. It is packed with stereo audio. This connector is called TRRS (i think).

[@ArrovsSpele]

Right when i needed to know something aboout connectors Ben cames to rescue.

[@ErIX50XD]

Displayport can be daisy chained to three monitors, supports G-sync and Free-sync, can be passivly adaptered to VGA, DVI and HDMI and Displayport can even run 60Hz on two 4k monitors

[@bradenmoon4748]

Can you make a wall mounted pc with cool lighting or something and can you make it portable so it's not stuck to the wall

[@PrinceXTC86]

Remember Albert Einstein? When you're full of knowledge, your brain even starts to make your hair release certain amounts of energy. I think that's why Ben's hair looks like this.

[@ColdestLivewire]

common connectors? why was usb excluded?

[@derekjeanes2343]

Is it suder or solder?

[@rhysjones8506]

Coming from uk composite is still usefull now, I watch my skybox on composite and it looks good. Not hd quality. But it works

[@VexedFilms]

Seems you've slowed down the intro narration. That's good, much less stressful ha.

[@abdullahalbaki1254]

osthir video banaisen boss !

[@iprogramplus]

is there a connector guide?

[@drhoffgaard]

Cant wait for Felix, to do a project :D

[@UAV-Drone-AR-VR-Cable]

NICE

[@RajinderSingh-tn9pu]

Can you make a Video on Oscilloscope? Please.

[@drr0b0tnik]

I wish there was an infographic of all of this i could print out for my garage.

[@Stonerman023]

I´ll have a three-way and a header, thanks!

[@pratherat]

Love your hair!

[@dfernand101]

Display Port cables (not mini DP) are surprisingly hard to find ... even in European capital cities....

[@przemekl2]

Speed up this video twice.. it's too funny :D

[@Floydzabarber]

What about the European style video connectors, like SCART? Good video guys!

[@stephblackcat]

For my project I need to try finding a few good wire to wire connectors.

[@kutayarcan911]

Bad hair day i guess.

[@djbass101]

Kutay Arıcan Alright, so it wasn't just me thinking, hrm, turning a bit mad scientist today...

[@TimmyTechTV]

Kutay Arıcan It's like hes going for the look that guy from ancient aliens has... www.bing.com/images/search?q=ancient+aliens&view=detailv2&&&id=E23C968280E40C1FB17732F0F36AC8BD188E9435&selectedIndex=155&ccid=D%2fCgW%2bSI&simid=608023453961292611&thid=JN.zCEO%2fpkpODC7rLGL3EJSVA&ajaxhist=0

[@kutayarcan911]

TimmyTechTV LOL

[@DavidGriffithsTweetUwrite]

Kutay Arıcan yeh i was going to say he's just on the edge of turning mad scientist :) happens to the best of us

[@themaconeau]

Kutay Arıcan Einstein mode: Activated.

[@MetalHippie83]

we need an into to electronics series, for even the most noobiest hobbyist And as all electronics tuts should be it should focus heavily on old school analog circuits, none of this "microprocessor" stuff.

[@brcha]

***** Yeah, only the vacuum tubes, none of this "semiconductor" stuff.

[@altrogeruvah]

***** I second that!

[@xFuaZe]

***** Why the aversion against microcontrollers? You can make a lot more complicated projects by implementing the logic on the microprocessor instead of making the complete circuitry.

[@brcha]

xFuaZe There is nothing a microprocessor can do that can't be implemented using vacuum tubes. Also, vacuum tubes give you an opportunity to use much much more energy and, if you are lucky, burn down your house. Therefore, they are clearly a better choice since they give you more options than the microprocessors.

[@elocremarc]

After searching all over because they dont give part numbers on the Molex connectors I found them. Board Connector 22-05-10(2)2 With (2) = # Pins desired. Wire Connector 51191-0(2)00. Crimp 50802-9101

[@antonfrenkel3595]

could you build something that allows you to control your poweroutlets over the internet with like a raspberry pi and some relai´s? btw sorry for my bad english i am from germany :)

[@DavidGriffithsTweetUwrite]

come on Felix mate - 5 seconds to crack at the end? lol ;)

[@fred.corp.8888]

Nice & useful, like always !!! Sorry, but grammar nazi note : 4:56 : ... pairs THAN HDMI, ...

[@mashtater996]

ahhh... losing the 'Magic Smoke" I coined that in 1979 working for Data General...

[@smiechu47]

You should make a tutorial how to unplug those connectors once they get stuck. Sometimes you put all your might in it and they won't budge.

[@cons0le408]

You missed scart!

[@cr76802]

Ben... I have a hack for you and greatly bring out countless childhood memories. Can you hack a original message zapper to work on modern Tvs.. I miss Duck hunt.

[@mrfilipelaureanoaguiar]

Stay plugged !

[@jakeleith2000]

Yay

[@TimmyTechTV]

12:00 - Back off Ben Heck, back off...

[@xarxex]

I wish I had a workshop :( The issues of being an unemployed electronics enthusiast.

[@Slot1Gamer]

RCA not composite "On consumer products a yellow RCA connector is typically used for composite video." The Ben Heck Show

[@insultobot]

I'd like to see an episode on the tools of the trade. That wire stripper was sexy.

[@krishna34674]

but what about IDC connectors there so useful !!!

[@aguy7621]

Can you make a another project using the raspberry pi

[@andrewkerr1963]

i think ben should make a device that can self learn-teach its self how to play a video game

[@jonferran7749]

Is this about Connectors or signals? The first CONNECTOR he shows is called RCA, not composite. Composite is a type of signal that is commonly passed through RCA connectors.

[@jonferran7749]

And again.... VGA is a type of signal, the connector it uses is an HDDB15. The HD stands for High Density, having 3 rows of pins, not High definition.

[@RetroSwim]

Jon Ferran DE15. The B in DB25 reflects the size of the shell.

[@RetroSwim]

Jon Ferran Don't worry, it's one of those bastardised things that everybody says. Like RJ45. RJ45 is a telephony standard, the TP ethernet connector is called 8P8C.