5.08 vs 5.0mm pitch pcb terminal

bertus

Joined Apr 5, 2008
22,270
Hello,

No, they are not the same.
The 5.08 is based on 0.2 inches and the other is metric 5.00 mm.
You will have troubles with fitting a larger 5.00 mm into a 5.08 mm spacing.

Bertus
 

bertus

Joined Apr 5, 2008
22,270
Hello,

Yes, take a look at the leg spacing of chips, those are also based on inches, being 0.1 inch or 2.54 mm.

Bertus
 

Thread Starter

Devin Dandurand

Joined Oct 13, 2017
12
Lol no not a trick question. Building my first pcb. I knew it was referencing pin spacing. I Just didnt know if the .08mm difference would give problems.
 

panic mode

Joined Oct 10, 2011
2,715
I was stuck few times with limited quantities or lead time for specific part (usually during repeat build). If connectors are not press-fit but soldered through hole parts and don't have many terminals (say up to 8), and footprint is designed according to datasheet, most of the time they will fit just fine.
 

WBahn

Joined Mar 31, 2012
29,979
I was trying to use a 5.08mm Phoenix contact 4 position header and it fit perfectly to PCB designed for 5mm pitch.
It didn't fit perfectly, but rather it fit more than well enough.

Assuming that it was a thru-hole connector and that the four pins were in a single line, if you center the connector over the holes the center of the outside pins are only 0.12 mm away from the center of the holes. Given that pins are typically about 0.6 mm in diameter and holes are typically 1.6 mm in diameter, that much misalignment isn't going to be noticeable. But by the time you get to twelve to sixteen pins, you would likely find that they won't go in unless the pins are particularly small or the holes particularly large.
 

Ian0

Joined Aug 7, 2020
9,671
Up to 5 ways, they are interchangeable. At 10 way, only the correct one will fit.
Until we got packages smaller than SOIC (with 0.05" pitch) everything was on a tenths of an inch grid, hence the 5.08mm (0.2") spacing.
With smaller packages, metric has become more common, and with better PCB design software the "grid" has become less relevant.
 

MrSalts

Joined Apr 2, 2020
2,767
I was trying to use a 5.08mm Phoenix contact 4 position header and it fit perfectly to PCB designed for 5mm pitch.
It will fit fine if your terminal block is only for two positions. It will only be 80 microns too close. But a stack of 10, with nine gaps, will be 0.72 mm offset for the tenth block.
 

VictorF

Joined Sep 29, 2022
5
It will fit fine if your terminal block is only for two positions. It will only be 80 microns too close. But a stack of 10, with nine gaps, will be 0.72 mm offset for the tenth block.
As I said, I did use 4 positions header and it was perfect. More pins, the offset will be significant and for 10 positions probably will not fit
 

MaxHeadRoom

Joined Jul 18, 2013
28,619
I was trying to use a 5.08mm Phoenix contact 4 position header and it fit perfectly to PCB designed for 5mm pitch.
Purchasing termination items from companies headquartered in continental Europe and Asia, pretty much guarantees Metric standards. ;)
Phoenix Contact.
 

MrSalts

Joined Apr 2, 2020
2,767
As I said, I did use 4 positions header and it was perfect. More pins, the offset will be significant and for 10 positions probably will not fit
Note to all: The OP asked the question a month two-weeks shy of 5-years ago
 
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