From SMD tactile switch to 4 pin connector

Thread Starter

georgeflr

Joined May 5, 2023
1
Hello,
I have a LCD Board for a Raspberry Pi and it has a few pushbuttons on the side. They are SMD tactile switches.
I want to move them into a separate location, either a PCB Board or a mounting place.
My question is that if I cand find compatible connectors, that can pe soldered on the old pushbuttons pads and not leaving soldered wires directly on the old pads. This way I can connect the buttons and disconnect them as I please.
Thank you.
 

Ya’akov

Joined Jan 27, 2019
9,170
Hello,
I have a LCD Board for a Raspberry Pi and it has a few pushbuttons on the side. They are SMD tactile switches.
I want to move them into a separate location, either a PCB Board or a mounting place.
My question is that if I cand find compatible connectors, that can pe soldered on the old pushbuttons pads and not leaving soldered wires directly on the old pads. This way I can connect the buttons and disconnect them as I please.
Thank you.
Welcome to AAC.

The short answer is "no", since there is no real application for that. The longer answer is "sort of" because the way you would do that is what you have seen in many consumer products: use a small PCB that accepts the switch(es) and a connector, which can be as simple as a 2.54mm pin header, or a JST connector of some sort.

Connecting directly to the switch can't be reliable because the switch pins are not designed to be connectors. The good news is that with a little work you can learn to use something like EasyEDA from JLCPCB (I chose a link with a $10 voucher in case you want to try) to lay out a board and for a few dollars have them fabricated. You would probably be looking at a layout where there a many little boards on one board with scoring so they can be depaneled (separated by snapping them on the routed lines) and used separately.
 
Top