Hi All,

I have a PCB with a microcontroller and spare GPIO pins connected to a through-hole footprint for a header connector, as shown below.



This connector is usually not soldered onto the PCB, but if I need to experiment with anything new, this option is always available instead of making a new PCB.

I have some PCBs that are on-site, so I cannot take these PCBs back to have the connector soldered on. Are there any versions of these types of connectors that are compression fitting and can simply be pushed into the footprint without requiring any soldering?

I only need to access about 2 GPIOs, so guess it would not need much pressure to push in.

 

Nothing that I am aware of that does not require soldering.
Take a soldering iron with you and solder the new connector.
There are portable battery powered or butane gas irons available.

 

Personally I'd opt for snap connections. They hold better. And I'm not a fan of press fit headers. They can break inner layers and feedthrough holes. There ARE SMT headers, but with those I'd prefer double row type because it gives the connection more strength than a single in line arrangement. SIL is too easily broken.

Like MrChips said, take a soldering iron and solder them.

 

This may not suit your needs for a permanent connector but it is a handy technique to know. It makes it easier to solder header connectors perpendicular to the pcb, and if the tolerances align, it makes for good temporary connections, where "temporary" depends on what you're doing.

A smart guy at Sparkfun developed lock-in header connector footprints. The works with normal headers having square pins. The pcb footprint slightly offsets alternate holes from the centerline, with the goal being holding the connector in-place and perpendicular durining soldering. This technoque works well for that; I use it for headers on every pcb I design.



The square corners of the header pins can actually bite into the copper lining of the holes. Often the grip is enough to use for a programming header that will only be used for dev, but with a large header, the fit can be quite tight. I've found a couple times months after I assembled a board that I forgot to solder a header but it's doing its job just fine.

 

This may not suit your needs for a permanent connector but it is a handy technique to know. It makes it easier to solder header connectors perpendicular to the pcb, and if the tolerances align, it makes for good temporary connections, where "temporary" depends on what you're doing.

A smart guy at Sparkfun developed lock-in header connector footprints. The works with normal headers having square pins. The pcb footprint slightly offsets alternate holes from the centerline, with the goal being holding the connector in-place and perpendicular durining soldering. This technoque works well for that; I use it for headers on every pcb I design.

View attachment 329753

The square corners of the header pins can actually bite into the copper lining of the holes. Often the grip is enough to use for a programming header that will only be used for dev, but with a large header, the fit can be quite tight. I've found a couple times months after I assembled a board that I forgot to solder a header but it's doing its job just fine.

Yes this would be for the future, but looking for a solution for my previous design.

 

Personally I'd opt for snap connections. They hold better. And I'm not a fan of press fit headers. They can break inner layers and feedthrough holes. There ARE SMT headers, but with those I'd prefer double row type because it gives the connection more strength than a single in line arrangement. SIL is too easily broken.

Like MrChips said, take a soldering iron and solder them.

Any suggestion for Snapin connectors?

 

You can use IC sockets or single or multiple machine pin sockets.

 

Yes this would be for the future, but looking for a solution for my previous design.

As I stated, it might not be a solution in this case, but it's a good technique to know.

If you search for "press fit pcb pins" you'll find pins that are designed to be press-fit, like these from Mil-Max, but again, i think these all depend on specific hole dimensions. There are a number of search hits, so it's worth taking a look.

As far as getting a reliable press fit connection in a hole of unknown diameter, I'm afraid it's unlikely.

 

I you just need temporary access to a couple of those points for debugging purposes, then possibly something like this would work:
https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/keystone-electronics/5013/255335