Hey all,
I have several components I need to line up on the housing face of my device. I will be using nylon spacers for my display, but am unsure how to get my micro USB (debug) port farther off the board. I am trying to expose it to our customers for software updates (thus I don’t want to seal it off inside the housing requiring it to be opened for access).
I need to raise the micro usb port ~0.070" give or take some. The selection of vertical micro usb ports is very limited so I can’t pick one with longer leads and use a spacer. Is there any sort of conductive spacer I could put in between the component and the board?
I am assuming it would be risky to make the debug port panel mounted and run wires to the board?
I thought of using full size USB instead of the micro but that will be too big for that face of the device.
Worst comes to worst we put the port on the edge of the board inside of the housing and have customers open it (this usually voids the warranty though so this is the least preferred option.
One solution we are considering is a USB panel feed through so its a USB receptacle on both side of the device wall, then having a short USB cable running inside the device to another receptacle on the board. Finding a cheap panel feed through might be difficult though…less preferred than a spacer type solution
yes that is what we were thinking if we can’t find a way to raise a receptacle off the board.
I found this which is like what you linked but with a cable attached that has leads for a PCB
https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/bulgin/PXP4043-B/708-2061-ND/5813258
But I would prefer to not have to use a panel mounted port. Any ideas on spacing a port up off a PCB?
@munderhill This version would work but if they stop making this specialized part, then this design will have to be redone.
https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/amphenol-commercial-products/MUSB-K552-30/MUSB-K552-30-ND/5410430
That is why it would be much better to raise a regular receptacle off the board with some kind of breakout extender…
it seems like our best solution is to put a micro usb port at the top edge of the board and leave an access hole in the cover of the device that customers can remove a silicon plug from and stick their cable in. We wanted to do this on the front face but its too complicated matching all these different heights.
Flexable pcb, soldered to the board and to the connector?
@Mr_John_Smith Never heard of a flexible PCB before but I think that’s still too complicated. We have 3 CNC’s so machining a little opening in the lids and plugging with the a silicon stopper will be trivial.
Basically the only other simpler option would be to add 0.070" tall headers under each pin. BUT the micro usb through hole version has a row of 3 pins then a row of 2 pins instead of a row of 5 pins like the surface mount versions which makes things difficult on top of the 0.065" pitch of the pins. So I guess what I am looking for in my answers is a header or spacer that will fit the micro usb pins. Here is what I was looking at but I think the insulation is too think for the pitch of the usb pins.
https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/mill-max-manufacturing-corp/315-43-101-41-003000/ED4764-01-ND/4455210
What is the distance from the front face to the PCB?
This Molex part is 6.7mm PCB to front panel.
https://www.molex.com/molex/products/datasheet.jsp?part=active/1051330011_IO_CONNECTORS.xml
What about switching to Mini USB instead of Micro? This one is 7.7mm from the board.
https://www.molex.com/molex/products/datasheet.jsp?part=active/5000750517_IO_CONNECTORS.xml