Dupont jumper wires & shells – introduction

• Dupont leads connect up projects. They come as male to male pin / female to female / male pin to female types. You can solder the male ends to a headless board to make a reliable connection. When a project is final I gently glue gun plugs and wires.
• I solder a line of wireless female header sockets (below) to Sonoff relays.
• The stuff in the picture cost £10 and me it’s as much as I need.
• To make a 3-way connector plug, the single shells can be removed and the metal ends pushed into a 3 section shell – as in the picture above.
• When I need a two-into one lead, I cut Dupont wires in half, solder the cut ends and seal with heat shrink.
• I aim to adhere to this colour code – red & black for power; green for transmit (or go) and yellow for receive; orange for signal. The power supply end is always a female socket.

I bought a temperature controlled ‘Weller’ solder station for £30 and it has cheered me up to be able to make good connections. The gold tip cleaner and the solder removal braid were life-changing! Below it you see a flux pot; female and male headers and ‘blu-tac’ to hold wires in place. Out of shot is a magnifier; a flashlight and a holder for a circuit board.