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This is an interface cable for the Bus Pirate, designed to connect to its 2x5 I/O header. The cable's connector is composed of two rows of five 0.1" spaced pins; it's also polarized, as is the mating connector on-board the Bus Pirate, so you can only connect the cable in one direction. The leads of the cable are terminated with female ends to mate with test hooks.
The pin-out of the connector is documented here.
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Customer Reviews
4.5 out of 5
Based on 2 ratings:
Awesome
Loving what this little thing can do and haven't even begun to unlock its full potential!
Very useful
Faciliates interfacing to DIP Clip post
I just ordered this and I definitely have a different pinout than what's listed in the comments:
Given that pattern, I'm assuming the rest are as follows:
That's very different from everything else mentioned here, though to be fair the most recent comment was 4 years ago.
Yes, this is what I get too. Bought mine in Aug 2016
Your comment sounds like it's an assumption. Did you ever validate? I guess I should test as mine may be different than yours.
Just bought one of these and the "is the pinout backward?" question is still real and terrible. The pinout link in the description is dead and the DP wiki says "sparkfun cables are usually backward". I just conductivity-tested my cable and it matches what the wiki says is Seeed/Adafruit, namely brown=ground red=3.3v orange=5v gray=MOSI. I think the description should be updated to clarify this. Especially because comments aren't open on the product page by default.
Note that the colors are backwards from what the firmware tells you. You need to remove the plastic shroud around the connector and re-install it backwards for the colors to match. SparkFun should have this in bold ALL CAPS so people don't connect this incorrectly and break things.
Color code seems to be:
black - gnd
white - 3.3V
grey - 5V
purple - ADC
blue - VExtern
green - aux1
yellow - clk
orange - MOSI
red - CS
brown - MISO
You'd think that this would be in the official documentation.
Cool thanks. :)
I found this excellent reference sheet about pinout, only to realize few agonizing moments later that in sparkfun's cable, colors are in opposite order. I updated the sheet for sparkfun's cable, if you like, you can download it here
Note that this cable has the ribbon FLIPPED from the way the
ribbon is attached to the IDC connector on the adafruit cable.
With the release of the V5 firmware that knows the color code
(try the "v" command) things get confusing. The seeed studio
cable looks the same as the sparkfun cable.
Black is ground on the sparkfun and seeed cables.
Brown is ground on the adafruit cable (and in the v5 firmware).
Watch Out!
Oh I wish I had read this comment first :-) the v command colors threw me (V5 firmware)
I spent a bit of time trying to figure out why my compass wasn't reading. The picture on the dangerousprototypes site agrees with the firmware and is indeed backwards from this cable.
I respectfully suggest that sparkfun flip the ribbon before someone lets the magic smoke out of something precious.
So for future cables fabricated can we get them to be the same as the firmware? Almost second guessed my counting and schematic reading ability with the firmware readout.
Looks like a whole production run has the ribbon cable installed upside down. Having a cable that matches in color to the color codes that come up in the bus pirate menus but is exactly the opposite is an accident waiting to happen!
Made a color coded diagram of the wire configuration
http://kevinmehall.net/s/2011/buspirate.png
I just got mine, and other than the noted issue with color order being reversed from the hints in recent versions of the firmware, it works great (nice length, not too stiff, etc.). The description should be updated to note that you do stock test hooks now.
4 or 5 years later the cable is still backwards.. that kind of sucks.
The pin-out link is broken.
So I get SF bus pirate and cable, come to find out the cable is backwards from the firmware color codes. I would be interested in knowing the reasoning behind this, as I proceed to either cut the shroud or file off the cable key. As I look at ordering probe ends I'll keep the response in mind.
Probably better to take the IDC connector apart, cut the old used section off (5mm or so)and change the wiring appropriately, then just recrimp it in a vice with softjaws. ensuring everything is lines up and square with the connector.
That way you can retain your key and still use the V5 software info.
Mine came with no header pin attached to the orange cable. Was this a defect or done on purpose for some reason?
I am guessing this is a defect which can be easily fixed, since this is the MOSI pin according to JimNarem's post (thank you for the information, very good to know).
I've just recently ordered this cable along with a bus pirate, and found breadboarding with this cable using regular header pins (short on one end, long on the other) to be a pain, since the short end cant be held reliably by neither my breadboard nor these cables. I ordered some header pins that are long on both ends from Digikey (part #S1022E-36-ND) since SF doesn't appear to stock any. Anyway, breadboarding with the longer pins makes things much easier. Now, if SparkFun ever gets around to stocking microhooks, I'd be set :)
Great cable :) only 1 problem... I'm having trouble figuring out which color is which? I'm guessing the black is ground, the white is 3V3, the grey is 5V, purple is ADC, etc...?
Cool... so I've managed to measure 3.3V off the white cable and 5V off the grey, with black connected to ground. :) Can someone please confirm this? Thanks. :)
Do you think you could stock micro hooks too? I have some and they turn out to be way more useful than expected.