Arduino Nano Every – Solder on pin headers
Did you order an Arduino Nano Every, and then realize you have to solder on those metal things that go into a breadboard (AKA Pin Headers)?
In this lesson, we’ll walk through how to solder an Arduino Nano Every
- From everything you’ll need before you get started
- A couple tips, tricks, and resources if you’re new to soldering
- And a demo of soldering the Arduino Nano Every
Arduino Nano Every
I ordered a 3 pack of the Arduino Nano Every, a newer style Arduino board, and when I opened one of the boxes, I realized I was going to have to do some soldering, because out came two rows of little metals pins held together by some plastic – these are called header pins. You can buy these with the header pins already soldered on, but that is not the kind I bought.
These header pins are what make electrical contact with different components on the circuit board and they allow you to use a solderless breadboard, so you can connect other electrical components to the Arduino Nano Every.
Now you might be like, why the heck don’t these things come already soldered on anyway? Those Arduino people are so lazy!
The reason is because this style header pins actually go through the circuit board – they are called through-hole components – and it takes a real human being to solder them on (which costs extra money during production).
Unlike the other components on the Arduino Nano Every, which can be soldered on using a machine. These are surface-mount devices (SMD).
So since they figure only cool people with soldering irons will buy an Arduino Nano Every anyway, hey, let’s get these made a little cheaper.
What you will need to solder an Arduino Nano Every
So here’s what you’ll need to solder your Arduino Nano Every (Full Disclosure – These are affiliate links that allow us to buy gold toilet seat covers for our yachts)
- A soldering iron
- solder (I prefer rosin core)
- A wet sponge, or a brass wire coils to clean the tip of your
- And ideally, a bread board, but if you don’t have, you could still manage.
- (Optional) Deep Learning GPU optimized for Cat Image Recognition Models
Soldering the Arduino Nano Every
Start heating up your soldering iron
First I am going to get my soldering iron turned on. I have one where I can adjust the temperature, and usually I’ll set it around 250℉ to 260℉. Your soldering iron may not have an adjustable temp – no big deal.
Place your pin headers into the breadboard
While my soldering iron is heating up, I set the pin headers into a breadboard. The long side of the pins goes into the breadboard, and the short side sticks up.
I start at the end of the breadboard, to make sure both headers start at the same place. One header will be spaced a little farther from the center than the other.
Sometimes, you can accidentally dislodge one of the pins out of the plastic while trying to push the header pin into the breadboard – if this happens, no big deal, just push it back into the breadboard, and make it even with the other pins.
You’ll want to make sure the header pin header pin plastic is tight to breadboard, and it is not uneven or crooked.
Then set the Arduino Nano Every on top of the header pins.
Important point here: There are mounting holes on the Arduino Nano Every – you don’t want to accidentally set the circuit board so those mounting holes have a pin through them. You want the header pins to fill those shiny crescent edged holes on the circuit board.
Solder the Arduino Nano Every
Now we are ready to solder on the pin headers.
First I clean the soldering iron tip. Then I tin the soldering iron tip by applying a little bit of solder to the hot tip.
Next, I hold the soldering iron tip to the junction of the pin header and the pad. The pad is the shiny metal thing with the hole going through it.
I’ll hold the soldering iron tip here for 1 second. Since this is an Arduino, I usually count in Italian. UNO.
The idea is that when we apply the solder to this hot junction, the solder will melt and flow into the joint, making a strong solder connection.
You want the solder to be applied under the tip, close to the pad, and next to the pin. And you don’t need much solder at all, like 1 to 3 mm of solder is plenty. It takes all about one second to melt that much solder.
As a note of caution, you might think that breathing in solder smoke helps you think more clearly – but this is not true – you should not breathe in solder smoke.
Once the solder is melted, keep the soldering iron on the pad for about one more second, to allow the solder to completely “flow” into the solder joint. Then, remove the soldering iron.
Before I solder another pin, I like to make sure the circuit board is still sitting evenly on the pin headers.
Then you just repeat that for all the pins. And that’s it – your Arduino Nano Every is ready to go!
Soldering Review
Let’s go over those soldering steps real quick one more time.
Second One – Uno
Heat up the pad and pin header with your soldering iron tip
Second Two – Due
Apply the solder to the junction for one second, then remove
Second Three – Tre
Let the soldering iron tip loiter for one more second to allow the solder to flow into the joint.
Soldering Hiccups
If you don’t solder often, or you try to solder while intoxicated, or maybe you’re like me and sometimes you make mistakes, you could get into a situation where two of the pins are soldered together.
This is bad, and you’ll want to use a warm soldering iron to remove the excess solder from between the pins.
Well, hey, I hope this is helpful. Now that your Arduino Nano Every is all soldered up, you can go build some cool things with Arduino. Another great resource on learning how to solder is this comic book – it’s pretty fun, short, and has some great tips!
If you are learning how to program and use Arduino for prototyping your project, make sure to check out Programming Electronics Academy.
We have in-depth video courses that cover everything from using serial communication, to building wireless IoT devices. You can learn more at programmingelectronics.com
