Chinesium pin headers - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Urs42
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: December 03, 2019, 12:26:11 pm
content: I got some pin headers from aliexpress, they do look like they are gold plated but i have no idea what sort of material they are made of. Solder does not stick to them, they do repel solder.I mean i would like to buy stuff like that locally, but i do not pay 12.40 for shipping when the item does cost 0.10 per piece....

author: ataradov
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 03, 2019, 05:10:14 pm
content: I once ran into a batch of standard 0.1" pin headers, which were made from some really hard material. My regular side cutters could not cut the pins.I think they are as designed. They are just designed to be soldered by some other process. This happens a lot with various cable connectors. They can't all be bad.I don't even know how you would make such a mistake.

author: Monkeh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 03, 2019, 05:39:16 pm
content: I think I've got some plated steel pin headers in a box somewhere. They work just fine for most applications.I'm not sure what you'd plate them with which resists solder - some genius using TiN, maybe?

author: Bud
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 03, 2019, 05:52:51 pm
content: Bets are it is not gold plating. I' v got a bunch of chinese 'gold plated' SMA connectors which turn black-ish with time. Gold does not oxidize, does it.

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 03, 2019, 06:53:38 pm
content: All that glitters is not gold.Heck, Alibaba even has a special page for this:https://www.alibaba.com/showroom/fake-gold-plated.html(mostly crap jewelry though.)

author: thm_w
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 04, 2019, 02:12:20 am
content: Can you link the item in question? So we can see if it has any positive or negative reviews at all.I have received cheap headers, usually tin plate, with various module PCBs. They need a bit of flux to take solder.If its super cheap I'd be tempted to say silver is going to be a lower risk choice (tin plate or similar).Was really impressed with the nickel plating on these type of connectors:https://lcsc.com/product-detail/RF-Connectors-Coaxial-Connectors_Shenzhen-Kinghelm-Elec-KH-SMA-K514-N_C411576.htmlNickel platehttps://lcsc.com/product-detail/RF-Connectors-Coaxial-Connectors_Shenzhen-Kinghelm-Elec-KH-SMA-K513-G_C411575.htmlGold plate

author: Urs42
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: December 04, 2019, 05:43:15 am
content: Quote from: thm_w on December 04, 2019, 02:12:20 amI thik that i ordered them fromhttps://yanhongdianzhi04.aliexpress.com/store/2633019, the exact item does not exist anymore.I found lcsc some time ago, and i'm now using them for electronic components.Flux does not help with mine :-( The biggest problem is now that i did throw them in to the same box where all the other pin headers are, that sucks :-(

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 04, 2019, 05:35:48 pm
content: Quote from: Urs42 on December 04, 2019, 05:43:15 amTrying to think of what kind of material this could be... Common metals that are hard to solder with conventional means are aluminum and steel. I wonder whether the pins could be just anodized aluminum to give them a "golden" look...See there what golden anodized aluminum can look like:https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/china-factory-cnc-machining-1-1_60807743182.html

author: Urs42
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: December 05, 2019, 05:57:38 am
content: I do not think that they are made out of aluminium and they do not stick to an magnet. I think that they are made of a solid metal, i do not see another metal when i cut one of the pins. It could be that the metal is coated with some substance like oil or lacquer?

author: magic
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 05, 2019, 11:25:28 pm
content: I doubt it's aluminium on the basis that aluminium is too fancy of a metal to waste on bottom of the barrel products and it would still need some plating to look gold.That being said, I once had some "gold" 1/8" jack connectors which turned black after a few months in storage. I too suspect it's some brass/bronze/whatnot.

author: David Hess
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 06, 2019, 05:17:12 pm
content: Some nickel plating, which is used under gold, can be very difficult to impossible to solder. I think this has to do with phosphorous inelectroless nickel plating.Quote from: Bud on December 03, 2019, 05:52:51 pmCould the gold have been plated over tin? That can result inPurple of Cassius. I have run into it with electronics from the 60s and 70s where heavy gold plating was used on boards which were then soldered using normal tin/lead solder. Later when they failed, removing the solder revealed Purple of Cassius where the interface between the solder and gold was.

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 06, 2019, 07:32:55 pm
content: Quote from: magic on December 05, 2019, 11:25:28 pmAluminum too fancy? It's currently cheaper than brass, and by a significant margin. Take a look at the current rates.Unless maybe the "brass" you're using would be a very VERY low-grade one with little copper. But then I guess it would be pretty soft as well...As to making it look golden, I just said how above and gave pictures showing how that looks. Anodizing aluminum in very large volumes would likely still be significantly cheaper than using brass.So, that was a thought for a very low-cost option.One of the metals that are cheaper than aluminum these days is steel (prices have plumetted notably thanks to China), but making steel look golden, would, IMO, be more costly. AFAIK, I don't think steel can be anodized, at least not as simply and as cheap as aluminum can.

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 06, 2019, 07:47:35 pm
content: Could be aluminium bronze, which is an alloy that looks like brass, but which does not in any way accept solder, used to make bushings in most case, as it is a lot cheaper than brass or bronze, but is quite good wear wise. But probably is just a poor grade of brass, and it has a chrome plate on it with gold flash, and chrome, as many who tried to solder those old 1980's switches and phono plugs can attest to, does not solder at all, though it does look very shiny.

author: David Hess
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 06, 2019, 08:33:18 pm
content: Quote from: SiliconWizard on December 06, 2019, 07:32:55 pmYellow zinc plating on steel can look golden.

author: sleemanj
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 06, 2019, 09:35:42 pm
content: Sand a pin, see if solder sticks, or if it looks differentCrank the temperature up, see if solder sticksTake a pin out of the housing and hold the iron to it until it is entirely at the same temperature, melt solder on the pin instead of on iron joint, and see if it takesRemove a pin and lie flat, put a drop of vegetable oil on it, use a pin or something to scrape the surface under the oil drop, attempt to solder to the scraped surface *through* the oil drop - idea being to see if pin is forming an impervious oxide layer in comtact with air.Use a neodymium magnet to check if the pins are weakly magnetic (could indicate nickel aluminium bronze?).

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 06, 2019, 09:54:36 pm
content: Sanding them would definitely help seeing what it could be... like, if it's brass, I don't think the golden color should vanish. If it's not...

author: GeorgeOfTheJungle
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 07, 2019, 12:19:30 am
content: That's weird. What use do these have if it can't be soldered?

author: TomS_
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 07, 2019, 08:25:40 am
content: Quote from: GeorgeOfTheJungle on December 07, 2019, 12:19:30 amMaking the seller money.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 08, 2020, 06:15:50 pm
content: Quote from: Urs42 on December 03, 2019, 12:26:11 pmI ran into those a few years ago. Impossible to solder.As far as eBay/Ali, I've had much better luck with non-"gold" headers, as well as with the machined headers.What drives me nuts about the local vendors isn't the shipping (I can usually find stuff to pad the order for free shipping), but rather that the cost for headers is absurd! I'm not paying 3 francs for a single stupid 40-pin header!