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14.3.2.2 “Two orientations” of right-angle strips Leave a comment
Often, people think that a right-angle, through-hole pin header comes in two different versions: with a vertical housing (between the bend and the PCB, **fig. 14.18a**) or a horizontal housing (between the mating end and the bend, **fig. 14.18b**). When mounted on a PCB, a horizontal one has a lower profile than a vertical one (**fig. 14.18c**). So they ask why vendors do not specify one versus the other one.
The reason is that there is only one version: vertical housing. When you see one with the horizontal housing, it’s because it was mounted backwards: the mating pins were soldered to the PCB, leaving the PCB pins available for mating to the female. How do I know that? By looking at gold-plated headers. If only the mating end is gold-plated (it makes no sense to waste gold on PCB pins), the plastic housing is between the gold-plate ends (mating) and the 90° bend in the pins. Therefore, the plastic housing is always vertical. The difference is not the housing. The difference is the lengths of the pins. One has long mating pins (**fig. 14.18d**), and the other has long solder pins (**fig. 14.18e**). Both were meant to be installed with the housing directly against the PCB. The difference is the length of the pins (**fig. 14.18f**).
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[ Figure 14.18 Orientations of right-angle strip: a) Vertical housing; b) Horizontal housing; c) Installed; d) Long mating side; e) Long solder side; f) Installed. ](https://preview.redd.it/awg7vgunptq91.jpg?width=676&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=63dff96c25998e4c28415e05e1f6a666beee9d97)