The wiring portion of this guide is documented as an instruction course video. Watch and follow along to proceed with the build.

The voiceover transcript is available below.

We’ll start by assembling the headers on the Adafruit Feather and Prop-Maker

Insert the strip of male headers into the row of pins on the outer edge of the PCB.

I like to use a breadboard to help keep the headers straight. Just be sure to line up them up properly.

With the headers now place we can solder all of the pins. If you’re new to this, be sure to check out Adafruit’s guide to excellent soldering.

Once all of the pins have been soldered, you can remove the PCB and double check to make sure they have enough solder.

Next we can install the female header on top of the Feather Express.

To help with installing the headers, we’ll use the FeatherWing– Just snap it top and this will help keep the female headers in place while we solder.

I like to use a PCB vise – This helps keep it in place so it doesn’t move around. The stick vise is nice because it lets you clamp it down.

With the PCB secured we can add solder to install the female headers.

When soldering, you want to heat up both the pad and the lead and then add solder. Once applied, remove the solder but keep the iron still on the joint a bit and then remove the iron.

Once we’re done soldering, remove the PCB and inspect the joints – you’ll want to make sure there’s enough solder and no cold joints.

We’ll use a 4-pin JST cable to connect the LED to the PropMaker.

Since it’s an RGB leds it’ll need four wired connections.

Third helping hands keep the PCB in place while we solder up the wires.

For more grip we put pieces of heat shrink tubing on the little grabbers.

Once it’s in a good spot we can tin the pads by adding a bit of solder.

You’ll need to be quick about it because the aluminum backing dissipates heat making it a bit tricky.

Next we can plan out the wired connections before soldering to the pads.

Here I’m connecting the white wire to the blue pad. Green wire to the green pad. Red wire to the red pad. Then connecting the black wire to the common anode. Be sure to check the joints. These need to be pretty solid. I did this a couple of times before getting good connections.

We’ll use a 2-pin JST cable to connect the toggle switch to the PropMaker.

Use wire cutters and shorten the cable. We’ll need these two cables for their JST connectors.

We’ll solder one of these JST cables to the toggle switch.

Using wire strippers, remove a bit of insulation from the wires.

Tin the exposed wire by adding a bit of solder. This will prevent the strands of wires from fraying.

Now we can connect the cable to the leads on the toggle switch.

Helping hands will keep the switch sturdy while soldering the wires.

Add a bit of solder to the leads first then we can get the wire connected.

Make sure to connect the middle lead and then one of the other leads on either side.

Double check your wiring and make sure the connections are solid.

Next we’ll connect the other JST cable to the Propmaker FeatherWing.

I’ll start by securing the PCB to the stickvise with the bottom side facing up.

Add a bit of solder to tin the enable and ground pins.

Now we can connect the two wires from the cable. Polarity doesn’t matter as long as both pins are wired.

With it connected to the enable and ground pins, the toggle switch can cut the power.

This JST cable is positioned to go in between the Feather and FeatherWing.

Next we’ll connect a 4-pin JST cable to the PropMaker. This will connect to the 3W RGB LED.

The connectors snap together and make the assembly much easier.

I’ll fit the PCB back onto the stickvise bottom side up.

Then tin the RGB LED pads on the Propmaker.

We’ll need to match the connections with the wiring on the 3W RGB LED.

Double check the wired connections and make sure the joints are solid.

Now we can snap the PropMaker on top of the Feather.

Go ahead and plug in the LED and toggle switch to the Propmaker using the JST cables.

This mini oval speaker connects directly to the speaker port.

We can also plug in the lipo battery to the Feather.

Once the code is uploaded, we can test out the circuit and make sure everything works.

This guide was first published on Jun 19, 2019. It was last updated on Mar 29, 2024.

This page (Wiring) was last updated on Mar 08, 2024.

Text editor powered by tinymce.