exxos's Atari, Amiga & retro forum

I need to plug a ZIF socket into a regular socket soldered on the motherboard. I can't desolder the motherboard socket, everything should be plug-in. The space is pretty tight, so I will probably need a low profile socket.

There seem to be two types of ZIF sockets. One with legs so called "solder pins", the other "solder tails". Any advice what would be better?

Googling about similar situations some people recommend to use an intermediate socket. ZIF socket into regular socket, into soldered socket. I guess it makes sense to a void possible damage to the soldered socket. Which type of socket, regular or precision socket is better here?

For those not familiar with low profile ZIF sockets:
https://www.arieselec.com/product/10018 ... st-socket/

I think this depends on a few things.

A lot of the ZIF sockets are "flat" style pins which will only fit into the "wiper" type sockets. My LLOYDS EPROM programmer does just that. However they are more special sockets.


But those flat pin ZIF sockets will likely damage any existing wiper sockets. So you may not be able to reinsert the original chip any more because it will widen the contacts.

Not sure if there are round pin types, but you would need to turn pin sockets to even attempt to use them.

Additionally the ZIF sockets I have used don't generally align to existing sockets anyway. For example..


That 68K ZIF socket , IIRC, was wider than the actual 68K socket. So if I remember rightly I soldered header pins onto the ZIF to insert into the turned pin socket on the MB.

Having round pin sockets and soldering round header pins to the ZIF socket is likely the "best" "bad" solution. The same can still be done with a wiper socket, but generally round header pins don't contact so well with the wiper sockets.

Alternatively, jamming the ZIF socket into a wiper socket is quick and simple (assuming the ZIF isn't to wide for the socket), also assuming you never want to remove the ZIF socket again. Otherwise the socket will have to be changed.

Ironically I have the same problem. In that on the H5 motherboard there is a GAL which controls the floppy clocks. I have a wiper socket, and a ZIF socket.. Of course if I bought this ZIF socket into the wiper socket on the H5, the ZIF will have to stay there for all time.

exxos wrote: 14 May 2024 15:41 Alternatively, jamming the ZIF socket into a wiper socket is quick and simple (assuming the ZIF isn't to wide for the socket), also assuming you never want to remove the ZIF socket again. Otherwise the socket will have to be changed.

That sounds like a good solution. But can I use an intermediate wiper socket for this purpose? I mean, jam the ZIF socket into a loose wiper socket, and then, in turn, plug the "jammed pair" into the soldered socket. The idea is that I don't mind if the ZIF socket can't be pulled apart from the intermediate wiper socket. But can I still remove the "pair" from the soldered socket, and the soldered socket won't be damaged? Or plugging a socket into another socket is always a one way operation?

A wiper socket in a wiper socket I've found to be not a good idea in general. The wiper socket pins tend to be like half the thickness of a IC leg. Also socket legs tend to be half the length of IC pins. Cheap sockets have legs like tinfoil , they are that bad. It's why I only use 3M sockets as the pins are stronger.

If you can find a socket with longer legs it may work, but I'm not sure such things exist. You tend to end up with like 1mm contact inside the sockets. You could try it it of course, but I've not found it to be a solid fit and quickly given up.

Personally when I needed to do this I made an adapter using proto board and machined pin headers.

The machined pin headers fit into wiper type sockets well enough to make contact but generally don't damage the socket.

The larger pins of the Zif sockets can be too big and/or not long enough for the wiper sockets and either don't fit or cause damage.

So I guess there is no plug-in solution :( Ok, thank you.