Testing Pi Zero Without Soldering Header

This instructables show how to test the Raspberry Pi Zero GPIO without soldering the pin header.

Raspberry Pi Zero is very thin, only around 5mm thick. It can fit for many small projects with a thin box. e.g. I would like to build a Pi Zero version of sweet box game console similar to my previous project:

https://www.instructables.com/id/Arduino-MINTIA-Gam...

It is hard for development process without GPIO pin header. Soldering pin headers is easy but it cannot fit to a thin sweet box with pin header. It is very hard to de-soldering after development stage and very easy to break the board. Pi Zero is a $5 board but it still a rare product, so it need special care for this board.

• Raspberry Pi Zero
• 2x20 pin header

Put the pin header into the Pi Zero pin hole. The Pi Zero board down side is flat, but the pin header make some protruding. Use a plier to adjust one side pin header protruding to the board level.

Take out the pin header, use a plier bend the other side pin header a little bit outside.

Put back the pin header into the Pi Zero board, the bent side near the board edge. Use a plier to adjust the remain pin header protruding to the board level. After the adjustment, you can see the pin header fit on the board and each pin header can touch the board. You may double check the pin contact by a multimeter.

The Pi Zero is ready for testing.

I will post other instructables for testing the LCD and game console buttons in the future.

After the development stage, it is time to do the real soldering work. Take some force push the pin header from inside to the edge side, then the pin header detached. You can reverse this step to re-attach the pin header.