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Masatoshi Nishiguchi
Masatoshi Nishiguchi

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How to fix SparkFun Qwiic SHIM for Raspberry Pi

I love Raspberry Pi with the Qwiic connect system for playing with I2C devices. I've been using SparkFun Qwiic HAT for Raspberry Pi in a while and I have no issue. It is nice and easy. So this time I wanted to try SparkFun Qwiic SHIM for Raspberry Pi, but it was disappointedly unusable. I will talk about how I fixed it.

Excitement

More than the low price (US$1), I was very curious about how the catalog described the product.

  • a small
  • easily removable
  • allows you to plug directly to the Pi's I2C bus with no soldering required
  • uses a unique friction-based connector that wedges itself onto the GPIO header for a secure, solderless connection

Particularly the word "friction-based" intriegued me and I was excited about using it.

Disappointment

But as soon as it arrived, I was disappointed.
There is no friction at all. The connection is so flaky that it is almost unusable.

Fix

So I decided to fix it. I wanted to make the Qwiic SHIM as reliable as the Qwiic HAT. Thankfully it worked out. Here is what I did.

Extras

Tools

  • Solder iron
  • Solder wire
  • STANLEY 10-499 Gray,Carbon Steel Utility Knife
  • Sandpaper or nail file

How-to

  • Cut the GPIO Header in a way one end has 6 pins.
  • Clean the edge with a knife and a sandpaper
  • Solder

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Now the connection is just as tight as Qwiic HAT!

Final thoughts

It is pretty disappointing that the catalog description is misleading. If one really does not want to solder, s/he should get a Qwiic HAT in the first place. I am hoping this informs somebody.

Top comments (1)

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JeffPHenry • Edited

just saw this, thought you may want one. Its a qwiic shim alternative type thingy. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08LMC4FP9/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1