GPIO availability on Monsterborg

I want to add a few sensors such as an ultrasonic range finder on my Monsterborg, however it seems that the GPIO pins are inaccessible. Is there a way to make them usable? Thanks!

piborg's picture

If you only need access to a few pins probably the best thing to use would be some female to male jumper wires.

It may be a bit of a squeeze getting them to fit, be careful not to trap the wires on any of the other GPIO pins.

Thanks. Did you mean attaching the jumper wires before putting the Thunderborg on?

piborg's picture

That is right, attach the jumper wires first and then carefully fit the ThunderBorg on top :)

Thanks! I'll give it a try. I also wonder if these "double row right angle female pin headers" https://www.amazon.com/2-54mm-Pitch-Right-Female-Headers/dp/B00899WMEQ will work.

piborg's picture

Logically that would work, but it probably would not fit. Anything which makes the mounting distance between the Raspberry Pi and the ThunderBorg larger will make the batteries closer to the ground, reducing the overall ground clearance of the MonsterBorg.

Or reposition the Thunderborg? In one of the build guides I seem to recall seeing something about using patch leads between the Pi and the Thunderborg.
I am not keen on the position of the Pi andwill be looking at repositioning it to gain better access to the UBS ports. I also need to access the GPIO ports. My initial thoughts are a longer camera cable and drill some extra holes in the chassis.
I only received the MonsterBorg yesterday and it looks fantastic but everyone has different requirements, it’s part of our human nature.

I couldn't find what these pins marked in red on the photo of the Thunderborg are. Since the RaspberryPi is connected to 6 GPIO pins I guess these are the same as on the RaspberryPi (3.3VDC, GPIO8 SDA1, GPIO9 SCL1, 2x5.0 VDC, Ground) , so can I use them to connect sensors to it? I need to use GPIO8 and GPIO9, 5.0VDC and GROUND).

Images: 
piborg's picture

Yes, those pins connect to the first 6 pins on the GPIO header so they can be accessed for other devices that need power and/or I2C.

The pins are arranged like this:

perfect, thank you!

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