What connectors do you recommend?

ESPHome
1

Dupont connectors seem fine for prototyping/experimenting, but not so suitable for permanent settings:

  1. Splitting GND and Voltage pins to several sensors/boards requires soldering anyway, so the dupont pin is useless
  2. They come off easily, especially when used individually - as the relevant pins are scattered around the boards (I use nodemcu devkits)
  3. Premade wires are often too short, and if I am to terminate my own, longer wires, why not use a better connector.
  4. Soldering wires directly to the board makes it more compact and flexible.

The ESP-01s board is nice for projects with only one sensor, since the breakout board can be soldered to the final location, and the ESP is detachable. The ESP8266 and the single sensor are thus always detachable. But for projects with several sensors I need a board with more GPIO’s, more GND/VCC pins, and without some good connector-solution, the only practical way is to solder everything. But that isn’t good, as any change requires soldering in awkward places (like on top of my ventilation machine).

It seems to me that at least two viable solutions are:

  1. to solder wires to the board, and terminate them with wire-to-wire connectors; one connector per sensor. This allows to easily split GND/VCC and to easily combine the scattered pins into one compact connector.
  2. to replace the dupont pins with screw terminals soldered onto the board.

What would you recommend? What is a good wire-to-wire connector that is compatible with popular products? Is there a connector type that has both board-to-wire and wire-to-wire connectors?

2

Solder directly.

If I expect to need to remove or alter any cabling I will still solder wires to the ESP board but on the other end use Wago lever nuts.

Or for permanent install that require connection to something in-situ I’ll use 3M Scotchlok connectors. Way easier than soldering when upside down under the house.