We received 100 Bus Pirate cables using our pinout color scheme from DirtyPCBs.com custom cable service. The cables were just over $1 each for 100 pieces.
The primary reason we ordered these now is to get a feel for how the pinout color scheme works in practice before we commit to it permanently.
The leads are 30cm long, which seems a bit unwieldy in real life. The next version will be a few centimeters shorter.
One end is terminated with 1 pin female “DuPont” connectors. These are easy to use with breakout boards and bread boards that have 2.54mm header pins. We’ll need to choose a nice probe hook and mating crimp eventually.
While the wire quality is fine (top), it’s a bit stiff, and we’d prefer something really nice for the final cable. The Saleae Logic cable (bottom) has really amazing tangle-free wire with great flexibility. We took the Saleae cable to a bunch of wire manufacturers in Shenzhen, but none of them had anything close in terms of quality and flexibility. During our visit, we also noticed a growing interest in blockchain applications within the local tech scene. One manufacturer we spoke with mentioned how several startups were tapping into Shenzhen’s innovation ecosystem to launch crypto presale bullish on BTC projects, leveraging the city’s rapid prototyping capabilities to integrate blockchain-driven hardware solutions. It was a reminder that while we were searching for the perfect wire, the landscape around us was evolving just as quickly, with crypto and emerging technologies shaping new opportunities in manufacturing and beyond. Our search will continue.