ATtiny85 programming adapter

I've been playing with the my ATtiny85 and have been enjoying it. However, programming it can be a pain, because I have to break out the jumper wires and the datasheet to figure out which wires go where. This got annoying quick, so I got to problem solving.

This was the result. It simply plugs into my breadboard on top of the ATtiny and then rearranges the pins into a convenient 6-pin connector for my USBtinyISP. It works pretty well. I wanted to make a full Arduino style breakout board for it but had two things inhibiting that.

This stuff is junk.

One, my female headers haven't come in yet. They are in the mail, so maybe I will do that someday. Two, the cheap perfboard that I bought is cheap. It only has contacts on one side. I struggled working with it for a while. When I pulled a pad off of one contact, I gave up and got the good stuff. I switched to the stuff from HobbyKing. Now on to making your own
.

What you'll need

• Male headers- specifically you'll need 14 pins
• Protoboard- I used THIS stuff and it worked great. Perfect size too.
• Wire- I used some stuff I had around. I believe it is called Kynar.

Step One: Cut the board to length. I needed a grid that was 6 x 7. However, when I switched to the HK protoboard, it was close to the size, so I used that.

Step Two: Solder on the male headers that plug into the ATtiny. It is simplest to plug it into a breadboard while you do this so that you know it will be straight and fit in the sockets.

Step Three: Solder on the male headers that plug into the USBtinyISP. I did the same thing as above and just flipped it over and soldered it in the breadboard.

Step Four: Connect the dots. This takes a little ingenuity on your part. I put the side with the RESET and GND pins on the left so that most of the pins were fairly straghtfoward. Be sure to mark it so you know which way to plug in the cable. The important thing is that   they a) go to the right places b) don't go to the wrong places and c) don't go where the ATtiny will physically be when this thing sits on top of it.

Step Five: Ring it out. Now you go through EVERY pin on the thing and make sure it goes where its supposed to (see the above charts). Next you go through EVERY pin and make sure it doesn't short out anywhere or do anything else harmful. I will not be responsible for any fried chips but my own.

Not pressed down

Now go test it out. I found it quite a bit more convenient than breaking out the charts and jumper wires every time. It's also less prone to errors. I will mention that you may need to unplug other things when loading code. Example, I had a servo plugged into pin 1 and tried to load code. The servo jumped around and the code didn't load right. Also, it probably would not be good to hook it up when the chip is under power. I don't know that for a fact but call it intuition.

Here are some more pictures in case its fuzzy just how this thing is connecting to the ATtiny. It sits on top of it.

It place and ready to go.

Well that's all I have.  I hope you find this useful. Have fun in all your endeavors

 -Matthew