Summary

• XG31 to 0.1" pin header
• Red/black pair
• 50cm of 20AWG silicone wire

What is it?

This little probe cable connects a standard 0.1" 2-pin header socket to a pair of E-Z-Hook XG31 "Micro Lock Hook" probes. These are not the grabber hooks, but instead they provide a pin that it easy to connect into a plated through-hole on a PCB, such as on an unpopulated PCB header hole. This makes it ideal for supplying power to a board under construction, perhaps for test or debugging purposes, before its final connector is assembled in place. Because the pin simply pokes through the hole, rather than grabbing around the edge of the PCB, it isn't limited to only connecting at the edge of the board, but can be installed anywhere on it.

The header socket and pins are connected by approximately 50cm of 20AWG silicone-coated flexible cable of the sort found on decent multimeter probes and the like. As these are custom-made I can make a longer cable if required.

Why did you make it?

This link cable makes it easy to temporarily power up a board during testing and development. The 2-pin header socket is designed to make it easy to use with my Oscilloscope Current Probe Adapter or Oscilloscope Current Probe Plus.

What makes it special?

Unlike the regular grabber hooks, this link cable uses the E-Z-Hook XG series "micro lock hook" probes. To quote E-Z-Hook themselves:

The E-Z-Micro-Lock XG series test connectors are designed to slip into plated through PC board test point holes and lock onto the board freeing your hands and providing a safe, sure, short-free test connection.