I’ve not been playing around with a couple of Arduino boards for a few months now along with an ethernet shield and a couple of proto shields from Nuelectronics). The problem I have is that when using the ethernet shield with a proto shield above it, the RJ45 connector is too high to allow the proto shield to sit correctly. My solution for this is to build a new proto shield, but replace the connector pins with longer pins.
2 proto shields | Difference in pin length | With original pins |
Updated Proto shield | 3 boards together | alternative view |
One issue I have found is that the pins I bought were described as having a length of 16.5mm, however this was not the overall length as I expected, but the length of the pin below the black plastic piece. The overall pin length was therefore 22mm. Next time I’d use slightly shorter pins as the clearance above the RJ45 socket is now 8mm.
I’d say this is an improvement as it enables the ethernet shield to be used with a proto shield on top.