Can you put gpio headers on backwards?

[shadowo]

Im a newb and i need help finding out if i can fry my board by messing up the header orientation.

[davidcoton]

Adding a connector wrongly won't cause ang harm by itself. (Pi0 (not WH) only).
You may break both Pi and HAT or other circuits when you try to connect something to a wrongly orientated connector, or plug a cable in wrongly.

If in doubt, post photos and ask.

[B.Goode]

Welcome to the Raspberry Pi forums.

Im a newb and i need help finding out if i can fry my board by messing up the header orientation.

Is this an RPi Zero board to which you plan to solder your own pin headers?

The strip of header pins is probably just a 2x20 assembly. All the pins are physically and electrically identical - there is no orientation. But you will make life 'interesting' if you fit them upside down or to the wrong face of the board.

But if you are referring to making connections to a prefitted header on any model of board, including an RPiZeroWH, then YES you can fry your board by making connections to it if you have misunderstood the header orientation.

Extension boards, such as HATs, which have a mating 40-way connector have only one correct way of installation and electrical damage to your RPi may result if you fit them reversed or 'off by one'.


See https://pinout.xyz/

[LTolledo]

your "backwards" means "facing down"?

it can be done on the RPiZero and RPiZeroW as one has to solder (or, hammer in) a GPIO header
below is an example that I made with the RPiZeroW
you'll notice that on the left, the pHAT DAC is mounted on top, this is the "normal" method
on the right, the pHAT DAC is mounted at the bottom, which is the "unusual" method, but still works fine.

RPi HiFi sources.jpg (224.4 KiB) Viewed 505 times

[shadowo]

I mean like if can you put a header on like this but you turn the juice box 180 degrees

[trejan]

I mean like if can you put a header on like this but you turn the juice box 180 degrees

No. You can't reverse the orientation of the HAT like that. You'll short out your PSU as 5V and ground will be connected together.

[B.Goode]

I mean like if can you put a header on like this but you turn the juice box 180 degrees

If the juice box is the card on top of the RPi board then your question is answered by my earlier reply:

Extension boards, such as HATs, which have a mating 40-way connector have only one correct way of installation and electrical damage to your RPi may result if you fit them reversed or 'off by one'.

I even provided a link to documentation that would allow you to confirm for yourself - See https://pinout.xyz/

[LTolledo]

I mean like if can you put a header on like this but you turn the juice box 180 degrees

its possible if you can make your own GPIO transpose header adapter,
if not, stick with the norms.