I want a temporary connection to my target board, to program it using SBW. I don't want to populate the target board with a connector. I previously used a row of plated through holes and just manually held a row of pin headers jammed at an angle into the holes.
Is there a better solution? Something that clamps or is spring loaded to the board/pads? A female edge connector? A female USB connector? An RJ-45 ethernet connector?
I'm using the EZ430-2013 USB launchpad. I only need four wires. It takes a few tens of seconds to flash the target. The production volume is low (say tens of units.) The target board is only a few square centimeter so I prefer a small footprint for any pads. I prefer to not design the board outline for an edge connector or USB.
It doesn't have to clamp, but my feeling is that spring loading of some sort would be more reliable than my unsteady hand jamming a row of sharp, hard pins into through holes.