Connecting loads of wires?

[sourcedog]

So yea, I'm a total newb Working on my first ever real electronics project (a 16x40 led matrix display) due to some, let's say, non-existant planning (hey, how hard can it be, right? ) I'm left with a problem consisting of 160 wires that want to be connected from the led board to the board housing the max chips. There's not really space for connectors on either board, so yea, welcome to wiring hell

I don't really want to desolder and rearrange everything, so I'm hoping to find a usable way to connect all the wires of each 8x8 to the respective max chip via some easy to use connection. So I could do with some nice, easy to use ideas Next time I'll plan ahead instead of just jumping straight into it, heh. Learn from your mistakes

[uwezi]

No space for connectors you say?

Otherwise my experience and recommendation would be to go for IDC connectors and flat cables. Depending on the layout you could bundle e.g. the 16 cables of each 8x8 in a single 2x8 pinhead connector on either side and then use press-on connectors and a 16-wire flat ribbon cable in between.

I use such an arrangement to connect the 3x 40 wires in a measurement setup between a terminal bar on one side and an Agilent 34970A Data Acquisition Unit.

[Psi]

Coloured ribbon cable can make things easier

[uwezi]

Coloured ribbon cable can make things easier

That's exactly what I used in my setup - to be more precise: colored, rolled up ribbon cable - for a newbie it's a good way to learn the resistor color code at the same time