Archive of the former Yahoo!Groups mailing list: Homebrew PCBs

I'm making my first PCB for a thermostat for
an electric heater.   I need to connect the
electronics to several outside components:

  - a thermistor that goes in the oven
  - an thermal fuse to shut off power if it gets too hot
  - battery power & ground
  - 3-conductor connector to an external solid-state relay

I plan to use pin headers and matching sockets for each of
these four connections.    For each of these four connections,
what criteria should I use to determine whether to put the
pin header on the PCB and the matching socket on the connect-
ing cable, or vice versa ?

The thermostat itself and the SSR will fit into a plastic box that
also contains the battery.    So my question pertains to orient-
ing the headers/sockets inside the plastic box.   None of
the connections will ever be disconnected without first removing
four retaining screws from the lid of the plastic box.