electronics Electronics is a scientific and engineering discipline that studies and applies the principles of physics to design, create, and operate devices that manipulate electrons and other Electric charge, electrically charged particles. It is a subfield ...

, a pinout (sometimes written "pin-out") is a cross-reference between the contacts, or ''pins'', of an

electrical connector Components of an electrical circuit are electrically connected if an electric current can run between them through an electrical conductor. An electrical connector is an electromechanical device used to create an electrical connection between ...

electronic component An electronic component is any basic discrete electronic device or physical entity part of an electronic system used to affect electrons or their associated fields. Electronic components are mostly industrial products, available in a singula ...

, and their functions. "Pinout" now supersedes the term "basing diagram" which was the standard terminology used by the manufacturers of

vacuum tubes A vacuum tube, electron tube, thermionic valve (British usage), or tube (North America) is a device that controls electric current flow in a high vacuum between electrodes to which an electric voltage, potential difference has been applied. It ...

and the Radio Manufacturers Association (RMA). The RMA started its standardization in 1934, collecting and correlating tube data for registration at what was to become the

Electronic Industries Alliance The Electronic Industries Alliance (EIA; until 1997 Electronic Industries Association) was an American standards organization, standards and trade organization composed as an alliance of trade associations for electronics manufacturers in the ...

(EIA), which now has many sectors reporting to it and sets what is known as

EIA standards This is a list of American Electronic Industries Alliance (EIA) Standards. The EIA ceased operations on February 11, 2011, but the former sectors continue to serve the constituencies of EIA. EIA designated ECA to continue to develop standards f ...

where all registered pinouts and registered jacks can be found.

Purpose

The functions of contacts in electrical connectors, be they power- or signaling-related, must be specified for connectors to be interchangeable. Each connector contact must mate with the contact on the other connector with the same function. If contacts of disparate functions are allowed to make contact, the connection may fail, and damage may result. Therefore, pinouts are a vital reference when building and testing connectors, cables, and adapters. Suppose one has specified wires within a cable (for instance, the colored Ethernet cable wires in ANSI/TIA-568 T568A). In that case, the order in which different color wires are attached to pins of an

defines the wiring scheme. In any multi-pin connector, there are multiple ways to map wires to pins, so different configurations may be created that superficially look identical but function differently. Pinouts define these configurations. Many connectors have multiple standard pinouts in use for different manufacturers or applications.

Terminology

While one usage of the word ''pin'' is to refer to electrical contacts of, specifically, the male

gender Gender is the range of social, psychological, cultural, and behavioral aspects of being a man (or boy), woman (or girl), or third gender. Although gender often corresponds to sex, a transgender person may identify with a gender other tha ...

, its usage in ''pinout'' does not imply gender: the contact-to-function cross-reference for a connector that has only female socket contacts is still called a ''pinout''.

Representation

The pinout can typically be shown as a table or diagram. However, it is necessary to clarify how to view the diagram, stating if it shows the backside of the connector (where wires are attached) or the "mating face" of the connector. Published pinouts, which are particularly important when different manufacturers want to interconnect their products using

open standards An open standard is a standard that is openly accessible and usable by anyone. It is also a common prerequisite that open standards use an open license that provides for extensibility. Typically, anybody can participate in their development due to ...

, are typically provided by the connector or equipment manufacturer. However, some pinouts are provided by 3rd parties since the manufacturer does not well document some connectors. While repairing electronic devices, an electronics technician uses

electronic test equipment Electronic test equipment is used to create signals and capture responses from electronic devices under test (DUTs). In this way, the proper operation of the DUT can be proven or faults in the device can be traced. Use of electronic test equipme ...

to "pin out" each component on a PCB. The technician probes each pin of the component in turn, comparing the expected signal on each pin to the actual signal on that pin.

Example pinouts

USB pinout

Viewed from the front (outside) of Female Type A USB receptacle: USB Type-A receptacle White

# +5V (Red) # −Data (White) # +Data (Green) # GND (Black)

PS/2 pinout

4017 decade counter

LM741 operational amplifier

References

External links

{{commons category, Electronic diagrams
Crossover search of pinouts at pinout.net

Pinouts of hardware connectors with a description of common interfaces at PinoutGuide.com

Pinouts (pin-out)
- Historical Pinouts collection
74xxx and 40xx (pin-outs)
- Pinouts collection
Pin Configuration of ICs and semiconductors (pin-outs)
- Pinouts collection Electrical connectors fr:Boîtier de circuit intégré#Brochage