How to use a solderless Arduino breadboard. Development boards
The one that gave birth to the holivar in the comments. Many Arduino supporters, according to them, just want to assemble something like flashing LEDs in order to diversify their leisure time and play around. At the same time, they don’t want to bother with etching boards and soldering. As one of the alternatives, my friend mentioned the “Connoisseur” designer, but its capabilities are limited by the set of parts included in the kit, and the designer is still for children. I want to offer another alternative - the so-called Breadboard, a breadboard for mounting without soldering.
Be careful, there are a lot of photos.
What is it and what is it eaten with?
The main purpose of such a board is the design and debugging of prototypes various devices. Consists of this device from socket holes with a pitch of 2.54 mm (0.1 inches), it is with this pitch (or a multiple of it) that the pins are located on most modern radio components (SMD does not count). There are breadboards various sizes, but in most cases they consist of the following identical blocks:The electrical connection diagram of the sockets is shown in the right figure: five holes on each side, in each of the rows (in in this case 30) are electrically connected to each other. On the left and right there are two power lines: here all the holes in the column are connected to each other. The slot in the middle is designed for installation and convenient removal of chips in DIP packages. To assemble the circuit, radio components and jumpers are inserted into the holes, since I received the board without factory jumpers - I made them from metal paper clips, and small ones (for connecting adjacent sockets) from staples.
It may seem that the larger the board, the greater its functionality, but this is not entirely true. There is a very small chance that someone (especially a beginner) will assemble a device that will occupy all segments of the board; here are several devices at the same time - yes. For example, here I assembled an electronic ignition on a microcontroller, a transistor-based multivibrator and a frequency generator for an LC meter:
So what can you do about it?
To justify the title of the article, I will present several devices. A description of what needs to be inserted and where will be in the images.Necessary parts
![](https://i1.wp.com/habrastorage.org/storage2/f1d/2ce/ec3/f1d2ceec3f9721c29ed1d10c1fc35cf5.jpg)
In order to assemble one of the circuits described below, you will need the Breadboard type breadboard itself and a set of jumpers. In addition, it is advisable to have a suitable power source, in the simplest case - a battery(s); for the convenience of connecting it (them), it is recommended to use a special container. You can also use a power supply, but in this case you need to be careful and try not to burn anything, since a power supply costs much more than batteries. The remaining details will be given in the description of the circuit itself.
LED connection
One of the simplest designs. On circuit diagrams depicted like this:![](https://i2.wp.com/habrastorage.org/storage2/eb1/fc1/114/eb1fc111475307524f6b561fa7dd354a.gif)
The parts you will need are: a low-power LED, any 300 Ohm-1 kOhm resistor and a 4.5-5 V power supply. In my case, the resistor is a powerful Soviet one (the first one that came to hand) at 430 Ohm (as evidenced by the inscription K43 on the resistor itself), and as a power source - 3 AA batteries in a container: total 1.5V * 3 = 4, 5V.
On the board it looks like this:
![](https://i0.wp.com/habrastorage.org/storage2/d38/235/884/d38235884512702cf778c617ae788422.jpg)
The batteries are connected to the red (+) and black (-) terminals from which jumpers extend to the power lines. Then a resistor is connected from the negative line to sockets No. 18, on the other side an LED is connected to the same sockets with the cathode (short leg). The LED anode is connected to the positive line. I won’t go into the principle of operation of the circuit and explain Ohm’s law - if you just want to play around, then this is not necessary, but if you are still interested, then you can.
Linear voltage stabilizer
This may be a rather abrupt transition - from LEDs to microcircuits, but in terms of implementation, I don’t see any difficulties.So, there is such a microcircuit LM7805 (or simply 7805), any voltage from 7.5V to 25V is supplied to its input, and the output is 5V. There are others, for example, microcircuit 7812 - 12V. Here is her connection diagram:
![](https://i2.wp.com/habrastorage.org/storage2/a60/875/a86/a60875a86508259ad184480a81003b81.gif)
Capacitors are used to stabilize the voltage and can be omitted if desired. This is what it looks like in real life:
![](https://i1.wp.com/habrastorage.org/storage2/1dc/df4/c2f/1dcdf4c2f233c3d573a4795bcb20fe58.jpg)
And close up:
![](https://i2.wp.com/habrastorage.org/storage2/7b9/b63/05e/7b9b6305e24f6c4a80de49b81c70a74b.jpg)
The numbering of the microcircuit pins goes from left to right when looking at it from the marking side. In the photo, the numbering of the microcircuit pins coincides with the numbering of the bradboard connectors. The red terminal (+) is connected to the 1st leg of the microcircuit - input. The black terminal (-) is directly connected to the negative power line. The middle leg of the microcircuit (Common, GND) is also connected to the negative line, and the 3rd leg (Output) to the positive line. Now, if you apply 12V to the terminals, there should be 5V on the power lines. If you don’t have a 12V power source, you can take a 9V Krona battery and connect it through the special connector shown in the photo above. I used a 12V power supply:
![](https://i1.wp.com/habrastorage.org/storage2/3bf/c6a/041/3bfc6a041c3abe644ce703d7b427d794.jpg)
Regardless of the value of the input voltage, if it lies within the above limits, the output voltage will be 5V:
![](https://i1.wp.com/habrastorage.org/storage2/c8d/876/e7d/c8d876e7d6a59661580338d479c8d21a.jpg)
Finally, let's add capacitors so that everything is in accordance with the rules:
![](https://i1.wp.com/habrastorage.org/storage2/b17/f68/c3a/b17f68c3a4da2d0e3b5862ffc1d00e55.jpg)
Pulse generator based on logical elements
And now an example of using a different microcircuit, and not in its most standard application. The 74HC00 or 74HCT00 microcircuit is used; depending on the manufacturer, there may be different letters before and after the name. Domestic analogue - K155LA3. Inside this microcircuit there are 4 logical elements “NAND” (English “NAND”), each of the elements has two inputs, by closing them together we get the “NOT” element. But in this case, the logic elements will be used in “analog mode”. The generator circuit is as follows:![](https://i2.wp.com/habrastorage.org/storage2/7fd/025/dad/7fd025dad86d43ed425476e65edd13f3.gif)
Elements DA1.1 and DA1.2 generate a signal, and DA1.3 and DA1.4 form clear rectangles. The frequency of the generator is determined by the values of the capacitor and resistor and is calculated by the formula: f=1/(2RC). We connect any speaker to the output of the generator. If we take a 5.6 kOhm resistor and a 33 nF capacitor, we get approximately 2.7 kHz - a kind of squeaking sound. This is what it looks like:
![](https://i1.wp.com/habrastorage.org/storage2/57b/0f5/88d/57b0f588d8d96f05a9d0aeef6a5e855e.jpg)
The power lines at the top in the photo are connected to 5V from the previously assembled voltage stabilizer. For ease of assembly, I will give a verbal description of the connections. Left half of the segment (bottom in the photo):
The capacitor is installed in slots No. 1 and No. 6;
Resistor - No. 1 and No. 5;
No. 1 and No. 2;
No. 3 and No. 4;
No. 4 and No. 5;
No. 2 and No. 3;
No. 3 and No. 7;
No. 5 and No. 6;
No. 1 and “plus” nutrition;
No. 4 and “plus” dynamics;
Besides:
The microcircuit is installed as in the photo - the first leg in the first connector of the left half. The first leg of the microcircuit can be identified by the so-called key - a circle (as in the photo) or a semicircular cutout at the end. The remaining legs of the IC in DIP packages are numbered counterclockwise.
If everything is assembled correctly, the speaker should beep when power is applied. By changing the values of the resistor and capacitor, you can track the frequency changes, but with a strong high resistance and/or if the capacitance is too small, the circuit will not work.
Now we change the value of the resistor to 180 kOhm, and the capacitor to 1 μF - we get a clicking-ticking sound. Let's replace the speaker with an LED by connecting the anode (long leg) to the 4th connector of the right rug, and the cathode through a 300 Ohm-1 kOhm resistor to the power supply negative, we get a flashing LED that looks like this:
![](https://i1.wp.com/habrastorage.org/storage2/a12/d86/0f4/a12d860f4a050e8f8f47cddcec9fd124.jpg)
Now let’s add another similar generator so that we get the following circuit:
![](https://i0.wp.com/habrastorage.org/storage2/2c2/009/451/2c20094514a8b2b4d9d32d8014f9c7ca.gif)
The generator on DA1 generates low frequency signal~3Hz, DA2.1 - DA2.3 - high-frequency ~2.7 kHz, DA2.4 - modulator that mixes them. This is what the design should look like:
![](https://i1.wp.com/habrastorage.org/storage2/919/480/313/91948031377fc3d250cb36f1731251a6.jpg)
Description of connections:
Left half of the segment (bottom in the photo):
Capacitor C1 is installed in slots No. 1 and No. 6;
Capacitor C2 - No. 11 and No. 16;
Resistor R1 - No. 1 and No. 5;
Resistor R2 - No. 11 and No. 15;
Jumpers are installed between the following sockets:
No. 1 and No. 2;
No. 3 and No. 4;
No. 4 and No. 5;
No. 11 and No. 12;
No. 13 and No. 14;
No. 14 and No. 15;
No. 7 and the negative power line.
No. 17 and the negative power line.
Right half of the segment (top in the photo):
jumpers are installed between the following sockets:
No. 2 and No. 3;
No. 3 and No. 7;
No. 5 and No. 6;
No. 4 and No. 15;
No. 12 and No. 13;
No. 12(13) and No. 17;
No. 1 and “plus” nutrition;
No. 11 and “plus” nutrition;
No. 14 and “plus” dynamics;
Besides:
jumpers between connectors No. 6 of the left and right halves;
jumpers between connectors No. 16 of the left and right halves;
- between the left and right “minus” lines;
- between the power minus and the “-” dynamics;
The DA1 chip is installed in the same way as in the previous case - the first leg into the first connector of the left half. The second microcircuit is placed with the first leg in connector No. 11.
If everything is done correctly, then when power is applied, the speaker will begin to emit three peaks every second. If you connect an LED to the same connectors (in parallel), observing the polarity, you will get a device that sounds like cool electronic gizmos from equally cool action movies:
Transistor multivibrator
This circuit is rather a tribute to tradition, since in the old days almost every beginning radio amateur assembled a similar one.![](https://i1.wp.com/habrastorage.org/storage2/064/22b/29e/06422b29e93a0fd653264480ab242282.gif)
In order to assemble something like this, you will need 2 BC547 transistors, 2 1.2 kOhm resistors, 2 310 Ohm resistors, 2 22 μF electrolytic capacitors and two LEDs. Capacitances and resistances do not have to be observed exactly, but it is desirable that the circuit have two identical values.
On the board the device looks like this:
![](https://i2.wp.com/habrastorage.org/storage2/5c2/421/f79/5c2421f7971de7269febc8cd64ae86fe.jpg)
The transistor pinout is as follows:
![](https://i2.wp.com/habrastorage.org/getpro/geektimes/post_images/be0/550/12c/be055012c7e86267823f43375c6966d0.jpg)
B(B)-base, C(K)-collector, E(E)-emitter.
For capacitors, the negative output is marked on the body (in Soviet capacitors signed "+").
Description of connections
The entire circuit is assembled on one (left) half of the segment.
Resistor R1 - No. 11 and "+";
resistor R2 - No. 19 and "+";
resistor R3 - No. 9 and No. 3;
resistor R4 - No. 21 and No. 25;
transistor T2 - emitter - No. 7, base - No. 8, collector - No. 9;
transistor T1 - emitter - No. 23, base - No. 22, collector - No. 21;
capacitor C1 - minus - No. 11, plus - No. 9;
capacitor C2 - minus - No. 19, plus - No. 21;
LED LED1 - cathode-No. 3, anode-"+";
LED LED1 - cathode-No. 25, anode-"+";
jumpers:
№8 - №19;
№11 - №22;
№7 - "-";
№23 - "-";
When you apply a voltage of 4.5-12V to the power line, you should get something like this:
In conclusion
First of all, the article is aimed at those who want to “play around”, so I did not provide descriptions of the operating principles of the circuits, physical laws, etc. If anyone asks the question “why is it blinking?” - on the Internet you can find heaps of explanations with animations and other beauties. Some may say that Bradboard is not suitable for compiling complex circuits, but what about this:![](https://i0.wp.com/habrastorage.org/getpro/geektimes/post_images/f24/b38/e0e/f24b38e0ec458f26173869b81be9b9cd.jpg)
and there are even more terrible designs. Regarding possible bad contact - when using parts with normal legs, the probability of bad contact is very small; this only happened to me a couple of times. In general, similar boards have already surfaced here several times, but as part of a device built on Arduino. Honestly, I don't understand constructions like this:
![](https://i2.wp.com/habrastorage.org/getpro/geektimes/post_images/ccf/d6d/24d/ccfd6d24d75177c151583531f32a23cb.jpg)
Why do you need an Arduino at all, if you can take a programmer, flash it with a controller in a DIP package and install it on the board, getting a cheaper, more compact and portable device.
Yes, it is impossible to assemble some analog circuits sensitive to resistance and conductor topology on a breadboard, but they don’t come across very often, especially among beginners. But for digital circuits there are almost no restrictions here.
When circuits are soldered, you can do everything without additions. But then there is a fairly high probability that something may short-circuit. And then the scheme will not work. To eliminate this drawback and bring the results of the work into a more or less decent form, they use such a simple and effective invention as a breadboard. What is she? What varieties are there?
Development board
How to use such an invention? First, let's clarify the terminological component. A development board is a universal blank that is used to assemble and model prototypes electronic devices. They can be divided into two types:
- Those where soldering is used.
- Those where there is no soldering.
When creating prototypes of electronic devices, everyone faces several problems:
- The breadboard must be designed from scratch and then manufactured. If an error is made, it will have to be redone.
- Creating a single copy is usually not profitable.
- If the circuit is made on microcircuits with a low degree of integration and analog elements, then it will be easier to make it using wall-mounted installation. But it will be very difficult to make microprocessor devices in this way.
Beginning radio amateurs are in the least advantageous position: since they do not yet have the skills to design circuits, they have to operate “at random.” Therefore on at the moment A wide range of different breadboards are produced, where different short tracks are laid, and a person will only have to connect the parts to get the necessary circuit.
Varieties
There are several types of breadboards:
- Universal. They only have metallized holes that will be connected by the developer.
- For digital devices. There are separate places in them where you can place microcircuits. There are also power supply buses throughout the board.
- Specialized. They are created for various devices that must operate on certain chips. As a rule, they are very functional and well-designed.
Also, depending on how they are made, there are two types:
- Solderless breadboard. The advantages of this type are usually called integrity and accuracy of execution (if we talk about industrial designs).
- Soldered breadboard. Cheapness and opportunity easy change devices - these are the main advantages of this type.
Development boards for socket mounting
Such blanks have thousands of holes that are connected to each other by means of metal strips. The leads of microcircuits and radio components are inserted into the holes and then connected using jumpers. The long rows of pins that can be seen at the bottom, middle and top of the board are the power rails. They are used to connect multiple points in a circuit to ground and the power supply. Under each hole there is an elastic contact special form, which ensures high conductivity and durability of connections. The development board is stackable. In such cases, grooves are located on the side faces to connect several devices into one large one.
Conclusion
The development board significantly simplifies the developer’s work. It also increases the stability of the circuit, so don’t hesitate to use the device. It should also be noted important role, which a development board plays for people just starting to develop electronic devices, because many of these blanks are already produced for the creation of certain devices. Therefore, when designing a popular circuit, it makes sense to look to see if there is already a blank for it, because if the answer is positive, then this will significantly save time.
Let's look at the design and purpose of solderless breadboards. What is their advantage over other types of assembly, and how to work with them, as well as what circuits a beginner can quickly assemble with them.
Background
The first problem that a radio amateur faces is not even a lack of theoretical knowledge, but a lack of tools and knowledge about how to install electronic devices. If you don’t know how this or that part works, this will not prevent you from connecting it according to the electrical circuit diagram, but in order to clearly and efficiently assemble the circuit, you need a printed circuit board. Most often they are made using the LUT method, but laser printer Not everyone has it. Our fathers and grandfathers painted the boards by hand with nail polish or paint, and then etched them.
Here the beginner is faced with the second problem - the lack of etching reagents. Yes, of course, ferric chloride is sold in every radio store electronic components, but at first there is so much to acquire and study that it is simply difficult to pay attention to the technology of etching boards made of foil PCB or getinax. And not only for beginners, but also for experienced radio amateurs, sometimes it makes no sense to etch a board and spend money on an unfinished product at the stages of its adjustment.
To avoid problems with finding ferric chloride, PCB, a printer, and not to get punished by your wife (mother) for unauthorized use of an iron, you can practice installing electronic devices on solderless breadboards.
What is a solderless breadboard?
As the name suggests, this is a board on which you can assemble a device prototype without using a soldering iron. The layout - as it is popularly called - is present in stores different sizes and the models are slightly different in layout, but the principle of operation and their internal structure are the same.
The development board consists of a housing made of ABS plastic, in which there are detachable connections that resemble double metal bars between which the conductor is clamped. On the front part of the case there are holes, numbered and marked, into which you can insert wires, microcircuit legs, transistors and other radio components in cases with leads. Take a look at the picture below, where I depicted all this.
On the considered printed circuit board, the outer two columns of holes on each side are combined vertically with common buses, from which the positive bus of the power supply and the minus (common bus) are usually formed. Usually indicated by a red and blue stripe along the edge of the board, plus and minus, respectively.
The middle part of the board is divided into two parts, each part is connected in a row of five holes in a row on this particular board. The figure shows a schematic connection of the holes (black solid lines).
The internal structure of the board is shown in the figure below. Double busbars clamp the conductors, as illustrated. Bold lines indicate internal connections.
In the English-speaking environment, such boards are called Breadboard, which is the name by which you can find it on aliexpress and similar online stores.
How to work with it?
Simply insert the legs of electronic components into the holes, connecting the parts together according to horizontal lines, and from the extreme vertical ones you supply power. If you need a jumper, they often use special ones with thin plugs at the ends; in stores you can find them under the name “dupont jumpers” or jumpers for Arduino; by the way, you can also insert it into such a breadboard and assemble your projects.
If the size of one breadboard is not enough for you, you can combine several, they are like puzzles inserted into each other, pay attention to the first picture in the article, the circuit is assembled on two connected boards. There is a spike on one of them, and a recess on the other, beveled from the outer part to the board body so that the structure does not fall apart.
Assembly simple circuits on a breadboard
It is important for a novice radio amateur to quickly assemble the circuit to make sure it works and understand how it works. Let's see what they look like different schemes on the breadboard.
The symmetrical multivibrator circuit is recommended as a first for many beginners; it allows you to learn how to connect parts in series and parallel, as well as determine the pinout of transistors. It can be assembled by surface mounting or by wiring a printed circuit board, but this requires soldering, and surface mounting, despite its simplicity, is actually very difficult for beginners and is fraught with short circuits or poor contact.
Look how simple it looks on a solderless breadboard.
By the way, please note that Dupont jumpers were not used here. In general, they cannot always be found in radio stores, and especially in stores in small towns. Instead, you can use cores from an Internet cable ( twisted pair) they are insulated, and the core is not varnished, which allows you to quickly expose the end of the cable by removing a small layer of insulation and inserting it into the connector on the board.
You can connect the parts in any way you like, as long as you provide the required circuit; here is the same diagram, but assembled slightly differently.
By the way, to describe the connections, you can use the board markings; columns are designated by letters, and rows by numbers.
For your designs, there are such power supplies, they have plugs that are mounted in a solderless board connecting to the “+” and “-” buses. It is convenient, it has a switch and a linear low-noise voltage regulator. In general, it will not be difficult for you to wire such a board yourself and assemble it.
Like this, for example, to check it. The picture shows a more “advanced” version of the printed circuit board with clamp terminals for connecting a power source. The anode of the LED is connected to the power plus (red bus) and the cathode to the horizontal bus of the work area, where it is connected to a current-limiting resistor.
Power source on a linear stabilizer type L7805, or any other L78xx series microcircuit, where xx is the voltage you need.
Assembled tweeter circuit based on logic. Correct name such a circuit is a Pulse Generator based on logical elements of type 2i-not. First, familiarize yourself with the electrical circuit diagram.
A domestic K155LA3 or a foreign type 74HC00 is suitable as a logic chip. Elements R and C set the operating frequency. Here is its implementation on a board without soldering.
On the right, covered with white paper, is a buzzer. It can be replaced with an LED if you reduce the frequency.
The greater the resistance OR capacitance, the lower the frequency.
And this is what a typical Arduino project looks like at the testing and development stage (and sometimes in its final form, depending on how lazy he is).
Actually in lately The popularity of “bradboards” has increased significantly. They allow you to quickly assemble circuits and check their functionality, and also use them as a connector when flashing microcircuits in a DIP package, and in other packages if there is an adapter.
Limitations of solderless breadboard
Despite their simplicity and obvious advantages over soldering, solderless breadboards also have a number of disadvantages. The fact is that not all circuits work normally in such a design, let's take a closer look.
It is not recommended to assemble powerful converters on solderless breadboards, especially pulse circuits. The first ones will not work normally due to current bandwidth contact tracks. You should not go beyond currents of more than 1-2 Amperes, although there are also reports on the Internet that they include 5 Amperes, draw your own conclusions and experiment.
Electrical safety
We should not forget that high voltage life-threatening. Prototyping of devices operating, for example, from 220 V is strictly PROHIBITED. Although the terminals are covered with a plastic panel, a bunch of conductors and jumpers can lead to an accidental short circuit or electric shock!
Conclusion
Solderless breadboard is suitable for simple circuits, analog circuits which do not place high demands on electrical connections and precision, automation and digital circuits that do not operate on high speeds(GigaHertz and tens of MegaHertz are too much). At the same time, high voltage and currents are dangerous and for such purposes it is better to use wall-mounted installations and printed circuit boards, however, a beginner should not carry out overhead installation of such chains. The element of solderless breadboards - the simplest circuits of up to a dozen elements and amateur projects on Arduino and other microcontrollers.
Hi all. Today we will talk about solderless breadboard or breadboard, as the bourgeoisie call it. This board, so to speak, is included in the list of mandatory tools that an electronics engineer should have (whether he is a young brainiac who is just taking his first tentative steps or a seasoned brainiac who has seen life).
Knowledge of what types of breadboards there are, how and where such tools are used will help you when developing and setting up your own projects of various electronics. homemade.
The first boards looked like this:
Metal stands were attached to the base, onto which wires and contact terminals of the elements were subsequently secured (simply wound).
It's good that technical progress does not stand still - because thanks to his influence we can use such wonderful tools.
As opposed to a solderless breadboard, you can use these (they are much cheaper and are manufactured based on the required parameters).
However, when mounting on a solderless board, you will not need a soldering iron/solder. In addition, you will avoid the difficulties associated with soldering parts on the surface of the board.
The rule of good manners, and common sense, has always been and remains prototyping electronic circuits. It is important to know how the device will behave under certain specific parameters before assembling the finished device.
In addition, using a solderless board, you can check the functionality new components and radio components.
Let's look at the structure of a solderless board
Let's look at the board drawing. It consists of rows of metal plates (rails).
The rails, in turn, consist of clamps into which the “legs” of radio components are installed. All 5 holes in a row are connected together.
Now let's turn our attention to two vertical/horizontal stripes (depending on what position you look at), which are located separately (at the edges) - these are the power plates. All sockets of one long plate are connected to each other.
The central groove insulates the sides of the board. The width of this strip is fixed by the standard. It allows you to install DIP chips in such a way that each pin is installed in a separate rail and allows you to connect up to 4 external pins.
The boards are marked with alphabetic and digital sequences. These designations help you navigate when installing components in order to avoid erroneous connections (which could result in the circuit not working or failure of individual parts).
They also produce boards that are made on separate stands with special clamping terminals. They are used to connect the power supply to the board.
If you noticed, some boards have special grooves and protrusions (they are located on the sides). With their help, you can combine boards and create a work surface of any size.
Also, some boards have a self-adhesive backing on the back.
The figure shows a method of “powering” the board from Arduino.
If you come across a board with terminals for power supply, you need to connect them to the lines on the breadboard using conductors (jumpers). The terminals are not connected to any line. To connect a wire to a terminal, remove (unscrew) the plastic cap and place the end of the wire into the hole. Reinstall the cap. Typically two terminals are used: for power and for ground.
Now all that's left to do is connect external source nutrition. This can be done with:
- jumpers;
- “crocodiles” or ordinary wires;
- power stabilizer modules that are produced for solderless boards.
Thank you for your attention. To be continued :)
To design and debug prototypes of a wide variety of Arduino devices, breadboards are used (another name is solderless circuit boards and breadboards). They come in several varieties and differ in size and some other design features. Breadboard breadboard boards can help both novice engineers in creating simple circuits and in prototyping complex devices. This article will tell you what a development board is and how to use this device.
Rarely is it real Arduino project contains less than 5-10 elements connected to each other. Even in a simple, well-known beacon circuit, 2 elements are used, an LED and a resistor, which must somehow be connected to each other. And this is where the question arises of how to do this.
At the moment, there are the following main installation methods that are used in electronics and robotics at the prototyping stage:
- Soldering. To do this, use special boards with holes into which parts are inserted and connected to each other by soldering (using a soldering iron) and jumpers.
- Cheat. Using this technology, the contact connections of devices are combined with development board by winding a clean wire to the pin contact.
The most modern option for creating prototypes is a solderless breadboard, which has undoubted advantages:
- Ability to carry out debugging work large number once changing the modification of circuits and methods of connecting devices;
- The ability to connect several boards into one large one, which allows you to work with more complex and large projects;
- Simplicity and speed of prototyping;
- Durability and reliability.
The English version of the name of a solderless breadboard is breadboard.
Development board diagram
To know how to use a development board, you need to understand the principle of its design.
The solderless development board has a plastic base with many holes (the standard distance between them is 2.54 mm). Inside the structure are rows of metal plates. Each plate has clips that are hidden in the plastic part of the unit.
The wires are inserted into these clips. When a conductor is connected to one of the individual holes, the contact is simultaneously connected to all other contacts of the separate row.
It is worth noting that one rail contains 5 clips. This is the general standard for all solderless boards. That is, up to five elements can be connected to each rail, and they will be interconnected.
It should be noted that although there are ten holes in each row, they are still divided into two isolated parts, five in each. Between them there is a rail without pins. This design is necessary to isolate the plates from each other, and allows you to simply connect chips made in DIP packages.
Some development boards also include two power lines on each side. Typically, the “red line” is used to supply “+” voltage, the “blue” line for “-”. Due to the presence of two power buses, the board can be supplied with two different levels voltage.
To make it easier to navigate, the breadboard also contains numerical and alphabetic symbols that can be used as a guide when creating, for example, wiring instructions.
Main types of development boards
Development boards differ in the number of pins located on the panel, the number of buses and configuration. There are also breadboards in which contact connections are made by soldering, but working with them is more difficult than with solderless devices.
Depending on the characteristics, the most common types are:
- For assembly large chips Mostly solderless boards with 830 or 400 holes are used. For connecting several components and supplying wires to the necessary points - 8, 10, 16 holes;
- With the presence of grooves for adhesion of boards, which allow the implementation of fairly large projects;
- With self-adhesive on the base for secure fastening to the device;
- With symbols printed on the board for connecting devices.
Depending on the cost and manufacturer, the package may also include additional accessories - jumper wires, various connectors. But the main quality criterion always remains the number of contact connectors and their technical characteristics.
How to use a development board
Using the breadboard is quite simple. When creating a circuit, the necessary elements are inserted into the holes on the plastic case - capacitors, resistors, various indicators, LEDs, etc. The width of the connectors allows you to connect conductors with a cross-section from 0.4 to 0.7 mm to the contacts.
The simplest example of creating a circuit prototype using a breadboard would be the following implementation:
To assemble it you need to take:
- Breadboard;
- wires for connection;
- 1 LED;
- tact button;
- resistor with a nominal resistance of 330 Ohms;
- 9V Krona battery.
The plus of the battery is connected to the positive bus, and the minus to the negative. If the circuit is assembled correctly, then when you press the button the LED will light up.
Attention! Solderless breadboards are absolutely unacceptable to use with a voltage of 220V!
Breadboard breadboards are optimal for creating almost any digital circuits and are not intended for assembling analog circuits with high sensitivity to resistance values. In their practice, they are often used by both beginners who understand the basics of circuitry and experienced professionals due to the ease of installation and high quality connections of working contacts.