Tuesday March 19, 2024

How to Use Solderless Breadboards

Author: Wayne Eggert
Date: 09/19/2009

Introduction:
In this tutorial I'll explain what electronic breadboards are, how to use them and why you should be ashamed for not having at least one in your electronic arsenal yet!  We'll learn how breadboards are layed out, some of the types of breadboards that exist, and how to wire up a simple circuit on a breadboard.

What is a Breadboard?
Breadboards are to the field of Electronics what calculators are to the field of Mathematics -- you don't *need* to use a breadboard, but like a calculator it certianly makes getting to the solution quicker.

Let's first take a look at what breadboards are not..

 

Not Electronic Breadboards
Not A BreadboardNot A Breadboard


Okay, now that we got that sillyness out of the way and you've realized the "bread board" in your kitchen isn't going to cut it, here are some electronic breadboards:


Electronic "Solderless" Breadboard

Small BreadboardAnother BreadboardYet Another Breadboard


See the resemblance to the kitchen breadboard?  Me neither..


Solderless breadboards like those pictured above are used to connect electronic components together.  There's no soldering involved, just spring-loaded clips that are electrically connected throughout the breadboard and allow you to build circuits by simply pushing components into tie points (the little holes in the photos above).  Some breadboards will have letters at the top and bottom of the columns and numbers beside the rows.  These aren't absolutely needed, but useful when you have complicated circuits that take up much of the board and make it hard to tell if you're in the right row/column when you're connecting components on the board.

As you can see in the photos above, breadboards come in many different sizes.  When you're looking to purchase a breadboard they will usually say something like "800 tie points" and that usually also gives a good indication of the size of the breadboard if you're  buying online without a picture. You don't need every size breadboard, but having a few smaller ones for little projects and a large breadboard (like the middle photo above) allow you to work on multiple projects at once.

Lets see how breadboards work..

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Comments:
Nice
Posted 03/22/12 4:44PM by Anonymous Techdoser
Now where do you buy them? I found an interesting place to buy them at nordevx.com Anybody know of some other places?
anonymous techdoser
Posted 01/22/12 2:44AM by Anonymous Techdoser
i did this and blowed an led!
Internal Connection of Breadboards
Posted 12/17/11 10:55AM by ashoksharmaz87
The article is really very good!
Another good link that I found about breadboard is http://www.engineersgarage.com/insight/how-breadboard-works
Short circuit?
Posted 10/16/11 4:34AM by Anonymous Techdoser
Hi, can anyone please explain why putting both the LED leads into holes which are electrically common would create a short circuit? I'd say there would just be no potential difference across the LED, hence it wouldn't light up. Am I wrong?
switch
Posted 04/23/11 1:22PM by Anonymous Techdoser
hello can anyone please help me find out how to connect a switch with the board? Thanks.
attach a switch
Posted 02/23/11 8:11PM by Anonymous Techdoser
how can I connect a six pin right angle slide switch to this set up
Thanks
Posted 01/05/11 12:09AM by Anonymous Techdoser
This is a clear explantion for anybody tryuing tono about solderlessbreadboard. Thanks a lot
bread board
Posted 10/28/10 8:56AM by ragraghu_k
very good for the learners , its climbing the ladder step by step , i think i can learn a lot
thank you very much
thanks
Posted 10/18/10 6:41PM by dvdove
good info,easily understood.
Diagram error
Posted 09/23/10 7:35PM by Anonymous Techdoser
In the diagram showing the LED connection to the battery, the resistor needs to be connected between the positive lead of the battery and the LED. The diagram is shown backwards, therefore, the voltage will be too much and probably blow the LED.
Thx
Posted 08/01/10 12:52AM by Anonymous Techdoser
Simple but Useful...:D
Hello!
Posted 10/31/09 12:01PM by RikiKiki
You've made my day! Very useful!
Thanks for this great site
Posted 10/27/09 3:28PM by Voiseriaffona
Thanks for the information

This is a very great site. I am bookmarking it soon
You have a good site www.techdose.com all very tastefully done!
Posted 10/02/09 6:27AM by rittachkas
You have a good site all very tastefully done! I really liked.
Sincerely Ritt.
Breadboards - How to...
Posted 09/26/09 10:36AM by Anonymous Techdoser
Superb!!! As an electronics novice I'm very thankful for your informative intro...Cheers