How to Use an Electronics Breadboard
An electronic breadboard puts components in easily and then out. This is good for testing the circuits as well as experimenting with other pieces to see if they are better suited. Breadboards that are area advanced come with adjustable voltage sources. This allows the bypass of batteries and power supplies.
Things you will need to use an electronic breadboard:
- Battery holder
- 2 AA batteries
- Resistor
- Jumper wires
- Small piezoelectric buzzer
- Put the breadboard in a horizontal position on a flat surface. A regular breadboard is a block shaped like a rectangle or a bar of plastic. They have two rows of holes that are in top and bottom sections. A larger breadboard might have many rows.
- Pay close attention to the connections on two rows. The section at the top is split into a series of little holes that form columns. Under each column beneath the plastic is a metal section that will show the columns in a breadboard are electrically connected. A metal terminal or wire that is one of the holes in the same column will have the same voltage. The bottom is made the same way.
- Look at the red and blue stripes on the breadboard. The blue stripe will be next to many groups of holes that are separate from each other. However, they will extend along the stripe. The red stripe is located next to a group of holes made the same way. The red and blue stripes might be located at the top or bottom of the breadboard. Blue stripes are meant for ground connections and that means negative voltage. Red stripes mean positive voltage.
- Try using the breadboard by attaching the buzzer in series with a resistor and two batteries. Hook up one side of the resistor to a hole in the middle of a column at the top section. Put the other end in a hole inside a column in the bottom area.
- Put the positive lead of the buzzer into a hole that is in the same column as the second lead of the resistor. Put the negative end of the buzzer in a different column that will be parallel to the column of the positive lead.
- Attach the positive part of the battery holder to the circuit. Place the red lead in the same column that the first resistor is located. The first leg is located in the top area of the breadboard. Be sure the red lead of the battery holder is in one of the first two holes.
- Hook the negative side of the battery holder onto the ground. You do this by putting the black lead in the same column as the negative side of the buzzer. If batteries are put inside the holder, the buzzer will make a sound.
- Attach the red lead of the battery holder in an opening that lies along it. Put one side of a wire in a hole along the red stripe. Attach the remaining end of the wire to the first or second hole of the same column that the first leg of the resistor is located. You can use the blue stripe by attaching the black lead of the battery holder to it. Then add a wire between it and the negative side of the buzzer.