Breadboard Basics for Absolute Beginners

The aim of this instructable is not to give you a complete guide on breadboard but to show the basics, and once these basics are learned you pretty much know all you need to so i guess you could call it a complete guide but in a different sense. Anyway i will only be using an led and some resistors to outline how a breadboard works.

Note : a breadboard is a temporary circuit board for testing and prototyping circuits, no soldering is done on the board, this mean it is faster and easier to prototype circuits.

Also if you need a walk through on electronics please read my other instructable A Complete Guide To Basic Electronics
anyway onto the supplies!

Step 1 Supplies

For this instructable you will need
an led
a 4aa (or aaa) battery pack
a breadboard (bought from radioshack or t2retail in the uk)
breadboard jumpers (from radioshack or t2retail)
a few 100ohm resistors (or any value but you will need to change your layout to get the same results)
and finally a multimeter (measures voltage, resistance, current ect.)
Once you have these you are good to go

Comments

[YellowZealot]

I don't know if you've taken basic physics of electrics, but resistors in parallel average out, so three 100 ohm resistors along 3 parallels would still be 100 ohms resistance, the same for a 100 ohm and 200 ohm along two parallels, it would be 150 ohms resistance.

[ixisuprflyixi]

Not sure why no one has corrected you since July but you seem to be mistaken, or you are trolling. However, 3 100 resistors in parallel would be 33.33 Ohms as per schumi23's formula above. and 100 ohm in parallel with 200 ohm would be 66.67 ohms. See the total resistance for a parallel branch MUST be smaller than the smallest resistance. So it would never be any larger than the smallest resistance. Thanks.

[pennsteve]

Question.  Say you need 8 Ohms, and you only have resistors of like 50 ohms and higher and no two are alike, is there an easy formula to quickly figure out which combination you can use to get at or near 8 ohms? 

I realize you can just start doing calculations on different resistor values, but that can take some time.

Thanks

[schumi23]

I'm pretty sure the formula for resistors wired in Parallel is
1/rt=1/r1+1/r2+1/r3...
Were rt is the total resistance, and r1=r2=r3...
I'm not sure, but that's what i remember. Google Resistors and parallel and you will find the answer.

[pfred2]

That's not a breadboard, now this is a breadboard! He-he j/k.

[bowmaster]

Dang, I want one. Where'd you get it?

[pfred2]

I bought it a piece at a time and double back taped it all to a big piece of Plexiglas. Then I stole the line from Crocodile Dundee, you know the that's not a knife scene?

Really it is a bit excessive today, but it was handy years ago with SSI TTL. All up and running that board drew about 5 amps too! But this was attached to it as well:

http://img708.imageshack.us/img708/1643/p7100090.jpg

[bowmaster]

What is that? It looks like a clock.

[pfred2]

It is a 6 digit binary and hexadecimal latch, driver and 7 segment display. It connected to the cables that are sticking out of the breadboard. It was for displaying memory and address values of the computer circuit.

[chanfle]

"....[the] short one connects to the -ve end of the power source and obviously the longer leg to the +ve end. this is because an led allows electrons to flow easily from the cathode(-ve) to the anode(+ve) but not from the anode to the cathode."

Is that correct?  We're talking about positive-convention current (+ to -), aren't we?

[Cew27]

im talking in  terms of electron current  not  conventional

[jwarning]

Thanks a bunch! Just what I was looking for!

[mitchell931993]

 wow thanks man. we always pull these out accidentally in physics while looking for aligator clips and resitors, no one knew what they were for :) thanks bro

[SquirrelFlapps]

Awesome Tut... i greatly benefitted from both this instructable and your previous one. Im 19 and currently attempting to take up electronics as a hobby and a way to relax and simultainously stimulate my mind, however its like good electronic tutorials belong to secret clubs or something. idk lol this was a good one tho.

[thepelton]

I remember my Mother saying: "That's a breadboard? Wouldn't the crumbs get stuck in all those little holes?"

[designguy1982]

@ Zem Both a breadboard and a circuit board, ( I will assume you mean printed circuit board, PCB) serve the same electronics function. The difference is that a breadboard is used for prototyping PCBs due to their speed, flexibility and reusability. Once you get your circuit up and working as expected, you can then etch your own PCB if you want. While not necessary, starting with a breadboard can save one, a lot of headache later. I hope that answers your question. Take Care

[Joachim Bates]

Could you give me a link to a website on basic electronics so i could learn more and have you got more instructables on basic electronics as I am new to electronics and really want to learn more. Thanks

[Jayefuu]

www.allaboutcircuits.com is very very good

[evilclutch]

a very nice guide, thanks alot

[miiwii3]

on my bread board it has the power going strait own the entire row.

[miiwii3]

i deleted my own comment i accidentally posted it

[miiwii3]

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[kmossman]

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[kmossman]

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[Blue_iiz]

That would be done using the formula P = I * V, but would you please explain how to calculate the current and voltage going through each resistor?

[RonArcherAlias]

if it is a simple series circuit the current will be the same anywhere within the circuit. to calculate the current in this series circuit add up all the values of the resistors and use ohm's law (V=IR) to calculate the current (I=V / R). then multiply the newly found current by the value of the resistor in question to calculate the voltage through that resistor.

[Joachim Bates]

Very helpful. I understand a lot better now.

[Zem]

I have a slightly stupid question... If your LED is say, 3.3v and you only run it on 3v, do you need a Resistor?

[Cew27]

yes to step down the current, however you can run an led with no resistor but it will reduce its lifespan and it may get hot

[Zem]

Okay, thanks.

[Zem]

Is a breadboard different than a circuit board? And is so, how?

[kmossman]

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[j03tv]

Hey, I am wondering which breadboard you have. I see some on the radioshack website, different sizes and stuff, but which one are u using? I can't seem to find the one with the black back board with the black, yellow, and red knobs on it like in your pic. Could you help me out? Thanks

[Cew27]

i have already said i will point out the layout of the contacts tonight. when i add another image to this instructable

[Cew27]

breadboard, range from $8 to £30. also i sill create an image tomorrow night to add to this to show how all the holes line conduct and describe a breadboard in more detail

[elphreaker]

LOL Cew , from $8 to £30!!!

[stevecinstrfme]

In your equation R=3/0.02, where does the 0.02 come from? You didn't explain why to use 0.02. Would it still be 0.02 in another situation? Say for example I had a 12v supply, I know it would be a 9v drop, but do I divide the 9v by 0.02 as you did in your example? If so, I get 450. Is that correct? Thanks.

[Fozzy Vis]

Hey Steve, The 0.02 is the current (in Ampere, so 20 mA) that you would want to get flowing in your "system". High Brightness leds will require more current than that, but most standard leds (the normal ones) are rated at 20mA. Don't give them more, they might give a bit more light, but for a much shorter time :) Let me know if there are more questions (or ask the board, ofcourse...) dieter

[tavoimmortal]

20ma = .02a (amper)

[angus0000]

Thank you for this instructable! I've been waiting for a ground-up tutorial to help me get started since I've got no background in electronics and it's been very difficult bridging the gap between electronics textbooks and practical projects. This helps a lot!