BREADBOARD

WHAT IS BREADBOARD?
• A breadboard is a circuit board that is used to make
temporary electronic circuits. It makes it possible to
place components and connections on the board to make
circuits without soldering.
• They are called “solderless or solderless board” because
there is no soldering required to create connections or to
hold things in place.
breadboard perfboard
breadboard BCB board
 WHAT IS BREADBOARD?
• The electronic elements inside the electronic circuits can
be interchanged by inserting the terminals into holes and
later connecting it with the help of appropriate wires.
 WHAT IS BREADBOARD?
• The inside of a breadboard is made up of rows of tiny
metal clips. These clips allow you to stick a wire or the
leg of a component into the exposed holes on a
breadboard, which then hold it in place.
• The holes in a breadboard are connected by metal clips
that span five holes, horizontally. These metal clips
allow each row of five holes to be connected
 BREADBOARD
Parts and components
TERMINAL STRIPS
The terminal strip is the main area that can be
used to populate the various circuit components. It is
usually separated into two sides by a notch that runs
along the middle of the board. Each side has many lines
that are made up of five internally connected spring clip
holes. The five spring clips on each line of the terminal
strip are connected internally, allowing for component
connections.
LETTERS
Letters on the breadboard are printed at the top
& bottom that ranges from A to J that runs horizontally
& the holes can be divided consistently into vertical
lines.
NUMBERS
The horizontal rows can be identified through 1 to
30 numbers which are printed on the right and left
edges on half-size breadboards while in full-size boards
numbers 1-60 or 1-63 are printed. Some breadboards
label every row while the majority label every 5 rows.
BUS STRIPS / POWER RAILS
● The Power rails consists of two long lines of spring clips
running across the board, these lines can be used to
provide supply voltage (VCC) and ground (GND) to the circuit.
Typically, the supply voltage line is marked in red, and the ground
line is marked in blue (or black on some boards).
● The power rails are internally connected, making both supply
voltage and ground signals conveniently accessible from any part
of the breadboard.
BUS STRIPS / POWER RAILS
● Some breadboards have buses that runs the
entire length of the breadboard as indicated by the lines
while some only runs half the length of the breadboard
that is also indicated by the breaking lines
BREADBOARD WITH FULL FULL POWER RAILS
BREADBOARD WITH FULL LENGTH POWER RAILS
GND

9V
BREADBOARD WITH HALF LENGHTH POWER RAILS
BREADBOARD WITH FULL LENGTH POWER RAILS
BREADBOARD WITH FULL LENGTH POWER RAILS
Two jumper wires used to connect the power rails on both
sides. Always attach the ‘+’ to ‘+’ and the ‘-’ to ‘-’.
Two jumper wires used to connect the power rails on both
sides. Always attach the ‘+’ to ‘+’ and the ‘-’ to ‘-’.
Using jumper wiresto connect the power rails to
terminal strips
 CENTRAL GROOVE / DIP SUPPORT
● Most breadboards have a notch or a groove that runs
down the center, through the middle of the terminal strips. This
line down the middle serves a number of functions.
● The center groove on a breadboard allows certain types of
integrated circuits called dual in-line packages to be connected in
a way that straddles that line. It also shows where the terminal
strips have been divided and which columns are connected, and it
also allows breadboards to be easily stacked on top of each other
for storage or larger projects.
DUAL IN-LINE PACAGE (DIP)
● A dual in-line package is an electronic device package
with a rectangular housing and two parallel rows of
electrical connecting pins.
● DIPs are commonly used for integrated circuits (ICs).

Other devices in DIP packages include resistor networks,

DIP switches, LED segmented and bar graph displays,
and electromechanical relays.
correct wrong
correct wrong
BINDING POSTS
● Binding posts are another way to connect your
breadboard to an external power source. Binding
posts look like pegs, or pins, attached to the platform
that the breadboard is on.
● Binding posts are not automatically connected to the
breadboard, jumper wires are used to connect the
binding posts to the bus strips.
Breadboard to Breadboard Physical Mating
Individual breadboards have small slots and tabs
designed to connect the breadboards together
mechanically. These may be located on just the long
sides of the breadboard or may also be included on the
ends as well.
Front view
back view
BREADBOARD
SIZES
MINI BREADBOARD
It's 1.8" x 1.4" / 4.6cm x 3.6cm with a
standard double-strip in the middle and no
power rails on both sides. It consists of 17 rows
and 170 tie-points or socket. Mini breadboard
has no markings.
MINI BREADBOARD
HALF SIZE BREADBOARD
It's 3.25" x 2.2" / 8.3cm x 5.5cm with a
standard double-strip in the middle and two
power rails on both sides. It consists of
30rows and 400tie-points or socket
HALF SIZE BREADBOARD
FULL SIZE BREADBOARD
It's 3.25" x 2.2" / 8.3cm x 5.5cm with a
standard double-strip in the middle and two
power rails on both sides. It consists of
63rows and 830 tie-points or socket.
HALF SIZE BREADBOARD
DEVELOPMENT
OF
BREADBOARD
 WHAT’S WITH THE NAME?
It turns out that many years ago, for
engineers working on electronics before 1970
they did not the thing, we call a solderless
breadboard. Instead, they would build
electronics by literally hammering nails into a
wooden board - sometimes it was also literally
a bread board but usually just a plank
purchased from a hardware store.
 WHAT’S WITH THE NAME?
Once it was cut to the right size, the
electronic parts would be nailed or glued
to the board and electrical connections
made by soldering or wrapping wire
around the nails. The large wooden
board gave mechanical strength and
support to project.
CONTRAPTIONs BEFORE BREADBAORD
CONTRAPTIONs BEFORE BREADBAORD
BRIEF HISTORY
OF
BREADBOARD
1960-1980s
For a while in the 1960s to part of the 1980s, engineers and
makers used some other techniques like wire-wrapping which solved
the 'complex circuits' issue but was still semi-permanent. It also
required a pricey wire-wrap board or the use of wire-wrap pins and
sockets
There's a little tool that helps you wrap each wire, but once
solderless breadboards showed up, (and then quick-turn prototyping
PCBs!) wire wrapping fell out of favor very fast.
 WHY IS WIRE WRAPPING USED?
As an alternative to soldering, wire
wrapping technology was developed to give
electricians a safe and efficient means to
connect wires to terminals while still
providing a high level of reliability. The
method of wire wrapping is to coil the
exposed wire around the sharp corners of a
terminal under mechanical tension.
1971
Ronald J Portugal came up with this brilliant
invention. The BREADBOARD FOR ELECTRONIC
COMPONENTS OR THE LIKE. It was patented 2 years
later, and the patent expired in 1987. It was quickly
called the "Solder-less" Breadboard because no
soldering is required to use it, and then shortened to
plain Breadboard since nobody uses a "solder-full"
breadboard.
Breadboard patent
BREADBOARD
 When to Use a Breadboard
• If you are making prototype, breadboard provides a cheap and
quick solution for designing circuit.
• You can use breadboard for practicing how to make circuit
because it is reusability.
 When Breadboard Should NOT Be Used
• the final product, breadboard is just for testing out a project
before doing it as final product. Breadboard is just for
prototyping purposes.
• in an environment where vibration is present, overtime it can
cause wire to pop out from socket.
• or in cases where safety is concerned (for example, in high
voltage projects) breadboard can't handle above 48V.
 Advantages of Breadboard:
• Solderless connection makes it reusable; you can just take components on the
board and use board for another project.
• Breadboard doesn’t require soldering to connect the components on board,
you can easily plug in and take out components from the motherboard,
• Breadboard is cheaper compared to PCB.
• Breadboard is flexible in that you can reuse it by playing with connections to
create temporary prototypes.
• Breadboard makes it easy for testing. The nodes in a breadboard make it easy
for you to test your connection. You can thus easily create circuits by
removing and placing wires on different nodes while testing if the
components are effective on certain nodes or not
 Disadvantages of breadboard:
• Components like wires can easily plug and take out from
solderless breadboard so, it can easily loose once the
breadboard is pushed or moved accidentally.
• Not suitable for designing circuits with high voltage. The
breadboard can only be at 48V high so project that is above 48V
may damage and break the board.
• A high number of connections in the Solderless board make the
circuit messy due to a greater number of wires
WIRies
 SOLID CORE WIRE
● The most common breadboarding wire is simple solid core wire.
This is typically sold in spools of varying lengths and many
different colors. The commonly recommended size for wire
associated with bread boarding is 22awg or 0.64 mm.
● In a solid cable, each of the eight conductors are made up of a
single larger-gauge wire. Solid wire is specified by just one gauge
number to indicate the size of the conductor
SOLID CORE WIRE
 STRANDED WIRE
● These thin, bundled wires are compressed and insulated with
non-conductive materials. In a stranded cable, each of the eight
copper conductors are made up of multiple “strands” of small-
gauge wires that are wound together concentrically in a helix,
much like a rope
STRANDED WIRE
 PCB
PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARD
 WHAT IS PCB?
● PCB, also called PWB or circuit card, is a hardware electrical
board providing circuit connection and support. Electronic
components are soldered on circuit boards permanently.
PCBs are usually custom made.
● A printed circuit board, or PCB, is used to mechanically
support and electrically connect electronic components
using conductive pathways, tracks or signal traces etched
from copper sheets laminated onto a nonconductive
substrate
FRONT BACK
PCB
layers
Substrate Layer
The substrate layer of any PCB is usually made from
fibreglass, which gives the board its rigid form. Generally
speaking, the majority of boards will have this material for
their substrate, with the exception of flexible PCBs, which are
built on flexible plastic such as Kapton. Substrate PCB layers
can also be made with other materials such as epoxies,
however they lack the durability that FR4 (found in fibreglass)
provides for a high-quality board.
COPPER Layer
Next is a thin layer of copper foil which is
laminated to the board using heat. Single-sided PCB the
circuit board has one layer of conducting material on
one side of the board and the other side is used for
incorporating different electronic components. Whereas
double-sided PCBs can mount the conductive copper
and components on both sides of the board, as opposed
to just the one.
SOLDER MARSK Layer
Once the copper layer has been applied the solder
mask layer is placed on top. This gives the PCB its green
color and is used to insulate the copper layer to avoid
any contact with any other metal or elements of the
board that could disrupt the copper traces. This layer is
also important for the manufacturing process where the
components are soldered onto the board, as it helps the
user to solder to the correct places.
SILK SCREEN Layer
The silkscreen is mainly for the purpose of us
humans to help us better understand the board and the
functionality of different pins or LEDs, by adding letters,
numbers and symbols to the board.
SINGLE SIDED PCB
Single layer PCB also known as a Single Sided
PCB is a type of PCB, which comes with only one
layer of conducting material on one side of the
board, and the other side is used for incorporating
different electronic components on the board.
DOUBLE-SIDED PCB
The 2 layer PCB ( double-sided PCB )is a
printed circuit board with copper coated on both
sides, top and bottom. There is an insulating layer in
the middle, which is a commonly used printed
circuit board. Both sides can be layout and soldered,
which greatly reduces the difficulty of layout, so it is
widely used..
BREADBOARD
V.S
PCB
Creating pcb
Patterns
PCB etching
the most important elements of the PCB
manufacturing process. It involves removing copper
from the surface of the PCB in order to reveal the
desired circuit pattern. During the PCB etching
process, all copper is removed except for the
circuitry that is protected by tin plating.
Difference 1: Breadboard can change components and PCB
can't because its connections are permanent
One of the differences between the
breadboard and PCB is that the breadboard doesn't
have to be soldered because its components can
be either changed or removed, which means plug
components. However, the PCB parts are surface-
mounted, or through-hole mounted on a circuit
board, which is a permanent project.
Difference 2: breadboards are used in the development phase,
and printed circuit boards are used for the end products.

Breadboards are used to test circuits

because they are less expensive and can be
changed to test different scenarios. While
PCBs are used in finished products, they are
usually customized during the manufacturing
process.
Difference 3: PCBs can be rigid, flexible, or rigid-flex, and
breadboards are rigid.
PCBs can be bended and flexed, allowing greater
freedom in the design and operation of the application.
Flexible circuits can also adapt to small or irregularly
shaped spaces, a feature not supported by standard rigid
circuits. While, all breadboard are solid and inflexible in their
structure and therefore cannot be bent or flexed.
PCB BREADBOARD
Difference 4: PCBs are much more complex than breadboard
Compared to PCBs, breadboards have a simple
structure. The breadboard consists of distribution
buses and groups of holes. A specific channel runs
between the two rows, which creates an environment
for the chip with pins you can place in there. While
different PCBs have different structures, and even the
simplest single-layer PCB has a more complex structure
than breadboards.
Difference 5: Breadboards serve only to support components
mechanically, and PCBs supports and connect the circuitry
mechanically and electrically.

Connections done in breadboards can be

removed manually to change their structure. These
connections are made only to test the circuit and not
for permanent use. Meanwhile, PCBs use soldered
components that let the current flow for permanent
use.