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Arduino Kit Information: Solderless BreadBoards

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Solderless Breadboards

Kits come with different size BreadBoards. The standard BreadBoard is now a 760 point BreadBoard. Some of the older kits came with 720 or 700 breadboards that are still available if required. There is also a 300 point BreadBoard available. The kits with the Proto Shield come with a 170 point BreadBoard.

The 760, 720 and 300 point BreadBoards are similar in they have two power busses running along each side of the board. They also have two rows of points that allow you to insert a part, like an IC into the board and each leg of the part has 4 additional location to connect wires.

Here is the underside of a 300 point BreadBoard. If you were to remove the protective coating on the bottom you would see lots of 'bridges' that connect all your pins.

This is the a wiring diagram of a 300 point BreadBoard. If you have the 170 point board then you do not have the busses at the top and bottom of this image.

This is the a wiring diagram of a 720 point BreadBoard. Please note that the bus bars are in three seperate parts, if you want to use the whole bar you will have to jumper the two gaps on each bar.

This is the a wiring diagram of a 760 point BreadBoard. Please note that the bus bars are in three seperate parts, if you want to use the whole bar you will have to jumper the two gaps on each bar.

You can plug most small components into these boards and get a good connection. You can also use standard solid phone wire, cut it, strip off the ends and it works very well. The main problem with phone wire is it is very stiff. You may find that after building a project everything works well till the next day or till you move the board. There are more flexible wires available and described here.

If you have a BreadBoard that is not attached to anything, be careful to not press out the bridges when inserting parts and wires. It is best to screw down or use a strong double backed tape to fasten the board to a hard surface.

Remember if you are designing a circuit that is high frequencies or very sensitive circuits that the BreadBoard may cause some undesired results. These bridges are all parallel to each other and have high capacitance. This can cause some issues.