Circuitbuilding Do-It-Yourself For Dummies®

Chapter 3. Using a Solderless Breadboard

Tasks performed in this chapter

• Preparing your breadboard

• Building an audio amplifier

• Building a digital timer

The solderless — introduced in Chapter 1 — is a quick and easy way to experiment with low-power electronic circuits. Learning how to make use of a breadboard will save you countless hours of "workbench time" as you experiment and develop your own circuits and projects. In this chapter, you build a pair of simple circuits to get you familiar with using a breadboard.

Before you begin building a circuit on a solderless breadboard, there are a few simple techniques to keep in mind to minimize trouble:

• Keep connections short. As purchased, the leads of components such as resistors and capacitors are so long that the component is often left sticking up in the air above the breadboard once the leads are inserted into the contacts. In a densely-packed circuit, this allows the leads to flop around and short out adjacent components. A forest of leads also makes it difficult to see what is connected to what. If your circuit will have a lot of components, trim the leads so the components are close to — but not jammed against — the breadboard. The same goes for jumpers — keep them near the breadboard and bend them into shapes that make it easy to see where they're connected. It's easier to keep things organized if you keep a good selection of wire lengths handy.

• Don't make those connections TOO short. When stripping insulation off the jumpers, leave ...