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How To Make Sure Wires Stay In BreadBoard on Board of Education... — Parallax Forums

How To Make Sure Wires Stay In BreadBoard on Board of Education...

Im New To MicroIm New To Micro Posts: 42
edited 2011-08-22 15:38 in BASIC Stamp
Hey all,

I was curious if someone had a solution for ensuring that the copper wires you place in the breadboard would stay firmly in place? I'm using my board of education (BOE) in a project that highly depends on the BOE and if a wire pops lose, "which it has", it can stop the entire project from working.

It would be cool if they created a component that allowed you to solder the wires to it, and then this component would simply press firmly into place over the entire breadboard. Kinda like a sandwich, but the leads of it would be those metal type pigtail leads...

Hoping I'm making some sense and hoping someone has a suggestion on what I can try.

Comments

  • dandreaedandreae Posts: 1,375
    edited 2011-08-16 07:18
    There are two things to try:

    You try putting a kink in the end of the jumper wire which will give you medium tension or use hot glue. You can still pry the hot glue off if you need to make changes.
  • Mike GMike G Posts: 2,702
    edited 2011-08-16 07:22
    Im New To Micro wrote:
    It would be cool if they created a component that allowed you to solder the wires to it, and then this component would simply press firmly into place over the entire breadboard. Kinda like a sandwich, but the leads of it would be those metal type pigtail leads...
    Look up pin headers. Custom ribbon cables work well for connections.
  • Im New To MicroIm New To Micro Posts: 42
    edited 2011-08-16 07:25
    dandreae wrote: »
    There are two things to try:

    You try putting a kink in the end of the jumper wire which will give you medium tension or use hot glue. You can still pry the hot glue off if you need to make changes.

    Do you an example of what a kink is or a photo of one? I don't want to really hot glue anything as it seems like a messy approach especially if I plan to use the board for other projects which is not likely however.
  • Im New To MicroIm New To Micro Posts: 42
    edited 2011-08-16 07:27
    Mike G wrote: »
    Look up pin headers. Custom ribbon cables work well for connections.

    Yeah pin headers. It would be cool if someone made a printed circuit board that covered the entire bread board and the P0-P15 ports and your could just solder you wires to that.
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,256
    edited 2011-08-16 08:31
    If your circuit is finished, you don't need access to the breadboard and just needs to be more snag & vibration proof, fold all the wires down flat, and put a piece of duct tape over everything to keep it all down and out of snags' way.
  • Tom HoweTom Howe Guest Posts: 9
    edited 2011-08-16 20:41
    Here is another idea for you to think about...

    If you are sure your circuit is good to go, I would purchase a chip socket for your stamp, a Radio Shack solder-able circuit board, and any spare components you may want/need. Transfer your circuit to the solder board and solder away. Then you can still use you Basic Stamp and your education board without any mess or damage. Don't forget to include a DC supply on your board to supply your +5Vdc for the stamp and your circuit is all. A LM317 is a great positive & adjustable voltage regulator btw.

    I do things like this because you can take to stamp out of the bot to reprogram and put back in that bot, or if you build another bot you can use the same stamp in that one too with a different program.

    Good luck!!
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,256
    edited 2011-08-17 09:49
    Per Tom's suggestion, see http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?125692-BYO-Board-amp-Cable&highlight=byo+board to make your own board
  • Tom HoweTom Howe Guest Posts: 9
    edited 2011-08-17 10:25
    Erco, you da' man!! Thanks for that thread link, had I known that was already there I'd referenced it in the first place...lol.
  • RickBRickB Posts: 395
    edited 2011-08-22 12:20
    Im New To Micro:
    Are you using 22 guage wire? That is the correct size for a breadboard. Is it tin plated or bare copper?
    24 guage bare copper telephone wire or solid network wire sorta works, but is unreliable.
  • Tom HoweTom Howe Guest Posts: 9
    edited 2011-08-22 15:38
    RickB wrote: »
    Im New To Micro:
    Are you using 22 guage wire? That is the correct size for a breadboard. Is it tin plated or bare copper?
    24 guage bare copper telephone wire or solid network wire sorta works, but is unreliable.

    Depending on the breadboard manufacturer, 22 ga. is common, so is 20 ga. For my breadboards I am using 22 ga. solid and am having no problems.

    I have used 20 ga. in this board also but it was just 1 or 2 RCHs too big for some of the locations, real tuff to insert. SO unless the wire is leaving the board to say a motor or something, I stick with 22ga solid.

    Tom
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