solderless breadboards: passing current through the contacts

[eccerr0r]

Re: solderless breadboards: passing current through the contacts

hmm... i thought most power resistors' leads were too thick to fit in most breadboards. That must be some heavy duty breadboard to stick in that thick of wire. Usually they don't take more than 22-gauge or so.

Then the other issue is that if you do put in wire that's too thick and it bends the little spring into plastic deformation, then that contact can no longer pass as much current as it once did before...

Really should just get a milliohm meter and see how many ohms these contacts tend to be. Of course it depends on the board (who has a gold plated solderless breadboard? How about a double swipe?)

[momaka]

Re: solderless breadboards: passing current through the contacts

hmm... i thought most power resistors' leads were too thick to fit in most breadboards. That must be some heavy duty breadboard to stick in that thick of wire. Usually they don't take more than 22-gauge or so.

When it doesn't fit, I just solder thin leads on it (usually leftovers from recap jobs - YES, I save trimmed cap leads, as weird as it may sound ).

I think TO-220 transistors are about the thickest thing I can insert in my breadboard. It does widen the plastic portion a little bit, but barely. I haven't had a contact go bad from that yet.

However, I did destroy 2 contacts with resistors that had really really thin leads that got bent between the contacts somehow and messed them up. So thick leads aren't necessarily evil.

[eccerr0r]

Re: solderless breadboards: passing current through the contacts

I've never even wanted to try TO-220 leads as is, those are too thick into the holes unless I twist them 90 degrees, usually the leads are rectangular and thus a bit thinner in the other direction.

I've never had problems with thin wires though. 26 gauge and thinner tends to not work very well, so I never tried 30 gauge Kynar. However I've had no issues with 1/8 W resistors. However one rule I always make sure before using any components in a solderless breadboard - make sure the wire is straight.