Week 1

Experiment 1
Breadboard Basics

Breadboard Basics

The goal of Experiment 1 is for you to identify on

the breadboard of the ANDY board:
which of the rows of pins are connected (shorted)
together
and
which of the set of pins in columns are connected
together

so that you will be able to construct the circuits

properly in the experiments that follow.

ANDY board

The breadboard on the ANDY board is the white section with the
rows of pins.
It is used to hold components and to allow easily wiring
between the power supplies on the ANDY board to the
components and from the component to component to form a
circuit.

The squarish holes

are where wires or
the legs of your
components are
inserted. Inside each
hole is a set of leaf
springs that clamp
on to the wire or end
of the component
inserted into the
hole.

This is the back surface of the breadboard,

which one of the ECE lab staff removed from
the board similar to the ANDY board.
Some metal strips run horizontally and some run
vertically.
These strips create a low resistance connection between
the sets of square holes along the metal strip to allow
you to easily connect ends of components together
without running wires between them.
Wires are used to make jumpers between metal strips.
Maximum frequency of operation is 4 MHz, due to parasitic
capacitance

Typical Pattern of
Connections

Your job in Experiment 1 is to determine which

.set of holes in specific
columns and rows are connected by these metal strips on the ANDY
board.

MY-64 Digital Multimeter

An instrument that is used to measure:

DC voltage and DC current

AC voltage and AC current (RMS values)
Resistance up to 200 M
Continuity
Commonly used to determine polarity of diodes

Capacitance at 20 kHz
Frequency of a sinusoidal voltage
Low frequency hfe (or ) of a transistor
Temperature
Measured with thermocouple probe.

Before you use the DMM

Change the battery in the multimeter.

The current 9V battery was inserted when the
multimeter was manufactured.
The battery has about a 1 year shelf life.
Errors in measurements can be greater than 10%
when the battery voltage is low.
This is greater than the measurement error allowed in
the grading program.
Failure to replace the battery with a new one may
cause you to lose points on your post-validation report.
There should be a new battery in your parts kit. Directions
are available online at
http://filebox.ece.vt.edu/~LiaB/Equipment/DMM/Changing_Battery.pdf

Digital Multimeter

Resistance measurements can be made

directly using a digital multimeter (DMM).
The probes are inserted into the
V//T plug or jack (red probe) and
the COM jack (black).
Note that the dial on the meter is
positioned at the 20k mark within
the measurement region.

Probes

The probes that come with the DMM have

tips that are too large to fit into the holes on
the ANDY board breadboard.
Do not force them into the holes as this will
damage the leaf springs within the holes.
There are a set of banana jack probes in the probe
kit that is offered by Electronix Express that have
smaller tips, which you can use instead.
Or you can use a small length of wire wrapped
around each of the original probe tips that you then
insert into the holes.

Banana jacks

Resistance Measurements

Set the dial to the maximum resistance value.

When there is only air between the tips of the red and black
probes, the reading on the DMM is in the overflow condition
as air is an insulator and the resistance of air is greater than
200 M.
A 1 off to the left with no other digits displayed.

When there is a very conducting material placed between the

two tips, the measurement should be 0.00, indicating that the
resistance of the material is much less than 200 M.
You should rotate the dial to a lower resistance range until you
either reach the lowest range or an overflow condition is
indicated.
In the first case, you should record the measurement.
In the latter case, you should set the range to the next highest setting
and then record a measurement.

Potential Issue

Follow the pattern described in the laboratory

manual to map the position of the metal strips
that connect sets of holes (pins) on the ANDY
board breadboard.
Should you find that the minimum resistance that you
measure between pins that are connected by a metal
strip is greater than 5 , you may have a bad
breadboard.
Very rarely, the metal strips shift in position during
shipment.
Contact one of the the OpEL GTA immediately and show the
GTA the measurement. If the GTA determines that you have
a bad board, he will trade your old ANDY board for a new.