What is Reddit's opinion of JBtek Breadboard Power Supply Module 3.3V/5V for Arduino Board Solderless Breadboard?

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just Arduino Uno, micro servos SG-90 and this guy connected to 9v battery for power

(I don't recommend using a 9v battery, after a few calculations it turned out that it might not give enough power for 4 servos)

Looks like a power supply module for an Arduino-based project.

Here's a similar version on Amazon. You can find others like this with the same name.

But if you hook them up to the 5v and GND on the Arduino, doesn't the power still have to run through the relatively weak Arduino? Or are you suggesting they get an external power module like this: https://www.amazon.com/JBtek-Breadboard-Supply-Arduino-Solderless/dp/B010UJFVTU

I also don't know enough about powering things to totally understand how it works.

A benchtop power supply is usually found in a lab like at a university or engineering company. It has highly accurate output voltage control with a digital or analog readout displaying what the actual output voltage and current are instead of you just assuming it is performing properly.

A breadboard-mounted power supply, such as those that just plug right into a breadboard like this one or this one, are pretty neat little devices great for some rapid prototyping work, but they don't usually output exactly what they're rated to output, and their performance gets worse as you approach the maximum specs of the device or as the device gets hot. Personally, I regularly check the output of a breadboard-mounted power supply with a digital multi-meter instead of just trusting it to perform to its specifications.

There are a few things you should probably have on hand if you're getting into microelectronics. A decent multimeter is one of them, and a good power supply is another, something like this.

If you remove the regulator, you can still provide 3.3v directly to the 3v3 pin on the dev board, and the USB<->UART converter will still work off of the 5v from your computer. You'd know at that point whether the module itself is okay.

Picking up a microelectronics starter kit might not be a bad idea either, something along these lines. Having a bunch of common, basic components on hand makes it easier to quickly prototype something out on a breadboard before you decide on what the final version is going to look like. A project that I'm just finishing up now looks like this now that it's done, but it looked like this when I was just still figuring out how it was going to work. Electronics design is iterative, and having parts on hand to validate your ideas makes the process much quicker.

It's a safety thing... if you're never going to be using this in a freezing environment, and it's just for prototyping, it's probably.. "OK," but not not really recommended. You're going to want to use a buck/boost converter if you're trying to achieve anything beyond the 3.3-4.2V range. If you over-discharge the cell, then you have to worry about charge safety as well. If the BMS/protection circuit on the cell (built in) DOES cut the battery off on low voltage (typically in the 3.0-3.5V range), then it'll just shut off and keep the battery safe.

https://www.amazon.com/JBtek-Breadboard-Supply-Arduino-Solderless/dp/B010UJFVTU This is probably a simpler option for just messing around with a breadboard. Depends what you're trying to achieve.

"An arduino" is a little too vague, some of them can run on 3.3V, others are 5V. There are voltage regulators on board that can buck (step-down) to 3.3V, but others won't run.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IT19dg73nKU&amp;t

This is a great video to learn more about breadboard/microcontroller projects.

Yep. I like them and they are kinda handy to have laying around.

https://www.amazon.com/JBtek-Breadboard-Supply-Arduino-Solderless/dp/B010UJFVTU?ref_=d6k_applink_bb_marketplace

You *could* just buy a breadboard supply like this one:

https://www.amazon.com/JBtek-Breadboard-Supply-Arduino-Solderless/dp/B010UJFVTU/

It's powered by a standard 2.1mm connector wall wart like this one:

https://www.amazon.com/Chanzon-Switching-Adapter-100-240V-Transformer/dp/B07HNL5D56/

There is a little power supply for the breadboard included. You can see it clearly in this picture although unfortunately, it's turned around to hide the important connectors. This board is useful if you need to power more components than the RPi can safely supply off the GPIO pins. The board takes 6.5-12 VDC power in via a barrel connector (not the microUSB I mentioned before), often off a battery pack, and can provide 3.3v or 5.5v to the breadboard rails. There's a better overview here. The USB A port is a 500 ma OUTPUT. You don't absolutely need to use this board to get started with a few LEDs, it is a handy thing to have as you start to add things.

I have one of these https://www.amazon.com/JBtek-Breadboard-Supply-Arduino-Solderless/dp/B010UJFVTU

Should that work?

Hey Chrwei, the ACDC is the actual cord. The breadboard one is a module that i was connecting the cord to. It looks like the one in this link: https://www.amazon.com/JBtek-Breadboard-Supply-Arduino-Solderless/dp/B010UJFVTU

Looks like a MB102 power supply to me, like this one: https://www.amazon.com/JBtek-Breadboard-Supply-Arduino-Solderless/dp/B010UJFVTU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1484871195&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=Power+Supply+MB102

Hmm. It looks as if the power supply module is something like this. https://www.amazon.com/JBtek-Breadboard-Supply-Arduino-Solderless/dp/B010UJFVTU/ref=sr_1_fkmr2_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1475424871

If so, it seems to take a 6-12VDC input, probably the same barrel size and spec that would fit an Arduino Uno's power jack.

Without a multimeter, you're kind of blind. If you can afford it, I'd pick up a cheap one at least until you can finish your kit or find a better one. I actually bought an HP 34401A off eBay a few years back. Not cheap (around $500US), but well worth it for the precision and functionality.

Just starting out, pretty much any multimeter will do, although a digital one will be easier to use. Something like this looks reasonable for most hobby use: https://www.amazon.com/Etekcity-MSR-R500-Digital-Multimeter-Continuity/dp/B00KHP6EIK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1475425053&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=multimeter

With the multimeter, you can test the output of power supplies and your power module, to make sure the voltage is within spec. Later on, you'll want an oscilloscope -- but they're not too terribly expensive, either, these days.

If you can't test the resistance, make sure you "stack" the resistors in series (end to end) rather than in parallel (side by side). Sorry if this is obvious to you; I'd rather mention it and get an eye roll than not mention it and have you burn something out by providing it with a much-too-low resistance.

Feel free to reply or PM if you have questions. I teach electronics as my day job, and enjoy helping others get started.

> https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-huzzah-esp8266-breakout/overview

I have the exact board, and I also had issues powering it from a USB port. I'm currently using this power supply and have had 0 issues so far. I highly recommend a supply like this because it easily plugs into a solderless breadboard and can supply both 3.3v and 5v simultaneously. I combined it with this AC adapter. It's 9v, but the voltage regulators on the power supply will burn off the extra voltage as heat.

So now you can omit the voltage wire from the FTDI chip, but you still need a ground wire to go from the FTDI chip to the breadboard's ground.

Also, buy a multimeter if you don't already have one.