Julian's Postbag: #92 - Breadboards and Jumper Wires

[@frenchcreekvalley]

I should have commented that I really enjoy your postbag presentations. Lots of good commentary. Thank you.

[@anjayv8347]

you're welcome Julian !☺️

[@JulianIlett]

Hey, thanks for the suggestion!

[@resanila]

How do you resist the urge to open a package for 6 months?? I even get exited to open my bills sometimes!!

[@JulianIlett]

I know what's in most of them ;)

[@arduinoandbeyond1668]

Exactly

[@ozonesama]

I am impressed by the "useful comments notepad", that's very thoughtful of you. Thank you very much.

[@joshuarosen6242]

I bought exactly the same wire coil set and it is perfect for use in breadboards. It's big enough to fit firmly but easy to manipulate.

[@muh1h1]

Wait, so you are telling me you don't have a cheap digital calliper to meassure this kind of stuff? If thats the case you should really get one, its one of the most useful tools i own!

[@km5405]

true .... its cheap, made of plastic and makes my skin crawl a little ..... but it gets the job done surprisingly well , a few bucks well spent

[@muh1h1]

Mine cost 7,99€ from Lidl back in the day. I've used it for years and it is surprisingly acurate. Also still on the first battery. So yeah, money well spent!

[@1st_ProCactus]

You know he is a tight arse. Maybe when they cost a dollar.

[@matthewlemon]

Julian Ilett, you are costing me a fortune :) You find all the items that I think I need and then I have to go and buy them !!! Keep up the great work.......

[@cojones8518]

Look for "22AWG Bell Wire" to find solid conductor Lan cable 8 colors and long as you want. Extra points if you look behind a wiring contractor, security companies (alarm sensor runs) telcom or electronics store and find a partial roll in the dumpster.

[@mcocker]

I see the Wire and the breadboard sold out, oddly after a sudden rush of orders just after you posted the video :D

[@God-CDXX]

that metal is a rf shield to put on the back of your board

[@pileofstuff]

That was my first thought too. Though at second thought, I'd imagine your jumper wires would probably be a much greater risk for RF leakage and stray inductance then the back of the breadboard.

[@ArcanePath360]

Why would this be needed?

[@God-CDXX]

if building low level pre amps the metal helps a lot you ground the metal to your circuit ground to help keep noise out of your project I have this board and that metal plate really helps in my case

[@Dosbomber]

+Jamie Phillips I've never used one, although I've gotten several with my breadboards... thanks for letting me finally know what it's actually for. :)

[@raymondheath7668]

I'm going to check into the JST connectors. All of my microcontroller boards I use the .100 center female pins clipped off of a strip and a salvaged two pin connector cut out of a computer harness.

[@CornishMiner]

Good idea to get some of those thicker breadboard wires. I tend to use wire out of telephone extension cabling, which I have loads of, but it can rattle in the holes and cause intermittent faults - maddening! Best wishes.

[@jeffmerlin2580]

I did open all the comments, searched for "round" in Chrome (CTRL F), got a few "around" and "ground", but finally found A13tech saying "i personaly recommended brand EIC E-CALL". That was easy. :-) Thanks for the video. Always good entertainment!

[@KevinDay]

If that kit of jumper wires is like the one from Radio Shack, the insulation color actually corresponds to the resistor color codes and tells you its length in breadboard holes.

[@JulianIlett]

I want to use the colour to indicate the signal type, so colours indicating jumper length is next to useless :)

[@StyreneMikesModelShop]

Hello Julian, I'm new your channel and I wanted to say that I very much enjoy your videos as they are both informative and entertaining. I especially like the Postbag installments, they are really quite helpful for sourcing components and other geeky goodies. Thanks so much for all of the instruction and inspiration!.............Mike

[@ChaplainDaveSparks]

Those breadboards bring back memories. I bought my first one back in the early 1970s while I was in college. If I remember correctly, they cost US$20 each back then!

[@dalenassar9152]

Thanks so much for the look at the breadboard and wire. I have a couple of things that may (or may not) be of interest: (1) In the 80's I found a huge length of that old telephone insulated copper wire--this was about a 50 foot sheath of 100 conductors of insulated wire inside. I have been using it to this very day (the SAME wire). It's a lifetime supply for even the heaviest 'bread-boarder' (2) For electronic devices like a 7805 V. reg. (TO-220 package, I think, If you use a pair of needle-nose pliers and rotate the leads 90 degrees, it slides right into the breadboard (otherwise, it is very difficult to insert and tends to damage the conductors in the breadboard). (3) A freaky discovery--I had a simple 555 circuit breadboard-ed that refused to work, I tried everything you could think of with no luck--I rebuilt it on other breadboards, using the same--SAME parts, and still no luck. (I was using wire from one of those assortment kits). FINALLY, I tracked it down to a piece of wire with an end that was stripped too short--The insulation got compressed into the breadboard terminal and the bare wire did not touch the contact. This kind of thing can really mess up your day. So I nor use ONLY use the old telephone copper.

[@pinterelectric]

I like the teflon insulation for soldering to, it won't melt back like the pvc jacket

[@amanmittal4232]

plz do more postbag on electronic modules and kits!!!

[@JasonMasters]

I'm pretty sure the metal strip is in case you want to mount the board via the glue strip onto some kind of backing. You can easily screw down the metal strip to a wooden surface and then the metal strip provides a non-porous surface for the glue to grip onto.

[@peterfielden-weston7560]

That flat metal plate could be used under the breadboard as a ground plane. Perhaps it might cut down some of the noise usually associated with solderless breadboards.

[@JulianIlett]

That makes sense :)

[@traceyknight7358]

H'm not sure anyone knows for sure based on the link below. Some of my cheap boards (larger ones) do tend to develop a curve after a while. www.eevblog.com/forum/beginners/flat-aluminum-plate-that-comes-with-breadboards/

[@Autotrope]

I don't think it would be able to act as a ground plane unless it connected through to every ground point in the circuit but it could still provide some shielding

[@jlucasound]

The Red wire is for 5 Volts, Yellow is 12V, Brown is 24V, Blue is -12V, Green designates Ground and the Pink Wire designates Flower Power. ;-)

[@californiakayaker]

With Radio Frequency work you'll see a large bit of copper on one side of the board. We refer to this as the "Backplane" and it calms down radio frequency amplifiers ect so they don't take off with oscillations. Maybe that's what its for ?

[@karsnoordhuis4351]

I got some breadboard wires from an old teacher. I believe they were made of telephone cord. they work really well!

[@nockieboy]

I've used this exact same wire to build a Z80 SBC on some breadboards with no issues.

[@nickpelov]

the metal strip is probably a ground plane for noise sensitive designs. I think you must connect it to ground to do the job

[@mosfet500]

Julian, Thanks for the video. I think the aluminum sheet gets put on the bottom of the breadboard if you don't mount the unit when making up your own board system. I guess they figure the original backing doesn't hold up over time and the aluminum is more durable and keeps the pins from pushing through after use.

[@junkmail4613]

"EIC-1102, round hole, Maybe screw the metal plate at 12:50 onto wood or some other porous surface, then adhere protoboard to metal surface. Also, metal surface might provide "Faraday Cage" ground plane and shielding for higher frequency on non-conducting materials like plastic or wood, or a number of protoboards stacked sandwich style on top of each other, again high freq or sensitive differential amp circuits." (Sorry so many edits, trying to get the 12:50 link above to work correctly)

[@MyBigThing2010]

can't wait till the post bag where you get the baseball card sleeves and a binder for your resistor storage problem like I explained on another video!

[@davidfrisken1617]

Telephone and network cable off cuts are a good source for solid core hook up wire. Even a 100m roll of 2 pair, new cable sells for under $40 AUD (305m 3 pair or CAT5 under $60). So you should be even cheaper in Europe and the USA.

[@mmmlinux]

I got some breadboards years ago that also came with that metal plate. I feel better that you dont know what it is either.

[@TheDutyPaid]

Staples of different sizes work great as jumpers on breadboard.

[@JulianIlett]

Aren't staples glued together? That glue could act as insulation.

[@TheDutyPaid]

Julian Ilett I never had a problem, not sure if they are glued or when made they are not fully cut though. Does the stapler shear each one off?

[@Anvilshock]

I don't think they're glued. More like not stamped all the way through. Just nicked and then folded into the staple shape. Like the scoring on PCBs to break them into smaller ones.

[@nickpelov]

try the springy wires with a magnet. It could be some iron/steel alloy

[@dos541]

I think the metal sheet could be a crude form of rf shielding Maybe if you solder a jumper on it to ground it might reduce interference but everything would end up with some capacitance to ground

[@BajanAlan]

Listing says - With Aluminum Back Plate to stand high frequency and low static

[@Firecul]

TubeBuddy is a good chrome extension for managing channels, it also allows you to save comment suggestions for later.

[@miningbruno]

Extremely late to this party, but the metal strip is an optional backing for the breadboard it comes with. If you don't glue it to its back, when you try to push some larger components (stiffer leads), they may in turn push the bus bars out the bottom (the alternative is to glue the breadboard to a larger plate -- like those compound breadboards with banana plugs -- which is why they don't come pre-assembled).

[@DoubleAD10]

Another great video. This series is my favorite.

[@daque1960]

I have a bunch of solderless breadboards and none grip a standard 1/4 w carbon film resistor lead well . How does that new one work on resistor leads?

[@vgamesx1]

17:30 Uhh why not use the search feature? or even Ctrl+F and in this case search for "round" or "hole"? Easier to me anyway...

[@frankwales]

At 17:04 I see a 'Search comments' box, which isn't something I see on a normal post (I presume it's a feature for helping you manage commenting on your videos). Have you tried that to see if it's a better way to find a comment instead of scrolling?

[@monotrope]

It's kind of cool that your nose pliers make a perfect bending tool for your tinned copper wire, can you link me to what exact model pliers you are using or at least the dimensions of it?

[@TheDefpom]

Julian, did you see my comments on the USB mic modifications, to improve its sound quality and volume? I posted links to s couple of my videos showing the mods.

[@sparkyprojects]

You could get a resistor wire bending jig for making flat links (looks like a tapered wedge with slots)

[@JulianIlett]

I had one years ago - I think it was stuck to the front of Everyday Electronics back in the 1980s :)

[@sparkyprojects]

I just checked mine, yep mine was from EE too :D

[@martinocko9]

Cheap source of breadboard wire is cat5e/cat6 ehternet cable(one for installing in walls)

[@uwezimmermann5427]

The biggest problem with the pre-bend wires is that you cannot color code the wires yourself, because you are limited in the choice of color and link-length... For the breadboards I found that all the transparent ones I bought on eBay are of quite good quality, while the opaque white ones can vary quite a bit...

[@-yeme-]

Julian, you can use the History button in the left pane, then the Comments tab at the top to go through all comments youve left and find comments youve replied to that way

[@JulianIlett]

That's pretty cool - I've never used that feature :)

[@NLDennis]

You could also press Ctrl+F, then you are able to search for a word on a webpage or on the comments page... like in this example the word "round"or the words "round holes".

[@bradscott3165]

That springy wire is springy because it is tinned steel, not copper. Did you check your wire with a magnet? Note the ebay listing on the wire you bought did NOT say "solid copper" it only said "solid."

[@ThatGuy-nv2wo]

6:05 "I didn't see that one" we can see the purple link Julian! You clicked it! Also you over payed a fair amount on that wire ;) Especially the bent stuff.

[@JulianIlett]

Ha ha well spotted - I've been searching for days to find solid core wire from China - I must have looked at that one already and dismissed it because it's stranded.

[@ThatGuy-nv2wo]

Here's a UK seller that'll give you an extra 11m for a few more pence ;) www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SOLID-CORE-HOOKUP-WIRE-1-0-6mm-22AWG-BREADBOARD-JUMPERS-11-COLOURS-PVC-COPPER-/201462434930?var=&hash=item2ee818cc72:m:mfauCIWh9HR7XoViS5N3P5Q

[@JulianIlett]

Also described as copper - I wonder if it really is ;)

[@ThatGuy-nv2wo]

Doesn't look it, your one wasn't though :P

[@AlpineTheHusky]

Striveday sells solid core wire in those 5/6 color packs on Aliexpress

[@iantabor4590]

Another place to get solid core cable is cat5e off cuts when a building is being refurbished.

[@BOMBOVA]

i am going to go with the metal, on the back of the bb, acts as decoupling and shielding. that is what i think.

[@kevinbyrne4538]

One way to find a particular comment among a list of comments is to press "Control" + "F", which turns on the search feature. Just enter "round" into the search box, and it will find the relevant comment.

[@TheRukisama]

I couldn't help but think, when you said that Hemel Hempstead was "just up the road," isn't pretty much everywhere in the UK "just up the road?" Maybe it's because I'm American...

[@sdttnkara]

That springy wires couldn't be steel alloy? Did you check it with magnet?

[@SatyajitRoy2048]

JST connectors have over 100 variations so mentioning JST XH2.54 or simply JST XH is better if someone is looking exactly for the same connector.

[@ed-jf3xh]

In my experience, if the wire is springy, it's steel. May be plated or tinned but probably has a steel core. Or did someone mention that already and I didn't notice?

[@TheRealAnthony_real]

So I'm trying to use some breadboards with some nodemcu's which drive my wled's here and there .. and I find that the jumper wire that I bought from Amazon is quite wobbly on the breadboard ... Even the standard jumper male pins tend to wobble in the breadboard and if there is not a tight fit the nodemcu tends to go offline and online ... Could you recommend some corect sizes breadboards and wiring ?

[@pulesjet]

I have one of those Bread Boards and even the Plastic is of better quality then most others I have. Takes a bit of effort to mark and scratch it.

[@CoolerQ]

As soon as you said "it's springy", I immediately thought "I bet it's not copper". You should check - it's common to see e.g. copper-coated aluminum or steel as a way to cut corners. It looked like it was a different color under your magnifier.

[@JulianIlett]

It wouldn't surprise me. Copper used to be plentiful, now it's scarce :(

[@patriotact40]

I like your red Citroën, is that a 2009 C1 model?

[@JulianIlett]

+Lyndsey Taryn Wow, that's almost forensic!

[@jumbo999614]

I bought so many jumper wires and most of them last only a few uses. I tested them with multimeter's continuity mode and it didn't beep. Now i have to cut and tin my own wire. Is awg wire the same as regular jumper wire?

[@ElGatoLoco698]

Julian, how's the bike doing with those big LiFePO's? I"m curious.

[@JulianIlett]

Not sure, must get the bike out and check the voltages.

[@monkeyjuju7441]

Are the pads on that ruler accurate? for some reason that D2PAK looks gigantic

[@JerryEricsson]

Watching how handy that little ruler was, I went ahead and ordered one. Oh my, mine has all GOLD lettering, however the lettering that counts IS MISSING!! Sort of torqued me off really, no numbers for inches or mm, also none for the awg, only numbers are for the types of pin-outs and those are no good for me really. Oh well, I can now draw straight lines and it impresses those who see it laying on my desk I guess.

[@oneyedthing]

Are 20-28 awg stranded wires safe for connecting 5v or 12v led strips?

[@c0v3n4n7]

Hi there. Love your videos. One idea. It would be awesome if you did a series about building a bread board computer from scratch, with easy to find components. Step by step, in chapters. Cheers

[@JulianIlett]

That's pretty much what I'm planning to do :)

[@c0v3n4n7]

That's awesome and I will definitely follow that series. I love those old computer kits (altair, imsai, kim-1, etc...) but never had the chance to build anything like that and I don't have the skills. Just starting to get into electronics (and cheap ebay Chinese kits) thanks to your videos. Cheers

[@donaldfilbert4832]

Actually - I have found 22 ga to be the best / perfect size for use with breadboards !!

[@creeperslayer363]

Maybe the metal sheet is stopping the adhesive getting damaged

[@michaelmaass351]

where and how to do keep all the stuff you purchase organized?

[@AThreeDogNight]

The wire made me think of the Mexican Jumping Beans from years ago, LOL.

[@coxsj]

Springy wire or springy insulation? The wire should be copper, right?

[@AlexLaw_Qld]

Shielding, that's always been what I was told the weird shim plate is for.

[@Henchman1977]

Is the wire copper plated steel by any chance?

[@DM-fz3ly]

Julian... take a magnet and see if the "springy" wire is made of steel!! Some cheap wire and I have even found that the leads of cheap LED's that I bought were made of plated steel NOT copper.

[@robh1908]

I find 22 guage best for breadboards. I love your Mailbag videos Juliens. Would be nice if you could do this every day.

[@paulsengupta971]

AWG or SWG?

[@robh1908]

AWG

[@spikeydapikey1483]

Waiting on my ruler, and I'll be getting some of that wire! Could you recommend a kit, or a buying list for people just getting into hobby electronics? Resistors, capacitors, LEDs etc?? Cheers :)

[@JulianIlett]

I've got a capacitor kit coming soon :)

[@SteamengineOrgCalc]

1:18 Here's a converter between AWG, SWG, BWG, millimeters and inches. www.steam-engine.org/converter.html

[@Anvilshock]

Tried to order the wire from this guy on ebay.co.uk. For some reason the listing said it wouldn't ship to Germany where I was at the time. Asked the seller as to why, he never responded. His loss. Got my stuff somewhere else.

[@RWBHere]

That metal sheet is probably for use as a ground plane.

[@azimalif266]

Can I use thin headphone wire for arduino signals?

[@DupczacyBawol]

Looks like the cheap breadboards have better quality connectors. 14:30

[@KulbhushanChand]

You can search the comments with keyword "round", to find the guy who mentioned about trying round hole breadboard.

[@dougerrohmer]

Hands up all those who thought "AvE!!" when he brought out the wire guage thingy...

[@jonjohnson102]

Pesky detector

[@shlomsi2000]

Never before was the word "funnelling" used on a single clip to that extent!. Well, maybe on that other clip also by Julian.

[@midnightrizer]

It is the backplate for the breadboard.

[@John_Smith__]

A hint ... just buy cheap cat5 ethernet cable, with no connectors in the end and take the wires inside apart, like in some stores they sell to make the ethernet cables. That single core cables inside are very suitable for breadboard arduino projects.

[@JulianIlett]

Too thin surely? Also it's plain copper not tinned if I remember correctly.

[@John_Smith__]

You're correct but I use it and it fit ok in my breadboards. And yes it is just good old copper. But ... in my case it's free. I recover ethernet cables set aside and given to me so ... it costs nothing and usaly comes in with 5m to 10m lengths ... works for me.

[@John_Smith__]

Well Julian I've been looking around Aliexpress and found some cables mentioning 23AWG for cat5 ethernet wire, but yes they're always plain copper.

[@tookitogo]

5 seconds into this video and you've planted the mental image of Professor Farnsworth in my mind, showing his drawer full of "assorted lengths of wire". 😂

[@nightshadelenar]

your zip (post) code is pointing to a 50km area, so your ok, as long as your not sharing your street.

[@robertpolito6139]

I use cat 5 or 6 wire for Breadboards and Jumper.

[@Llyod3000]

hey julian, single stranded silicone wire wouldnt make a lot of sense, because you usually buy silicon wire for its high flexibility ;)

[@JulianIlett]

Good point :)

[@UpLateGeek]

Yeah, the comment system on KZbin is fairly well broken. It's like the old comments just disappear into the aether. Which probably isn't such a bad thing, considering the quality of comments on other channels!

[@allananderson5840]

I bought 10' Belden 8577 9 Conductor 22 Gauge SOLID Unshielded Cable for breadboarding for $1/foot

[@SpeccyMan]

Damn, that wire is currently out of stock, seems they only got the 1m lengths.

[@birnodin]

24 years I bought my breadboards from Alice. 24 years I got the fakes with the square holes. And now Alice is gone...

[@shlomsi2000]

Hha, nice one Imagine Julian living next door to Alice, he can cut the delivery time from 1 month to 20 seconds.

[@maicod]

I'm thinking Alice is a Chinese bearded Guy :)

[@JulianIlett]

I think Alice was born in 1983 so 34 years old now - the bearded guy's daughter maybe?

[@maicod]

Julian Ilett sorry it was meant funny

[@paulsengupta971]

Alice? Who the .... is Alice?

[@DOOMDUDEMX]

Next time you look for something in the comments you might want to try the search-function in the top left corner of the comments-section. :)

[@babyflurryheart9114]

love your videos thay ar the best

[@rudysmd7350]

Solid wire for jumper easy just take it from LAN cables or UTP

[@donaldfilbert4832]

The only thing I don't like about those round hole breadboards is - for items with a more blade-like lead (microprocessor sockets - switches - etc.) the fit is somewhat forced !!

[@monotrope]

That VCCIO EIC-1102 830 pt round hole breadbaord is no longer sold on ebay. At $5.50 and free shirrpping it was the ideal price for me and great quality but longer being sold which is just infuriating. I've wasted way too much time trying to find a good breadboard at a reasonable price. Now that I found one I can't buy it because it's no longer sold.