So I've got a EE152 midterm tomorrow, and I've managed to go the entire class without constructing a circuit. The problem is, 20% of the midterm hands-on. All of the hands-on stuff has been done by my partner, and I've done the calculations, now this strategy will likely kick me in the face since I can't construct a circuit.

I've googled for about the last hour looking for examples, and I've kind of got the jist of it but would like to reinforce it some more. If anybody has some examples, I'd love to look at them. I'd prefer if the examples had both the circuit diagram and the breadboard schematic, but any help is appreciated.

How have you gone this far in the semester without having set up a single circuit?

thats how my labs are too, it really sucks I'm stuck in a group of three people and I have yet the experience to set one up.....

Sounds like you are a week behind schedule since the 152 midterms were supposed to be last week. You must be in one of Jamie's sections.

Anyway, if you understand what a node is then a breadboard is very simple to understand. When you look at a row on the breadboard (rows are numbered on the board), there are 5 holes. Each of the 5 holes are electrically connected to one another, which represents a node in a circuit. If you take your circuit diagram and number the nodes, then you just need to see what components are connected at what node, then pick a row and plug in the necessary components to that row that make up that node. Along the sides and top of the breadboard are busses. There are red and blue lines running along side of columns of holes. All of the holes that run along with the red or blue line are electrically connected together. This is just to give you 25 connections to work with instead of just 5 for larger and more complex circuits. Typically you use the 25 hole nodes for power and ground.

The plug ins at the top of the breadboard which are marked V1, V2 and ground are NOT electrically connected to the rest of the board in any way. If you wanted to use those connections, you need to run a wire from the plug to a node on the breadboard. I suggest not using those connections, but they are there if you need them.

Sorry I don't have any pictures or examples to show you, but I hope that helps. Just ask your lab TA before the midterm to show you how to use it, I'm sure he/she will show you how.

@first AC: Here is a quote from my original post, maybe that will answer your question



Yeah, I know, it was a dumb strategy, but it was a division of labor. He has plenty of experience doing this before, so I figured, I'd just learn by watching him. That only partially worked.

@third AC: Thank you. That helped clarify a few things.

Actually, I'm in one of Thentu's sections.