Making Things Move DIY Mechanisms for Inventors, Hobbyists, and Artists

Appendix: BreadBoard Power and Arduino Primer

This appendix includes sections on getting power to your breadboard as well as setting up the Arduino hardware and software.

Getting Power to Your Breadboard

Directly plugging a battery pack into your breadboard is not the best way to get power to it. This method, used extensively in Chapter 6, is not technically a good practice because the four AA batteries can give you anywhere between 4V to 6.4V, depending on if the batteries are rechargeable and how new they are. However, chips like the H-bridge used in Project 6-5 are more comfortable with a steady voltage between 4.5V to 5.5V. And most motors will want a different voltage than your logic circuit. The following methods help get a more regulated ...