Hello all, I’m pretty new to this electronic world and I am curious how an arduino shield works. (such as this one: http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9346)
Specifically the holes in the center region of the board… is it like a bread board where certain rows of them are internally connected to each other? Or do you solder two wires per hole to make connections from place to place?
Very confused, thanks for any help!
nanok66:
… Or do you solder two wires per hole to make connections from place to place?Very confused, thanks for any help!
That’s one way to make a connection. Another is to dribble solder to make a bridge between the 2 pins/holes to be connected. It is not like a solderless breadboard.
One idea that might help you out.
For temporary circuits (developing/testing) use a breadboard.
For semi-permanent circuits (the testing is done, and you want to use what you made but don’t want parts falling out all the time AND you want to reuse the board/interface/shield again and again, try wire-wrapping.) Get a wire wrapping tool and wire-wrapping wire (@radioshack (and whatnot)) For IC’s there are wire-wrapping sockets also.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wire_wrap
If you want to make a circuit permanent then solder wires/IC’s/(whatever components). If you do this, the shield will most likely be good for a one use only. If you are good at unsoldering you should get more uses out of it, but that depends on skill.
I personally would go with the wire wrap method unless you never plan to change anything on the shield again.
Hope it helps…