Prototype Boards

Now that we have our program operating the way we want, we need to make a prototype board to test our product outside of the evaluation kit. This is necessary to insure our project will function in a stand alone environment.

I will be using a prototyping board (figure 7.1) that can be purchased from most any electronics supply outlet. You can also use a perfboard (figure 7.2) , a blank circuit board with holes predrilled in even spaces.

Figure 7.2

The prototyping board is a little more complex to use, but it makes it easier to alter your circuits. To insert a component in a prototyping board, you just push the pin in one of the available holes (Figure 7.3).

Figure 7.4

Now to explain the schematic. It's fairly simple when you follow the basic intent behind the board. The two long lines on the top and bottom are intended to provide connecting points for the positive and negative power supply to the circuit as shown in figure 7.5.

Figure7.5

As you can see, I determined the top circuit will be negative and the bottom circuit will be positive. Each of the lines in the middle connect a series of holes which allows you to connect components as illustrated in figure 7.6.

Figure 7.6

In this example, connection 1 is the negative lead going to the top long circuit. Connection 2 is one end of a resistor connecting to the negative long top circuit. Connection 3 is the other end of the resistor connecting to a separate vertical circuit. Connection 4 is the anode lead of the LED connecting to the same vertical circuit as connector 3. Not shown is connection 5 and 6. Connection 5 will be the cathode lead of the LED connecting to the positive circuit on the bottom and connection 6 is the positive lead of the 9 volt battery making the bottom long horizontal circuit positive. If you want to try this circuit, use a 9 volt battery, a 1k to 5k resistor, and an LED.

For those of you using a perf board, the connections will be the same but the wires will be twisted together.