Thanks for purchasing the Overboard breadboard and/or the dual voltage power supply. Assembly is straightforward. Below you will find everything you need to know.
Breadboard Assembly
Assembling the breadboard is straightforward. Just snap the four breadboard segments together, and stick them onto the base PCB. The four breadboards must be aligned perfectly inside of the box. The double sided tape on the bottom of the breadboards sticks to the PCB really well. Once it’s stuck it will never move! This is important because the power supply pins won’t align properly if the breadboard is crooked. The positive power rails must face left and the negative power rails must face right. If the breadboard is installed upside down then you will have a red ground and blue positive.
Power Supply Assembly
- Because the power supply PCB is so packed with components, there was no room to add the component values to the PCB. However, each component only fits where it belongs so this is not really an issue.
- This design requires the use of several surface mount components. Smaller surface mount packages were intentionally avoided. However soldering these larger surface mount components will be a lot easier with .8mm or smaller 60/40 solder and a small soldering iron tip.
- It is essential to start with the surface mount components. They are a lot harder to solder with taller components in the way. Be careful of the polarity of the diodes. The arrow on the PCB points toward the line on the diode.
- It’s a good idea to solder everything except the breadboard power rail pins. Place the undersold pins into the breadboard, and screw the power supply in place with the included hardware before soldering the output pins and the alignment will be effortless.
- The power supply requires a center positive power adapter. There is a blocking diode in the power supply to prevent magic smoke from appearing if you plug in a center negative power supply. If you plug in your power supply and nothing happens, this is probably your problem.
If you have any questions, or you are missing any parts, please send an email to ian@boltind.com
Schematic
Note that R1 is 3KΩ on this schematic. 15KΩ resistors are included by default. This is because the LED tends to be too bright if you’re using a higher voltage power supply. You can change this resistor to a different value to change the LED brightness.
