Radioshack breadboard - noisy?

[Pakaloabob]

Has anyone experienced excessive noise on this RS breadboard: http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2734155&filterName=Type&filterValue=Breadboards I'm talking RF or hissing. etc.
I thought maybe I had a problem with the contacts on mine so I bought the same board to see if it was a manufacturing problem, or even something I might have disturbed as far as contacts.
Seems that my second board is just as noisy.
I am just not sure if these problems are inherent in a breadboard, or if the particular one I am using is not as good as others.

[Kearns892]

Breadboards do tend to be fairly noisy as there is no shielding and  all the components tend to be exposed. Additionally, if you breadboard near your computer, T.V., etc. noise will increase. All this to say, it could be normal.

[PRR]

RF comes with wide-open spread-out circuits.

Hissing can be bad contact, but bad contacts also lead to not-working and constant fiddling to keep it all together. I used the older breadboards (without the nifty numbers printed on) for about everything. Buzz was expected, but hiss was not a problem unless my circuit was just hissy.

{As Jordan says} One thing has changed since the old days. Stay away from your PC. And your cellphone, and maybe PalmPilots, and I dunno what else you may have to radiate digital hash.

Also neon lamps: old ones can throw quite a hash-field.

[liquids]

Those should be fine, standard boards.  Noise-wise, none of mine seem different from the others, thought I wouldn't be surprised if RS had particularly cheapo design breadboards that are prone to excess noise.

I've rarely had issues with noise with the two different types (8-10 boards!) I have, most of which look like yours, just not purchased from RS.

Two simple things - does your board have a metal ground sheild/strip on the bottom of it? IF not, maybe lay it on a piee of foil or something?

Also, put Big Freaking Capacitors across the rails if you are using a power supply and not using 9v battery (and heaven sakes, please use a good PS or rechargeable if you must use a battery!).  A lot of times that's the fix for noise for me when I first fire it up.  "Hmm, it's noisy!...oops, forgot that BFC!...>pop on in<...ah, all is quiet now." 

Breadboardings benefit is that it is 'best case scenerio' for modding, designing, tweaking. At the same time, its greatest strengths run paralell to its greatest weaknesses, as it is 'worst case scenerio' for noise, ticking, crosstalk, etc.  That means your build will likely only be improved in those regards. All that said, in few cases have I personally had much noise, ticking, or crosstalk.  I think it depends on where you are on the globe, in the town, in the house, what you have in your home and how old it is, etc.

Be neat, Use shielded wires unless for some reason impossible, sure, and follow the advise of the other guys above definitely, but really, it's a breadboard....have fun!  Don't spend too much time worrying about reducing the noise outside of these things mentioned, as the noise probably won't translate to any true build if it's neatly build and enclosed in metal.  I've never done this, but worse comes to worse and the noise remains and is getting to you, maybe get a big piece of tin foil or something, and just for kicks, wrap the breadboarded project loosely with it all around, and see if noise goes down, to get a feel for the difference an enclosure will make.

And next time, try a non-RS one just to compare one breadboards tenancy for noise to another....

[walker]

Speaking of Radio Shack breadboards, I just bought this one http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2734154

A complete newb question.... it came with a double side adhesive bottom, and also a big piece of metal.   I assume the metal is the ground plate, but what do I do with it?  It seems like I'd need to remove the adhesive to attach it somehow. 

[Mark Hammer]

Many of us will likely breadboard a circuit while looking at a schematic on the screen.  So, the noise that results from being near a computer or monitor (I'm sure I'm not the last person on earth to use a CRT monitor) becomes a regular part of engaging in such activities.

Which raises the question: what can one do that easily, cheaply, and reasonably effectively reduces the RF/EM interference that comes from being near such appliances? (personally, I also have to contend with fluorescent lighting in my workspace)

For example, are there simple "shielding hoods" that people have employed for this very purpose?

Let's hear about your solutions to this.

[Tonemonger]

Umm..It's kind of primative ,But I just throw a biscuit tin over the top of my breadboard and make sure that my soldering iron is'nt on too !

[mac]

I use a couple of cheap chinese breadboards and except for some RF interference in some few cases I do not have major problems.
I use a good regulated PS and a 2200uf at the breadborad's input.

I'm sure I'm not the last person on earth to use a CRT monitor

CRT =: tubes 
LCD =: silicon


mac

[SonicVI]

do your breadboarding inside one of these?

[Mark Hammer]

Back in my animal research days, we relied on shielded chambers exactly like that in order make decent recordings of microvolt-level biological processes.  A couple of guys downstairs from our lab had a room exactly like that for doing single-cell recording from lobster neurons.  Lucky bastards got to eat their research subjects at the end of the day.

[SonicVI]

I once made a cool $20 to help build one in my geophysics professor's lab.  We ate no rocks, nor rock lobsters, afterwards.

[dano12]

Speaking of Radio Shack breadboards, I just bought this one http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2734154

A complete newb question.... it came with a double side adhesive bottom, and also a big piece of metal.   I assume the metal is the ground plate, but what do I do with it?  It seems like I'd need to remove the adhesive to attach it somehow. 

Yeah, it's confusing right? First off, don't try to remove the double-side adhesive from the bottom of the breadboard. On most small breadboards, all the contacts will come out.

You guessed right on metal, it is for shielding. You can either toss the metal plate and stick the breadboard directly to some piece of board, or you can attach the metal plate to the breadboard for shielding, and then have nothing left to attach the resulting assembly to anything.

I'm a big fan of sticking prototype stuff on a piece of board. What I do is use small screws to attach the metal plate to the board. Then attach the breadboard to the metal plate with the supplied double-sided tape.

Plus, you have room on your board to add all sorts of other stuff.

[mac]

We used to have one like that at the physics lab to count neutrons coming from a small chamber where H2 where compressed by a hugh EM pulse. I could never count more than 2 or 3, they moved too fast!

mac

[walker]

Thanks Dano, that was really helpful.  That's what I'll do.   I was thinking of building my own "Beavis Board" of sorts, with an enclosure for the jacks/power etc. 

[dano12]

Thanks Dano, that was really helpful.  That's what I'll do.   I was thinking of building my own "Beavis Board" of sorts, with an enclosure for the jacks/power etc. 

Very cool. There's a wiring diagram for the beavis breakout box, if you want to go that route, here: http://beavisaudio.com/bboard/images/io_diy.jpg