Breadboard question: 5V only?

[remmelt]

Hi!

I just bought a breadboard to try some different Red LLama / Tube Sound Fuzz / Double D variations. When I got home I noticed a little sticker:

MAXIMUM VOLTAGE TO BE CONNECTED: 5V

Aaargh! What should I do? Bring it back? Take a chance and try it with 9V? It's one of those packages that when you open it, you can't take it back.
:cry: for not noticing this right away.

The answer I am hoping to get is: "All the breadboards have stickers like that, mine had one too and I've been using it with up to 12V for years now! Don't worry!"

[JimRayden]

hmm, some run power tubes in guitar amps with about twice their rated voltages... My guess is, additional tiny 4 volts can't harm it.

Though correct me if I'm wrong.

---------
Jimbo

[gez]

I could understand if there was a power rating, but voltage on its own??

Are you sure you read the sticker correctly?

[JimRayden]

Yeah, like 5W, instead of V?


-----------
Jimbo

[remmelt]

That's the exact quote:

Maximum VOLTAGE: 5V

Weird, huh?

[gez]

Just use it.  

[aron]

Interesting.... Never seen it before on a breadboard. I bet it's ok.

[gez]

It is a standard breadboard isn't it?  No LED indicator or anything?

[remmelt]

Thank heavens! Yes, it looks like the standard breadboard, although not from the "breadboard" brand. 64x10 holes, powerstrips along both sides, just the regular white stuff, nothing fancy. No LEDs or anything. Just that annoying sticker... And it's not on the package itself, it was stuck on later. Strrrrrange!

[JimRayden]

Just let the 9V in there and start a circuit. If it starts getting hot or emitting a suspicious smell, unplug it from the battery.

The worse case is that it can explode because of some wiseguy who has left some C4 in it.  :roll:  

---------
Jimbo

[remmelt]

It's the one on the left. Bought it at Conrad, a large German electro-shop.

[gez]

Just use it.  Probably a printing error.  It should have been a power rating.  Just giving a voltage rating is meaningless.

[Eddie V]

I have the same one, I say use 9v.

Aren't warning stickers just there for decoration anyway?  :wink:

[Peter Snowberg]

I use three of the boards on the left.

Breadboards are simply nothing more than big sockets. There is nothing that would care about 5V or 9V or even 48V.

At some point you wouldn't want to raise the voltage because that plastic could start breaking down, but Zachary prototyped his NanoHead on a breadboard and the B+ is over 200 volts. :shock:

The only things that are limited to 5V are TTL logic chips.

9 volt away!

[remmelt]

Hurray! Thanks for the input, guys!

[zachary vex]

I use three of the boards on the left.

Breadboards are simply nothing more than big sockets. There is nothing that would care about 5V or 9V or even 48V.

At some point you wouldn't want to raise the voltage because that plastic could start breaking down, but Zachary prototyped his NanoHead on a breadboard and the B+ is over 200 volts. :shock:

The only things that are limited to 5V are TTL logic chips.

9 volt away!

tis true, i breadboarded the nano, the iMP, and a new tube circuit all on the same 3M prototyping experimenter's socket.  i have never had a problem with any of the cheaper radio snack boards when running up to 300VDC on them, but just to be safe, i avoid having high voltage pins of opposite polarities right next to each other if i can help it.  

i'd worry about running tube level voltage on an experimenter's socket without having a good insulator underneath.  it's just a thin paper sticker that holds all of the metal sockets in place.  the 3M unit i have has a metal ground plane (radio snack makes one of these, but it's much smaller) and i feel safer knowing it's right there and totally grounded in case something goes amiss inside the socket.

sometimes i stick 1/16" rubber pad underneath the entire length of a radio snack board if i'm worried about shorting or breakthrough.  my bench is wooden, so probably nothing would ever happen anyway.

i had a great professor in college who told me once "don't worry about breaking the rules, just run your experiments until the authorities show up.  they'll let you know if you've done something that's causing trouble somewhere."  the question was "do you think it's safe for me to run my 6 million volt, 15KW tesla coil in this room untested?"  meanwhile, the computers stopped running on the entire floor.  

he's dead now, btw.  old age, i presume.  professor george freier... lightning research.

[puretube]

somebody heard that... :

http://www.ak-modul-bus.de/cgi-bin/iboshop.cgi?showd930!0,0,KITRT100

[The Tone God]

I've built HV tube circuits breadboards too. I haven't had any problems relating to the breadboard either.

I would say the 5v warning is just the company's "cover my ass" label. Ignore it.

Andrew

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

The board with the 5v max label might have been originally part of a logic demonstration kit. These come with "5v only" warnings.