Nearly every time I build a project I end up putting a voltage regulator on my bread board, mainly because I expect to use a battery or wall wart that is > 5V.
It occurred to me that someone should have built a little break out board that is a simple power supply. I found and ordered three of these MB102 breadboard power supplies from ebay:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/170822951954?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649
They took the slow boat from China, part of why I ordered three. I got it today and took a quick look.
It’s a pretty simple device. You can either plug in a 7-12V barrel plug connected to a wall wart (center positive) or a USB cable.
I tested the barrel plug. No problem. To use the USB connection, you would need an USB cable with A-Type connectors on both ends. I don’t own such a cable and have never actually seen one before though I see Amazon sells them. I really don’t anticipate wanting to do this, so that input will be left untested.
The break out board is the exact size of a standard breadboard and will provide power for the rails on both sides. Once connected, you push the little button, a power LED lights and you’ve got power to the rails.
There are jumpers that let you specify if you want 5V or 3.3V on either rail – so you can independently set the voltage on either side.
The build quality is OK. Everything is on the board square and the solder all looks OK. I really wish there were some jumpers so I could connect the input power using jumper cables rather than the barrel jack, but I will just make a little adapter to do that for me. Otherwise, this is a reasonably decent little board.
