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How long are breadboards supposed to last?

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NiHaoMike:
As I was working on my ECEN 489 project, I had an intermittent problem with the address counter that I ultimately traced down to a bad connection on the breadboard. How long do breadboards typically last? The one I have is about 5 years old, used on average twice a week. It's an Elenco Precision 9440.

Mechatrommer:
interesting question i never thought. well, i'm a new guy, my oldest breadboard is like just a year. i thought it will last forever ??? maybe loose connection already, can you take out the metal and re-press the two metal contact? i'm not sure i can explain it better, but if you can have a look at the metal contact "bar", then maybe you'll understand what i mean. just my 2cnt, as i said, i'm a new guy. ;)

ps: whats the ecen489? some communication project?

Psi:
Some components have really thick wires, high current diodes etc. they tend to stretch the breadboard holes and after that little components with thin wires don't connect very well.

Bored@Work:

--- Quote from: NiHaoMike on October 18, 2010, 04:42:12 am ---How long do breadboards typically last?

--- End quote ---

Not very long. And a good bunch of professionals despise and reject them entirely because of their unreliability and mediocre electrical properties, e.g., high stray capacity between contacts.

Some are a little bit better than others. E.g. the ones made by 3M, but for getting something a little bit better you don't just pay a little bit more, but much more.

DJPhil:

--- Quote from: Psi on October 18, 2010, 05:22:30 am ---Some components have really thick wires, high current diodes etc. they tend to stretch the breadboard holes and after that little components with thin wires don't connect very well.

--- End quote ---
This has been my downfall with cheap breadboards. I've tried to keep the bigger stuff to one end of the boards I have but it just doesn't seem to work out well if I'm after a tight layout. At least they're cheap to replace.

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