Breadboard Power Supply Module

Dec 31, 2020

Meet the breadboard power supply module: it takes a barrel jack input and feeds your breadboard a steady 5V or 3.3V, perfect for powering Arduino circuits.

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In some of my electronics tutorials I connect the circuit to a 9V battery, because it’s very simple to start with and it’s quite easy to find.

But it’s not optimal. First because the battery will drain over time, not delivering the 9V advertised.

A Breadboard Power Supply Module accepts an input through a barrel jack from a battery, a 12V adapter or any other source, and provides to our circuit a 5V or 3.3V tension, depending on our needs. We’re going to soon introduce Arduino into our circuits, and all our Arduino circuits will work with those voltage levels.

There are many different ones, here is the power supply module I want to show you, it’s part of the Elegoo kit I suggest you to buy, but also sold by other brands in this same shape and characteristics, you can search “Arduino power supply” on Amazon to see some alternatives:

Breadboard power supply module top view showing voltage regulators, capacitors, USB port and jumper pins Side view of breadboard power supply module showing edge connectors and electronic components Angled view of breadboard power supply module showing barrel jack, USB port and Elegoo branding Top-down view of breadboard power supply module showing circuit board layout with voltage regulation components

The input voltage accepted is 6.5V - 9V DC. The maximum output current is 700mA.

We connect it to the breadboard directly:

Power supply module being inserted into breadboard power rails with golden pins making contact Power supply module fully inserted and mounted on breadboard showing proper alignment Power supply module secured on breadboard with green power LED illuminated indicating successful connection

Then on each side you can decide which tension you want to apply to the power lines in the breadboard, independently: 5V like in this case:

Close-up of power supply jumpers set to 5V position on both left and right voltage rails

Or 3.3V, by changing the position of the jumpers:

Power supply jumpers repositioned to 3.3V setting showing lower voltage configuration option

You can also turn it off by positioning the jumpers in the middle:

Power supply jumpers in middle off position showing how to disable power output to breadboard rails

Then you can connect to a 12V to 220V adapter using the barrel jack input:

White 12V DC power adapter with barrel jack connector for powering the breadboard power supply module

Press the gray button to turn it on. The LED will turn on too:

Power supply module on breadboard with green LED lit and power adapter connected showing active power state

Close-up of power supply USB port and green power LED showing additional power output options

The USB port is not there to power the power supply module. It’s there to power an USB Device if needed (like the Arduino, for example).

There are also other output pins on top that provide GND, 5V and 3.3V in case you need them:

Top output pins on power supply module showing GND, 5V and 3.3V connection points for additional circuits

Tagged: Arduino · All topics

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