DIY jumper wires

Is it necessary to buy jumper wires? Can't you just cut off a section of wire and strip off the insulation on each end?

For many years I just made my own. Eventually I bought a fairly cheap pack of the ones that are just stripped wire with the ends pre-bent 90 degrees. It's nice to have them all ready and pre-stripped, and having them all the same length and straight means my boards end up a lot neater looking.

But you don't have to buy them, it's completely up to you.

I make my own. There's pros and cons.

Making your own is much cheaper, and you can get exactly the length you want (when I took electronics in school, neat breadboards were graded, and so precisely cut wires was a must). Just use 22 gauge solid insulated wire. Get a few colors (at least red, black, and one other)

With the precut ones, there's less effort involved, so prototyping is quicker. Also, if you get jumper wires premade, they sometimes have special ends that are sturdier for repeated use.

In the end, it's up to you. :slight_smile:

Thanks be to the Oracle. The reason I asked is because whenever I go searching for breadboards, jumper wires are always being sold. I was afraid they might necessary, although they do offer some convenience. Then again, the pre-made jumper wires often seem to be too long for an Arduino project.

For years, I used cut-and-stripped pieces of the solid 4-conductor cable intended for doing in-house telephone jack wiring.

But, now that the stranded wires with soldered-on pins are available so cheap (I paid about $7 for a pack of 75 on ebay, and the same vendor is now offering 100 for about the same price), I use those.

Since I don't prototype high-frequency RF or logic circuits, having the extra wire hanging out doesn't worry me. It's a lot more convenient, and the stranded wire makes it lot easier to do interconnects with the Arduino and off-board components like pots and switches. I also don't build protoboard circuits that need to last a long time: if it works and I want to keep it, I do a soldered version.

So, as others have already pointed out, you don't need to buy ready-made wires, but you'll probably find it easier to prototype if you do.

Ran

A normal paper staple can be a handy jumper across 4, 5, or 6 holes depending on the angle.

A normal paper staple can be a handy jumper across 4, 5, or 6 holes depending on the angle.

Why not just use a component lead for that?

I have a tiny container I clip leads into that I never quite get around to emptying into the garbage, so I often just dig in there for a short jumper (or a short wire for assembling perf-board).

Staples are found everywhere, have a handy dispenser, and are pre-bent!

Staples are found everywhere, have a handy dispenser, and are pre-bent!

But they're not made of copper, and they may have a coating of glue on them to keep them together in the "stick". So, you may get poor connections with staples. I just use offcuts of component wires and bits of telephone wire, stripped.