Is my level shifter messed up or am I using it wrong?

Other Hardware General Electronics
1

I have a logic level shifter that I would like to use for a project. The shifter came without pin headers, so I had to solder some headers.

As this is the first time I use a level shifter, I decided to "test" if I have soldered everything correctly and that it's working as intended. At the same time, I don't have a power supply handy, nor an oscilloscope or a signal generator, but I do have a multimeter.. so I decided to use the arduino's 5V and 3.3V rails to test it

I connected the following using a breadboard:

Arduino 3.3V - shifter "LV"
Arduino GND - shifter GND

I then noticed that LV1, LV2, LV3, and LV4 all had 3.3V and that even HV1 had a voltage lower than 3.3.

I started thinking that I have shorted something with my soldering job, so I decided to test for continuity with the multimeter... but nothing seems to be short circuited from this test...

So now I'm wondering.. have I messed up my level shifter? Or is this normal behaviour? Or is there something I'm missing?

2

I think that we need to know what level shifter that you have. Popular ones are MOSFET level shifters and 4051 chips (among others).

3

You've also connected the +5v to the level shifter ? The ground connection although present may not actually be used especially in the case of bi-directional level shifters like some that are specified for I2C.
I agree you should now post a link to its description.