I am using breadboards to develop stuff, but lately have been experiencing nothing but trouble in low-voltage analog circuits. Like this simple common emitter amplifier:
Whatever I do, it never works properly. There's always some connection not working and to get it to work at all, I have to wiggle each and every connection until finally it works again - but usually it's more than one connection that is troublesome.
One problem is the resistors that have to thin leads; but even when I double those up in the same hole it's still the same, and it's also the connections that are not too thin.
Any suggestions? Better breadboards? Douse everything in contact cleaner? Other?
But this is even before prototyping: breadboards are the initial step, when I verify that it works; that my calculations are right, and so on. I can't solder yet because I have not yet verified the project, at this stage.
Some of the components have rather slim legs. Low cost bred boards.... No surprise if there are bad contacts.
Use protoboards and soldering as @ paulpaulson suggests.
problem of course is that I might well change out a resistor or capacitor ten times before settling on a final design... I'd hate to have to solder each and every time!
Cheap breadboards.. OK, so are there better breadboards available? Where do I buy them and how do I recognize a good one?
I've had good luck with breadboards made by Busboard Prototype Systems, which are available on Ebay, Amazon, Digikey. They were recommended in this video:
I use LTSpice all the time and find it extremely useful for getting a feel for how a circuit will perform.
It can be difficult to find accurate models for older op amps, as LT naturally supports their own line. PSPICE models don't necessarily work, due to some changes that LT has made in the code.
