How to Use Solderless Breadboards

Step 5: Connect The Batteries!
It's all come down to this!  Hook up the batteries and your LED should light up.  If it doesn't, check the polarity of the LED, the value of your resistor (too high a value and you may not be getting enough voltage to the LED), and also be sure you're connected to the tie point holes as in the previous pictures.  A typical LED requires around 3v to light up so if you don't have enough voltage due to too small a power source or too high a resistor, it may be causing you issues.

Here's a picture of mine connected:

Conclusion
This is a very basic example of why solderless breadboards are useful.  They are great for prototyping and being able to move components around at will without ruining them or having to desolder.  There are also many other methods of connecting your circuit without solderless breadboards (wire wrapping, perf boards, etc) that weren't discussed, but those types of things are used as you get closer to a final design.  For quick prototyping, solderless breadboards are indispensable!


Other Resources
Java Breadboard Simulator
Don't have a breadboard of your own yet or want to experiment away from home?  Check out the Java Breadboard Simulator by Nick Glass.  It allows you to simulate the circuits too, so you could build the LED circuit from this tutorial on a "virtual breadboard".  Pretty neat!

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