Arduino Power Supply + Breadboards

Question

I'm going to purchase a Arduino Starter kit soon to start playing with it. I've watched a few youtube tutorials and Jeremy Blum stuff and like what it can do.

I dont have any sepcific projects in mind yet but on a few they talk about having seperate power supplies/rails other than the arduino 5V. I'm planning at the moment of using just breadboards to play so will one of these (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Breadboard-Power-Supply-for-Arduino-PIC-MB102-Dual-Output-BLACK-WINGS-/321058288624?pt=UK_BOI_Electrical_Test_Measurement_Equipment_ET&var=&hash=item4ac090b3f0) give me the seperate supply or LCD's/Motors/Relays etc?

If i wanted to create a prototype PCB would i then use a single power supply that has a Voltage and AMP rating big enough for the Microcontroller and motors/other things and use a seperate circuit to 'split' into different supplies as such?

Former Member · Accepted Answer

You're welcome Neil. One of the cool things about Arduino is the on-board voltage regulator (to me, anyway). The uC can take power from USB (5V/300mA for USB 2.0), the barrel adapter (7-20V stated, but I wouldn't use anything above 12V, personally), or both (the uC will use 5V USB, with the other power for attached devices). I don't know your background, so I apologize if I speak below your level - That's not intended, Using a voltage divider circuit or voltage regulator allows you to take a given voltage and change it to something else - voltage=current x resistance (or E=IR for American purists). The Arduino is designed to put the desired 5V to the CPU, and a different voltage to the pins on the board. Just to pick oln something I use occasionally; LED strips want 12V, and generally 2A. No way the Atmel chip would survive 2A of current directly through it. Oversimplifying, the voltage regulator gives the ATMega chip the 5V it wants, and the 12V the LED strip wants. You don't have to worry about a "5V rail" as this is all built-in to the board. Arduino has a really good page on power adapters - This question comes up a lot: http://playground.arduino.cc/Learning/WhatAdapter . Hopefully that answer your question Neil. If I can clarify, or give more detail just reply.

Former Member · Answer

If your new to Arduino I would recommend playing with the starter kit first, before purchasing anything specific untill you know what kind of project you want to do. Also check out the vast array of add-on shields that are available from http://store.arduino.cc/eu/index.php