Freetronics ProtoShield Basic for Arduino

Ideal for a more permanent project the Protoshield basic provides a large prototyping area at low cost while being a more solid solution than a breadboard. It is the same as the full Protoshield board but without the components and headers you may not need.

Not currently available

Our Code: KIT-70018


Overview

Breadboards are great for quickly prototyping Arduino projects on the workbench, but they're really inconvenient if you want to make something a bit more permanent. The solution: a prototyping shield!

ProtoShields fit directly onto an Arduino or Freeduino such as the TwentyTen and have a large general-purpose area in the middle where you can solder on your own parts for a durable, long-lasting project. We still think that the best prototyping shields ever made are our very own ProtoShield Pro, but sometimes they can be overkill for simple projects where you just want to play around with an idea and don't want to spend too much money on it.

Enter the ProtoShield Basic, the cheapest Arduino prototyping shield on the market. They're designed to be so cheap that you can keep a few around "just in case", and we even sell them in a 5-pack to save you even more money!

Don't be deceived by the price though. They may be cheap, but they're not cheap - if you know what we mean. The PCB surface is gold-plated for maximum durability, and it has connection markings on both the top and the bottom so you don't get RSI turning the PCB over every 3 seconds to see what connections go to which pins.

Features

  • Gold plated PCB: solders easily and very resistant to corrosion.
  • Top and bottom overlay.
  • Yellow soldermask so you can write notes on the PCB with a Sharpie.
  • Mounting pads for "reset" button wired through to Arduino reset line.
  • Mounting pads for "power on" LED and current-limiting resistor.
  • Mounting pads for 2 x 100nF power supply smoothing capacitors.
  • Clearly marked GND and 5V rails beside prototyping area.
  • Sexy rounded corners.

Note that the ProtoShield Basic comes without any extra parts at all: no headers, no reset button, no LED, no resistor, no caps. Just a bare PCB, ready for you to fit whatever headers and other parts you happen to have handy.

Perfect.

Resources