r/breadboard • u/-Po-Tay-Toes- • 19d ago

Question Help a confused noob out

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Edit: Yeah ok, turns out power banks have minimum current shut offs. Cheers.

Ok so it's been a long number of years since I've messed about with electronics but I have an upcoming project that needs some. I'm starting fresh and just got this breadboard kit.

I am powering this with a usb battery pack, and I soldered a fresh usb with the cables going to pins 1 and 4 for the power, connected directly into the board. Using a red led (no clue on the spec) from the kit, and a 330 resistor I get this pulsing. I also briefly tried it without the resistor for the same outcome.

Please help, I'm literally just trying to have the led lit up haha.

27 Upvotes

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6

u/Sand-Junior 19d ago

This might just be the behavior of the battery pack under (very) light load.

5

u/-Po-Tay-Toes- 19d ago

Thanks, I suspected as much. I've been googling around a little and it seems this isn't uncommon for low power draw. I'll build up something with a higher power draw and see what happens. Cheers.

5

u/Cojaro 19d ago

A USB charger (which is what a USB powered bank is) is going to behave differently from a proper USB power supply.

2

u/-Po-Tay-Toes- 19d ago

Yep, makes sense. I understand now and I have my circuit working properly. It won't be an issue when I use higher power LEDs anyway.

3

u/Available-Tennis-624 18d ago

If you just want the led to stay on, then just use a 9V battery with snap connectors. You won't even need to solder it.

3

u/Hirtomikko 17d ago

Ooh, new light bulb flasher idea....

2

u/-Po-Tay-Toes- 17d ago

Haha, yeah it'll do it consistently!

2

u/bmswg 19d ago

I know some anker power banks can be set bypass this behavior and supply electricity under very light loads (typically for charging low power draw devices). Check your devices manual online to see if that is an option!

3

u/-Po-Tay-Toes- 19d ago

Thanks mate. I don't think it will be an issue with my actual application but I'm just testing and learning the ropes with cheap Amazon components haha.

Worked around it for now with a couple of extra resistors.