Connectors & Sockets in miniTesla: build electronics and more

Some of the most popular chips come in 8-pin, arranged as 2 rows of 4 pins, DIP packaging. Think about the famous 555 timer chip or dual-operational amplifiers such as the LM358. You can also find comparators (LM393) and audio amplifiers (LM386). You can put two optocouplers PC817 into the socket. Some microcontrollers such as the ATtiny85 also fit.

You are not limited to only inserting integrated circuits. If you do not want to bend the leads of a transistor you can put it into this socket. In fact, there is space for two transistors.

It is a very handy socket, and if you have larger...

Use this board to directly connect to the old-style 9V Lego motors (geared or not geared). In addition to the printed circuit board, you will receive two spring contacts and two 3 mm long aluminum spacers that allow you to connect the spring contacts directly with the printed circuit board.

A breakout board for a mini breadboard with 170 tie points, and 34 distinct connection groups (1-17 A and B). This is very convenient to connect integrated circuits or any other electrical component which you cannot directly clamp into the spring contacts but which fits into a breadboard.

This kit requires soldering. To solder the mini breadboard onto the PCB, first, remove the adhesive backing from the mini breadboard. Put the breadboard upside down on the table so that the exposed contact rows on the back are visible. Place the PCB with the central opening over the breadboard. Align the...

A breakout board for a mini breadboard with 170 tie points, and 34 distinct connection groups (1-17 A and B). This is very convenient for integrated circuits or any other electrical component which you cannot directly clamp into the spring contacts but which fits into a breadboard.

This sub-board comes ready-made, meaning the mini breadboard is already soldered onto the PCB. If you want to solder it yourself you can purchase the cheaper Mini Breadboard Kit.

The Raspberry PI GPIO board is the most convenient way to directly connect to an RPi, either by plugging the RPi GPIO header directly into the sub-board or by using an extension cable. An extension cable is necessary to connect a Raspberry Pi 400.

The most widely used barrel connector is the 2.1 mm one. They are often used for low-voltage power supplies and wall adaptors. You will probably have several of these lying around from old or broken toys and other equipment. They make great power supplies for various projects. This sub-board allows you to easily connect them to the miniTesla system.

This one has a plug insertion detection, a switch that is closed and thus connected to the sleeve if no plug is inserted. Once a plug is inserted this switch opens. This is useful to automatically switch between battery operation, when no plug...

The USB-C sub-board is a convenient way to get 5V power to the circuit or to provide a serial data connection.

The most widely used audio connector is the 3.5 mm audio jack. With our sub-board you can easily connect headphones or a speaker. It has 5 pins: GND, ring, tip, ring-switch, tip-switch.

This board is particularly useful to interface with a breadboard. It has 10 pins and therefore 10 adjacent rows of a breadboard can be connected to. This is currently the only sub-board that has to be used on top of our spring contacts. The 10 pins are inserted into the breadboard. The holes attach to the top of the spring contacts. It is also recommended that you remove the adhesive backing from the breadboard to match the clearance below the header contacts.

Some components, such as integrated circuits, can nicely be inserted into a breadboard. This connector allows an easy interface to mix and...

These are the crucial miniTesla spring contacts. They are the connecting elements that allow mechanical as well as electrical connection of electric components. This package includes 25 of them.

They are inserted in 5 mm holes of pegboards about 1/8" (~3 mm) thick. They can be inserted and removed with your fingers but a better removal tool is a 1.75 mm (No. 0) crochet hook. Please refer to the manual for details.

To clamp wires use your fingers or our compression tool.

These spring contacts also fit perfectly into half-height (thin) Lego technic beams. One can construct a little pegboard purely from thin Lego...