Breadboard Mode

de:volt uses a virtual breadboard as its primary circuit canvas. Breadboard parts snap to holes, share the board’s internal connections, and are simulated from the resulting electrical nodes.

Start by placing a breadboard from the component palette. Most electronics parts are breadboard-mounted, while boards, supplies, motors, displays, and some instruments can also sit directly on the workspace and connect by wires.

Board sizes

The simulator includes two breadboard sizes:

• Breadboard 830: full-size board with 63 main tie-point columns and 50 positions on each rail row.
• Breadboard 400: half-size board with 30 main tie-point columns and 25 positions on each rail row.

Select a breadboard to edit its Inspector settings. The Power rails toggle removes or restores the outer rail rows. When you remove rails, any wires or components connected to those rail holes are deleted; this action can be undone.

How holes connect

A breadboard has bus rail strips at the top and bottom and two main terminal areas separated by a center gap.

• Each main tie-point column connects five holes on one side of the center gap.
• The same column on the opposite side of the center gap is a separate node.
• Each power rail row is one continuous node across that rail.
• Top rails and bottom rails are separate until you connect them with jumpers.

The simulator enforces this geometry directly. DIP packages, resistor arrays, DIP switches, motor drivers, op amps, and similar parts should straddle the center gap so each side of the package lands on a different set of tie points.

Placing parts

Breadboard-only parts must be placed on compatible holes. If a placement does not match the part footprint, the editor rejects the drop instead of creating an invalid circuit.

Common placement patterns:

• Two-lead parts such as resistors, LEDs, capacitors, and diodes can span two compatible tie points.
• Three-pin parts such as potentiometers, BJTs, MOSFETs, and some sensors occupy adjacent holes.
• DIP ICs and modules with DIP-style footprints are placed across the center gap.
• Arduino Nano (classic) and similar modules use a wider DIP footprint and occupy many columns.

Select a placed part to edit values, labels, and model-specific settings in the Inspector. Select the breadboard itself to change board options such as power rails.

Wiring

Drag from a hole, pin, or terminal to another connection point to create a wire. Wires bridge otherwise separate nodes, including separate strips, rail rows, and separate breadboards.

The View menu controls wire routing:

• Auto-route wires keeps new wires in structured breadboard-style paths.
• Auto-route selected wires reapplies routing to selected wires.
• Hold the configured freeform modifier while drawing or dragging to place a wire freely.

Useful defaults:

• Press Space while drawing a wire to add a bend.
• Hold W while dragging from a part or hole to force wire-only dragging.
• Change the freeform modifier and shortcuts in Account & Settings.

Reading and debugging nodes

Every connected group is simulated as an electrical node. Hover pins and wires for live readings, use the Inspector to view pin and net voltages, and name important nets so probes and traces are easier to read.

The View menu includes node highlighting modes:

• Off hides node highlighting.
• On hover highlights the node under the pointer.
• Show all nodes colors every node in the circuit.

For oscilloscope channels and analysis traces, see Nodes and channels.

Navigation

Use scroll or pinch gestures to zoom the canvas. Drag empty canvas space to pan, and use Reset view from the View menu when you want to return to a clean framing. Touch and tablet workflows are covered in Using on a tablet.

Common mistakes

• Power rails do not automatically connect to a supply.
• The center gap does not connect the two main terminal areas.
• Top and bottom rails are separate unless you jumper them together.
• ICs need their power pins wired explicitly.
• LEDs usually need a series resistor.
• Multiple breadboards are independent until you connect their rails or tie points with wires.