What is it?

This is the SwitchTrick. It's a switching power supply, so it's efficient and doesn't get hot or waste power, and it's super tricked-out for all your solderless breadboard needs! It's based of the TPS62160, it takes 3-17V in, is adjustable from 0.9-6V out at 1A. It's a drop-down/buck converter, so the input has to be greater than the output. It outputs a single voltage, selectable by a jumper. Choose between:

• 1.8V
• 2.5V
• 3.0V (handy for simulating an almost depleted lithium battery)
• 3.3V
• 3.7V (handy for simulating a nominal lithium battery)
• 4.2V (handy for simulating a fully charged lithium battery)
• 5.0V
• 6.0V
• ADJ (solder in your own resistor to create any voltage in the 0.9-6.0V range!)

We also make it easy to power - there's a 2.1x5.5mm power jack for a 9V battery or wall supply, a USB connector for 5V, and a 2-pin JST PH connector to power it from a battery. There are also 2 large plated holes that can accept alligator clips, or you can insert the provided standoffs so that it's nicely supported off the edge of your breadboard. All except the alligator holes are diode-protected!

But wait, there's more! Don't want that diode drop in your input voltage line? Just solder a 2-pin header on and bypass it with a jumper. We also provide a header footprint for the enable and power good pins, so you can hook it up to a microcontroller. Is that all? No! There's a switch to turn it on and off, and a handy LED to show you when it's on. And wait! One more thing. Got a crappy cheap breadboard where the power rails are 0.050" off from usual? No problem, we got a duplicate power rail header pattern.

Why did you make it?

This product was born from a mistake - I messed up the footprint for the buck converter on a different board and needed to make a quick PCB to verify the corrected one. Then I thought - hey, this could be a handy little breadboard power supply. And thus the SwitchTrick was born!

What makes it special?

Do you still have to ask after reading all of the awesome features we've built into it? Come on, it's everything you could ever want in a little breadboard supply! Ok, fine. It's got sweet white solder mask to make it look like a natural extension of your breadboard, and it has pretty teal silk ink just because.