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First I have an AC power source.

Can I solder the power source directly to a rectifier to make it DC?

I plan on using a protoboard using the DC power but I need the board to be able to handle 2Amps and from what I found regular breadboards can't be used so I've been looking at veroboards.

What are trace lines on veroboards?

I found this online calculator for max amps of a board.

Lastly would it be safe if I solder circuit together directly instead of using a protoboard?

The circuit would require 12 volts at 2 amps.

kkw
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    Welcome to EE.SE! This is a basic question. If you don't have the expertise on this field and you need DC to feed something, please buy/get/salvage a suitable AC/DC converter for your needs. Don't fiddle with mains electricity. – winny Jan 11 '19 at 08:22
  • People built circuits using the "christmas tree" method ie soldering components to each other **way** before breadboards and such easy prototyping methods were available. So, make sure you know what you are doing or **don't** do it. – Solar Mike Jan 11 '19 at 10:42

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One can buy a 12VDC, 2A supply, able to run from 100-240VAC at 50/60 Hz, for $7. Making one is not worth the effort anymore. https://www.mpja.com/12-Volt-Plug-Power-Adapter-2A/productinfo/34142+PS/

CrossRoads
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First of all it would be more helpful if you could define a few things. What type of AC source, is it mains? lab bench supply? What voltage is your AC source and what is its current rating?

Without a smoothing / reservoir capacitor your output will not be a clean DC signal. A bridge rectifier by itself will provide a waveform like this:

Full bridge rectifier

Taken from: About rectifiers

Further to this, your question about running 2A on protoboard entirely depends on what board you use. The traces are the strips of copper running down the board. Go to a website like RS / mouser / digikey and search for protoboard / veroboard, when you find one it will have a datasheet giving you the parameters to put into your online calculator.

To answer your final point, maybe. Again this would depend on what this 'ac power supply' is, the quality / size of the contact joint and physical safety. As opposed to soldering directly you could consider using lengths of wire. 12AWG wire should be more than suitable for 2A.

Good luck.

SamGibson
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andowt
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  • this is what i planned on using for my ac power source :https://tinyurl.com/yal5qt33 I understand the the rectifier parts( capacitor powers load while ac part is negative) – kkw Jan 14 '19 at 08:57
  • to double check what traces are, Are they the indented lines running horizontal here:https://tinyurl.com/jsfcwdm .thanks in advance – kkw Jan 14 '19 at 09:05
  • The capacitor doesn't power the load whilst the AC part is negative. The output of the rectifier is still sinusoidal in shape, the capacitor acts as a store of charge to maintain the output power when the output of the sine decreases. Looking at that AC supply, as others have said you would be far better buying a 2A DC supply, what puts you off buying one? – andowt Jan 14 '19 at 11:36
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Can I solder the power source directly to a rectifier to make it DC?

Yes, you can solder components directly together. There's no law of physics that says you have to have a circuit board at all.

If you do it, make sure all your wires can't touch each other when they're not supposed to. That would be a short circuit.

I plan on using a protoboard using the DC power but I need the board to be able to handle 2Amps and from what I found regular breadboards can't be used so I've been looking at veroboards.

What are trace lines on veroboards?

This question has already been asked - the latest answer on this question estimates you should be able to run at least 5 amps through a veroboard trace.

Lastly would it be safe if I solder circuit together directly instead of using a protoboard?

The main thing to worry about, that you don't worry about with a protoboard or breadboard, is accidental short circuits. After building the circuit you'll find out how rigid it is. You could use something like electrical tape, heatshrink or even hot glue to keep wires separated.

The electrocution risk would be the same as it would be with a protoboard or breadboard. The usual advice applies: don't touch the high voltage bits, or better yet, if you aren't confident then let someone else do the high voltage bits.

Community
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user253751
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