Proto Board max current

[Sivark]

Hi,

What is the maximum safe current that can be applied to a proto-board for high energy circuits?
I have searched the forum and was not able to find any reference to this - if this has been answered before, I would appreciate if you could direct me to the post.
Thanks in advance for your help.

Regards

[jwhance]

I'd be cautious about allowing more than about 1A of current to flow. I've never burned up the "vertical" conductors but I have done the power busses. They can be repaired but it's messy. I'm sure the manufacturers have specs but there are many people making these things, I'm sure the specs are all over the place.

You might also want to be careful of overvoltage as well. I don't know what they are rated for and I've done 120 VAC many times. 240? Not done that and would be hesitant to do that. I like to keep the high-voltage off the breadboard. While personal safety is always a concern, having your breadboard full of (expensive) ICs go up in a plume of smoke is VERY heartbreaking!

If it's just high Amperage circuits like for motor drive, I'd keep that part off the breadboard. They just weren't design to handle that.

[meseta]

230V or 240V AC is mains voltage in a lot of countries. I'm using a protoboard with tracks carrying 240V from mains to a 900W toaster oven through a relay, and it's working fine, everything is enclosed for safety. As far as I'm aware, common practice for carrying high voltages on proto board is to leave adjacent tracks empty, and common practice for carrying high currents on proto board is to use more than one track and/or solder a thicker wire or a length of solder braid to the tracks to increase the cross-section of copper available for conducting.

But you should really try to avoid using high voltages or currents on proto board on any permanent basis.