How to Make a Circuit Jumper

Wire strippers have a range of wire gauges printed beside the stripping grooves.

Circuit jumpers are short lengths of insulated, single-stranded copper wire with exposed ends. Circuit jumpers typically are used for two purposes: To bypass a section of a circuit to redirect electrical current to another section of a circuit; to prototype a circuit on a solderless electronic breadboard. Prototyping allows easy, temporary changes to a circuit before committing to a more permanent soldering construction. Making your own circuit jumper is easy and will work for both purposes.

Things You'll Need

• Wire stripper pliers
• Needle nose pliers
• Roll of insulated, single-stranded 22-gauge copper wire

Instructions

1. Cut a roll of insulated, single-stranded 22-gauge copper wire into an assortment of lengths measuring 1-, 2-, 3-, 4-, 5- and 6-inches. Wire strippers have a wire-cutting edge on the back end of the jaws.

2. Score the plastic insulation of both ends of each wire 1/2 inch from the ends. Score the plastic with the 22-gauge groove.

3. Pull the scored section of the plastic insulation off the ends of the wires. There will be a 1/2-inch exposed section of copper wire. Inspect the wire for deep nicks and dispose any nicked wires.

4. Bend the exposed wire ends to an angle of 90 degrees using the flat side of a pair of needle nose pliers. The jumper wires are now ready for breadboard prototyping use or circuit soldering.

Tips & Warnings

• Choose wire with a variety of colors of plastic insulation. Match each color with a specific size to make length identification easy and to isolate specific circuit segments for easy prototyping. When using a jumper wire as a permanent circuit jumper, tin the exposed ends before soldering the jumper wire to the circuit.

• Never use a wire size that is larger than 22 gauge. Wire that is too large will damage the insert holes of an electronic breadboard. Remember: the smaller the number, the larger the gauge. Therefore, a 20-gauge wire is too large to use as a jumper in a breadboard. Do not use jumper wire that is nicked from the stripping process. Eventual circuit failure can occur from nicked wire.

References

• All About Circuits: Building Simple Resistor Circuits;
• Bright Hub: Breadboarding Tutorial; 2010
• "Getting Started in Electronics"; Forrest M. Mimms; 1991