Adafruit
Adafruit Prototyping Pi Plate Kit for Raspberry Pi
The Adafruit Prototyping Pi Plate Kit snaps onto your Raspberry Pi and provides a generous prototyping area with all GPIO, I2C, SPI, and power pins broken ou...
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The Adafruit Prototyping Pi Plate Kit snaps onto your Raspberry Pi and provides a generous prototyping area with all GPIO, I2C, SPI, and power pins broken out to labelled 0.1" strips and 3.5 mm screw-terminal blocks. It's designed for the original Pi Model A/B but also works with any 40-pin Pi (A+, B+, Zero, Pi 2, 3, 4, 5) — though only the top 26 GPIO pins are broken out.
Custom extra-tall headers raise the plate above the Pi's metal connectors, giving you a clear workspace. The board fits inside the Adafruit Pi Box enclosure with terminal blocks still accessible for easy wiring.
Key Features
- Dual Prototyping Areas – Half breadboard-style, half perfboard-style for flexible circuit building
- Labelled Screw Terminals – 3.5 mm terminal blocks along the edges for semi-permanent wiring of sensors, LEDs, and other peripherals
- GPIO Breakout – All 26 GPIO/I2C/SPI and power pins broken out to 0.1" strips
- General-Purpose Terminal Block – 4-position block broken out to 0.1" pads for non-GPIO wiring
- SOIC Breakout Area – Surface-mount IC footprint for chips not available in DIP
- Extra-Tall Headers – Raise the plate above the Pi's connectors for clear access
- Snap-On Design – Attaches to the Pi and is removable later
Compatibility
- Raspberry Pi Model A and B (designed-for form factor)
- Raspberry Pi A+, B+, Zero, Pi 2, 3, 4, 5 (top 26 pins only)
Ideal For
- Prototyping custom circuits on top of a Raspberry Pi
- Semi-permanent sensor and peripheral wiring via screw terminals
- Learning to solder with a practical, beginner-friendly kit
- Enclosed Pi projects using the Pi Box case
Package Contents
- 1× Prototyping Pi Plate PCB
- 1× Extra-tall header
- Screw-terminal blocks (colour may vary: blue or black)
Resources
Jargon buster
Plain-language definitions for the technical terms used above.
- breakout
- A breakout board carries a small or fine-pitched component and brings its connections out to standard, breadboard- and header-friendly pins. Describing a part as a breakout means it can be wired into a project without soldering directly to the component's tiny contacts.
- GPIO
- General-purpose input/output pins are microcontroller pins you can set in software to read signals, switch devices on and off, or connect to peripherals. The number of GPIO pins matters because it limits how many buttons, LEDs, sensors, and other parts you can wire directly to the board.
- Headers
- Rows of connector contacts on a fixed pitch (commonly 2.54 mm) used to link a board to a breadboard, jumper wires, or another board. They come as male pin headers and female socket headers; when a module ships with pre-soldered headers it can be used straight away, whereas bare pads require soldering the pins yourself.
- I2C
- I2C is a two-wire communication bus used by many sensors and small modules. It matters because several I2C devices can share the same two wires, but each device needs a compatible address and your controller must support I2C.
- PCB
- A printed circuit board (PCB) is a board, usually rigid, with etched copper tracks that connect electronic components together without loose wiring. Components are mounted on the board and signals route between them through the copper layout.
- SPI
- A fast serial communication bus often used for displays, memory cards, and sensors. It matters because SPI devices need specific pins for clock and data, plus a separate chip-select line for each device.
- Terminal block
- A terminal block is a connector that joins wires together in a neat, removable, or serviceable way, usually clamping each wire under a screw or spring instead of soldering. It makes it easier to connect, change, or service wiring without permanent joints.
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Prototyping & Wiring
