Spectrum Analyzer Kit

These are all of the materials the kit gave us. 

I first soldered all of the resistors onto the board. I had to be careful to put the right resistor on the right spot. Different resistors have different resistance and the circuit would have been messed up if there was too much or too little resistance in a specific spot. The board indicated which resistor was supposed to go where through marking on the board. 

I then soldered on the capacitors. The capacitors, as well as the resistors I soldered previously, have no polarity. This means that it did not matter which end went in which hole and it could be flipped. 

I then soldered on all four rows of red LEDs onto the board. I left space for the two other colors in between. LEDs, unlike capacitors and resistors, have polarity. I had to put the longer, positive leg into the right hole indicated by a "+" sign on the board. The shorter, negative leg went in to other hole indicated by the "-" sign next to it. 

I then soldered in the green LEDs to the right of each row of red LEDs. 

Then I soldered in the blue LEDs to the right of the green LEDs. All of the LEDs were soldered in after this point. 

I then installed one long row IC chip holders. I made sure I aligned the indent on the chip itself to the indication on the board. 

I then installed the smaller IC chip holder into the other side of the board, making sure to line up the indentations again. 

I then added the power port. 

Then, I soldered on the large capacitor. This capacitor, unlike the smaller red ones, does have polarity. I lined up the white strip on the side of it to the white marking on the board. This told me that I had the correct orientation.

I then added on the device that detected the sound (top) and the adjuster (bottom) that helps you change how sensitive the display on the analyzer is.

I then added the button that can change the mode of the analyzer. 

I then pressed both of the two integrated circuit (IC) chips into place. I didn't have to solder them in, they simply slide into the holes on the chip. At this point, all soldering was completed.

This is a video of the working spectrum analyzer. I tested it before making the casing just to make sure it worked so I wouldn't have to dis-assemble the entire casing if there were any problems. It reacted to the sound of my voice even in the loud room. 

These are the components of the casing that goes around the analyzer. This was after I took the brown wrapping off of each piece of vinyl.

I first screwed in these posts that would suspend the board inside the case so it won't move around. 

This picture shows the long screws that hold the top part of the case to the bottom part. 

This is a picture of the final product! 

This is a video of the final product reacting to a song.