Intro to Electronics, Breadboards and Soldering
“What we now want is closer contact and better understanding between individuals and communities all over the earth, and the elimination of egoism and pride which is always prone to plunge the world into primeval barbarism and strife... Peace can only come as a natural consequence of universal enlightenment...” ― Nikola Tesla, inventor of AC power used to charge/ power the device you're using to read this. Quote found on goodreads.com.
Keep an eye on the ads for Harbor Freight tools, and they regularly will give away multimeters for free (as a promotion to get you in the store...)
This is the first of a series on electronics. In this unit, the focus is centered on exposure and basics. In future units, we will cover more inputs and outputs; but we'll assume you know about the breadboards ad logic HIGHs and LOWs described here.
Unit 5.1 =====
LED week!
(featuring breadboards, soldering, logic controlled hardware and Ohm’s Law)
LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) (one story of how they're made)
Diodes (LEDs included) are based around a 'PN junction' of semiconductor materials and HERE is a great video to explain the deep chemistry of how diode work in general by Steve Mould. and ANOTHER VIDEO going a bit deeper...
Current Limiting resistor (and current limiting ICs) and Ohm’s Law
RGB LEDs (RGBW & quick overview of basic power consumption)
LED arrays (AKA: Charlieplexing)
Breadboards
perfboards/ soldering
Circuit production development: breadboard -> perfboard -> milled PCB - > custom PCB
LED matrix displays are well understood, and there are many good solutions, like this.
Level 0: light an LED with an appropriately scaled current-limiting resistor.
Level 1: Get an LED (in a breadboard) to blink and (separately) fade using an Arduino, Micro Bit, or whatever electronics platform you like best. :)
Level 2: Control an assembly of LEDs with some original code, using arrays, OOP or both.
Level 3: Control an RGB LED to display the colors of your heart's desire.
Level 4: Charlieplex some LEDs into a 2D or 3D grid with the least 'pins' used.
Level 5: Measure the forward voltage drop of several LEDs and directly observe the properties described by the graphs below.
Lecture
Unit 5.2 =====
Slides for Boards and Projects
Platforms: Arduino, Raspberry Pi, Micro Bits, ATtiny, etc…
Show the difference between these common platforms and identify typical use-cases
Arduino shields, RPi Hats, and whatever Micro Bit uses with that funky connector
Solder together an Arduino Shield with THT components
Optional: Expand your electronics repertoire! 😎
Bonus: get a Raspberry Pi to blink an LED with a breadboard and some wires
Build an Arduino starter project from Instructables or those on this list:
Optical Theremin (starter)
Arduino Binary Clock (starter)
The Word Clock (starter)
Lilypad Embroidery (starter)
Arduino Gas Sensor (starter)
Electronic Instrument (starter)
Display Images on OLED Using Arduino (starter)
Bubblesteen Bubble Machine (starter)
CatBot: Automated Cat Laser (starter)
Hex Matrix Clock (starter)
Inexpensive Wireless Using Any IR Remote (moderate)
Turn Signal Biking Jacket (moderate)
Tipping Bucket Rain Gauge (moderate)
Addressable Milk Bottles (LED lighting + Arduino) (moderate)
Light Cube 8x8x8 (moderate)
LED Matrix 24x6 (moderate)
14band Graphical Equalizer (moderate)
Twitter Mood Light (advanced)
Polargraph Drawing Machine (advanced)
Premium Word Clock (advanced)
Owl Clock with Edge-Lit Fake Nixie Tube (advanced)
Find your own adventure!
