Basic Electronic Pdf Download
Landers Piechotka
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Getting started with basic electronics is easier than you might think. This Instructable will hopefully demystify the basics of electronics so that anyone with an interest in building circuits can hit the ground running. This is a quick overview into practical electronics and it is not my goal to delve deeply into the science of electrical engineering. If you are interested in learning more about the science of basic electronics, Wikipedia is a good place to start your search.
With alternating current, the direction electricity flows throughout the circuit is constantly reversing. You may even say that it is alternating direction. The rate of reversal is measured in Hertz, which is the number of reversals per second. So, when they say that the US power supply is 60 Hz, what they mean is that it is reversing 120 times per second (twice per cycle).
With Direct Current, electricity flows in one direction between power and ground. In this arrangement there is always a positive source of voltage and ground (0V) source of voltage. You can test this by reading a battery with a multimeter. For great instructions on how to do this, check out Ladyada's multimeter page (you will want to measure voltage in particular).
Speaking of voltage, electricity is typically defined as having a voltage and a current rating. Voltage is obviously rated in Volts and current is rated in Amps. For instance, a brand new 9V battery would have a voltage of 9V and a current of around 500mA (500 milliamps).
Electricity can also be defined in terms of resistance and watts. We will talk a little bit about resistance in the next step, but I am not going to be going over Watts in depth. As you delve deeper into electronics you will encounter components with Watt ratings. It is important to never exceed the Wattage rating of a component, but fortunately that Wattage of your DC power supply can easily be calculated by multiplying the voltage and current of your power source.
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A circuit is a complete and closed path through which electric current can flow. In other words, a closed circuit would allow the flow of electricity between power and ground. An open circuit would break the flow of electricity between power and ground.
For instance, in the circuit above, the motor that electricity is flowing through is adding resistance to the flow of electricity. Thus, all of the electricity passing through the circuit is being put to use.
In other words, there needs to be something wired between positive and ground that adds resistance to the flow of electricity and uses it up. If positive voltage is connected directly to ground and does not first pass through something that adds resistance, like a motor, this will result in a short circuit. This means that the positive voltage is connected directly to ground.
That said, always keep in mind that electricity always follows the path of least resistance to ground. What this means is that if you give positive voltage the choice to pass through a motor to ground, or follow a wire straight to ground, it will follow the wire because the wire provides the least resistance. This also means that by using the wire to bypass the source of resistance straight to ground, you have created a short circuit. Always make sure that you never accidentally connect positive voltage to ground while wiring things in parallel.
in the final example the motors are wired in parallel, but the pair of parallel motors, switch and batteries are all wired in series. So, the current is split between the motors in a parallel fashion, but still must pass in series from one part of the circuit to the next.
In order to build circuits, you will need to become familiar with a few basic components. These components may seem simple, but are the bread and butter of most electronics projects. Thus, by learning about these few basic parts, you will be able to go a long way.
You read the values from left to right towards the (typically) gold band. The first two colors represent the resistor value, the third represents the multiplier, and the fourth (the gold band) represents the tolerance or precision of the component. You can tell the value of each color by looking at a resistor color value chart.
A capacitor is a component that stores electricity and then discharges it into the circuit when there is a drop in electricity. You can think of it as a water storage tank that releases water when there is a drought to ensure a steady stream.
Capacitors are measured in Farads. The values that you will typically encounter in most capacitors are measured in picofarad (pF), nanofarad (nF), and microfarad (uF). These are often used interchangeably and it helps to have a conversion chart at hand.
The most commonly encountered types of capacitors are ceramic disc capacitors that look like tiny M&Ms with two wires sticking out of them and electrolytic capacitors that look more like small cylindrical tubes with two wires coming out the bottom (or sometimes each end).
Ceramic disc capacitors are non-polarized, meaning that electricity can pass through them no matter how they are inserted in the circuit. They are typically marked with a number code which needs to be decoded. Instructions for reading ceramic capacitors can be found here. This type of capacitor is typically represented in a schematic as two parallel lines.
Electrolytic capacitors are typically polarized. This means that one leg needs to be connected to the ground side of the circuit and the other leg must be connected to power. If it is connected backwards, it won't work correctly. Electrolytic capacitors have the value written on them, typically represented in uF. They also mark the leg which connects to ground with a minus symbol (-). This capacitor is represented in a schematic as a side-by-side straight and curved line. The straight line represents the end which connects to power and the curve connected to ground.
Diodes are components which are polarized. They only allow electrical current to pass through them in one direction. This is useful in that it can be placed in a circuit to prevent electricity from flowing in the wrong direction.
Another thing to keep in mind is that it requires energy to pass through a diode and this results in a drop of voltage. This is typically a loss of about 0.7V. This is important to keep in mind for later when we talk about a special form of diodes called LEDs.
A transistor takes in a small electrical current at its base pin and amplifies it such that a much larger current can pass between its collector and emitter pins. The amount of current that passes between these two pins is proportional to the voltage being applied at the base pin.
There are two basic types of transistors, which are NPN and PNP. These transistors have opposite polarity between collector and emitter. For a very comprehensive intro to transistors check out this page.
NPN transistors allow electricity to pass from the collector pin to the emitter pin. They are represented in a schematic with a line for a base, a diagonal line connecting to the base, and a diagonal arrow pointing away from the base.
PNP transistors allow electricity to pass from the emitter pin to the collector pin. They are represented in a schematic with a line for a base, a diagonal line connecting to the base, and a diagonal arrow pointing towards the base.
Transistors have their part number printed on them and you can look up their datasheets online to learn about their pin layouts and their specific properties. Be sure to take note of the transistor's voltage and current rating as well.
An integrated circuit is an entire specialized circuit that has been miniaturized and fit onto one small chip with each leg of the chip connecting to a point within the circuit. These miniaturized circuits typically consist of components such as transistors, resistors, and diodes.
Like transistors, you can learn all about integrated circuits by looking up their datasheets. On the datasheet you will learn the functionality of each pin. It should also state the voltage and current ratings of both the chip itself and each individual pin.
Integrated circuits come in a variety of different shapes and sizes. As a beginner, you will be mainly working with DIP chips. These have pins for through-hole mounting. As you get more advanced, you may consider SMT chips which are surface mount soldered to one side of a circuit board.
The round notch on one edge of the IC chip indicates the top of the chip. The pin to the top left of the chip is considered pin 1. From pin 1, you read sequentially down the side until you reach the bottom (i.e. pin 1, pin 2, pin 3..). Once at the bottom, you move across to the opposite side of the chip and then start reading the numbers up until you reach the top again.
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