Pranav’s Mechatronics lab

Material List

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Best Electronics Hobbyist
Gifts: ElectroBoom X Circuit
Specialists Electronics Kit
If the tinkerer in your life is just starting out with electronics, or if their supplies are in
desperate need of a refresh. Then we highly recommend the ElectroBoom x Circuit
Specialists’ custom all-in-one electronics kit. Which includes a powered breadboard,
multimeter, and more than 500 electronic components.

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The kit is especially great for those who are fans of ElectroBoom, a popular YouTuber
that focuses on prototyping and electronics. Each kit comes with 2 vinyl ElectrBoom
stickers!
Most importantly, this kit stands out by providing both a multimeter to test
prototypes and a powered Breadboard. The PBB-272C came with a built-in power
supply and digital LCD displays for voltage and current output! Most standard
electronic kits don’t include test equipment or convenient built-in power supplies.

What it includes:

▪ 15V powered solderless breadboard with 2390 tie-points, 2 LCD digital displays, and
adjustable power
▪ Handheld digital multimeter tester with AC/DC voltmeter and 2 test probes
▪ Wire jumper kit with 325 pre-cut and pre-formed 22 AWG wire
▪ 275-piece essential electronic components kit
▪ 2 Electroboom vinyl stickers

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Best for Prototyping: 15V Powered
Breadboard Kit
If you love the powered breadboard but could do without the electronic components
and multimeter that come in the ElectroBoom kit. You can always consider gifting the
feature-packed 15V breadboard as a standalone.

Unlike your standard protoboard, the PBB-272C Breadboard comes with a built-in power
supply. Which includes 5V (1 AMP) constant power and both negative and positive 0-15V of
adjustable DC power. The 1 AMP constant power is especially great for prototypes involving
servomotors or DC motors. 4
What’s more, the board features two LCD digital displays showing voltage and current. There
are no additional tools required to view essential prototyping power consumption. Beyond
the built-in voltmeters and power supply, the breadboard also stands out for its large size,
offering 2890 tie-points, 3 base panels, and 5 bus rails. This will also help with prototyping
multiple projects on one board! Which makes this one of the most creative electronics
hobbyist gifts.

IC 555 Timer Chip

January 25, 2021 Khang 0 Comments
Above all, the IC 555 Timer chip is widely used in electronics and in various
electronic circuits for its robust and stable properties.

History of the chip

Firstly, it was designed by Hans Camenzind in1971.
Secondly, the chip is in toys, house appliances, electronic devices, etc.

In addition, the chip’s operating modes: are bistable, monostable, and astable mode.

Basic idea: Touch on/off IC 555 timer circuit

For instance, this simple circuit demonstrates the comparator in the 555 timer chip.

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Touch On-Off Sensor Schematic
Part list:

1. IC 555 TimerChip
2. LED‘s (or buzzers etc.)
3. Resistors
4. Breadboard
5. Breadboard Connectors
6. 9V battery clip
Wire:

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7
8
9
Conclusion
In conclusion, the IC 555 timer chip is an extremely robust and stable 8-pin device
that produces a variety of applications such as delay timers, LED and lamp flashers,
alarms and tone generation, etc.

Holiday Projects: 10 Soldering Project Kits

for this Holiday Season
December 16, 2023 Khang 0 Comments
Below, we’ve outlined some of our favorite soldering project kits. These electronic
soldering kits not only hone your skills but also leave you with a fun or practical
gadget when you’re finished! Soldering is a practical skill that you can use to repair
electronics, create art, or prototype your own circuit boards and devices. Whether
you want to learn to solder or you’ve been soldering for years, soldering practice kits
are an excellent way to sharpen your skills!

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BEFORE YOU START: SOLDERING
TOOLS AND BEST PRACTICES
At the most basic level, all you need to start soldering is a soldering iron, solder,
and flux. We also highly recommend a fume extractor, which absorbs the toxic smoke
the solder gives off. At the very least, solder responsibly by wearing a mask and
working in a well-ventilated area.
For best results, opt for a soldering station, which typically offers temperature control
and a higher wattage. However, you may be able to find a portable temperature-
controlled soldering iron. Just make sure you have a soldering stand to place your
portable soldering iron while it’s not in use!

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FNIRSI SMART 65W SOLDERING IRON
If you plan to do a lot of surface-mount soldering, consider using a hot air rework
station—or get a soldering iron station with a hot air gun, so you have options for both. If
you have a limited range of motion, you might also want to consider third-hand
tools or a soldering gun with a built-in solder wire feeder, which makes it possible to
solder one-handed.

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CSI HOTGUN 3 SMD HOT AIR GUN WITH DIGITAL TEMPERATURE CONTROL
When it comes to selecting solder, lead solder can be easier to work with since it melts
at a lower temperature, but lead-free solder has fewer health hazards. Solder flux is
also a must because it removes and prevents oxidation and improves the wettability
of the solder. Without it, you run the risk of creating poor soldering joints.
It’s always good to have a solder wick (desoldering braid) or desoldering pump (solder
sucker) on hand so you can fix any mistakes. A tool like a desoldering gun
or desoldering iron can both melt and suction solder away.

1. DIY FM RADIO KIT

Difficulty: Intermediate
If you’re looking for a more modern-looking DIY radio kit, we’ve got you covered.
While compact, this solder kit project packs a lot of practice into one project,
requiring users to solder over 50 components. The completed project includes
flashing LEDs and a modern LCD.

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The FM Radio Soldering Kit is one of the most popular soldering project kits. The
customer love that at the end of the project they could then gift it to their family or
firnd soldering project kits

2. SOLDERING PROJECT LED CHRISTMAS

TREE DECORATION

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 CSISLD015
Difficulty: Beginner
This project is aimed at improving users’ electronics knowledge and soldering skills. It
is perfect for after-school programs and STEM education. The solder practice kit will
become a beautiful flashing Xmas tree ornament when assembled completely. The 36
RGB LEDs will make a bright, colorful, and wonderful light at night. Not only for
practice, but the gift can also be creative, especially at Christmas.

3. DIY LED ROTATING FERRIS WHEEL

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Difficulty: Advanced
This beautiful Ferris wheel can spin with excellent lighting effects, the DIY electronic
kit is suitable for practicing SMT soldering skills for Makers, Students, and Colleges. In
addition, this project will help users learn and understand basic electronic knowledge
and circuit principles.

This electronic soldering practice is suitable for school and home projects focused on
education. Not only to improve your soldering skills, but you will also get familiar with
electronic components and learn more interesting things about the SMD soldering
process.

Please note, that this soldering kit requires a certain foundation of basic electronic
theoretical knowledge such as reading schematic and SMD soldering process and the
soldering equipment required.

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This project is great for practicing surface mount or SMD soldering. The surface-
mount LEDs take a lot of patience, but are well worth the effort!

4. DIY ULTRASONIC DISTANCE SENSOR

Difficulty: Intermediate
The DIY ultrasonic distance sensor is both a ranging alarm and a measuring tool.
Once all the pieces are soldered together (around 35 components in total) and the kit
is assembled, the gadget will be able to “sense” objects in front of it and then
measure and display the object’s distance in centimeters.

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Users can program the device to set off an alarm buzzer when objects reach or
breach a certain distance away from the sensor. The device can measure from 5 cm
to 400 cm away and relies on AAA batteries or a USB charging cable to operate.

5. Projectile Electromagnetic Launcher

Difficulty: Intermediate
This soldering kit is an interesting mini electromagnetic launcher that can shoot small
cylindrical projectiles at short distances. This is a perfect science fair project for
Makers and students to learn basic mechanical electromagnetic and practice
soldering skills. Learn electromagnetic and have a lot of fun while doing so.

The working principle of this kit is: to use the ampere force generated by the
electromagnetic field in the electromagnetic system to accelerate the projectile. The
finished project is less powerful and suitable for use as a model in the home lab,
school, and college courses.

6. MINI TESLA COIL BATTERY POWERED

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Difficulty: Beginner
Learn or practice your soldering skills while creating one of the most ingenious
inventions of all time, the famous Tesla coil. The mini Tesla coil kit comes ready to
assemble, featuring through-hole electronic components and parts that students or
users solder together. The easy soldering project is a fantastic way to learn more
about electronics and how the Tesla coil works and can be used.

Once completed, you can use the mini DIY Tesla coil to light fluorescent lights, LEDs,
and Neon bulbs—without any contact!

7. DIY SIGNAL GENERATOR

Difficulty: Intermediate 19
Most function generators cost well over $100 if not thousands! While not quite up to
spec with your typical function generator, the DIY signal generator still provides both
soldering practice and a cost-effective, useful tool at the end of the project. The
assembly and soldering is fairly straightforward, but pay extra attention to the
capacitors, which have polar leads.

8. DIY OSCILLOSCOPE

Difficulty: Intermediate
That’s right! You can practice soldering and get a new oscilloscope! This soldering
project comes with a 2.4-inch color TFT display and test leads, so when you’re
finished you can use the 12-bit 200KHz oscilloscope in tandem with the previously
mentioned DIY signal generator.

This project requires soldering well over 50 components and offers the most
soldering practice of all the kits we’ve mentioned so far.

9. OSEPP SPINNING WHEEL KIT

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Difficulty: Beginner
This nifty soldering kit for electronics is the perfect entry-level project for beginner
solderers. Users solder LEDs and a few other components to a circular PCB, and once
complete, the lights flicker in various patterns depending on the option you choose.
The kit, which was designed specifically as a soldering practice kit, includes
instructions on how to solder and desolder. We’ve also got a blog that walks
through how to solder OSEPP’s LED spinning wheel.

10. DIY LED CANTON TOWER

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Difficulty: Advanced
This one-of-a-kind electronics kit offers a unique approach to soldering. Instead of
soldering LEDs to a PCB, users solder the LEDs together to create a model LED Tower
in the shape of the famous Canton tower. The project will test your engineering and
coordination skills, perhaps challenging your soldering skills in a new, creative way.
The project requires a significant amount of patience, but the stunning LED display at
the end is well worth all the soldering to get there! One of our popular soldering
project kits.

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Police Siren Circuit on Power Breadboard
PBB-272B
April 5, 2022 Khang 0 Comments
A tutorial on how to make a police siren circuit using 555 timer IC on our
famous Power Breadboard PBB-272B. This circuit smoothly transitions the output
sound between two different tones/frequencies, similar to the sound emitted from
police cars.

Table of Content.
1. Part List
2. Circuit Diagram
3. How does this circuit work?
4. Conclusion
Part List

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 ▪ 2 x 555 Timer IC
▪ 8Ω Speaker
▪ Resistors: 100K, 33K, 2 x 1.1K, 2 x 10K
▪ Capacitors: 1000uF, 100uF, 10uF, 100nF
▪ Power Breadboard PBB-272B
▪ Jumper Wires
Circuit Diagram

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How This Circuit Works

25
Power Breadboard PBB-272B
In order to mimic police siren sound, we need to transition to and fro between 2
tones or frequencies. And this transition between two tones is made possible by
using a second 555 timer IC in astable mode. By connecting its output to the control
pin of the first 555 timer IC. Now depending on the output state of the first 555 timer
IC, we get 2 different frequencies from the second 555 timer IC.

Because of the 1000uF capacitor, the voltage at the control pin increases and
decreases gradually instead of a sharp rise and drop. And as a result, we get a
smooth output that oscillates between 2 tones similar to a police siren.

Please watch the working system here. https://youtube.com/shorts/0uvXcoO5g-s

Conclusion
Changing the value of the resistor in series with the capacitor changes the flashing
rate (frequency). This type of system is well suited for an analog circuit with a 555
timer, it would not be simple if one tries to use a microcontroller since the
microcontroller then needs to output a specific frequency depending on the position
of a potentiometer, which could be a nightmare for programmers.

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Best Beginner Electronics Projects
January 20, 2021 Khang 0 Comments
This article will focus on Beginner Electronics Projects. Thanks to several online
electronic stores, building DIY electronic projects has never been easier. Almost
everyone can now get their hands on different development boards,
microcontrollers, circuit boards, and many more. Aside from that, there are many
guides and instructional videos found online that can help you get started on any
electronic project. This article was made so it is a lot easier even for beginners and
nonprofessionals like you.
That being said, we have compiled some of the best electronic projects found online
that you can do at home. Most of the tools and equipment needed for these projects
are cheap and can be easily bought online. So with a little bit of patience and hard
work, you can accomplish most of these projects in no time.

Table of Content
▪ Rain Alarm
▪ Auto Night Lamp
▪ Fire Alarm
▪ Automatic Hand-Wash Timer
▪ Clap Switch
▪ Automatic Staircase Light
▪ Smart Back Camera and Collision Protection for Cars
▪ Portable Boombox from Scratch
▪ Digital Altimeter
▪ Biometric Attendance System
▪ Solar Phone Charger
▪ Water Level Indicator
▪ Electronic Mosquito Repellent
After you find a project that you like be sure to check out our electronic parts & general
supplies inventory for all your hobby needs!

Rain Alarm

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This simple but very useful project can be used for houses, irrigation fields, business
sites, and automobiles.
We understand the difficulty of finishing any projects with unpredictable
weather. The sun is out, the next thing you knew all your equipment and tools are
now soaked by the rain.

To help you solve this problem, you can create your own rain alarm. The system will
detect rain and activate an alarm or notification. This way, you would be more
prepared and you can bring your tools and equipment inside just in time.

The materials needed for making this project are rather simple. You just need a rain
sensor, power supply, breadboard, LED, a buzzer (optional), a few resistors and
capacitors, and so on. You can easily buy these materials online or in any electronic
store for a cheap price.

Auto Night Lamp

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Similar to your phone’s screen to automatically adjusting its brightness when it is
dark. You can also archive the same with any night lamp. This night lamp project
would automatically switch on when it is nighttime and automatically turns off when
it is daylight.

This Auto Night Lamp is a perfect project as a first beginner electronics projects. It
offers convenience and you can give it as a present to almost anyone. Apart from
that, it is a simple project to test your knowledge of circuit diagrams. It is an easy
project that does not require a lot of tools and the materials needed are relatively
cheaper.

Fire Alarm

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Through this project, you would be able to understand how real-world electronics
systems are built. Several hobbyists have already tried this project, so there are tons
of approaches as well as step-by-step guides available online.

You can use a Negative Temperature Coefficient (NTC) Thermistor for this fire alarm
in order to measure the ambient temperature. NTC is the recommended thermistor
for this project because its resistance is inversely proportional to the temperature.
The 10K Ohm NTC Thermistor is commonly used along with LM358, and other
components to measure the resistance more effectively.
You can use a Light Dependent Resistor (LDR) for this DIY project as well. Rather than
detecting fire through an NTC thermistor, you can use an LDR instead. NTC
thermistor detects fire through changes in the ambient temperature while LDR
detects fire through smoke.

Automatic Hand-Wash Timer

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With the ongoing pandemic, washing our hands has never been more important. The
World Health Organization stated that we should wash our hands for at least 20
seconds to avoid the spread of the virus.

That being said, an automatic hand-wash timer is a perfect addition to your home.
This would not only help prevent the spread of the virus but it would also help you
conserve water. The water would be timed and controlled, to be able to save and use
water more efficiently.

You can use an Arduino Uno or just a timer and an ultrasonic sensor module for this
project. Since there are several ways to accomplish this project, you can simply find
one that would fit your skill level.

Clap Switch

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You can now turn off your bedroom light without getting up from your comfy bed.
Another plus side to this clap switch is that there is no fear of electrical shocks. You
can also place it in your bathroom so that you no longer have to touch any switch
with your wet hands. Furthermore, the heart of this project is the microphone.
Because it would be the one to pick up and register your clap to the circuit. As for the
power supply, it would ultimately depend on your preference and choice of materials
for the circuit. Another popular option, using common semiconductor chips such as the
LM555 for precision and better timing.

Automatic Staircase Light

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Waking up thirsty in the middle of the night? Having a hard time going downstairs
because it is too dark? If so, then this automatic staircase light should be your next
project.

As compared to other electronic projects for beginners, this one requires a lot of
work. Since you need to install it in every step of your staircase. However, building the
electronic itself is really simple and the materials you need are fairly cheap.

The main materials for this project are infrared sensors, LED lights and,
a microcontroller. Since the main idea behind this project is to only light the
staircase’s lights when you walk through it. An infrared sensor can detect motion
even in the dark, making it a lot easier for you to walk down the plight of stairs.
Especially in the middle of the night for a quick bathroom or kitchen trip.
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Smart Back Camera and Collision
Protection for Cars

The initial goal of this project is to make smart and lifesaving technology more
accessible to everyone. Since not all cars have a collision protection feature, several
hobbyists and professionals have come up with different ways to make driving (and
parking) a lot safer and easier.

In terms of difficulty, this project is so simple that even beginners can accomplish it.
The heart of this project is the Raspberry Pi and the ultrasonic sensor. The RPi is a
single-board computer that would act as your smart hub while the ultrasonic sensor
would measure the distance of any cars or obstacles along your way.
At first glance, this electronic project might seem complicated for beginners and non-
coders. But in fact, it is just an introductory project for beginners who are just starting
to learn more about single-board computers, microcontrollers, development boards,
and many more.

Portable Boombox from Scratch

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For those who are new to the DIY electronic community, this project is one of the best
places to start learning. It is both a fun and easy project to make.

Since you would be doing everything from scratch, you need to purchase several
tools and equipment that are not found in most electronic stores. Aside from
electronics like the capacitor, resistor, audio jack, potentiometer knob, and so on, you
need to purchase your own wood for the boom box casing as well. So the success of
this project would depend on your creative designing, material selection, and
planning.

This project would require a lot of patience and hard work. Given that you would not
be needing a breadboard and any coding skills, even those without a background in
electronics or circuit schematics can easily accomplish this project.

Digital Altimeter

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Want to practice your through-hole soldering and basic coding skills? If so, this project
might be the perfect one for you.

Given that this project requires some basic coding, you need to have an Arduino IDE
to run the code. Several hobbyists recommend the Arduino Pro model or something
similar like the FTDI Breakout Board for this project. Other than that, you need to have
a pressure or altitude sensor as well to make this digital altimeter.
For beginners and non-coders, this project might seem difficult at first. But, since
several people have already accomplished this, you can just simply download the
code online. You do not need to have an in-depth coding background for this project
because Github already has the library for the code. It is publicly accessible and free
for download online.

Biometric Attendance System

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Identification using biometrics is one of the emerging technologies in security
systems nowadays. However, several hobbyists and professionals have found a
different way to use biometric identification. Rather than use it for security systems,
they instead use it for attendance checking and management.

So if you are planning on holding a conference or mass gathering, then this project
would surely impress your attendees. Rather than having them bring an ID to a
conference hall, you can just mark their attendance through biometric identification.

We deem it as an electronic project for beginners because the codes needed to run
the microcontroller is publicly accessible. Having said that, a quick Google search
would simply do the trick. You just need to find a library that is compatible with the
current microcontroller that you have.

Solar Phone Charger

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This project is a great introduction to how solar panel works. It is a perfect project for
beginners because you would be able to apply your basic knowledge in circuits.

However, it is worth noting that this project could potentially damage your phone if it
is not done correctly. So we highly advise you to look for a more thoughtfully
designed circuit and step-by-step guide online.

Nevertheless, this project would help you get started and be familiar with the solar
charger circuit. The materials for this project are cheap and simple. You only need a
few things like a mini solar panel, inverter USB charger, your phone’s cable, and
a soldering iron.

Water Level Indicator

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Oftentimes, water is wasted due to overflow. To help solve this problem, several do-
it-yourselfers and professionals have come up with this affordable and easy-to-build
project.

The core function of this project is to monitor the water level in a container as well as
trigger an alarm if it is close to overflowing.

Given that several hobbyists have already accomplished this, there are many ways
and approaches to this project. You can make a water alarm using microcontrollers
like AVR and Arduino or you can just simply build it using a transistor, 555 Timer, and
ULN2003 IC.

Whether you chose to use microcontrollers or simple circuits, trust that there would
always be a step-by-step guide publicly accessible online. It is worth noting that this
project is popular among hobbyists and do-it-yourselfers, so you would not have a
hard time finding a guide or even a library for codes online.

Electronic Mosquito Repellent

39
One of the most interesting electronic projects for beginners is this electronic
mosquito repellent. The principle behind this project is that any sound that has a
frequency of more than 20kHz repels and drives mosquitoes away. It is worth
pointing out that despite emitting this frequency range, it has been proven to be safe
and non-harmful to humans.

So if you live in a tropical country or it just happens to be rainy season from where
you currently live, then this project might be worth looking more into.

Even though this project sounds complicated, it is pretty easy to assemble once you
gather all the materials you need. Some hobbyists use an Arduino board while others
just use a 555 Timer. The main components of this project are the resistors and the
speaker or piezo buzzer because they make the mosquito repelling circuit.

Conclusion
We hope we managed to inspire you and impart some of our knowledge in DIY
electronic projects.

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It is worth pointing out that these electronic projects that we have mentioned were
already done by several hobbyists. So finding a step-by-step guide online is not that
difficult.

All in all, you just need to find the right tools and equipment that would help you get
started on these electronic projects.

BASIC ELECTRONICS LAB

1. Basic Electronics Lab.
This Laboratory will cover the basic knowledge of doing small-scale projects.

Sr. Description of Item Quantity

No.
1. ANALOG OSCILLOSCOPE:- Oscilloscope 30 MHz Dual Trace NA
2. POWER SCOPE DC-30 MHz NA
3. DIGITAL STORAGE OSCILLOSCOPE 50 MHz NA
4. DIGITAL MULTIMETER 4 & ½ Digits 01
5. DIGITAL MULTIMETER 3 & ½ Digits NA
6. FUNCTION GENERATOR 0.3 MHz to 3 MHz NA
7. LCR-Q Meter NA
8. DC variable regulated Power Supply (0-30/2A) dual 01
9. DC regulated Power Supply (30 V/5A)
41 NA
10. DC regulated Power Supply (30 V/2A, 0 to +/- 15V/1A, 5V/5A) NA
11. Frequency Counter 0.1 Hz to 1 GHz NA
12. Pulse Generator 2Hz to 20 MHz NA
13. Sine Wave Generator 20 Hz to 20 MHz NA
14. Audio Frequency Oscillator NA

42
15 Distortion Meter 20 Hz to 20kHz NA
16. Milli OHM Meter 20mOhm to 20kOhm NA
17. Universal IC Tester, Digital IC upto 40 pins NA
18. Soldering / De-soldering Station 01
19. Soldering Iron 05
20 CRO Probes BNC To BNC, BNC to Crocodile, BNC with 1:10X, NA
1:100X
21 Wire Stripper 01
22 Steel Scale 01
23 Screw Driver Set 01
24 Combination Pliers 01
25 Crimping Tools 01
26 Electronic Tool Kit 01
27 Thermo Meter NA
28 ESD Wrist Strep 01
29 ESD Mats for Table 01
30 Vacuum Cleaner HO
31 Twizer ME
01
32 VARIAC Single Phase 01
33 Battery Charger 12V, 6V, 1.5V NA
34 Servo Voltage Stabilizer for Bench Supply Single Phase 220V/ 01
5KVA
35 Hot Air SMD Rework Station NA
36 Emitter Follower Trainer Board NA
37 Oscillator Trainer Board (Hartley’s, Colpitt’s and Clapp’s ) NA
38 Phase Shift Audio Oscillator Trainer Board NA
39 Timer Application IC555 Trainer Board NA
40 Wein Bridge(r-c) Audio Oscillator Trainer Board NA
41 Push-Pull Power Amplifier Trainer Board NA
42 Three Terminal Voltage Regulator Trainer Board NA
43 Study of Diode Clipping Circuits Trainer Board NA
44 Integrating, Differentiating and Clamping Circuits Trainer Board NA
45 Diode & Zener diode Characteristics Trainer Board NA
46 Rectifier and Filter Trainer Board NA
47 Transistors Characteristics Trainer Board (CE,CB,CC) NA
48 FET Characteristics Trainer Board NA
49 Single Stage CE Amplifier Circuits Board NA
50 Analog Lab Base NA

43
 BASIC
ELECTRONIC
EXPERIMENTS
MODEL PK-101

TRANSFORMS ANY STANDARD

BREADBOARD INTO AN ELECTRONIC
LEARNING CENTER!

Perform 50
Experiments!
Build an Electronic Key-
board, Electronic Kazoo,
Battery Tester, Finger
Touch Lamp, Burglar and
Water Alarms, a Siren, a
Magnetic Bridge, and a
whole lot more! No
soldering or tools required,
all parts are included!
(Requires a breadboard and
a 9V battery or power supply.)

ELENCO
44
®
Copyright © 2012, 1999 by ELENCO® All rights reserved. Revised 2012 REV-G 753064
No part of this book shall be reproduced by any means; electronic, photocopying, or otherwise without written permission from the publisher.

45
In this booklet you will learn:
• The basic principles of electronics.
• How to build circuits using a breadboard.
• How all of the basic electronic components work and how to read their values.
• How to read electronic schematics.
• How to design and troubleshoot basic electronic circuits.
• How to change the performance of electronic circuits by changing component values within the circuit.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Parts List Page 3 Introduction to Inductors and Transformers 40

Answers to Quizzes 3 Test Your Knowledge #2 41
Introduction to Basic Components 4 Experiment #27: The Magnetic Bridge 42
Experiment #1: The Light Bulb 8 Experiment #28: The Lighthouse 43
More About Resistors 10 Experiment #29: Electronic Sound 44
Experiment #2: Brightness Control 12 Experiment #30: The Alarm 46
Experiment #3: Resistors in Series 13 Experiment #31: Morse Code 47
Experiment #4: Parallel Pipes 14 Experiment #32: Siren 48
Experiment #5: Comparison of Parallel Currents 15 Experiment #33: Electronic Rain 49
Experiment #6: Combined Circuit 16 Experiment #34: The Space Gun 50
Experiment #7: Water Detector 17 Experiment #35: Electronic Noisemaker 51
Introduction to Capacitors 18 Experiment #36: Drawing Resistors 52
Experiment #8: Slow Light Bulb 20 Experiment #37: Electronic Kazoo 54
Experiment #9: Small Dominates Large 21 Experiment #38: Electronic Keyboard 55
Experiment #10: Large Dominates Small 22 Experiment #39: Fun with Water 56
Experiment #11: Make Your Own Battery 23 Experiment #40: Blinking Lights 57
Test Your Knowledge #1 24 Experiment #41: Noisy Blinker 58
Introduction to Diodes 24 Experiment #42: One Shot 59
Experiment #12: One - Way Current 25 Experiment #43: Alarm With Shut - Off Timer 60
Experiment #13: One - Way Light Bulbs 26 Experiment #44: The Flip - Flop 61
Introduction to Transistors 27 Experiment #45: Finger Touch Lamp With Memory 62
Experiment #14: The Electronic Switch 28 Experiment #46: This OR That 63
Experiment #15: The Current Amplifier 28 Experiment #47: Neither This NOR That 64
Experiment #16: The Substitute 29 Experiment #48: This AND That 65
Experiment #17: Standard Transistor Biasing Circuit 30 Experiment #49: Audio NAND, AND 66
Experiment #18: Very Slow Light Bulb 31 Experiment #50: Logic Combination 67
Experiment #19: The Darlington 32 Test Your Knowledge #3 68
Experiment #20: The Two Finger Touch Lamp 32 Troubleshooting Guide 68
Experiment #21: The One Finger Touch Lamp 33 Definition of Terms 69
Experiment #22: The Voltmeter 34
Experiment #23: 1.5 Volt Battery Tester 36
Experiment #24: 9 Volt Battery Tester 37
Experiment #25: The Battery Immunizer 38
Experiment #26: The Anti-Capacitor 39

THE EXPERIMENTS IN THIS BOOKLET REQUIRE A BREADBOARD OR

CAN BE DONE ON THE ELENCO® XK-150, XK-550, OR XK-700 TRAINERS.

2
PARTS LIST
Quantity Part Number Description
r1 134700 470Ω Resistor, 0.25W
r1 141000 1kΩ Resistor, 0.25W
r1 143300 3.3kΩ Resistor, 0.25W
r1 151000 10kΩ Resistor, 0.25W
r1 153300 33kΩ Resistor, 0.25W
r1 161000 100kΩ Resistor, 0.25W
r1 171000 1MΩ Resistor, 0.25W
r1 191549 50kΩ Variable Resistor, lay-down, with dial
r1 235018 0.005μF Disc Capacitor
r1 244780 0.047μF Disc Capacitor
r1 271045 10μF Electrolytic Capacitor
r1 281044 100μF Electrolytic Capacitor
r1 314148 Diode, 1N4148
r3 323904 Transistor, NPN, 2N3904
r2 350002 Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs)
r1 442100 Transformer
r1 540100 Switch, push-button
r1 590098 9V Battery Clip
r1 590102 Speaker, 8Ω, 0.25 Watt, with wires added
r1 - Wires Bag

QUIZ ANSWERS
First Quiz: 1. electrons; 2. short; 3. battery; 4. increase; 5. insulators, conductors; 6. decreases, increases; 7. decreases;
8. voltage; 9. alternating, direct; 10. increases, decreases.

Second Quiz: 1. reverse; 2. LEDs; 3. amplifier; 4. integrated; 5. saturated; 6. direct, alternating; 7. decreases, increases;
8. magnetic; 9. increases; 10. twice

Third Quiz: 1. feedback; 2. air, pressure; 3. decreases; 4. OR; 5. NAND

3
INTRODUCTION TO BASIC COMPONENTS
Welcome to the exciting world of Electronics! Before starting the first experiment, let’s learn about some of the basic
electronic components. Electricity is a flow of sub-atomic (very, very, very, small) particles, called electrons. The electrons
move from atom to atom when an electrical charge is applied across the material. Electronics will be easier to understand
if you think of the flow of electricity through circuits as water flowing through pipes (this will be referred to as the water pipe
analogy).

Wires: Wires can be thought of as large, smooth pipes that allow water to pass through easily. Wires are made of metals,
usually copper, that offer very low resistance to the flow of electricity. When wires from different parts of a circuit connect
accidentally we have a short circuit or simply a short. You probably know from the movies that this usually means trouble.
You must always make sure that the metal from different wires never touches except at springs where the wires are
connecting to each other. The electric current, expressed in amperes (A, named after Andre Ampere who studied the
relationship between electricity and magnetism) or milliamps (mA, 1/1000 of an ampere), is a measure of how fast electrons
are flowing in a wire just as a water current describes how fast water is flowing in a pipe.
PIPE WIRE

Batteries and Generators: To make water flow through a pipe we need a pump. To make electricity flow through wires,
we use a battery or a generator to create an electrical charge across the wires. A battery does this by using a chemical
reaction and has the advantage of being simple, small, and portable. If you move a magnet near a wire then electricity will
flow in the wire. This is done in a generator. The electric power companies have enormous generators driven by steam or
water pressure to produce electricity for your home.

The voltage, expressed in volts (V, and named after Alessandro Volta who invented the battery in 1800), is a measure of
how strong the electric charge from your battery or generator is, similar to the water pressure. Your PK-101 may be used
with either a 9V battery or the adjustable power supply that is part of the XK-150, XK-550, and XK-700 Trainers. A power
supply converts the electricity from your electric company into a simple form that can be used in your PK-101. If using the
power supply, then adjust it for 9V. (This manual will usually refer to the battery, this is also meant to refer to the 9V power
supply if you are using that instead). Notice the “+” and “–” signs on the battery. These indicate which direction the battery
will “pump” the electricity, similarly to how a water pump can only pump water in one direction. The 0V or “–” side of the
battery is often referred to as “ground”. Notice that just to the right of the battery pictured below is a symbol, the same
symbol you see next to the battery holder. Engineers are not very good at drawing pictures of their parts, so when engineers
draw pictures of their circuits they use symbols like this to represent them. It also takes less time to draw and takes up less
space on the page. Note that wires are represented simply by lines on the page.
WATER PUMP BATTERY Symbol for BATTERY

9V

The Switch: Since you don’t want to waste water when you are not using it, you have a faucet or valve to turn the water on
and off. Similarly, you use a switch to turn the electricity on and off in your circuit. A switch connects (the “closed” or “on”
position) or disconnects (the “open” or “off” position) the wires in your circuit. As with the battery, the switch is
represented by a symbol, shown below on the right.
VALVE SWITCH Symbol for SWITCH

4
You have been given one of the two above switches.

5
The Resistor: Why is the water pipe that goes to your kitchen faucet smaller than the one that comes to your house from
the water company? And why is it much smaller than the main water line that supplies water to your entire town? Because
you don’t need so much water. The pipe size limits the water flow to what you actually need. Electricity works in a similar
manner, except that wires have so little resistance that they would have to be very, very thin to limit the flow of electricity.
They would be hard to handle and break easily. But the water flow through a large pipe could also be limited by filling a
section of the pipe with rocks (a thin screen would keep the rocks from falling over), which would slow the flow of water but
not stop it. Resistors are like rocks for electricity, they control how much electric current flows. The resistance, expressed
in ohms (Ω, named after George Ohm), kilohms (kΩ, 1,000 ohms), or megohms (MΩ, 1,000,000 ohms) is a measure of
how much a resistor resists the flow of electricity. To increase the water flow through a pipe you can increase the water
pressure or use less rocks. To increase the electric current in a circuit you can increase the voltage or use a lower value
resistor (this will be demonstrated in a moment). The symbol for the resistor is shown on the right.
ROCKS IN THE PIPE RESISTOR Symbol for RESISTOR

“LEADS” for connecting

Your Breadboard: Breadboards are used for mounting electronic components and to make connecting them together
easy, and are similar to the printed circuits boards used in most electronic devices. Breadboards make it easy to add and
remove components. Your breadboard has 830 holes arranged into rows and columns (some models may have more or
less holes but will be arranged the same way):

BREADBOARD

6
The holes are connected together as follows:
• There are many columns of 5 holes each. The 5 holes within each column are electrically connected together, but the
columns are not electrically connected to each other. This makes 126 columns of 5 holes each. Note that “electrically
connected together” means that there is a wire within the breadboard connecting the 5 holes.
• All holes in the rows marked with a blue “–” or a red “+” are electrically connected together, but none of these rows are
electrically connected to each other. This makes 6 rows of 100 holes. The red “+” holes will usually be used for your “+”
battery or power supply connections and the blue “–” holes will usually be used for your ground (“–” battery or power
supply) connections.

BREADBOARD CONNECTIONS

Inserting Parts into the Breadboard: To insert components into the breadboard, keep their pins straight and gently push
into the holes. If the pins get bent and become difficult to insert, they can be straightened with a pliers. Always make sure
components do not touch each other.

INSERTING PARTS

Electrolytic capacitors have a positive

and a negative electrode. The negative
lead is indicated on the packaging by a
stripe with minus signs and possibly
arrowheads.

Warning:
If the capacitor is
connected with
incorrect polarity,
Polarity
it may heat up and
Marking
either leak, or
cause the
capacitor to
explode.

7
After using your kit for a while, some of the wire ends may break off. If so, you should remove about 3/8 inch of insulation
from the broken end with a wire stripper or scissors.

Before You Begin: The rows of the breadboard are marked with letters (some rows are marked “+” and “–”) and the
columns are marked by numbers, this allows each hole to be identified individually. We will use this notation to smoothly
guide you through the experiments. Depending on the size of your breadboard, several sets of rows may be marked with
the same letter, but only a portion of the overall breadboard will be used so this will not be a problem. The row and column
numbers will be expressed as a row/column number. For example, a connection at row b, column 26 will be called hole
b26. And a connection at row +, column 3 will be called hole (+)3. Some examples of this are shown below:

IDENTIFYING HOLE LOCATIONS

column 3

row (+)

hole h6

hole e15
row b

hole (-)7

column 26

8
EXPERIMENT #1: The Light Bulb
First, decide if you will use a 9V battery (alkaline is best) or the adjustable power supply that is part of the XK-150, XK-550,
and XK-700 Trainers. If using a battery then snap it into its clip. Always remove the battery from its clip if you won’t be using
your PK-101 for a while. Insert the red wire from the battery clip into hole j4 and the black wire into hole (–)3.

1 2

If using the adjustable power supply then turn it on and adjust it for 9V. Connect a wire from the positive adjustable voltage
output to hole j4 and another wire from the power supply negative output (ground) to hole (–)3.

Let’s introduce another component, the LED (light emitting diode). It is shown below, with its symbol. We’ll explain what it
does in just a few moments.
LED Symbol for LED

Flat

Now insert the components for this circuit into your breadboard according to the list below (the first item is for the
battery/power supply which you already did above), which we’ll call the Wiring Checklist. When you’re finished your wiring
should look like the diagram shown at right:

WIRING DIAGRAM
Parts Needed:
• a 9V battery or power supply POWER
SUPPLY
• one Switch
LED (symbol
• one 10kΩ resistor +9V RESISTOR shows flat side is
(marked brown-black-orange-gold, in that order) on right)
0V (GROUND)
• one LED
• 2 wires

Wiring Checklist: 10kΩ

Insert red battery wire or positive power supply into

hole j4 and black battery wire or negative power
supply (ground) into hole (–)3.
(RED)

Insert switch into holes f4 and f5.

Insert the 10kΩ resistor into holes j5 and j9.
Insert the LED into holes g20 and g21. NOTE: The
“flat” side of the LED (as shown on the picture
above, and usually the shorter wire) goes into g21.
Insert a short wire between holes h9 and j20.
9V
Insert a short wire between holes f21 and (–)21.
BATTERY SWITCH
(BLACK) WIRES
Be sure all your wires are securely in place and not
loose. Also make sure the metal into each hole is
not touching any other metal, including other parts
of the same component.
9
The Wiring Checklist and Wiring Diagram show
Example of Inserting the Resistor
you ONE way of connecting the circuit
components using your breadboard. There are
many other ways that are also correct. The
important thing is that the electrical connections
are as shown in the schematic (see below).

Press the switch and the LED lights up, and turns off when you release the switch. The LED converts electrical energy
into light, like the light bulbs in your home. You can also think of an LED as being like a simple water meter, since as the
electric current increases in a wire the LED becomes brighter. It is shown again here, with its symbol.

WATER METER LED Symbol for LED

Flat

Take a look at the water diagram that follows. It shows the flow of water from the pump through the faucet, the small pipe,
the water meter, the large pipes, and back to the pump. Now compare it to the electrical diagram next to it, called a
schematic. Schematics are the “maps” for electronic circuits and are used by all electronic designers and technicians on
everything from your PK-101 to the most advanced supercomputers. They show the flow of electricity from the battery
through the switch, the resistor, the LED, the wires, and back to the battery. They also use the symbols for the battery,
switch, resistor, and LED that we talked about. Notice how small and simple the schematic looks compared to the water
diagram; that is why we use it.

Now you will see how changing the resistance in the circuit increases the current through it. Press the switch again and
observe the brightness of the LED. Now remove the 10kΩ resistor and replace it with a 1kΩ resistor (marked brown-black-
red-gold, in that order) in the same holes (j5 and j9). Press the switch. The LED is brighter now, do you understand why?
We are using a lower resistance (less rocks), so there is more electrical current flowing (more water flows), so the LED is
brighter. Now replace the 1kΩ resistor with the 100kΩ resistor (marked brown-black-yellow-gold, in that order) and press
the switch again. The LED will be on but will be very dim (this will be easier to see if you wrap your hand near the LED to
keep the room lights from shining on it).

Well done! You’ve just built YOUR first electronic circuit!

10
MORE ABOUT RESISTORS
Ohm’s Law: You just observed that when you have less resistance in the circuit, more current flows (making the LED
brighter). The relationship between voltage, current, and resistance is known as Ohm’s Law (after George Ohm who
discovered it in 1828):

Voltage
Current =
Resistance

Resistance: Just what is Resistance? Take your hands and rub them together very fast. Your hands should feel warm.
The friction between your hands converts your effort into heat. Resistance is the electrical friction between an electric
current and the material it is flowing through; it is the loss of energy from electrons as they move between atoms of the
material. Resistors are made using carbon and can be constructed with different resistive values, such as the seven parts
included in your PK-101. If a large amount of current is passed through a resistor then it will become warm due to the
electrical friction. Light bulbs use a small piece of a highly resistive material called tungsten. Enough current is passed
through this tungsten to heat it until it glows white hot, producing light. Metal wires have some electrical resistance, but it
is very low (less than 1Ω per foot) and can be ignored in almost all circuits. Materials such as metals which have low
resistance are called conductors. Materials such as paper, plastic, and air have extremely high values of resistance and
are called insulators.

Resistor Color Code: You are probably wondering what the colored bands on the resistors mean. They are the method
for marking the value of resistance on the part. The first ring represents the first digit of the resistor’s value. The second
ring represents the second digit of the resistor’s value. The third ring tells you the power of ten to multiply by, (or the number
of zeros to add). The final and fourth ring represents the construction tolerance. Most resistors have a gold band for a 5%
tolerance. This means the value of the resistor is guaranteed to be within 5% of the value marked. The colors below are
used to represent the numbers 0 through 9.

COLOR VALUE Example of Color Code

BLACK 0
BROWN 1 ORANGE
RED
RED 2
ORANGE 3
YELLOW 4
GREEN 5
BLUE 6 VIOLET GOLD
VIOLET 7
GRAY 8
WHITE 9 27 X 10,000 = 27,000 Ω, with 5% Tolerance

Use the color code to check the values of the seven resistors included in your PK-101, and compare to the list below:

YELLOW - VIOLET - BROWN - GOLD is 470 Ω with 5% tolerance BROWN -

BLACK - RED - GOLD is 1,000 Ω (or 1 kΩ) with 5% tolerance ORANGE -
ORANGE - RED - GOLD is 3,300 Ω (or 3.3 kΩ) with 5% tolerance BROWN -
BLACK - ORANGE - GOLD is 10,000 Ω (or 10 kΩ) with 5% tolerance
ORANGE - ORANGE - ORANGE - GOLD is 33,000 Ω (or 33 kΩ) with 5% tolerance
BROWN - BLACK - YELLOW - GOLD is 100,000 Ω (or 100 kΩ) with 5% tolerance
BROWN - BLACK - GREEN - GOLD is 1,000,000 Ω (or 1 MΩ) with 5% tolerance

11
The Variable Resistor: We talked about how a switch is used to turn the electricity on and off just like a valve is used to
turn the water on and off. But there are many times when you want some water but don’t need all that the pipe can deliver,
so you control the water by adjusting an opening in the pipe with a faucet. Unfortunately, you can’t adjust the thickness of
an already thin wire. But you could also control the water flow by forcing the water through an adjustable length of rocks,
as in the rock arm shown below.

ROCK
ARM

In electronics we use a variable resistor. This is a normal resistor (50kΩ in your PK-101) with an additional arm contact
that can move along the resistive material and tap off the desired resistance.

VARIABLE RESISTOR
INSULATING BASE MATERIAL

WIPER CONTACT

THIN LAYER OF
MOVABLE RESISTIVE MATERIAL
ARM

STATIONARY CONTACT

LEADS

The dial on the variable resistor moves the arm contact and sets the resistance between the left and center pins. The
remaining resistance of the part is between the center and right pins. For example, when the dial is turned fully to the left,
there is minimal resistance between the left and center pins (usually 0Ω) and maximum resistance between the center and
right pins. The resistance between the left and right pins will always be the total resistance, (50kΩ for your part).

VARIABLE RESISTOR

CENTER PIN

Symbol for VARIABLE RESISTOR

LEFT PIN RIGHT PIN

Now let’s demonstrate how this works.

12
EXPERIMENT #2: THE BRIGHTNESS CONTROL
Remove the 10kΩ resistor used in Experiment #1; the other parts are used here. Insert the new parts according to the
Wiring Checklist below. Press the switch and the LED lights up (it may be dim). Now hold the switch closed with one hand
and turn the dial on the variable resistor with the other. When the dial is turned to the left, the resistance in the circuit is
low and the LED is bright because a large current flows. As you turn the dial to the right the resistance increases and the
LED will become dim, just as forcing the water through a section of rocks would slow the water flow and lower the reading
on your water meter.
You may be wondering what the 1kΩ resistor is doing in the circuit. If you set the dial on the variable resistor for minimum
resistance (0Ω) then Ohm’s Law tells us the current will be very large - and it might damage the LED (think of this as a very
powerful water pump overloading a water meter). So the 1kΩ was put in to limit the current while having little effect on
the brightness of the LED.
Now remove the wire from c14 and connect it to c16. Do you know what will happen now? Close the switch and you will
see that as you turn the dial from the left to the right the LED goes from very dim to very bright (the opposite of when
connected to c14), because you are decreasing the resistance between the center and right pins.
Now remove the 1kΩ resistor from hole j15 and insert it into hole c14 (the other end stays in j5). What do you think will
happen? Close the switch and turn the dial on the variable resistor. The LED is dim and turning the resistor dial won’t
make it any brighter. As discussed above, the resistance between the left and right pins is always 50kΩ and the part acts
just like one of the other resistors in your PK-101.

POWER WIRING DIAGRAM

Variable resistors like this one are used in the light dimmers you SUPPLY LED

may have in your house, and are also used to control the volume +9V 0V 50kΩ (symbol shows
RESISTOR flat side is on
in your radio, your TV, and many electronic devices. VARIABLE right)
RESISTOR
Parts Needed:
• a 9V battery or power supply
• Switch
1kΩ
• one 1kΩ resistor (marked brown-black-red-gold)
• 50kΩ variable resistor
• one LED
• 2 wires
(RED)

Wiring Checklist ( indicates same position as last

experiment):
Insert red battery wire or positive power supply into hole j4 and
black battery wire or negative power supply (ground) into hole
(–)3.
Insert switch into holes f4 and f5. 9V
SWITCH WIRES
Insert the LED into holes g20 and g21 (“flat” side goes into g21). BATTERY
(BLACK)
Insert a short wire between holes f21 and (–)21.
Insert the 1kΩ resistor into holes j5 and j15.
Insert the 50kΩ variable resistor into holes e14, g15, and e16.
It may be a tight fit, carefully press it in slowly.
Insert a short wire between holes c14 and j20.

Be sure all your wires are securely in place and not loose. Also
make sure the metal into each hole is not touching any other
metal, including other parts of the same component.
SCHEMATIC
WATER DIAGRAM
12
EXPERIMENT #3: RESISTORS IN SERIES
Remove the resistors used in Experiment #2; the other parts are used here. Insert the new parts according to the Wiring
Checklist and press the switch. The LED is on but is very dim (this will be easier to see if you wrap your hand near the
LED to keep the room lights from shining on it). Take a look at the schematic. There is a low 3.3kΩ resistor and a high
100kΩ resistor in series (one after another). Since the LED is dimly lit, we know that the larger 100kΩ must be controlling
the current. You can think of this as where two sections of the pipe are filled with rock, if one section is much longer than
the other then it controls the water flow. If you had several rock sections of different lengths then it is easy to see that these
would add together as if they were one longer section. The total length is what matters, not how many sections the rock
is split into. The same is true in electronics - resistors in series add together to increase the total resistance for the circuit.
(In our circuit the 3.3kΩ and 100kΩ resistors add up to 103.3kΩ).
To demonstrate this, remove the 100kΩ resistor and insert the 10kΩ in the same holes, press the switch; the LED should
be easy to see now (total resistance is now only 13.3kΩ). Next, remove the 10kΩ resistor and replace it with the 1kΩ. The
LED is now bright, but not as bright as when you used the 1kΩ in Experiment #1. Why? Because now the 3.3kΩ is the
larger resistor (total resistance is 4.3kΩ).
Also, in Experiment #2 you saw how the 1kΩ resistor would dominate the circuit when the variable resistor was set for 0Ω
and how the variable resistor would dominate when set for 50kΩ.

Parts Needed: POWER WIRING DIAGRAM

• a 9V battery or power supply SUPPLY
• Switch LED (symbol
+9V 0V shows flat side is
• one 1kΩ resistor (brown-black-red-gold) RESISTORS on right)

• one 3.3kΩ resistor (orange-orange-red-gold)

• one 10kΩ resistor (brown-black-orange-gold)
• one 100kΩ resistor (brown-black-yellow-gold)
• one LED 3.3kΩ 100kΩ

• 1 wire
(RED)

Wiring Checklist ( indicates same position as

last experiment):
Insert red battery wire or positive power supply into
hole j4 and black battery wire or negative power
supply (ground) into hole (–)3.
Insert switch into holes f4 and f5.
Insert the LED into holes g20 and g21 (“flat” side
goes into g21).
Insert a short wire between holes f21 and (–)21. 9V SWITCH WIRE
Insert the 3.3kΩ resistor into holes i5 and i12. BATTERY
(BLACK)
Insert the 100kΩ resistor into holes j12 and j20
(avoid touching other components).

WATER DIAGRAM

SCHEMATIC

13
EXPERIMENT #4: PARALLEL PIPES
Remove the resistors used in Experiment #3; the other parts are used here. Insert the new parts according to the Wiring
Checklist. Take a look at the schematic. There is a low 3.3kΩ resistor and a high 100kΩ resistor in parallel (connected
between the same points in the circuit). How bright do you think the LED will be? Press the switch and see if you are right.
The LED is bright, so most of the current must be flowing through the smaller 3.3kΩ resistor. This makes perfect sense
when we look at the water diagram, with most of the water flowing through the pipe with less rocks. In general, the more
water pipes (or resistors) there are in parallel, the lower the total resistance is and the more water (or current) will flow.
The relationship is more complicated than for resistors in series and is given here for advanced students:

R1 x R2
R Parallel =
R1 + R2

For two 10kΩ resistors in parallel, the result would be 5kΩ. The 3.3kΩ and 100kΩ in parallel in our circuit now give the
same LED brightness as a single 3.2kΩ resistor.
To demonstrate this, remove the 100kΩ resistor and replace it with the 10kΩ (in the same holes); press the switch and the
LED should be just as bright. The total resistance is now only 2.5kΩ, but your eyes probably won’t notice much difference
in LED brightness. Now remove the 10kΩ and replace it with the 1kΩ; press the switch. The total resistance is now only
770Ω, so the LED should now be much brighter.

Parts Needed:
• a 9V battery or power supply Wiring Checklist ( indicates same position as last
• Switch experiment):
• one 1kΩ resistor (brown-black-red-gold) Insert red battery wire or positive power supply (P. S.) into j4 and
• one 3.3kΩ resistor (orange-orange-red-gold) black battery wire or negative power supply (ground) into (–)3.
• one 10kΩ resistor (brown-black-orange-gold) Insert switch into f4 and f5.
Insert the LED into g20 and g21 (“flat” side goes into g21).
• one 100kΩ resistor (brown-black-yellow-gold)
Insert a short wire between f21 and (–)21.
• one LED
Insert the 3.3kΩ resistor into i5 and i12.
• 2 wires
Insert the 100kΩ resistor into j5 and j12.
Insert a short wire between h12 and j20.

WIRING DIAGRAM

Note: From now on there will be less description for frequently used parts.

100KΩ

3.3KΩ

9V +9V
BATTERY
or POWER
SUPPLY
0V

14
EXPERIMENT 5: COMPARISON OF PARALLEL CURRENTS
Since we have two resistors in parallel and a second LED that is not being used, let’s modify the last circuit to match the
schematic below. It’s basically the same circuit but instead of just parallel resistors there are parallel resistor-LED circuits.
Remove the resistors used in Experiment #4; the other parts are used here. Insert the new parts according to the Wiring
Checklist. Replace the 100kΩ resistor with several values as before (such as 1kΩ, 10kΩ, and others if you wish), pressing
the switch and observing the LEDs each time. The brightness of the right LED will not change, but the brightness of the
left LED will depend on the resistor value you placed in series with it.

Parts Needed:
• a 9V battery or power supply
• Switch
• one 3.3kΩ resistor (orange-orange-red-gold)
• one 100kΩ resistor (brown-black-yellow-gold)
• 2 LEDs
• 4 wires

Wiring Checklist (þ indicates same position as last experiment):

Insert red battery wire or positive P. S. into j4 and black battery wire or negative P. S. (ground) into (–)3.
Insert switch into f4 and f5. The switch may be a tight fit, carefully press it in slowly.
Insert an LED into g20 and g21 (“flat” side goes into g21).
Insert a short wire between f21 and (–)21.
Insert the 100kΩ resistor into j5 and j12.
Insert a short wire between h12 and j20.
Insert the 3.3kΩ resistor into i5 and j10.
Insert a short wire between g10 and j23.
Insert an LED into g23 and g24 (“flat” side goes into g24).
Insert a short wire between f24 and (–)24.

+9V
100kΩ

3.3kΩ

9V
BATTERY
or POWER
SUPPLY

Both LEDs
have flat side
on right

15
EXPERIMENT #6: COMBINED CIRCUIT
Let’s combine everything we’ve done so far. Remove the resistors used in Experiment #3; the other parts are used here.
Insert the new parts and wires according to the Wiring Checklist. Before pressing the switch, take a look at the schematic
and think about what will happen as you turn the dial on the variable resistor (we’ll abbreviate this to VR). Now press the
switch with one hand and turn the dial with the other to see if you were right. As you turn the VR dial from left to right the
left LED will go from bright to very dim and the right LED will go from very dim to visible.
What’s happening is this: With the dial turned all the way to the left the VR is 0Ω (much smaller than the 10kΩ) so nearly
all of the current passing through the 3.3kΩ will take the VR-LED(left) path and very little will take the 10kΩ-LED(right) path.
When the VR dial is turned 1/5 to the right the VR is 10kΩ (same as the other path) and the current flowing through the
3.3kΩ will divide equally between the two LED paths (making them equally bright). As the VR dial is turned all the way to
the right the VR becomes a 50kΩ (much larger than the 10kΩ) and LED(left) will become dim while LED(right) gets brighter.
Now is a good time to take notes on how resistors work in series and in parallel. All electronic circuits are much larger
combinations of series and parallel circuits such as these. It’s important to understand these ideas because soon we’ll apply
them to capacitors and inductors!

Parts Needed: Wiring Checklist ( indicates same position as last experiment):

• a 9V battery or power supply Insert red battery wire or positive P. S. into j4 and black battery wire
• Switch or negative P. S. (ground) into (–)3.
• one 3.3kΩ resistor (orange-orange-red-gold) Insert switch into f4 and f5.
• one 10kΩ resistor (brown-black-orange-gold) Insert an LED into g20 and g21 (“flat” side goes into g21).
• 50kΩ variable resistor Insert a short wire between f21 and (–)21.
• 2 LEDs Insert an LED into g23 and g24 (“flat” side goes into g24).
• 3 wires Insert a short wire between f24 and -24.
Insert the 50kΩ variable resistor into holes e14, g15, and e16. It
may be a tight fit, carefully press it in slowly.
Insert the 3.3kΩ resistor into i5 and i15.
Insert the 10kΩ resistor into j15 and j23.
Insert a short wire between c14 and j20.

+9V
10KΩ
3.3KΩ

50KΩ
VARIABLE
RESISTOR

16
EXPERIMENT #7: WATER DETECTOR
You’ve seen how electricity flows through copper wires easily and how carbon resists the flow. How well does water pass
electricity? Let’s find out.
Connect the parts and wires according to the Wiring Checklist and take a look at the schematic. There isn’t a switch this
time, so just disconnect one of the wires if you want to turn the circuit off. Notice that the Wiring Checklist leaves 2 wires
unconnected. The LED will be off initially (if you touch the two loose wires together then it will be on). Now take a small
cup (make sure it isn’t made of metal), fill it half way with water, and place the two unconnected wires into the water without
touching each other. The LED should now be dimly lit, but the brightness could vary depending on your local water quality.
You are now seeing a demonstration of how water conducts (passes) electricity. (A small cup of water like this may be
around 100kΩ, but depends on the local water quality). Try adding more water to the cup and see if the LED brightness
changes (it should get brighter because we are “making the water pipe larger”). Since the LED only lights when it is in
water now, you could use this circuit as a water detector!
Now adjust the amount of water so that the LED is dimly lit. Now, watching the LED brightness, add some table salt to the
water and stir to dissolve the salt. The LED should become brighter because water has a lower electrical resistance when
salt is dissolved in it. Looking at the water pipe diagram, you can think of this as a strong cleaner dissolving paintballs that
are mixed in with the rocks. You could even use this circuit to detect salt water like in the ocean!

Wiring Checklist ( indicates same position as last experiment): Parts Needed:

Insert red battery wire or positive P. S. into j4 and black battery wire a 9V battery or power supply
or negative P. S. (ground) into (–)3. one 470Ω resistor (yellow-violet-brown-gold)
Insert an LED into g20 and g21 (“flat” side goes into g21). one 1kΩ resistor (brown-black-red-gold)
one 3.3kΩ resistor (orange-orange-red-gold)
Note: Keep the switch in the breadboard (unconnected) until later one 10kΩ resistor (brown-black-orange-gold)
experiments, as it can be difficult to remove and insert. one LED
Insert the 470Ω resistor into j12 and j20. 2 long wires
Insert the 1kΩ resistor into i4 and i12. a glass of water and salt
Insert the 3.3kΩ resistor into h20 and (–)18.
Insert the 10kΩ resistor into f20 and (–)21.
Insert a long wire into j21 (the other end is unconnected for now).
Insert a long wire into (–)25 (the other end is unconnected for now).
TO GLASS
OF WATER

+9V

1kΩ 470Ω
3.3kΩ

10kΩ

Note: Switch is not

used here but leave
in for future
experiments.

17
INTRODUCTION TO CAPACITORS
Capacitors: Capacitors are electrical components that can store electrical pressure (voltage) for periods of time. When
a capacitor has a difference in voltage (electrical pressure) across it, it is said to be charged. A capacitor is charged by
having a one-way current flow through it for a short period of time. It can be discharged by letting a current flow in the
opposite direction out of the capacitor. In the water pipe analogy, you may think of the capacitor as a water pipe that has
a strong rubber diaphragm sealing off each side of the pipe as shown below:

PIPE FILLED WITH WATER

A Rubber Diaphragm in a
pipe is like a Capacitor

PLUNGER RUBBER DIAPHRAGM

SEALING CENTER OF PIPE

If the pipe had a plunger on one end (or a pump elsewhere in the piping circuit), as shown above, and the plunger was
pushed toward the diaphragm, the water in the pipe would force the rubber to stretch out until the force of the rubber pushing
back on the water was equal to the force of the plunger. You could say the pipe is charged and ready to push the plunger
back. In fact if the plunger is released it will move back to its original position. The pipe will then be discharged or with no
pressure on the diaphragm.
Capacitors act the same as the pipe just described. When a voltage (electrical pressure) is placed on one side with respect
to the other, electrical charge “piles up” on one side of the capacitor (on the capacitor “plates”) until the voltage pushing
back equals the voltage applied. The capacitor is then charged to that voltage. If the charging voltage was then decreased
the capacitor would discharge. If both sides of the capacitor were connected together with a wire then the capacitor would
rapidly discharge and the voltage across it would become zero (no charge).
What would happen if the plunger in the drawing above was wiggled in and out many times each second? The water in the
pipe would be pushed by the diaphragm and then sucked back by the diaphragm. Since the movement of the water (current)
is back and forth (alternating) it is called an alternating current or AC. The capacitor will therefore pass an alternating
current with little resistance. When the push on the plunger was only toward the diaphragm, the water on the other side
of the diaphragm moved just enough to charge the pipe (a transient or temporary current). Just as the pipe blocked a direct
push, a capacitor blocks a direct current (DC). Current from a battery is an example of direct current. An example of
alternating current is the 60 cycle (60 wiggles per second) current from the electrical outlets in the walls of your house.
Construction of Capacitors: If the rubber diaphragm is made very soft it will stretch out and hold a lot of water but will
break easily (large capacitance but low working voltage). If the rubber is made very stiff it will not stretch far but will be able
to withstand higher pressure (low capacitance but high working voltage). By making the pipe larger and keeping the rubber
stiff we can achieve a device that holds a lot of water and withstands high pressure (high capacitance, high working voltage,
large size). So the pipe size is determined by its capacity to hold water and the amount of pressure it can handle. These
three types of water pipes are shown below:

TYPES OF WATER PIPES

LOW CAPACITY BUT HIGH CAPACITY AND
LARGE CAPACITY CAN WITHSTAND CAN WITHSTAND
LOW PRESSURE HIGH PRESSURE HIGH PRESSURE

SOFT STIFF STIFF

RUBBER RUBBER RUBBER

18
Similarly, capacitors are described by their capacity for holding electric charge, called their Capacitance, and their ability to
withstand electric pressure (voltage) without damage. Although there are many different types of capacitors made using
many different materials, their basic construction is the same. The wires (leads) connect to two or more metal plates that
are separated by high resistance materials called dielectrics.

Construction
LEAD 1 of a Capacitor

METAL PLATE

LEAD 2

DIELECTRIC

The dielectric is the material that holds the electric charge (pressure), just like the rubber diaphragm holds the water
pressure. Some dielectrics may be thought of as stiff rubber, and some as soft rubber. The capacitance and working
voltage of the capacitor is controlled by varying the number and size of metal-dielectric layers, the thickness of the dielectric
layers, and the type of dielectric material used.
Capacitance is expressed in farads (F, named after Michael Faraday whose work in electromagnetic induction led to the
development of today’s electric motors and generators ), or more commonly in microfarads (μF, millionths of a farad) or
picofarads (pF, millionths of a microfarad). Almost all capacitors used in electronics vary from 1pF to 1,000μF.
Your PK-101 includes two electrolytic (10μF and 100μF) and two disc (0.005μF and 0.047μF) capacitors. (Mylar capacitors
may have been substituted for the disc ones, their construction and performance is similar). Electrolytic capacitors (usually
referred to as lytics) are high capacitance and are used mostly in power supply or low frequency circuits. Their capacitance
and voltage are usually clearly marked on them. Note that these parts have “+” and “–” polarity (orientation) markings, the
lead marked “+” should always be connected to a higher voltage than the “–” lead (all of your Wiring Diagrams account for this).
Disc capacitors are low capacitance and are used mostly in radio or high frequency applications. They don’t have polarity
markings (they can be hooked up either way) and their voltage is marked with a letter code (most are 50V). Their value is
usually marked in pF with a 3 digit code similar to the stripes used on resistors. The first 2 digits are the first 2 digits of the
capacitor’s value and the third digit tells the power of 10 to multiply by (or the number of zeros to add). For example, the
0.005μF (5,000pF) and .047μF (47,000pF) disc capacitors in your PK-101 are marked 502 and 473.

Capacitors have symbols as follows:

ELECTROLYTIC CAPACITOR

Symbol for
SOFT DIAPHRAGM ELECTROLYTIC CAPACITOR

(–) (+)

DISC CAPACITOR

Symbol for
STIFF DIAPHRAGM DISC CAPACITOR

19
EXPERIMENT #8: SLOW LIGHT BULB
Starting with this experiment, we will no longer show you the Parts List or the Wiring Checklist. Refer back to the previous
experiments if you feel you need more practice in wiring the circuits. Refer back to page 10 if you need to review the resistor
color code. Connect the circuit according to the schematic and Wiring Diagram and press the switch several times. You
can see it takes time to charge and discharge the large capacitor because the LED lights up and goes dim slowly. Replace
the 3.3kΩ resistor with the 1kΩ resistor; now the charge time is faster but the discharge time is the same. Do you know
why? When the switch is closed the battery charges the capacitor through the 1kΩ resistor and when the switch is opened
the capacitor discharges through the 10kΩ, which has remained the same. Now replace the 100μF capacitor with the 10μF.
Both the charge and discharge times are now faster since there is less capacitance to charge up. If you like you may
experiment with different resistors in place of the 1kΩ and 10kΩ. If you observe the LED carefully, you might start to
suspect the relationship between the component values and the charging and discharging times - the charge/discharge
times are proportional to both the capacitance and the resistance in the charge/discharge path!
A simple circuit like this is used to slowly light or darken a room, such as a movie theater.

+9V
3.3kΩ 10kΩ

100μF
-

CAPACITOR

20
EXPERIMENT #9: SMALL DOMINATES LARGE - CAPACITORS IN SERIES
Take a look at the schematic, it is almost the same circuit as the last experiment except that now there are two capacitors in
series. What do you think will happen? Connect the circuit according to the schematic and Wiring Diagram and press the
switch several times to see if you are right.
Looking at the water diagram and the name of this experiment should have made it clear - the smaller 10μF will dominate
(control) the response since it will take less time to charge up. As with resistors, you could change the order of the two
capacitors and would still get the same results (try this if you like). Notice that while resistors in series add together to make
a larger circuit resistance, capacitors in series combine to make a smaller circuit capacitance. Actually, capacitors in
series combine the same way resistors in parallel combine (using the same mathematical relationship given in Experiment
4). For this experiment, 10μF and 100μF in series perform the same as a single 9.1μF.
In terms of our water pipe analogy, you could think of capacitors in series as adding together the stiffness of their rubber
diaphragms.

+9V
3.3kΩ 10kΩ

100μF
-

10μF
-

CAPACITOR

21
EXPERIMENT #10: LARGE DOMINATES SMALL - CAPACITORS IN PARALLEL
Now you have capacitors in parallel, and you can probably predict what will happen. If not, just think about the last
experiment and about how resistors in parallel combine, or think in terms of the water diagram again. Connect the circuit
according to the schematic and Wiring Diagram and press the switch several times to see.
Capacitors in parallel add together just like resistors in series, so here 10μF + 100μF = 110μF total circuit capacitance. In
the water diagram, we are stretching both rubber diaphragms at the same time so it will take longer than to stretch either
one by itself. If you like you may experiment with different resistor values as you did in experiment #8. Although you do
have two disc capacitors and a variable capacitor (which will be discussed later) there is no point in experimenting with them
now, their capacitance values are so small that they would act as an open switch in any of the circuits discussed so far.

+9V
3.3kΩ 10kΩ

10μF 100μF

22
EXPERIMENT #11: MAKE YOUR OWN BATTERY
Connect the circuit according to the schematic and Wiring Diagram. Note that one side of the battery and resistor are
unconnected and there is a wire connected only to the 100μF capacitor. At this time no current will flow because nothing
is connected to the battery. Now hold the loose wire and touch it to the positive battery wire and then remove it, the battery
will instantly charge the capacitor since there is no resistance (actually there is some internal resistance in the battery and
some in the wires but these are very small). The capacitor is now charged and is storing the electricity it received from the
battery. It will remain charged as long as the loose wire is kept away from any metal. Now touch the loose wire to loose
side of the 3.3kΩ resistor and watch the LED. It will initially be very bright but diminishes quickly as the capacitor discharges.
Repeat charging and discharging the capacitor several times. You can also discharge the 100μF in small bursts by only
briefly touching the 3.3kΩ. If you like you can experiment with using different values in place of the 3.3kΩ; lower values will
make the LED brighter but it will dim faster while with higher resistor values the LED won’t be as bright but it will stay on
longer. You can also put a resistor in series with the battery when you charge the capacitor, then it will take time to fully
charge the capacitor. What do you think would happen if you used a smaller capacitor value?
When the capacitor is charged up it is storing electricity which could be used elsewhere at a later time - it is like a battery!
However, an electrolytic capacitor is not a very efficient battery. Storing electric charge between the plates of a capacitor
uses much more space than storing the same amount of charge chemically within a battery - compare how long the 100μF
lit the LED above with how your 9V battery runs all of your experiments!
Now is a good time to take notes for yourself on how capacitors work, since next we introduce the diode.

(UNCONNECTED)

(LOOSE WIRE)

(UNCONNECTED)
3.3kΩ

+9V
+

100μF
-

23
TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE #1
1. are the particles that flow between atoms as part of an electric current.

2. A circuit occurs when wires or components from different parts of the circuit accidentally connect.

3. A produces electricity using a chemical reaction.

4. To decrease the current in a circuit you may decrease the voltage or the resistance.

5. Materials which have very high resistance are called and materials which have very low resistance are
called .

6. Adding resistors in parallel the resistance while adding resistors in series the resistance.

7. The electrical resistance of water when salt is dissolved in it.

8. Capacitors are components that can store for periods of time.

9. Capacitors have low resistance to current and high resistance to current.

10. Adding capacitors in parallel the capacitance while adding capacitors in series the
capacitance.

(Answers are on page 3)

INTRODUCTION TO DIODES
The Diode: The diode is an electronic device that allows current to flow in only one direction. In our water pipe analogy it
may be thought of as the check valve shown here:

Water-Tight Pivot

Spring
Movable Plate
Solid Stop

The check valve only allows water to flow in one direction, to the right in this drawing. There is a small spring and if the
water pressure exceeds a certain level then the spring will be stretched and the valve opened. If the pressure is to flow to
the left then the plate will be pressed against the solid stop and no water will flow.
Electronic diodes are made from materials called semiconductors, so-called because they have more resistance than
metal conductors but less than insulators. Most semiconductors are made of Silicon but Gallium Arsenide and Germanium
are also used. Their key advantage is that by using special manufacturing processes their resistance is decreased under
certain operating conditions. The manufacturing processes create two regions of permanent electrical charge, quite different
from charging a capacitor. While the physics of how this works is quite complicated, the effect is that once the voltage
across the diode exceeds a small turn-on level (0.7V for Silicon) the resistance of the diode becomes very low in one
direction (so low in fact that the current flow must be limited by other resistances in the circuit to prevent damage to the
diode). When the diode is turned on like this we refer to it as being forward-biased. In the other direction the diode is
always a very high resistance, we call this reverse-biased. The schematic symbol, shown below, indicates that the diode will
allow current to flow from left to right but block current flow from right to left.

DIODE Symbol for DIODE

24
EXPERIMENT #12: ONE - WAY CURRENT
Your PK-101 includes one diode, a 1N4148, which is a standard diode widely used in industry. Connect the circuit and press
the switch, the LED lights up. The diode’s turn-on voltage of 0.7V is easily exceeded and the diode has little effect on the
circuit. Now reverse the wires to the diode and try again, nothing happens. The diode is now reverse-biased and blocks
current flow through the circuit, just like the plate and solid stop block the water flow in the drawing shown above.
You’ve probably noticed a similarity between the schematic symbols for the diode and the LED. Re-wire the diode back to
forward-biased or remove it from the circuit and then reverse the wires to the LED. Press the switch and LED doesn’t light,
do you know why?
Starting now, the equivalent water diagrams will no longer be presented.

DIODE (position side

with black stripe as
shown)

+9V
3.3kΩ

25
EXPERIMENT #13: ONE-WAY LIGHT BULBS
Diodes made of Gallium Arsenide need a higher voltage across them to turn on, usually about 1.5V This turn-on energy is
so high that light is generated when current flows through the diode. These diodes are the light emitting diodes that you
have been using.
To demonstrate this, connect the circuit below (note that the two LEDs will be referred to as “left” and “right”). Touch the
loose wire to the battery and watch the left LED. It will be bright initially as a current flows to charge up the 100μF capacitor
and then will dim as the capacitor voltage reaches the battery voltage. The right LED will not light since it is reverse-biased.
Then touch the loose wire to the negative side of the battery (“ground”) and watch the right LED. It will be bright initially
as a current flows to discharge the 100μF capacitor and then will dim as the capacitor voltage drops to zero. The left LED
will not light since now it is reverse-biased.
As in Experiment #11, you may try different resistor values in this circuit if you like.

(UNCONNECTED)

(LOOSE WIRE)

“RIGHT” LED
3.3kΩ
(flat side is on
+9V right)
+
-

“LEFT” LED
(flat side is
100μF

on right)

(LOOSE WIRE)

26
INTRODUCTION TO TRANSISTORS
The Transistor: The transistor was first developed in 1949 at Bell Telephone Laboratories, the name being derived from
“transfer resistor”. It has since transformed the world. Did you ever hear of something called a vacuum tube? They are
large and can be found in old electronic equipment and in museums. They are seldom used today and few engineers even
study them now. They were replaced by transistors, which are much smaller and more reliable.
The transistor is best described as a current amplifier - it uses a small amount of current to control a large amount of current.
There are many different families of transistors but we will only discuss the type included in your PK-101, called the NPN
Bipolar Junction Transistor or BJT and made of the semiconductor silicon. It has three connection points, called the emitter,
base, and collector.
In our water pipe analogy the BJT may be thought of as the lever pivot shown here:

Notice that it includes a check valve that is connected to a lever arm. A small amount of “base current” pushes on the check
valve which turns and opens the lever arm. But before this base current can start to flow though it must have enough water
pressure to overcome the spring in the check valve (usually 0.7V). If the base pipe is much smaller than the collector and
emitter pipes, then a small base current IB flowing in will cause a large collector current IC to flow in, these will combine
and exit the device as emitter current IE.
In transistors the emitter, base, and collector are different regions of permanent electrical charge, producing the effects
described above for the lever pivot. The properties and uses of transistors may seem confusing at first but will become
clear as you proceed through the experiments. All but one of the remaining experiments will use the transistor, so its
importance to electronics should be apparent.
A key advantage of semiconductors is that several transistors can be manufactured on a single piece of silicon. This led
to the development of Integrated Circuit (IC) technology, in which careful control of complex manufacturing processes has
enabled entire circuits consisting of transistors, diodes, resistors, and capacitors to be constructed on a silicon base. Some
ICs used in computers now have more than a million transistors on them. Spectacular improvements in cost, size, and
reliability have been achieved as a result.
The schematic symbol for a transistor is shown below:

TRANSISTOR Symbol for NPN TRANSISTOR

COLLECTOR

Flat BASE

EMITTER

Note the small arrow in the emitter, this indicates which direction the current will flow through the device.

27
EXPERIMENT #14: THE ELECTRONIC SWITCH
Your PK-101 includes three transistors which are all type 2N3904 NPN Bipolar Junction Transistors. Connect the circuit
according to the schematic and Wiring Diagram. Although there is a closed circuit with the battery, 1kΩ, LED, and
transistor, no current will flow since the transistor is acting like an open circuit (with no base current the lever arm remains
shut). Press the switch; a base current now flows and opens the lever arm, resulting in a large collector current which lights
the LED. The transistor is being used as an electronic switch. Although there is still a normal switch in this circuit, there
could be many electronic switches controlled by one normal switch.

+9V TRANSISTOR
(Note position of
flat side)

10kΩ

(flat side is
on left)

EXPERIMENT #15: THE CURRENT AMPLIFIER

Connect the circuit and press the switch. The right LED in the collector path is brighter than the left LED in the base path
because the base current is amplified by the transistor. The current gain of a transistor varies anywhere from 10 to 1,000
depending on the type of transistor, the ones in your PK-101 have a gain of about 200.
Note that the battery voltage and circuit resistance will limit the current gain. For example, if you replace the 1kΩ in this
circuit with a 33kΩ then the current gain will only be about 3. The circuit resistances, not transistor itself, are limiting the
current and the transistor is said to be saturated.

+9V 1kΩ

TRANSISTOR
(Note position of
flat side)

100kΩ

(note how the

LED flat sides are
positioned)

28
EXPERIMENT #16: THE SUBSTITUTE
Look again at the water pipe analogy for the transistor, the lever pivot:

What would happen if the base and collector were connected together? Once there is enough pressure to overcome the
spring in check valve DE (0.7V) there would be only slight resistance and no current gain. This situation should sound
familiar since this is exactly how a diode operates. When the base and collector of a transistor are connected together the
transistor becomes a diode.
Connect the circuit and press the switch, the LED lights. This is the same circuit as Experiment 12, One-Way Current. This
demonstrates how transistors can be substituted for diodes, and this will occur in practice sometimes for manufacturing
reasons.

+9V

(Note position
3.3kΩ

of flat sides)

29
EXPERIMENT #17: STANDARD TRANSISTOR BIASING CIRCUIT
Connect the circuit and press the switch while turning the variable resistor from right to left (from 0Ω to 50kΩ). The 100kΩ
and variable 50kΩ are a voltage divider that sets the voltage at the transistor base. If this voltage is less than 0.7V then the
transistor will be off and no current will flow through the LED. As the base voltage increases above 0.7V a small base
current starts to flow, which is amplified to produce a larger collector current that lights the LED. As the base voltage
continues to increase the transistor becomes saturated and the LED brightness will not increase further.
This circuit will normally be used with the voltage divider set so that the transistor is turned on but is not saturated. Although
this circuit does not have many applications by itself, when a small alternating current (AC) signal is applied to the base then
a larger copy of the signal will appear at the collector - a small-signal amplifier!

+9V 3.3kΩ

100kΩ
1kΩ

50kΩ
VARIABLE
RESISTOR

30
EXPERIMENT #18: VERY SLOW LIGHT BULB
Connect the circuit and press the switch, hold it down for several seconds. The LED will slowly light up. Release the switch
and the LED will slowly go dark.
When you first press the switch all of the current flowing through the 100kΩ resistor goes to charge up the capacitor, the
transistor and LED will be off. When the capacitor voltage rises to 0.7V the transistor will first turn on and the LED will turn
on. As the capacitor voltage continues to rise the current flow through the 470Ω resistor and into the transistor base will
increase. The current through the LED will then rise rapidly due to the transistor’s current gain.
When the switch is released the capacitor will discharge through the 470Ω resistor and the transistor base, the LED will dim
as this discharge current decreases. When the capacitor voltage drops below 0.7V the transistor will turn off. If you get
impatient you may touch a wire between the two capacitor springs to discharge it instantly.
Do you know how to change the capacitor charge and discharge times? The 100kΩ resistor controls the charge time, the
470Ω controls the discharge, and the capacitor controls both the charge and discharge. Replace these parts with some
different values and observe the effects.
Compare this circuit to the one you used in Experiment 8 when we first introduced the capacitor. By adding a transistor you
can use a large resistor for a slow charge time and still have a bright LED!

+9V 3.3kΩ

100kΩ

470Ω

+
100μF

31
EXPERIMENT #19: THE DARLINGTON
This circuit is very similar to the last one. Connect the components and press the switch, hold it down for several seconds.
The LED will slowly light up. Release the switch and the LED stays lit.
Take a look at the schematic. All the current flowing through the emitter of the left transistor will flow to the base of the right
transistor. So the current flowing into the base of the left transistor will be amplified twice, once by each transistor. This
configuration is called the Darlington configuration. It has very high current gain and very high input resistance at the
base. Since there are now two transistors to turn on, the capacitor voltage must exceed 1.4V before the LED will start to
light. And, since the input current to the base is so small, it will take much longer to discharge the capacitor. But the circuit
is functionally the same as Experiment 18 and the LED will eventually go dark, though it may take a few minutes. You can
experiment with changing some of the component values if you like.

+9V
3.3kΩ

100kΩ

(Note positions
+
of flat sides)
100μF

-
470Ω

EXPERIMENT #20: THE TWO FINGER TOUCH LAMP

Take a look at the schematic. You’re probably wondering how it can work, since nothing is connected to the transistor base.
It can’t, but there is another component that isn’t shown in the schematic. That component is you.
Connect the circuit according to the schematic and Wiring Diagram, including the two loose wires. Now touch the loose
battery wire with one finger and the loose transistor wire with another. The LED may be dimly lit. The problem is your
fingers aren’t making good enough electrical contact with the springs. Wet your fingers with water or saliva and touch the
springs again. The LED should be very bright now. You saw in Experiment 7 how water can conduct electricity and since
your body is mostly water it shouldn’t surprise you that your body can also conduct. Your body’s resistance varies a lot,
but is typically a few hundred kilohms. Think of this circuit as a touch lamp since when you touch it the LED lights. You
may have seen such a lamp in the store or already have one in your home.

(LOOSE WIRE) (LOOSE WIRE)

+9V 3.3kΩ

(switch is left unconnected

for future experiments)
470Ω

32
EXPERIMENT #21: THE ONE FINGER TOUCH LAMP
Actually, the touch lamps you see in stores only need to be touched by one finger to light, not two. So let’s see if we can
improve the last circuit to only need one finger. Connect the circuit, the only changes from the last experiment are the
addition of the 1kΩ and 10kΩ resistors. These two resistors plug into adjacent (but not connected) holes g10 and g11. Wet
a large area of one of your fingers and touch it to the resistor metal coming out of these two holes at the same time; the
LED lights. To make it easier for one finger to touch the two contacts, touch lamps or other touch devices will have the metal
contacts interweaved as shown below and will also be more sensitive so that you don’t have to wet your finger to make good
contact.

BATTERY TRANSISTOR
CONNECTION CONNECTION

This circuit is still different from the touch lamps sold in stores because the LED goes dark if you remove your finger from it.
We need a way of remembering when you’ve touched the lamp to turn it on or off - we need a memory, and we’ll show you
one in Experiment 45.

+9V 3.3kΩ

10kΩ
470Ω

33
EXPERIMENT #22: THE VOLTMETER
Make sure you have a strong 9V battery for this experiment. Connect the circuit according to the Wiring Diagram and
schematic, connect the battery last since this will turn on the circuit. And be sure to disconnect the battery (or turn off your
power supply) when you’re not using the circuit to avoid draining the battery. The part of the circuit to the left of the dashed
line in the schematic is the voltmeter, the two resistors on the right produce a voltage that you will measure. Notice that the
variable resistor (VR) will always act as a 50kΩ across the battery but by turning its knob you adjust the voltage at the base
of the left transistor. By turning this knob you can make one LED brighter than the other, indicating that the voltages at the
bases of the two transistors are not equal. Adjust the VR so that the two LEDs are equally bright. The transistor base
voltages are now equal. To determine what voltage you have measured, simply subtract the percentage you turned your
VR dial from 100 and multiply by 0.09.
If you like you can calculate what voltage you should have measured. Your measurement may differ from this due to the
tolerances in the resistors and the VR dial, but you should be close. The resistors on the right are a voltage adjuster, just
like the VR is, and the voltage you measured (at the base of the right transistor) is:

RLower 33kΩ
VCalculated = ————————— x VBattery = ———————— x 9V = 6.9V
RUpper + RLower 10kΩ + 33kΩ

This circuit is a form of the Differential Pair transistor configuration, which is widely used in integrated circuits. If the
transistor base voltages are equal then the currents through the LEDs and collectors will also be equal. If one base voltage
is higher than the other then that transistor will have more current flowing through it’s collector and associated LED.
You can now replace the two resistors on the right with a different combination and make a new voltage measurement. The
table below lists different combinations of your PK-101 resistors that you can measure, but you don’t have to measure them
all. In some combinations resistors are placed in series or parallel to create new values.
Remember to disconnect the battery when you’re not using the circuit to avoid draining the battery.

Upper Resistor Lower Resistor Measured Voltage Calculated Voltage

10kΩ 33kΩ 6.9V
33kΩ 10kΩ 2.1
33kΩ 100kΩ 6.8
100kΩ 33kΩ 2.2
3.3kΩ 10kΩ 6.8
10kΩ 3.3kΩ 2.2
1kΩ 3.3kΩ 6.90
3.3kΩ 1kΩ 2.1
10kΩ parallel 33kΩ, 100kΩ 6.4V
parallel 33kΩ, 100kΩ 10kΩ 2.6V
series 10kΩ, 33kΩ 100kΩ 6.3
100kΩ series 10kΩ, 33kΩ 2.7
1kΩ parallel 3.3kΩ, 10kΩ 6.4
parallel 3.3kΩ, 10kΩ 1kΩ 2.6
series 1kΩ, 3.3kΩ 10kΩ 6.3
10kΩ series 1kΩ, 3.3kΩ 2.7

34
 (Note positions
of flat sides)

+9V

1
0
k
33kΩ
470Ω

35
EXPERIMENT #23: 1.5 VOLT BATTERY TESTER
Make sure you have a strong 9V battery for this experiment. Connect the circuit, and connect the battery last since this
will turn on the circuit. And be sure to disconnect the battery when you’re not using the circuit to avoid draining the battery.
This circuit is a variation of the differential pair configuration used in Experiment 22, you will use it to test your 1.5V batteries.
Take any 1.5V battery you have (AAA, AA, A, B, C, or D cells) and hold it between the loose wires (the base of the right
transistor and ground, be sure to connect to the (+) and (-) battery terminals as shown).
If the right LED is bright and the center LED is off then your 1.5V battery is good, otherwise your 1.5V battery is weak and
should be replaced soon. Don’t throw any weak batteries away without making sure some measure good with this test
because all batteries could fail if your circuit is wired incorrectly, or if your 9V battery is weak.
This circuit uses two diodes (the left transistor is being used as a diode) to create a voltage reference. The turn-on voltage
drops for the diodes are combined to produce a constant voltage of about 1.1V at the base of the center transistor. (We
said earlier that a diode turn-on voltage is 0.7V, but it varies slightly depending on the current. In this application the drops
will be about 0.55V for each). This is compared to the 1.5V battery voltage at the base of the right transistor, in the same
manner as Experiment 21. A strong 1.5V battery will easily exceed 1.1V and only the right transistor and LED will be on,
while the center transistor and left LED will be shut off. But if the 1.5V battery is weak then the base voltages will be nearly
equal and NPN-center and LED-left will also be on. Diodes are often used to make voltage references like this in electronic
circuits.
Remember to disconnect the battery when you’re not using the circuit to avoid draining the battery.

to (+) side of battery

+9V
33kΩ
470Ω

to (-) side of battery

(left unconnected for

future experiments)

36
EXPERIMENT #24: 9 VOLT BATTERY TESTER
Make sure you have a strong 9V battery for this experiment. Connect the circuit, and connect the wire to the battery last
since this will turn on the circuit. And be sure to disconnect this battery wire when you’re not using the circuit to avoid
draining the battery. This time you will measure 9V batteries, just like the one you may be using to power your PK-101.
Take the battery you want to test and hold it between the loose wires (the 3.3kΩ resistor and ground, be sure to connect
to the (+) and (–) battery terminals as shown). If LED-right is bright and LED-left is off then your battery is good, otherwise
your battery is weak and should be replaced soon. Don’t throw any weak batteries away without making sure some measure
good with this test because all batteries could fail if your circuit is wired incorrectly.
As you’d expect, this circuit is similar to Experiments 22 and 23. From the schematic you can see that we are using resistors
to set the voltages at the bases of the transistors. The resistor values were selected so that if the two battery voltages are
equal then the right transistor’s base will have a higher voltage and only LED-right will be lit (as in Experiment 23 when we
had a good 1.5V battery). In fact, LED-left will only be on if your PK-101’s battery voltage is at least 2V higher than that of
the battery you are testing. We do this because we don’t want to reject a good battery that’s just not as good as our
reference battery. Of course, if our reference battery is weak then any battery tested will appear good.
Remember to disconnect the battery (or turn off your power supply) when you’re not using the circuit to avoid wasting energy.

to (+) side of battery

+9V

3.3kΩ
33kΩ

10kΩ
470Ω

to (-) side of battery

Now it’s time to introduce another component.....

37
EXPERIMENT #25: BATTERY IMMUNIZER
Connect the circuit according to the Wiring Diagram and schematic. Note that the collectors of the center and right
transistors are not connected although their wires cross over each other in the schematic. Connect the loose wire to (+)18
or any of the (+) holes in the same row (which are connected to the battery); the LED is bright. Now connect the loose
wire to the emitter of the left transistor (holes f15, g15, h15, i15, or j15) as shown in the schematic; the LED is just as bright.
So we made a change and nothing happened, does this seem like a dull experiment? It may seem dull but the important
idea here is that we made a big change to the circuit but nothing happened to the LED.
Take a look at the schematic. The circuit to the left of the loose wire reduces the voltage to 4.7V. You connect the loose
wire to either the 9V battery voltage or the modified 4.7V. The circuit to the right of the loose wire creates a fixed current
to the LED, which will not change even if the voltage (9V or 4.7V) to the circuit changes. So when you changed which
voltage the loose wire was connected to, you didn’t see any change in LED brightness.
In case you’re not convinced by this, let’s change the circuit to prove it. Place a second LED in series with the 3.3kΩ resistor
(reconnect the 3.3kΩ so that it is between d20 and f20, add an LED into holes e20 and f21 with the LED’s flat side in f21).
Now connect the loose wire to the two voltages as before and you should see the new LED change between bright and dark
while the old one remains bright as before.
You could use a circuit like this when you don’t want your performance to be affected as your voltage drops, perhaps due to
a battery weakening over a long period of use. So you could say your circuit is immune to (protected against) a weak
battery.

(LOOSE WIRE)

+9V
33kΩ

3.3kΩ
470Ω

DIODE

38
EXPERIMENT #26: THE ANTI-CAPACITOR
Recall that capacitors blocked direct current (DC) but passed alternating current (AC). Take a look at Experiment 8 again
and remember that it took time to light the LED because you had to charge the capacitor first; the capacitor passed the
initial current surge through to ground (the negative side of the battery) but blocked the current once it stabilized, forcing it
to go through the LED. The inductor is the counterpart to this - it blocks current surges (AC) but passes stable currents
(DC). Before explaining the inductor further, let’s demonstrate it using almost the same circuit as in Experiment 8.
We will be using an inductor that is part of the transformer, we’ll explain more about this later. Connect the circuit and press
the switch several times. The LED will blink once when the switch is pressed. Note how this is different from the capacitor,
when the LED became bright when the switch was pressed and stayed bright until the switch was released. The inductor
effects are brief, so we are using the transistor to amplify the current to the LED and make the inductor’s effects easier to
see.
Now remove the wire from hole b26 (on the transformer), connect it to hole b28, and press the switch a few more times. The
LED will not blink as brightly now, because we are using less inductance.

+9V

1kΩ

470Ω

S
TRANSFORMER
P (Primary side has 3
wires while secondary
side has only 2 wires.
The primary goes in
holes e26, e28, and e30
while the secondary
goes into f26 and f30.)

39
The Inductor: The inductor can best be described as electrical momentum (momentum is the power a moving object has).
In our water pipe analogy the inductor can be thought of as a very long hose wrapped around itself many times as shown
here:

LARGE HOSE FILLED WITH WATER

WATER PIPE
PLUNGER

Since the hose is long it contains many gallons of water. When pressure is applied to one end of the hose with a plunger
the water would not start to move instantly, it would take time to get the water moving. After a while the water would start
to move and pick up speed. (This is also similar to a long freight train, which takes more than a mile to get to full speed or
to stop). The speed would increase until limited by the friction (resistance) of the hose as normal. If you try to instantly
stop the water from moving by holding the plunger, the momentum of the water would create a large negative pressure
(suction) that would pull the plunger from your hands.
Inductors are made by coiling a wire, hence they are also called coils. From the above analogy it should be apparent that
a coiled hose will pass DC (a constant or unchanging current) with only the resistance of the hose, which in electronics will
be very low since the hose is a wire. If the pressure on the plunger is alternated (pushed then pulled) fast enough then
the water in the coil will never start moving and the AC (constantly changing current) will be blocked. Coils in electronics
follow these same principles - a coil will pass DC and block AC. Recall from above that a capacitor will block DC but pass
AC. When determining the response of a circuit to DC, inductors are treated as closed switches and capacitors are treated
as open switches. For the AC response, the values of the inductors and capacitors must be considered along with the rate
at which the current alternates (called the frequency). For DC changes to the circuit (called transients), such as closing
the switch to connect a battery to capacitor circuit, the circuit response is initially AC and then reverts to DC.
How do inductors in series and parallel add up? You saw in Experiment 26 that changing the connection point on the
inductor (to reduce the length of the coiled wire) reduced LED brightness. If you think of this in terms of the coiled hose
then it is easy - longer hoses will hold more water, hence more inductance. Two hoses in parallel will result in more water
coming out (less inductance), since the same water pressure applies to each hose. This situation should sound familiar
since inductances in series and parallel add together just like resistors do. For advanced students, the mathematical
relationship is (“L” represents inductance):

L Series = L1 + L2

L1 x L2
L Parallel =
L1 + L2

The inductance is expressed in henrys (H, named after Joseph Henry who developed electromagnetic induction at the
same time as Faraday), or more commonly in millihenrys (mH, thousandths of a henry) or microhenrys (μH, millionths of
a henry). A typical inductor and its symbol are shown below:

Symbol for INDUCTOR

INDUCTOR

Inductors and Transformers: Our water pipe analogy we have been using all this time is not entirely accurate. Electric
current is not the same as water. It is a flow of sub-atomic particles called electrons that not only have electric properties
but also magnetic properties; in the water pipe analogy you would have to think of the water as containing millions of very
small magnets. Inductance expresses the magnetic effects between electrons flowing in the wire of a coil. The number of
turns (windings), diameter, and length of the coil affect the inductance, the thickness of the wire does not. The material
inside the coil also affects the inductance; if you wrap the coil wire around an iron bar (which has strong magnetic
40
properties) then the magnetic effects are increased and the inductance is increased. This does not apply to capacitors,
which store electric charge in an electric field, not a magnetic field.

41
If you wrap two wires from different circuits around different ends of an iron bar then a current flowing through the wire from
the first circuit will magnetically create a current in the wire from the second circuit! If the second coil has twice as many
turns (more magnetic linkage) as the first coil then the second coil will have twice the voltage but half the current as the first
coil. A device like this is called a transformer. Your PK-101 includes one. It consists of a 400mH coil (called the primary)
and a 2mH coil (called the secondary) wrapped around an iron bar. Both coils have middle tap points allowing use of half
the coil’s inductance. In Experiment 26 we used the 400mH coil by itself but usually it will be used to drive a speaker, which
needs a high current with low voltage. The symbol for a transformer is shown on the right:

TRANSFORMER Symbol for TRANSFORMER

P S

The magnetic field created in an iron bar by an electric current in the coil around it can be harnessed if the bar is allowed to
rotate - it is a motor. It could be used to drive the wheels of a car, for example. The reverse is also true, if a magnet within
a coil is rotating then an electric current is created in the coil - a generator. These two statements may not seem important
to you at first but they are actually the foundation of our present society. Nearly all of the electricity used in our world is
produced at enormous generators driven by steam or water pressure. Wires are used to efficiently transport this energy
to homes and businesses where it is used. Motors convert the electricity back into mechanical form to drive machinery and
appliances.

It must be remembered that all of the inductance properties discussed here for coils and transformers only apply to AC
(alternating current). For DC, inductors act as wires with no special properties and transformers are just two separate,
unconnected wires.

TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE #2

1. A diode has very high resistance when it is -biased.

2. Diodes whose turn-on energy is so high that light is generated are known as .

3. The transistor is best thought of as a current .

4. An circuit is one that might have many resistors, diodes, capacitors and transistors on a single piece of
silicon.

5. A transistor is when the circuit resistances, not the transistor itself, are limiting the transistor’s collector
current.

6. Inductors have low resistance to current and high resistance to current.

7. Adding inductors in parallel the inductance while adding inductors in series the inductance.

8. Electrons not only have electric properties but also properties.

9. Wrapping a coil around an iron bar the inductance.

10. If the second coil in a transformer has half as many turns as the first coil, then the second coil will have
as much alternating current as the first coil.

(Answers are on page 3)

42
EXPERIMENT #27: THE MAGNETIC BRIDGE
Connect the circuit and press the switch several times. LED-left blinks when the switch is pressed and LED-right blinks
when the switch is released.
Although the LED may blink in the same manner as the last experiment, the method is quite different. There is no wire
connection across the transformer, its DC resistance is very high. When you press the switch there is a sudden surge of
current (AC) through the inductor that magnetically creates a current on the other side of the transformer, lighting LED-left.
The current from the battery quickly settles after the initial surge (becomes DC) and the magnetic induction stops because
the current is no longer changing, hence no current flows through the LED even though there is current on the battery side
of the transformer. When you release the switch the sudden drop in current through the transformer magnetically creates
a new current on the other side of the transformer, but this time in the opposite direction so LED-right lights instead of LED-
left. Again, this current is brief and the LED only blinks. The transformer has many more turns (more inductance) on the
LED side than on the battery side; this boosts the voltage to the LEDs (though it also lowers the current). If you reverse
the transformer then you won’t have enough voltage to turn on the LEDs.
You might think of a transformer as a magnetic bridge in electronics, since we use magnetism to cross a barrier that electricity
cannot cross by itself. Transformers are mainly used for isolating and buffering different circuits from each other, and you
will soon see some examples of this.

TRANSFORMER
(Primary side has 3
wires while secondary
side has only 2 wires.

+9V

(Note positions
P
of LED flat sides)

43
EXPERIMENT #28: THE LIGHTHOUSE
Connect the circuit. Notice that the transformer is being used as two coils (inductors) here. Also notice that two transformer
taps are not connected although their wires cross in the schematic. Press the switch and hold it down for a while. The
LED blinks every few seconds, like a tiny lighthouse!
Notice that the LED blinks at a constant rate. This circuit is called an oscillator. It uses feedback. Feedback is when you
adjust the input to something based on what its output is doing. The collector signal is fed back to the base through a coil
(part of the transformer) and the 100μF capacitor. If you disconnect this feedback path then the LED will be on continuously,
because the feedback is what turns the transistor on and off. The rate at which the transistor is turned on and off is called
the frequency and is controlled by the resistor, capacitor, and coil in the circuit. You can speed up the frequency (the LED
blink rate) by changing the resistor or capacitor to smaller values. Try replacing the 1MΩ resistor with the 100kΩ resistor
and see what happens.
Feedback is necessary for this circuit to work, but in some cases it can be harmful. In an auditorium or concert hall you
sometimes hear a microphone scream when it is located too close to the speaker. In this case the sound from the speaker
is feeding back into the microphone.

(1MΩ = brown-black-green-gold)

+9V

S
100μF

1MΩ

44
EXPERIMENT #29: ELECTRONIC SOUND
Now it’s time to make some noise. To do this we need a speaker. A speaker converts electrical energy into sound. It does
this by using the energy of an AC electrical signal to create mechanical vibrations. These vibrations create variations in air
pressure, called sound waves, which travel across the room. You “hear” sound when your ears feel these air pressure
variations. You need high current and low voltage to operate a speaker, so we will always use the transformer with the
speaker. (Remember that a transformer converts high-voltage/low-current to low-voltage/high-current). We create an AC
signal for the speaker using the oscillator circuit introduced in the last experiment, with minor changes. A speaker has a
schematic symbol like this:

SPEAKER Symbol for SPEAKER

Connect the circuit, notice that two transformer taps are not connected although their wires cross in the schematic. Also
notice there are 4 resistors and 4 capacitors connected to the 3.3kΩ resistor (we are using the (+) row of holes at the bottom
to make the connections easier) and 2 loose wires connected to the transformer. We are also using the disc capacitors for
the first time, refer back to page 19 to review them if you need to. Connect the transformer to one resistor and one capacitor
at a time, then press the switch and listen. All the combinations are listed below, you don’t need to try all of them but try
some and see if there is a pattern in the frequency or pitch (a term used in music) of the sound. Record a few comments
about the sound you hear.

10kΩ 33kΩ 100kΩ 1MΩ

0.005μF

0.047μF

10μF

100μF

You may start to see the same thing we told you about the blinking LED frequency - that the frequency increases when you
lower the resistance or capacitance. It also increases if you lower the inductance, but you don’t have any other inductors
you can substitute.

Oscillators are among the most important circuits in electronics and most of your remaining experiments will use an oscillator
of some form. Although the oscillator circuits used here are simple ones, some oscillators can be the most difficult circuits to
design.

45
 .005μF

SPEAKER

+9V

473
P
+
10kΩ

3
100kΩ

.
33kΩ

1MΩ

3
k

502
-

DISC CAPACITORS
473 marking = 0.047μF
502 marking = 0.005μF
100μF
10μF

LOOSE WIRES

46
EXPERIMENT #30: THE ALARM
This circuit is unusual in that you turn it on by disconnecting a wire and turn it off by connecting the wire. Connect the circuit,
including a long wire as the “trip” wire. Notice that there is no sound. Now disconnect the trip wire and you hear a sound,
an alarm.
This type of circuit is used to detect burglars or other intruders. If you use a longer trip wire, you can place it across a
doorway or window and when someone goes through the doorway or window they will trip on the wire (disconnecting it) and
the alarm will sound. This is how professional burglar alarms work, although some use beams of light across the doorway
or window instead of wire for the “trip” mechanism. The trip wire could also alert your local police station instead of turning
on the alarm here.
This circuit is the same oscillator circuit you just used except that the trip wire was added. The trip wire creates a “short
circuit” across the transistor base, so no current flows into the base and the transistor stays off. Disconnecting the trip wire
eliminates the short and the oscillator works normally.
If you like, you can adjust the loudness of the alarm by replacing the 3.3kΩ resistor with the variable resistor.

.005μF

SPEAKER

+9V

502

1MΩ

3.3KΩ

LONG “TRIP” WIRE

47
EXPERIMENT #31: MORSE CODE
The forerunner of today’s telephone system was the telegraph, which was widely used in the latter half of the 19th century.
It only had two states − on or off (that is, transmitting or not transmitting), and could not send the range of frequencies
contain in human voices or music. A code was developed to send information over long distances using this system and
a sequence of dots and dashes (short or long transmit bursts). It was named Morse Code after its inventor. It was also
used extensively in the early days of radio communications, though it isn’t in wide use today except in amateur radio (“ham”
radio). It is sometimes referred to in Hollywood movies, especially Westerns.

MORSE CODE

A ._ I .. Q
__._
Y
_.__
4 ...._

_... .___ ._. __.. .....

B J R Z 5
_._. _._ ... ._._._ _....
C K S Period 6
_.. ._.. _ __..__ __...
D L T Comma 7

. __ .._ ..__.. ___..

E M U Question 8
.._. _. ..._ .____ ____.
F N V 1 9

__. ___ .__ ..___ _____

G O W 2 0

H .... P .__. X _.._ 3 ...__

Connect the circuit, it is the same oscillator circuit that you have been using. Press the switch in long and short bursts to
make a sound pattern representing the dots and dashes shown in the table above. You can use Morse Code and this circuit
to send secret messages to friends in hearing distance without others knowing what you’re saying. If the sound bothers
others in the room then you may send Morse Code messages using flashes of light instead. Use the same circuit as you
used in Experiment 14 (The Electronic Switch) and press the switch in the manner shown here. During World War II Navy
ships sometimes communicated by flashing Morse Code messages between ships using searchlights (they did this because
radio transmissions might reveal their presence or position to the enemy).

+9V

473

100kΩ
48
 3.3kΩ

49
EXPERIMENT #32: SIREN
Connect the circuit and press the switch. It makes a siren sound.
You saw earlier how you could change the frequency (pitch) of the oscillator by changing the oscillator’s resistance. Well
this is basically the same oscillator circuit you’ve been using except that now we are electronically varying the oscillator’s
resistance. The large 1MΩ resistor and 10μf capacitor cause the base voltage (and hence base current) on transistor NPN-
left to rise slowly. As the base current slowly increases, NPN-left’s collector current also increases slowly (though it is
always much higher than the base current). NPN-left is now limiting the current just as a resistor does! Similar effects
occur after you release the switch and the 10μF slowly discharges.
If you like you can make the sound louder by adding a 1kΩ resistor in series with the base (middle wire) of NPN-right.

+9V

10kΩ 473

1MΩ
P

10μF
+
470Ω
-

50
EXPERIMENT #33: ELECTRONIC RAIN
Connect the circuit and press the switch. You hear a sound like raindrops. The variable resistor (VR) knob controls the
rain, turn it to the right to make a drizzle and turn to the left to make the rain come pouring down. If you find it inconvenient
to turn the VR knob while pressing the switch then just connect a wire across the switch.
Do you know how this circuit works? Remember that as you lower the oscillator’s resistance the frequency increases, and
obviously the VR controls the resistance. What would happen if you replaced the 10kΩ resistor with the 100kΩ? Try it.
The rain is now very slow, and it sounds more like a leaky faucet than raindrops.
You can experiment with changing other component values if you like.

+9V

10kΩ

- P
+
10μF

+
1
0
0
μ

51
EXPERIMENT #34: THE SPACE GUN
Connect the circuit and press the switch several times quickly. You hear a sound like a space gun in the movies. You can
adjust the “gun” sound using the variable resistor. If you find it inconvenient to turn the VR knob while pressing the switch
then just connect a wire across the switch.
Do you know how this circuit works? It’s basically the same as the last circuit except for the 10μF capacitor, which instantly
charges up when you press the switch and then discharges by powering the circuit for a few seconds after you release the
switch.
You can experiment with changing component values if you like.

+9V

33kΩ

P
473
10μF + 470Ω

52
EXPERIMENT #35: ELECTRONIC NOISEMAKER
Connect the circuit, connecting the battery last since it will turn the circuit on. Press the switch several times quickly. Then
turn the variable resistor knob to change the frequency of the sounds.
Do you understand what’s happening when you press the switch? You increase the oscillator capacitance by putting the
0.005μF in parallel with the 0.047μF, and this lowers the oscillator frequency.
As usual you can experiment with changing component values if you like.

.005μF

502
+9V

33kΩ

473 P
470Ω

53
EXPERIMENT #36: DRAWING RESISTORS
You need some more parts to do this experiment, so you’re going to draw them. Take a pencil (No. 2 lead is best but other
types will also work), SHARPEN IT, and fill in the 4 rectangles you see below. You will get better results if you place a
hard, flat surface between this page and the rest of this booklet while you are drawing. Press hard (but don’t rip the
paper) and fill in each several times to be sure you have a thick, even layer of pencil lead and try to avoid going out of
the boundaries.

Shapes to be drawn.
Use a SHARP No. 2 pencil, draw on a
hard surface, press hard and fill in
several times for best results.

Actually, your pencils aren’t made out of lead anymore (although we still call them “lead pencils”). The “lead” in your pencils
is really a form of carbon, the same material that resistors are made of. So the drawings you just made should act just like
the resistors in your Electronic Playground.
Connect the circuit, it’s the same basic oscillator circuit you have been using. Take the two loose wires and touch them to
opposite ends of the smallest rectangle you drew, you should hear a sound like an alarm. Note: you may get better
electrical contact between the wires and the drawings if you wet the wires with a few drops of water or saliva.
What kind of sound do you think you’ll get with the other drawings? (Hint: think about how resistors operate in series and
parallel combinations, or think in terms of the water pipes). Now touch the loose wires to opposite ends of the other
rectangles you drew (you may need to wet the wires again) and see if you were right. You can also slide one of the wires
along the drawing and see how the sound changes.
Making the drawn resistors longer should increase the resistance (resistors in series or longer water pipes) while making
them wider should reduce the resistance (resistors in parallel or larger water pipes). So all 4 rectangles should produce the
same sound, though you will see variations due to how thick and evenly you filled in the rectangles, and exactly where you
touch the wires. If your 4 shapes don’t sound similar then try improving your drawings.
Be sure to wash your hands after this test, unless you’re going on to Experiment 37 now.

54
+9V

473

P
10kΩ

3.3kΩ

LONG LOOSE WIRES

55
EXPERIMENT #37: ELECTRONIC KAZOO
Now it’s time to make your own music. This experiment will use the (almost) same circuit as the last one, so there is no
schematic or Wiring Checklist. The only difference is that you will draw a new shape. A Kazoo is a musical instrument that
is like a one-note flute, and you change the pitch (frequency) of the sound by moving a plunger up and down inside a tube.
As before, take a pencil (No. 2 lead is best but other types will also work), SHARPEN IT again, and fill in the shape you
see below. For best results, SHARPEN IT again, place a hard flat surface between this page and the rest of this
booklet while you are drawing. Press hard (but don’t rip the paper). Fill in each several times to be sure you have a
thick, even layer of pencil lead, and try to avoid going out of the boundaries. Where the shape is just a line, draw a
thick line and go over it several times. The black ink in this manual is an insulator just like paper, so you have to write
over it with your pencil.
Shape to be drawn.
Use a SHARP No. 2 pencil, draw on a
hard surface, press hard and fill in
several times for best results.

Take one loose wire and touch it to the widest part of this shape, at the upper left. Take the other loose wire and touch it
just to the right of the first wire. You should hear a high-pitch sound. How do you think the sound will change as you slide
the second wire to the right? Do it, slowly sliding all the way around to the end. The sound changes from high frequency
to low frequency, just like a kazoo. Note: you may get better electrical contact between the wires and the drawings if you
wet the wires with a few drops of water or saliva.
This circuit is nearly the same as for Experiment 29 (Electronic Sound), so you can use the notes you took there to estimate
what the resistance is at various points along your kazoo.
Be sure to wash your hands after this test, unless you’re going on to Experiment 38 now.

56
EXPERIMENT #38: ELECTRONIC KEYBOARD
This experiment will use the (almost) same circuit as the last one, so there is no schematic or Wiring Checklist. The only
difference is that you will draw a new shape.
As before, take a pencil (No. 2 lead is best but other types will also work), SHARPEN IT again, and fill in the shape you
see below. For best results, SHARPEN IT again, place a hard flat surface between this page and the rest of this
booklet while you are drawing. Press hard (but don’t rip the paper). Fill in each several times to be sure you have a
thick, even layer of pencil lead, and try to avoid going out of the boundaries. Where the shape is just a line, draw a
thick line and go over it several times. The black ink in this manual is an insulator just like paper, so you have to write
over it with your pencil.

Shape to be drawn.
Use a SHARP No. 2 pencil, draw on a
hard surface, press hard and fill in
several times for best results.

Take one loose wire and touch it to the left circle. Take the other loose wire and touch it to each of the other circles. The
various circles produce different pitches in the sound, like notes. Since the circles are like keys on a piano, you now have
an electronic keyboard! See what kind of music you can play with it. Note: you may get better electrical contact between
the wires and the drawings if you wet the wires with a few drops of water or saliva.

Now take one loose wire and touch it to the right circle (#11). Take the other wire and touch it to the circles next to the
numbers shown below, in order:

7- 5- 1-5-7-7-7
5- 5- 5
7- 7- 7
7- 5- 1-5-7-7-7-7-5-5-7-5-1

Do you recognize this nursery rhyme? It is “Mary Had a Little Lamb”.

By now you see that you can draw any shape you like and make electronic sounds with it. Experiment on your own as much
as you like. The circuit here is nearly the same as for Experiment 29 (Electronic Sound), so you can use the notes you
took there to estimate what the resistance is at various points along your keyboard or any other shapes you make.

Be sure to wash your hands after this test.

57
EXPERIMENT #39: FUN WITH WATER
Connect the circuit, initially the two loose wires are unconnected so there is no sound. Now touch each wire with fingers
from different hands, you should hear a low-frequency sound. (Wetting your fingers with water or saliva will make better
electrical contact). You are using your body as an electrical component, just as you did in Experiment 20 (Two Finger Touch
Lamp). If you like you may make the sound louder by replacing the wire between a23 and a31 with a 3.3kΩ resistor
(actually this makes the circuit the same as the last experiment), though the tone of the sound will be different.
Now take a small cup (make sure it isn’t made of metal), fill it half way with water, and place the two wires into the water but
without touching each other. The sound will now have a much higher frequency because your drinking water has lower
resistance than your body. Now, with the wires still in the water making noise, add some table salt to the water and stir to
dissolve the salt. You should hear the frequency increase as you do this.
This circuit makes a good water detector. You could use it as a warning alarm in case your house starts to flood during a
storm. Or you could use the frequency of the sound as a water saltiness indicator.
You can also make a water kazoo. Pour a small amount of water on a table or the floor and spread it with your finger into
a long line. Place one of the wires at one end and slide the other along the water. You should get an effect just like the
kazoo you drew with the pencil, though the frequency will probably be different.
You’ve seen how adding salt to water decreases its resistance. So would it surprise you to know that pure water (distilled
water) has very high resistance? The drinking water you are using here has small amounts of minerals in it, which decrease
its resistance just like salt does. Your body conducts electricity because your body is mostly water, with many things
mixed in. When salt dissolves in water it breaks up into particles called ions, which are electrically charged. The ions
make it easier for electrons to travel through the water, similar to how adding impurities makes it easier for electrons to flow
through semiconductors. Their overall effect is that the resistance of the water is reduced. If you have some distilled water
in your house, try using it with this test.

+9V

473

P
10kΩ

LONG WIRES TO WATER

58
EXPERIMENT #40: BLINKING LIGHTS
Take a look at the schematic. This circuit configuration is a type of oscillator called an astable multivibrator. What do you
think it will do? Connect the circuit, noting that the transistor bases are not connected although their wires cross in the
schematic. Initially set the variable resistor (VR) to its minimum value (turn it to the left). Press the switch and hold it down.
One LED is on while the other is off, and they change about every second. What do you think will happen as you turn the
knob on the VR? The right LED stays on longer than the left one.
In this circuit, one transistor is always on while the other is off. In this type of oscillator there is no inductor, the frequency
is controlled only by the resistors and capacitors. The 100kΩ and 10μF determine how long the left transistor is on and
the 3.3kΩ, VR, and 100μF determine how long the right transistor is on. If you want to experiment with changing part
values, go ahead. But don’t replace the capacitors with the smaller disc ones (you’ll see why in the next experiment).
Blinking lights like this are often used to attract people’s attention.

Note that battery

connection point
has changed.
470Ω
1kΩ

+9V
100kΩ
3.3kΩ

100μF

Note positions of
LED and transistor
10μF

flat sides
+

59
EXPERIMENT #41: NOISY BLINKER
This circuit is similar to the last one. Connect the circuit (noting that the transistor bases are not connected although their
wires cross in the schematic). Press the switch and hold it down. The LED lights and you hear sound from the speaker.
Turn the knob on the variable resistor and the frequency of the sound changes. Can you tell what the LED is really doing?
It is actually blinking about 500 times a second, but to your eyes it appears as a blur or just dim. (This is why we told you
not to replace the large capacitors with small ones like these in the last experiment).
You can experiment with changing component values if you like. The 470Ω resistor limits the sound loudness, replace it
with a wire to make the sound louder and replace it with a 10kΩ to make the sound softer. Swapping the two capacitors
in the circuit will make the sound frequency higher, replacing them with the 10μF or 100μF will make the frequency much
lower. You can also change some of the other resistors.

.005μF

+9V
1kΩ

100kΩ
3.3kΩ

470Ω

473

P
502

60
EXPERIMENT #42: ONE-SHOT
Do you know what this circuit will do? Connect everything, then press the switch and release it. The LED is on for a few
seconds and then goes out. What effect do you think changing the value of the variable resistor will have? Try it. The higher
the resistance the longer the LED stays on.
This circuit is a variation of the astable multivibrator and is called a one-shot multivibrator, because the LED comes on once
each time the switch is pressed. The 33kΩ, variable resistor, and 100μF control how long the LED is on. This circuit can
be used as a timer. You might use a circuit like this with your microwave oven. You press the switch to turn the oven on
and have a knob (the variable resistor) to adjust how long the oven stays on; it then shuts off automatically.

+9V
1kΩ

3.3kΩ
33kΩ

100μF

10kΩ

61
EXPERIMENT #43: ALARM WITH SHUT-OFF TIMER
Let’s demonstrate a use for the timer circuit you just built by combining it with Experiment 30, the Alarm. Connect the circuit
(noting that the transistor bases and transformer signals are not connected although their wires cross in the schematic).
Connect the alarm trip wire and then connect the battery wire to turn the circuit on. Press the switch once. Now disconnect
the trip wire to activate the alarm. The alarm stays on for a few seconds and then goes off. Re-connect the trip wire and
press the switch to reset the alarm and timer. If you only re-connect the trip wire without resetting the timer then the alarm
won’t work the next time. You could use a circuit like this where you get lots of false alarms and you want to shut off the
alarm before the battery gets weak. Automobile alarms, for example, get lots of false alarms.

+9V
100kΩ

3.3kΩ
100μF

P
473
470Ω

10kΩ
33kΩ

“TRIP” WIRE
DIODE
62
EXPERIMENT #44: THE FLIP - FLOP
This circuit is yet another variation of the basic multivibrator configuration. Connect the circuit. One LED will be on, the
other off. Take the loose wire and touch it to the base of the transistor that is on (holes b15 and a27 will do, or you can
touch the resistor leads connected to these points). That transistor turns off and the other turns on. Do this a few more
times until you see that touching the “on” transistor base “flips” the transistors and the LEDs. You might say that the
transistor turning on “flips” and the one turning off “flops”. Notice that touching the “off” transistor base has no effect.
This circuit is called formally known as the bistable switch, but is nicknamed the “flip-flop” due to the way it operates. The
name flip-flop may seem silly to you at first, but variations of this circuit form one of the basic building blocks for digital
computers. This circuit can be thought of as a memory because it only changes states when you tell it to, it “remembers”
what you told it to do even though you removed the loose wire. By combining several of these circuits you can remember
a letter or number. By combining thousands of these circuits a computer can remember a small book. A typical computer
has many thousands of flip-flops, all in integrated circuit form. The operation of this circuit is simple. If NPN-left is on then
it will have a low collector voltage. Since this collector voltage also connects to NPN-right’s base, NPN-right will be off. But
if you ground NPN-left’s base then it will turn off and its collector voltage rises, turning on NPN-right. NPN-right will stay
on until you ground its base.

+9V
3.3kΩ
1kΩ

100kΩ

33kΩ

LOOSE WIRE

63
EXPERIMENT #45: FINGER TOUCH LAMP WITH MEMORY
Instead of using the wire to flip-flop the LED you may also use your fingers as you did in Experiment 20, the Two Finger
Touch Lamp. We’ll use almost the same circuit here as in the last experiment. Remove the loose wire and replace the
right LED with a diode, because we don’t need two “lamps”. Wet two fingers and hold one on 9V (the (+) row of holes)
while touching the other to one of the transistor bases. (This is easy if you touch the metal leads of the resistors connected
to these points, or you may insert wires into the holes and touch the wires). But now you must touch the base of the “off”
transistor to make them flip-flop, not the “on” base. Do you know why? Your body has more resistance than the other
resistors in the circuit and cannot “short circuit” the transistor bases to circuit ground like the wire can. So instead we
connect the off transistor to the battery to turn it on.
But this uses two fingers and in Experiment 21 we also had a one-finger version, so can we do that here? Change your
wiring (add wires or move parts) so that metal from 9V is close to metal from the transistor bases. Wet a large area of one
of your fingers and touch it to 9V and a transistor base at the same time. Now we have a one-finger touch lamp with
memory!

+9V 3.3kΩ
1kΩ

100kΩ

33kΩ

LOOSE WIRE

64
EXPERIMENT #46: THIS OR THAT
Now that you’re familiar with the flip-flop, let’s introduce some more digital circuits. Digital circuits are circuits that have only
two states, such as high-voltage/low-voltage, on/off, yes/no, and true/false. Connect the circuit. Take a look at the
schematic, it is very simple. Wires X and Y are considered to be digital inputs, so connect them to either the (+) row of
holes (9V, or HIGH) or leave them unconnected (this is the same as connecting them to 0V, or LOW). Test the four
combinations of X and Y to determine the state of the LED (ON or OFF), filling in the table below:

X Y LED
LOW/UNCONNECTED LOW/UNCONNECTED
LOW/UNCONNECTED HIGH/9V
HIGH/9V LOW/UNCONNECTED
HIGH/9V HIGH/9V

This type of table is called a truth table. From it, you can see that if X or Y is HIGH then the LED will be ON. Hence, this
configuration is called an OR gate. X and Y might represent two switches to turn on a light in your house. Or they might
represent sensors at a railroad crossing; if either senses a train coming they start the ding-ding sound and lower the gate.
You could also have more than two inputs, by adding more parts to your circuit and more columns to the truth table.

+9V
3.3kΩ

10kΩ 33kΩ

WIRE X WIRE Y

65
EXPERIMENT #47: NEITHER THIS NOR THAT
Now let’s add on to the previous circuit. Everything from Experiment 46 remains X Y LED-right
in place, just add the new parts and wires shown in the schematic and Wiring LOW LOW
Diagram. Test the four combinations of X and Y as before to determine the state LOW HIGH
of LED-right (ON or OFF), filling in the table at right: HIGH LOW
HIGH HIGH

This table shows that if neither X nor Y is HIGH then LED-right is ON. Hence, this configuration is called a NOR gate. X
and Y might represent your burglar alarm and flood detector, so if neither X nor Y is on then your “all clear” light goes on.
You may also think of this as adding a NOT gate to an OR gate to produce a NOR gate. A NOT gate is just the opposite
of its input:
Input NOT
LOW HIGH
HIGH LOW

Gates such as OR, NOR, and NOT form some of the basic building blocks for computers. The combinations of resistors
and transistors shown here to build them are a form of Resistor-Transistor-Logic, which was used extensively in early
generations of computers and which led to the development of many of today’s logic families. These basic gates are so
commonly used that they have their own symbols:

OR Gate NOR Gate NOT Gate

+9V
3.3kΩ

1kΩ

10kΩ 33kΩ

100kΩ

WIRE X WIRE Y
66
EXPERIMENT #48: THIS AND THAT
Take a look at the schematic. Can you guess what kind of digital gate this is? We’ll use almost the same circuit here as
in the last experiment. Remove the wire between holes a16 and a17, and the one between holes a19 and (–)19. Add a
wire between holes a16 and a19. Also, remove the 100kΩ resistor, we’ll re-connect it later.

Test the four combinations of X and Y to determine the truth table:

X Y LED-left
LOW LOW
LOW HIGH
HIGH LOW
HIGH HIGH

From it, you can see that if X and Y are HIGH then LED-left will be ON. Hence, this configuration is called an AND gate.
X and Y might represent two switches to turn on the same light in your house, the room switch and the master switch in
the electrical box. As with the gates we showed you earlier, you could have more than two inputs by just adding more parts
to the circuit.

Now place the 100kΩ back into the circuit (between holes b24 and b27 as before), and look at LED-right. Since you are
just adding a NOT gate as you did in the last experiment you probably know what the new truth table will look like:

X Y LED-right
LOW LOW
LOW HIGH
HIGH LOW
HIGH HIGH

It is a NAND gate, a combination of AND and NOT. X and Y might represent different trip wires for your burglar alarm (if
either is tripped then that input goes LOW and the alarm sounds). AND and NAND have the schematic symbols shown
below:

AND Gate NAND Gate

Combinations of AND and OR gates are used to add and multiply numbers together in computers. The additional use of
NOT, NOR, and NAND gates allows a computer to represent any input/output pattern you can think of. By combining these
gates with the memory and timing control that flip-flops provide, today’s computers are created.

67
EXPERIMENT #49: AUDIO AND, NAND
Using the LEDs for these truth tables probably seems a little boring. So let’s use an audio circuit to make a sound instead
of turning on the LED. Connect the wires according to the schematic and Wiring Diagram. Can you tell which digital gate
this circuit represents? Construct the truth table to find out.
It is the NAND gate. If you use longer wires for X and Y and leave them connected HIGH then you have an alarm with two
separate trip wires.
You can easily modify the circuit to be an AND gate. Remove the 3.3kΩ resistor, the 10μF capacitor, and wires e17-to-f17,
g17-to-c38, and a42-to-(–)42. Add wires a42-to-e17 and c38-to-(+)30. This audio circuit can also be used with the OR
and NOR gates simply by rewiring NPN-left, NPN-center, and the 10kΩ, 33kΩ resistors.

+9V
3.3kΩ

10μF

P
473

10kΩ 33kΩ
100kΩ

WIRE X WIRE Y

68
EXPERIMENT #50: LOGIC COMBINATION
This last circuit is a combination of some of the other digital gates, and has 3 inputs. See if you can fill in the truth table
by just looking at the schematic. Then connect the circuit, test all eight input combinations, and see if you were right.

LED LED
X Y Z Predicted Measured
LOW LOW LOW
LOW LOW HIGH
LOW HIGH LOW
LOW HIGH HIGH
HIGH LOW LOW
HIGH LOW HIGH
HIGH HIGH LOW
HIGH HIGH HIGH

What could this circuit be used for? It might be used to

provide power for your telephones. Z would be controlled
by the phone company and would be high if you paid your
phone bill. X and Y could be different phones in your house
and would be high when you pick up the phone. The
transistor emitters would then provide voltage to the rest
of the telephone circuit.

Congratulations! You’ve finished all the experiments and can now show your friends how much you know about electronics!
You are now ready to move on to the next level of Elenco Electronics’ Learning Series. You can also learn how to solder
using Elenco’s line of quality soldering kits! Check out our website (http://www.elenco.com) or see the back cover of this
booklet for how to contact us to order these products.

+9V
3
.
3

100kΩ
k

10kΩ 33kΩ

WIRE X
WIRE Y
WIRE Z
67
TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE #3
1. Adjusting the input to something based on what its output is doing is an example of .

2. A speaker converts electrical energy into variations, called sound waves.

3. An oscillator’s frequency when you add resistance or capacitance.

4. A NOR gate followed by a NOT gate is the same as an gate.

5. An AND gate followed by a NOT gate is the same as a gate.

(Answers are on page 3)

TROUBLESHOOTING GUIDE
• Check your wiring against the Wiring Diagram and the schematic, very carefully. Be sure all your wires and components
are securely in place in the correct hole and not loose. Make sure the metal in the wires and components is not contacting
any other metal, since this will create “short circuits”. Nearly all problems are due to wiring errors.

• Remember that the battery and electrolytic capacitors have “+” and “–” terminal markings, and be sure to correctly
position the transistors, LEDs, diode, and transformer as per the guides.

• Be sure you have a good 9V battery. If not sure then try a new battery.

• Be sure you understand how to read the resistor color code, so that you use the right value parts.

• Be sure you understand which breadboard holes are connected to which.

Contact ELENCO® (our address/phone/website is on the back of this booklet) if you further assistance. DO NOT contact
your place of purchase as they will not be able to help you.

68
DEFINITION OF TERMS
(Most of these are introduced and explained during the experiments.)

AC.................................... Common abbreviation for alternating current.

Alternating Current...... A current that is constantly changing.
Amp................................. Shortened name for ampere.
Ampere (A).................... The unit of measure for electric current. Commonly shortened to amp.
Amplitude....................... Strength or level of something.
Analogy.......................... A similarity in some ways.
AND Gate....................... A type of digital circuit which gives a HIGH output only if all of its inputs are HIGH.
Astable Multivibrator... A type of transistor configuration in which only one transistor is on at a time.
Atom................................ The smallest particle of a chemical element, made up of electrons, protons, etc..
Audio............................... Electrical energy representing voice or music.
Base................................ The controlling input of an NPN bipolar junction transistor.
Battery............................ A device which uses a chemical reaction to create an electric charge across a material.
Bias................................. The state of the DC voltages across a diode or transistor.
Bipolar Junction
Transistor (BJT)............ A widely used type of transistor.
Bistable Switch............. A type of transistor configuration, also known as the flip-flop.
BJT.................................. Common abbreviation for Bipolar Junction Transistor.
Capacitance................... The ability to store electric charge.
Capacitor........................ An electrical component that can store electrical pressure (voltage) for periods of time.
Carbon............................ A chemical element used to make resistors.
Clockwise...................... In the direction in which the hands of a clock rotate.
Coil.................................. When something is wound in a spiral. In electronics this describes inductors, which are
coiled wires.
Collector......................... The controlled input of an NPN bipolar junction transistor.
Color Code..................... A method for marking resistors using colored bands.
Conductor...................... A material that has low electrical resistance.
Counter-Clockwise....... Opposite the direction in which the hands of a clock rotate.
Current........................... A measure of how fast electrons are flowing in a wire or how fast water is flowing in a pipe.
Darlington...................... A transistor configuration which has high current gain and input resistance.
DC.................................... Common abbreviation for direct current.
Decode........................... To recover a message.
Detector......................... A device or circuit which finds something.
Diaphragm..................... A flexible wall.
Differential Pair............. A type of transistor configuration.
Digital Circuit................ A wide range of circuits in which all inputs and outputs have only two states, such as
high/low.
Diode.............................. An electronic device that allows current to flow in only one direction.
Direct Current............... A current that is constant and not changing.
Disc Capacitor.............. A type of capacitor that has low capacitance and is used mostly in high frequency circuits.
Electric Field................. The region of electric attraction or repulsion around a constant voltage. This is usually
associated with the dielectric in a capacitor.
Electricity....................... A flow of electrons between atoms due to an electrical charge across the material.
Electrolytic Capacitor.. A type of capacitor that has high capacitance and is used mostly in low frequency circuits.
It has polarity markings.
Electron.......................... A sub-atomic particle that has an electrical charge.
69
Electronics..................... The science of electricity and its applications.
Emitter............................ The output of an NPN bipolar junction transistor.
Encode........................... To put a message into a format which is easier to transmit.
Farad, (F)....................... The unit of measure for capacitance.
Feedback....................... To adjust the input to something based on what its output is doing.
Flip-Flop......................... A type of transistor configuration is which the output changes every time it receives an
input pulse.
Forward-Biased............ The state of a diode when current is flowing through it.
Frequency...................... The rate at which something repeats.
Friction........................... The rubbing of one object against another. It generates heat.
Gallium Arsenide.......... A chemical element that is used as a semiconductor.
Generator....................... A device which uses steam or water pressure to move a magnet near a wire, creating an
electric current in the wire.
Germanium.................... A chemical element that is used as a semiconductor.
Ground............................ A common term for the 0V or “–” side of a battery or generator.
Henry (H)........................ The unit of measure for Inductance.
Inductance..................... The ability of a wire to create an induced voltage when the current varies, due to magnetic
effects.
Inductor.......................... A component that opposes changes in electrical current.
Insulator......................... A material that has high electrical resistance.
Integrated Circuit......... A type of circuit in which transistors, diodes, resistors, and capacitors are all constructed
on a semiconductor base.
Kilo- (K).......................... A prefix used in the metric system. It means a thousand of something.
LED.................................. Common abbreviation for light emitting diode.
Leads.............................. The wires sticking out of an electronic component, used to connect it to the circuit.
Light Emitting Diode.... A diode made from gallium arsenide that has a turn-on energy so high that light is
generated when current flows through it.
Magnetic Field.............. The region of magnetic attraction or repulsion around a magnet or an AC current. This is
usually associated with an inductor or transformer.
Magnetism..................... A force of attraction between certain metals. Electric currents also have magnetic
properties.
Meg- (M)......................... A prefix used in the metric system. It means a million of something.
Micro- (μ)....................... A prefix used in the metric system. It means a millionth (0.000,001) of something.
Milli- (m)......................... A prefix used in the metric system. It means a thousandth (0.001) of something.
Momentum..................... The power of a moving object.
Morse Code................... A code used to send messages with long or short transmit bursts.
NAND Gate..................... A type of digital circuit which gives a HIGH output if some of its inputs are LOW.
NOR Gate....................... A type of digital circuit which gives a HIGH output if none of its inputs are HIGH.
NOT Gate........................ A type of digital circuit whose output is opposite its input.
NPN................................. Negative-Positive-Negative, a type of transistor construction.
Ohm’s Law..................... The relationship between voltage, current, and resistance.
Ohm, (Ω)......................... The unit of measure for resistance.
OR Gate.......................... A type of digital circuit which gives a HIGH output if any of its inputs are HIGH.
Oscillator........................ A circuit that uses feedback to generate an AC output.
Parallel........................... When several electrical components are connected between the same points in the circuit.
Pico- (p)......................... A prefix used in the metric system. It means a millionth of a millionth (0.000,000,000,001) of
something.
Pitch................................ The musical term for frequency.

70
Primary........................... The larger of the two coils in a transformer.
Printed Circuit Board... A board used for mounting electrical components. Components are connected using metal
traces “printed” on the board instead of wires.
Receiver......................... The device which is receiving a message (usually with radio).
Resistance..................... The electrical friction between an electric current and the material it is flowing through; the
loss of energy from electrons as they move between atoms of the material.
Resistor.......................... Components used to control the flow of electricity in a circuit. They are made of carbon.
Resistor-Transistor-
Logic (RTL).................... A type of circuit arrangement used to construct digital gates.
Reverse-Biased............. When there is a voltage in the direction of high-resistance across a diode.
Saturation...................... The state of a transistor when the circuit resistances, not the transistor itself, are limiting
the current.
Schematic...................... A drawing of an electrical circuit that uses symbols for all the components.
Secondary...................... The smaller of the two coils in a transformer.
Semiconductor.............. A material that has more resistance than conductors but less than insulators. It is used to
construct diodes, transistors, and integrated circuits.
Series.............................. When electrical components are connected one after the other.
Short Circuit.................. When wires from different parts of a circuit (or different circuits) connect accidentally.
Silicon............................. The chemical element most commonly used as a semiconductor.
Solder............................. A tin-lead metal that becomes a liquid when heated to above 360 degrees. In addition to
having low resistance like other metals, solder also provides a strong mounting that can
withstand shocks.
Speaker.......................... A device which converts electrical energy into sound.
Switch............................. A device to connect (“closed” or “on”) or disconnect (“open” or “off”) wires in an electric
circuit.
Transformer................... A device which uses two coils to change the AC voltage and current (increasing one while
decreasing the other).
Transient........................ Temporary. Used to describe DC changes to circuits.
Transistor....................... An electronic device that uses a small amount of current to control a large amount of cur
rent.
Transmitter.................... The device which is sending a message (usually with radio).
Truth Table.................... A table which lists all the possible combinations of inputs and outputs for a digital circuit.
Tungsten........................ A highly resistive material used in light bulbs.
Variable Resistor.......... A resistor with an additional arm contact that can move along the resistive material and tap
off the desired resistance.
Voltage........................... A measure of how strong an electric charge across a material is.
Voltage Divider............. A resistor configuration to create a lower voltage.
Volts (V).......................... The unit of measure for voltage.

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150+ Electronics Projects for
Engineering Students (TO BE DONE
ON FUTURE)
Electronics Projects – The projects which are having more demand in
engineering level and especially very useful for ECE and EEE students. We are
all well known that we cannot imagine our life without electricity even for
single day as it became a part in our life. So, it is very important and beneficial
to us if we learn some basic things about electronics.

This electronics concept deals with various small and large circuits which may
include concepts like diodes, batteries, resistors, integrated circuits, etc. These
concepts are very interesting to learn also. As day by day its importance
growing at rapid rate.

Related Post: Latest Electronics Projects for Engineering Students

72
73
We found that many people are showing interest to learn electronics concepts
by joining in various electronics branches like ECE, EEE, etc. in engineering.
They can get good knowledge on electronics only after doing some major
projects or Mini Projects on Electronics in their engineering. For those
people, the below list of electronics projects ideas would be more helpful.

We have collected best electronics projects list from various resources and
listed them below in a tabular form. You may get best idea by reading all these
project ideas and if you are interested, you may give few suggestions,
comments, new electronics projects ideas also.

Electronics Projects for Engineering Students:

• Water Level Controller using 8051 Microcontroller: Here we are

designing the circuit which is used to detect and control the water level
automatically in overhead tank using 8051 microcontroller. It is used in
industries to control the liquid level automatically.
• Car Parking Guard Circuit Using Infrared Sensor: This circuit helps
the person in the driving seat in such a way that it gives an alarm if
there is any obstacle or a wall while parking or while driving in reverse.
It is very useful in our real life.
• Cell Phone Detector: This is a simple circuit which helps to detect the
presence of an activated cell phone by detecting the signals in the
frequency range of 0.9 to 3GHz. It helps in mobile phones tracking
which are used for spying.

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• Bidirectional Visitor Counter using 8051: This Bidrectional Visitor
Counter Circuit is helpful to count the number of persons entering or
leaving a room and to display it on a screen.
• Password based Circuit Breaker: This password based circuit breaker
project is built using 8051 controller and is used to switch off the
power supply to the line by entering a password.
• Temperature Controlled DC Fan using Microcontroller: The main
principle of the circuit is to switch on the fan connected to DC motor
when the temperature is greater than a threshold value.This can be
used in home applications and in cpu to reduce heat.
• Auto Intensity Control of Street Lights: This is a simple circuit that
automatically controls the intensity of street lights which is designed
using microcontroller and LEDs.
• Line Following Robotic Circuit using ATMega8 Microcontroller:
This line follower robot is a basic robot that follows a specific path
indicated by a line having some particular width.
• Digital Tachometer using 8051 Microcontroller: Here we designed a
simple non contact tachometer using microcontroller which can
measure speed with an accuracy of 1 rev/sec.
• 5 Channel IR Remote Control System using Microcontroller: This
article is aimed to design and demonstrate a simple 5 channel remote
control system to drive five loads. This circuit works on the principle of
IR communication.
• Bipolar LED Driver Circuit: This bipolar LED driver circuit is very useful
at the places where flashing of light is required, as in beacon flashing.
This circuit can be mainly used for indication purposes.

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• Celsius Scale Thermometer using AT89C51: This Celsius Scale
Thermometer circuit is designed using at89c51 and lm35. This circuit
works on analog to digital conversion principle. It can be used at
homes, mobile places like cars to keep a track of the temperature.
• Density Based Traffic Signal System using Microcontroller: In this
system, we use IR sensors to measure the traffic density. We have to
arrange one IR sensor for each road; these sensors always sense the
traffic on that particular road. All these sensors are interfaced to the
microcontroller. Based on these sensors, controller detects the traffic
and controls the traffic system.
• Automatic Washroom Light Switch: This is a simple but very useful
circuit in our real life which helps to automatically turn On the lights
when a person enters the washroom and it automatically turns Off the
lights when he leaves it.
• Automatic Door Bell With Object Detection: This automatic doorbell
with object detection circuit helps to sense the presence of a person or
an object automatically and rings the doorbell.
• Water Level Indicator: This Water Level Indicator project employs a
simple mechanism which helps to detect and indicate the water level in
an overhead tank or any other water container. It can be used in
Hotels, Factories, Homes Apartments, Commercial Complexes,
Drainage, etc.
• Password Based Door Lock System using 8051 Microcontroller: This
system demonstrates a password based door lock system wherein
once the correct code or password is entered, the door is opened and
the concerned person is allowed access to the secured area. After

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 some time, the door would be closed. Read this post completely to get
more information.
• Boolean Algebra Calculator: This Boolean algebra calculator is an
interesting project which is more useful in our real life by working as a
portable calculator to simplify the Boolean expression on the fly. In our
circuit, we use Boolean algebra simplification methods like the Quine-
McCluskey algorithm to simplify the Boolean expression and display
the output on the display.
• Auto Night Lamp using High Power LED: This Auto Night Lamp is an
interesting circuit which helps to turn ON the LED lights interfaced to it
at night time and it turns OFF the lights automatically when it is day.
• Mobile Jammer Circuit: This circuit is used to block the signals of cell
phones with in the range of 100 meters. This circuit can be used in TV
transmission and also for remote controlled toys or play things.
• Unbiased Digital Dice with LEDs: This is a circuit diagram of digital
dice which is nearly unbiased. By using this circuit, there is no chance
to cheat as the circuit operates at such a high speed that the circuit is
almost imperceptible to the human eye.
• Metal Detector Circuit: This is a simple metal detector circuit which is
very useful for checking the person in shopping malls, hotels, cinema
halls to ensure that person is not carrying any explosive metals or
illegal things like guns, bombs etc.
• Panic Alarm: This panic alarm circuit helps us to intimate others
regarding our bad situation without any delay. It is more useful when
an intruder entering our house or bad health status at which we are
unable to intimate to the people around us.

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• Wire Loop Breaking Alarm: This circuit works as a continuity tester
device which tests the continuity of the wire at hand. It is an
indispensable tool to check broken wires and undesired shorting of
wires.
• Rain Alarm Circuit: Rain water detector will detect the rain and make
an alert; rain water detector is used in the irrigation field, home
automation, communication, automobiles etc. Here is the simple and
reliable circuit of rain water detector which can be constructed at low
cost.
• Automatic Plant Irrigation System: This project circuit is more useful
in watering plants automatically without any human interference. It is
more useful when the owner is not present in the home for few days.
• Lead Acid Battery Charger Circuit: Lead Battery is a rechargeable
battery and is more useful in our real life as it will dissipate very little
energy, it has very low energy to weight ratio, it can deliver high
current, can work for long time with high efficiency and is very low cost.
• Motion Detector Circuit: The motion detector is not only used as
intruder alarm but also used in many applications like home
automation system, energy efficiency system, etc. The motion detector
will detect the motion of the people or objects and give the appropriate
output according to the circuit.
• Digital Voltmeter Circuit using ICL7107: Here we designed a analog
to digital converter working as a digital voltmeter using a low power
three and half digit A/D converter ICL7107 having internal 7 segment
decoders, display drivers, a reference and a clock.

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• 8 Channel Quiz Buzzer Circuit using Microcontroller: We built the
circuit using a microcontroller which scans the input from push
buttons and displays the corresponding number on a display device.
• 2 Digit Up Down Counter: The main principle of this circuit is to
increment the values on seven segment displays by pressing the
button. This circuit can be mainly used in scoreboards.
• Bike Turning Signal Circuit: The objective of this circuit is to indicate
left or right turn for bike/vehicle. Two identical circuits are needed, one
is for left and the other is for right. The main heart of this circuit is 555
timer.
• Automatic Changeover Switch: This is a simple automatic
changeover circuit in which DC load like a series of LEDs are driven
either by a battery or an AC-DC power supply.
• UP/DOWN Fading LED Lights: This is a simple up/down fading LED
lights circuit which can be used in shopping malls, home and security
applications.”/>
• Police Lights using 555 Timer: This circuit simulates the police car
lights by alternate flashing. This circuit flashes red LEDs for three times
and blue LEDÂ’s for three times. This flashing action performs
continuously. This circuit uses 555 timer and a decade counter.
• PWM based DC Motor Speed Control using Microcontroller: Here is
a simple DC Motor speed control circuit designed using AVR
Microcontroller. Here we use a technique called PWM (pulse width
modulation) to control the speed of DC motor.
• Ding Dong Sound Generator Circuit: This is ding dong sound
generator circuit is designed using 555 timer IC in astable mode. It can

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 be used as doorbell. With some modifications, it can be used to
produce different sounds. Read this post for complete details.
• PIR Sensor Based Security Alarm: This article explains about PIR
based security system in which PIR sensor is used instead of
transmitter or receiver. This saves the power consumption and is low
cost. This circuit can be used in the museums to protect the valuable
things.
• TV Remote Control Jammer: This proposed TV jammer circuit
confuses the infrared receiver in a TV by producing the constant signal
that interferes the remote control signal. If you switch on the circuit
once, the TV will not receive any command from the remote. This
allows you to watch your own program without anyone changing the
channel or volume.
• Super Sensitive Intruder Alarm: This circuit is designed to alert the
user when an intruder enters into the home. If there is any obstacle in
front of IR sensor, it generates an interrupt signal. This interrupt signal
is given to the speaker to alert the user.
• Remote Control Circuit through RF without microcontroller: Here
we have used RF434 MHz modules to make wireless remote. Using this
remote, we can control the appliances within the range of 100 meters.
It is used for remote control applications like burglar alarm, car door
alarm, calling bell, security systems, etc.
• High and Low Voltage Cutoff with Delay and Alarm: This high and
low voltage cutoff with delay alarm circuit is an advanced automatic
voltage stabilizer circuit and is used to protect our home appliances. It’s
cost is less as compared to voltage stabilizers.

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• Solar Battery Charger Circuit: Here is the simple circuit to charge 6V,
4.5Ah rechargeable Lead-acid battery from the solar panel. This solar
charger has current and voltage regulation and also has over voltage
cut off facilities. This circuit may also be used to charge any battery at
constant voltage because output voltage is adjustable.
• Car Battery Charger Circuit: This article aims to describe the principle
of operation, design and working of a simple car battery charger from
AC mains supply and a feedback control section to control the battery
charging.
• Simple 100W Inverter Circuit: This is a small Inverter circuit which
converts the direct current (DC) to alternating current (AC).
• Construction of Basic Logic Gates using NOR Gate: Here, we have
shown how to construct the basic logic gates – NOT, AND, OR gates
using NOR Gate which is one of the universal gates.
• Police Siren Circuit using NE555 Timer: This circuit produces a sound
similar to the police siren. You may also get detailed information about
pin diagram and internal block diagram of NE555 timer.
• 100W MOSFET Power Amplifier Circuit: A power amplifier circuit
using MOSFET has been designed to produce 100W output to drive a
load of about 8 Ohms.
• Intelligent Unambiguous Night Lamp Switcher: This is the circuit
diagram of unambiguous night lamp switch, which turns ON our
domestic lights automatically when it is dark, without human
interference. It also avoids repeated frequent switching of the devices
which is usually ignored in most similar circuits but may have a
detrimental effect on our operating devices.

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• Automatic Railway Gate Controller with High Speed Alerting
System: The main aim of this project is to operate and control the
unmanned railway gate in the proper manner in order to avoid the
accidents in the unmanned railway crossing.
• LED Flasher Circuit: LED Flasher is a simple circuit which will blink the
LEDs in regular time period. This circuit can be used for decoration
purpose or can be used for a signaling purpose and many more.
• Dancing Bi-Color LED Lights Circuit: Generally we use small voltage
bulbs in the dancing bulbs. This circuit is mainly used in the occasions,
decoration articles or in visual indication sign boards etc. In this
project, we use bi-color LEDs for sequential running light.
• Thermistor Temperature Sensing Alarm: This circuit is a
temperature sensing as well as alarm circuit. The circuit raises an alarm
whenever the temperature crosses a certain limit.
• Pull Pin Security Alarm System: This circuit helps us to get alerted
when anybody picks our pockets or bags. The circuit is very helpful to
prevent our goods getting pick pocketed.
• Auto Turnoff Soldering Iron Circuit: This circuit helps the soldering
iron to turn off automatically when it detects overheating and thereby
avoids it from getting damaged.
• Remote Operated Alarm Circuit: This circuit rings an alarm when you
point a TV remote at it and press on any button. This can be used as a
calling bell to call your assistant.
• Battery Charger Circuit Using SCR: Here is the circuit diagram of
battery charger circuit using Silicon Controlled Rectifier. SCR can be
used in half wave rectifier, full wave rectifier, inverter circuits, power
control circuits, etc.

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• FM Bugger Circuit: Here is small circuit with which you can listen to
another people conversation from long distance using the normal FM
radio set. This FM bugger circuit is kept in room where you want listen
the conversation. You can listen to this conversation using the normal
FM radio set.
• Battery Powered Portable Light: This circuit is more helpful in
handling unexpected and undesired darkness in our homes or offices.
It provides considerable amount of brightness required to do our daily
tasks.
• IR Remote Control Switch: By using this circuit, we can control any
house hold appliance with the help of remote. In this project, there are
two parts – one is in transmitting section and the other is in
receiving section. Receiving section will be in a stable position which is
connected to any load and transmitter will act as a normal remote.
• Cell Phone Controlled Robotic Vehicle: This is simple DTMF based
Cellphone controlled robotic vehicle circuit without using
microcontroller. It can be used in industries and surveillance systems.
• Human Detection Robot using 8051 Microcontroller: The main
principle of the circuit is to detect the human using human detection
sensor. The wireless robot is operated manually using PC. The wireless
technology used here is Radio Frequency technology. The data is
transmitted to receiver through RF.
• SMS Controlled Robot: GSM controlled robot or SMS controlled robot
is a wireless robot which performs the necessary actions by receiving a
set of instructions in the form a Short Message Service (SMS).
• Remote Password Operated Electronic Home Appliances: This
circuit explains you how to control the electrical appliances using an

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 Android device. Here, Bluetooth module is interfaced to 8051
microcontroller. This Bluetooth receives the commands from the
Android application device using wireless communication.
• Metal Detector Robotic Vehicle: Land mines buried under the ground
causes threat to the lives and affect the economy of the nation.
Detection and removing of these mines manually is a dangerous task.
So, we use a metal detection robot which works on RF technology.
• Water Level Alarm Using 555 Timer: This is a simple and low cost
hardware project using a 555 timer circuit. The aim of this project is to
design a water level detecting alarm with simple and low cost hardware
without compromising on the performance of the device.
• Speed Control of DC Motor Using Pulse Width Modulation: This
pulse width modulation technique is the more efficient way to proceed
to manage the speed of our DC motor manually.
• Sun Tracking Solar Panel: This article describes about circuit that
rotates solar panel. This Sun tracking solar panel consists of two LDRs,
solar panel, stepper motor and ATMEGA8 Microcontroller.
• Touch ON and OFF Switch Circuit: This Touch ON/OFF Switch circuit is
more useful in such a way that we can automatically ON or OFF any
switch by touching a device without moving from our place.
• USB Mobile Charger Circuit: This circuit is useful in charging the
mobiles through USB outlet present in our laptops and PCs. For the
charging of your mobile phone, this circuit provides you a regulated
voltage of 4.7 volts.
• Security Alarm Circuit: This circuit helps you to guard your precious
documents as well as jewellery from intruders or theft. All you need is
to just place this circuit in front of the locker or below the mat so when

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 any unknown person come and walk over the switch, the circuit will
trigger and sound of alarm comes.
• Mosquito Repellent Circuit: Here is the simple electronic mosquito
repellent circuit which can produce ultrasound in the frequency range
of 20-38 kHz, which can scare away mosquitoes.
• Simple FM Radio Jammer Circuit: This is a Jammer circuit which is
used to block the signals. Jammer circuit produces the high frequency
signal which will confuse the receiver of particular system from
receiving the signal, even though circuit is working properly, user of the
system feels that circuit is not working properly.
• Automatic Street Light Controller Circuit Using Relays and LDR:
This circuit helps in automatically turn ON/OFF the street lights using
relays and LDR. The whole circuit is based on IC CA3140.
• Battery Charger Circuit: This battery charger circuit works on the
principle of controlling switching of an SCR based on charging and
discharging of battery.
• PWM LED Dimmer Using NE555: The Pulse Width Modulation (PWM)
plays an important role in controlling the circuits. We use this PWM to
dim the intensity of light of the LED.
• Simple Fire Alarm Circuits: Here are two simple fire alarm circuits
which are used to detect the fire automatically and inform to the
people immediately with an alarm.
• Wireless Switch Circuit using CD4027: This is a simple circuit which
needs no physical contact with the appliance. In this circuit, all you
need is to pass your hand above LDR to ON or OFF the switch.

85
• Electronic Letter Box: This is a simple circuit which helps in finding
out any letter dropped in our box by stopping the LED lights attached
in this circuit.
• Clap Switch Circuit for Devices: This is another simple but very useful
circuit which helps to ON or OFF a device without moving from you
place and also helps to control the speed of the electric devices like
fan, etc.
• 12v DC to 220v AC Converter Circuit: Here is a simple voltage driven
inverter circuit which converts 12v DC signal to single phase 220v AC
using power transistors as switching device.
• FM Transmitter Circuit: Here we built a wireless FM transmitter which
uses RF communication to transmit the medium or low power FM
signal. The maximum range of transmission is around 2 km.
• 100w Subwoofer Amplifier Circuit: Here is the circuit diagram and
working of 100w subwoofer amplifier circuit. A Subwoofer is a
loudspeaker which produces audio signals of low frequencies.
• DTMF Based Home Automation System Circuit: This is a simple and
very useful circuit in our real life named DTMF controlled home
appliances system. It helps to control the home appliances using DTMF
technology.
• Street Lights that Glow on Detecting Vehicle Movement: This article
describes about the circuit that switches the street lights on detecting
vehicle movement and remains off after fixed time. This system
controls the street lights using light dependent resistor and PIR sensor.
• 555 Timer IC Testing Circuit: This is a simple 555 IC testing-circuit
which tests your entire 555 timer IC. So before using your IC, you may
check whether your IC is good or bad by using this circuit.

86
• Curtain Opener/Closer Circuit: This circuit will open and close the
curtain of your home and office just by pushing a switch. So with the
help of this unique circuit, we do not need to move from one place to
open and close the curtain.
• Variable Power Supply and Charger: This is a circuit which helps to
check or test your electronic projects and also to charge the Mobile
phone batteries. This circuit can also work as an emergency light.
• LED Running Lights Circuit: This is a simple circuit consists of 9 LED
lights in knight rider scanner mode. It will present an eye catching look
as the LED initially travel in the one way and then travel reverse in the
similar direction.
• Luggage Security Alarm: This is a simple alarm circuit which helps in
ringing a warning alarm when someone tries to steal the luggage.
• 9 Way Clap Switch Circuit: This circuit helps you to manage your
appliances in your home by just clap without moving from your bed.
• 12V to 24V DC Converter Circuit: This is another kind of circuit which
helps to convert 12V DC current to 24V DC current.
• 230V LED Driver: Here we design a simple circuit driving a series of
LED from 230V AC. This is accomplished using a capacitor based power
supply. This is a low cost and efficient circuit and can be used at
homes.
• 3X3X3 LED Cube: This is a simple a simple LED cube circuit designed
without using microcontroller. It is based on the principle of driving
LEDs using the clock pulses.
• Monostable Multivibrator Circuit Operation: Here is the monostable
multivibrator circuit diagram and working. Multivibrator is an electronic

87
 circuit which will work as two stage amplifier operating in both stable
and astable mode.
• Interfacing16X2 LCD with PIC Microcontroller: This is a circuit which
helps in interfacing 16×2 LCD to PIC18F4550 microcontroller which
is of family PIC18F.
• 555 Timer in Monostable Multivibrator Mode: The circuit is triggered
by a falling edge, that is, by a sudden transition from HIGH to LOW. The
trigger pulse, produced by pressing the button, must be of shorter
duration than the intended output pulse.
• 555 Timer as an Astable Multivibrator: In this circuit, There are three
resistors named R inside it and all have equal values. These form a
voltage divider having reference voltages of 1/3 and 2/3 of Vcc (the
power supply). The logic state of the flip flop is controlled by the
reference voltage which is given to one of the inputs of both two
comparators.
• Mains Operated LED Light Circuit: This is a simple circuit which is
more useful to save our resources, energy and money by installing in
your homes.
• LED Lamp Dimmer Circuit: In this circuit, at the starting LED glows
slowly, then grown brighter and once again slowly it became dim. The
basis of the whole circuit is an operational amplifier IC named LM358.
• Variable Voltage Power Supply from Fixed Voltage Regulator: This
Voltage regulator circuit is used to get fixed voltage at the output
without depending on the input voltage.
• LED Christmas Lights Circuit: This is a simple circuit used to decorate
your house by building christmas lights using LEDs. The lights will get
ON at night and OFF in morning time.

88
• Audio Equalizer Circuit: The circuit is used to change the tune/melody
into a different pitch level by devoid of loss in the tune. It is mainly
useful to music lovers.
• Air Flow Detector Circuit: This Air flow detector circuit can be used to
detect the flow of air in areas like car engine. It can also be used as
temperature detector.
• 150W Power Amplifier Circuit: Here we designed a power amplifier
circuit using push pull class AB configuration to derive a power of 150W
to drive a load of 8 Ohms (speaker).
• 7 Segment LED Display Decoder: This is the circuit diagram of display
decoder which is used to convert a BCD or binary code into a 7
segment code used to operate a 7 segment LED display.
• Digital Temperature Sensor: The main principle of this circuit is to
display the digital temperature value. These are mainly used in
environmental applications.
• Digital Stopwatch Circuit: This is a simple circuit that displays count
from 0 to 59, representing a 60 second time interval. It consists of a
555 timer to produce the clock pulses and two counter ICs to carry out
the counting operation.
• Toy Organ using 555 Timer IC: This is the circuit diagram of simple
Toy Piano using 555 Timer IC. It produces different tones or sounds
depending on the frequency range.
• RFID based Attendance System: This simple RFID based attendance
system is designed using ATmega8 Microcontroller and is mainly used
in educational institutions, industries, etc. where authentication is
needed.

89
• Low Power Audio Amplifier using 555 Timer: This is a simple low
power audio amplification circuit designed using 555 timer. It can be
used to develop low power music systems used in vehicles.
• Interfacing 16X2 LCD to AVR Microcontroller: This is a circuit which
helps in interfacing 16X2 LCD with AVR Microcontroller. The Atmega16
belongs to the AVR microcontroller family.
• Polarity cum Continuity Tester: With the help of this circuit, we can
also identify whether the components we are using in our circuit are
good or bad before mounting them on the PCB.
• Reaction Timer Game Circuit: This is a simple and funny game circuit
which contains 10 LEDs that are moving in an arbitrary fashion and we
have to target a particular LED given by your challenger.
• Understanding 7805 IC Voltage Regulator: This is a circuit diagram of
7805 IC which is a 5v DC regulated IC. It is very flexible and is employed
in many circuits like a voltage regulator.
• Basic Logic Gates Using NAND Gate: We are all well known that NOT,
AND, OR are the basic logic gates. Here we have shown how to design
these basic logic gates using one of the universal gates – NAND Gate.
• Dummy Alarm Circuit: The main principle of the circuit is to flash an
LED for every 5 seconds. The circuit consists of 7555 timer IC as main
component.
• Reverse Parking Sensor Circuit: If you are a new driver then it is very
difficult to judge the distance while parking the car. Reverse parking
sensor circuit solves this problem by indicating the distance with the
help of three LEDÂ’s. We can easily arrange this system at the back side
of the car.

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• Automatic LED Emergency Light Circuit: This is the simple and cost
effective automatic emergency light circuit with light sensing. This
system charges from main supply and gets activated when main supply
is turned OFF. This emergency lamp will work for more than 8 hours.
• One Transistor Electronic Code Lock System: The main principle of
this circuit is that the door lock opens only when the buttons are
pressed in an order. The transistor and diode plays a main role in the
circuit.
• Automatic Battery Charger: This charger automatically shut off the
charging process when battery attains full charge. This prevents the
deep charge of the battery. If the battery voltage is below the 12V, then
circuit automatically charges the battery.
• Light Activated Switch Circuit: The main principle of this circuit is to
switch ON the light when the LDR is illuminated. This circuit can be
used in security applications like when there is darkness on the LDR, it
stops lighting.
• Remote Operated Spy Robot Circuit: This is a simple spy robot circuit
which can be controlled by the remote. The maximum controllable
range is 125 meters. It is used to observe the behavior of wild animals
where human beings cannot reach.
• Digital Voltmeter using 8051 Microcontroller: This is a simple digital
voltmeter circuit designed using 8051 microcontroller. This circuit
measures the input voltage from 0V to 5V. Here, the input voltage
should be DC voltage to get the accurate output on LCD.
• Ultrasonic Rangefinder using 8051: This circuit explains you how to
measure the distance using 8051 microcontroller. This ultrasonic range

91
 finder system measures the distance up to 2.5 meters at accuracy of 1
cm.
• Stepper Motor Interfacing with 8051 Microcontroller: The main
principle of this circuit is to rotate the stepper motor step wise at a
particular step angle. The ULN2003 IC is used to drive the stepper
motor as the controller cannot provide current required by the motor.
• Frequency Counter Circuit: Here we design a simple frequency
counter system using two timers and two counters. While one of the
Timer IC is used to produce clock signals, the other is used to produce
the time limited signal of one second.
• Interfacing 7 Segment Display to 8051: This article describes you how
to interface seven segments to AT89C51 microcontroller. This system
displays the digits from 0 to 9 continuously with a predefined delay.
• LC Meter using 555 Timer: This is a simple LC Meter circuit designed
using 555 Timer and 8051 microcontroller. It is mainly used to measure
value of a reactive element like a capacitor or an inductor.
• TV Transmitter Circuit: The main principle of this circuit is to transmit
the audio and video signals. Here audio signals are frequency
modulated and video signals are PAL modulated. These modulated
signals are applied for the antenna.
• DC Motor Interfacing with 8051 Microcontroller: Here is a simple
but very useful circuit in our real life named interfacing DC motor with
8051 microcontroller. It describes you how to control the DC motor
using AT89C51 controller.
• Stun Gun Circuit: This Stun gun circuit is mostly used as a weapon to
stun or send shock waves to the target with the intention to weaken or
paralyze it.

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• LED Interfacing with 8051: The main principle of this circuit is to
interface LEDs to the 8051 family micro controller. Commonly, used
LEDs will have voltage drop of 1.7v and current of 10mA to glow at full
intensity. This is applied through the output pin of the microcontroller.
• Wailing Siren Circuit: The main principle of this circuit is to produce a
wailing siren. The 555 timer IC is operated in astable mode. When the
switch is pressed, speaker produces high pitch siren and when it is
released, its pitch decreases and is switched off after 30 seconds.
• Audio Tone Control Circuit: This article explains you how to design an
audio tone control circuit with the gain of around 25. This design needs
less number of components and it is cost effective.
• FM Remote Encoder/Decoder Circuit: This is a simple post which
shows you how to design FM remote encoder and decoder circuit using
RF600E and RF600D ICs. This pair of encoder and decoder ICs
establishes the communication with high level security. The operating
voltage of these ICs is from 2V to 6.6V DC.
• Wireless Mobile Battery Charger Circuit: This circuit mainly works on
the principle of mutual inductance. This circuit may be used as wireless
power transfer circuit, wireless mobile charger circuit, wireless battery
charger circuit, etc.
• Battery Level Indicator: This article explains you how design battery
level indicator. You can use this circuit to check car battery or inverter.
So by using this circuit, we can increase the lifetime of battery.
• FM Radio Circuit: FM Radio circuit is the simple circuit that can be
tuned to the required frequency locally. This article describes the
circuit of FM radio circuit. This is a pocket sized radio circuit.

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• LED Lamp Circuit using USB Port: This is a simple USB LED Light
circuit which produces an output of 5v. It may be used as emergency
light and also as a reading lamp.
• Interfacing GPS with 8051 Microcontroller: In this interfacing of GPS
with 8051 circuit, GPS module calculates the position by reading the
signals that are transmitted by satellites.
• How to Interface Real Time Clock with PIC18F: Get an idea about
RTC, PIC Microcontroller pin diagram and how to interface RTC with
PIC18F. RTC is an integrated circuit which keeps track of current time.
• Random Number Generator using 8051: This circuit helps to
generate a random number in between 0 to 100 when push button is
pressed and it may be used in the games like monopoly, snake ladder.
• Active Audio Crossover Circuit: Audio crossover is an electronic filter
used in audio applications to send the appropriate signal to the
speakers or drivers. This circuit is used in HiFi audio systems to
separate the frequency bands from audio signal.
• IR Audio Link Circuit: This simple IR audio link circuit is used to
transmit audio signals wirelessly. This IR audio link is able transmit
audio signals up to 4 meters.
• Cellphone Controlled Home Appliances: This mobile controlled
home automation system is designed without using microcontroller.
We can also control a robot using this technology by making some
modifications.
• Variable Voltage Power Supply: This helps to design a variable power
supply circuit which will provide 0 to 28V at 6 to 8 amps. It can be used
in various power amplifiers and oscillators to provide DC supply.

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• Digital Clock using 8051: This circuit displays the time on LCD. For this
clock, we can set the time at any instant. Here the clock works in 24
hour mode and the RTC chip is configured by programming 8051
controller.
• GSM Interfacing with 8051: The main principle of this circuit is to
interface a GSM modem with the microcontroller. The microcontroller
used is AT89C51 microcontroller.
• Multi Channel Audio Mixer Circuit: This audio mixing circuit has 2
MIC inputs and 2 line inputs. If you want to increase the input channels
according to the application then add same circuit in parallel with the
existing circuit.
• Puff to OFF LED Circuit: The main principle of the circuit is to turn off
the LED by a puff. The puff applied to the mic is converted into a
voltage whose value is very small. This voltage is amplified and applied
to the circuit in order to make the led turn off.
• Biometric Attendance System: The main aim of this circuit is to take
the attendance using biometric method and display when requested.
This can be used in educational institutions, industries, etc.
• Light Activated Alarm Circuit: The main principle of this circuit is to
produce sound depending on the light intensity falling on the circuit. As
the light intensity falling on the circuit increases, it produces pulses
with more duration and thus producing more sound. The main part of
the circuit is 555 timer IC.
• Electronic Eye Controlled Security System: This is a simple electronic
eye controlled security system circuit designed using 7805 voltage
regulator and LDR. It is used in security applications.

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• 10 LED VU Meter Circuit: VU Meters are used in many applications like
discotheques to measure the level of audio signals. Here is the circuit
diagram and working of LED VU Meter.
• Wireless Electronic Notice Board using GSM: This wireless electronic
notice board using GSM Technology and microcontroller circuit is used
to display the data on LCD whatever we sent from the mobile.
• Working of light dependent resistor
• Wireless Remote to Control 255 Different Appliances Individually
• Wireless motor control through RF
• Wireless message Communication Between Two Computers
• Wireless Electronic Notice Board Using GSM
• Wireless Control Of Robotic Arm
• Wireless Audio Transmitter for TV
• Water Tank Overflow Alarm
• Water Sensor Circuit
• War Field Spying Robot with Night Vision Wireless Camera
• Voltage Doubler Circuit Using IC 4049
• Voltage boost by using a resistor with 78XX
• Voice Controlled WheelChair
• Visually Camouflaged Vehicles for Military Purposes
• Visual Monitoring and Alerting System for Restricted Areas
• Vision Operated Home Automation For the Physically Disabled
• Video Activated Relay to Control the Load
• Vibration Alert System for the Deaf
• Velocity Detector Using Ultrasonic Means
• Vehicle Indicator
• Variable power supply and charger with emergency light

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• Using TV Remote as a Cordless Mouse for the Computer
• User Defined String Display and Marquee Scrolling using LED Array
• UPFC Unified Power Factor Control
• Unique Office Communication System Using RF
• Understanding Decade Counter CD4017
• Underground Cable Fault Distance Locator
• UM3561 IC Based Security Alarm
• Ultra Fast Acting Electronic Circuit Breaker
• Turn ON at Night Light Controller with Single Sensor Ambiguity
Elimination
• Tsunami Detection and Social Broadcast System
• Transistor based Security Alarm
• Transistor Based Secret Bell
• Transistor as audio amplifier
• Transformerless Low Loss DC Converter
• Touch Screen Based Remote Controlled Robotic Vehicle for Stores
Management
• Touch Screen Based Industrial Load Switching
• Touch Screen Based Home Automation System
• Touch Controlled Load Switch
• Tone generator Circuit Diagram
• Toggle switch using CD4017
• Toggle flip flop using CD4013
• Timer Circuit using IC CD 4060
• Timer Circuit using IC 4026
• Timer Based Code Lock
• Timed Switch With User Defined ON and OFF Intervals

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• Time Delay Based Relay Operated Load
• Thyristor Power Control by IR Remote
• Thyristor Controlled Power for Induction Motor
• Thumb Sized Adjustable Voltage Step Up Circuit
• Three Phase Solid State Relay with ZVS
• Three Phase Fault Analysis with Auto Reset on Temporary Fault and
Permanent Trip Otherwise
• Thermistor Based Temperature Control
• Theft Intimation of Vehicle Over SMS to Owner Who Can Stop the
Engine Remotely
• Text to Speech Conversion For Indian Languages
• Temperature Broadcaster to Twitter Using Arduino Ethernet Interface
• Tampered Energy Meter Information Conveyed to Concerned Authority
by Wireless Communication
• Synchronized Traffic Signals at Various Junctions Using PIC
Microcontroller
• SVPWM Space Vector Pulse Width Modulation
• Suitcase Security Alarm
• Step Up 6 Volt DC to 10 Volt DC Using 555 Timer
• Stamp Value Calculator for Postage Needs
• Staircase Light That Turns ON and OFF Automatically When Required
• Spell Effect Sign Display Circuit
• Speed Synchronization of Multiple Motors in Industries
• Speed Checker to Detect Rash Driving on Highways
• Sound Operated Switch
• Sound Operated LED
• Sound Generation using 555

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• Sound generation in audio range
• Solar Powered LED Street Light with Auto Intensity Control
• Solar Powered Auto irrigation System
• Solar Power Charge Controller
• Solar mobile phone charger circuit
• Solar Energy Measurement System
• Smooth Start of a Single Phase Induction Motor
• Sleep Sensing and Alerting System for Drivers
• Single Wheeled Self Balancing Bot
• Single switch motor on/off.. Clockwise/anticlockwise
• Sine Pulse Width Modulation (SPWM)
• Simple AC to DC converter using bridge rectifier
• Short Range Ultrasonic Radar With Distance Measuring Capabilities
• Shadow Counter Solar Powered Long Range Communication System
using Microwave Devices
• Shadow Alarm using LDR
• Self Switching Power Supply
• Seismic sensor
• Security System With User Changeable Password
• Security System Using Smartcard Technology
• Security Alarm for Doors, Almirah, cupboards using Opam
• Secure room access system
• Secret Code Enabled Secure Communication Using RF Technology
• SCADA (Supervisory Control & Data Acquisition) for Remote Industrial
Plant
• Safety Alarm Circuit
• RFID security access control system

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• RFID Based Passport Details
• RFID Based Paid Car Parking
• RFID Based Door Access Control
• RFID Based Device Control and Authentication Using PIC
Microcontroller
• RF Electrically Directional Antenna Based Tracking System
• RF Controlled Robotic Vehicle With Laser Beam Arrangement
• RF Controlled Hovercraft
• RF based Wireless Remote Control
• RF based Intruder Alarm
• RF Based Home Automation System
• RF based Fire Alarm (Overheat Alarm)
• Remote Tester Circuit
• Remote Controlled Toy Car
• Remote Control For Home Appliances
• Reminder Alarm
• Relay operation using Darlington Pair
• Relay control through mic
• Relay control by sound
• Relay activation using TSOP 1738
• Refrigerator Door Alarm
• Raspberry Based Home Automation
• Random Number Generator Using 7 Segment Display
• Railway Track Security System
• Railway Level Crossing Gate Control through SMS by the Station Master
or the Driver
• Quadracopter with Video transmission Ability

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• Quadracopter with Six Degrees of Freedom and Obstacle Avoidance
Built in Pulse Counter Fed with Infrared Pulses
• Programmable Switching Control for Industrial Automation in
Repetitive Nature of Work
• Programmable Load Shedding Time Management for Utility
Department
• Programmable Energy Meter for Electrical Load Survey
• Programmable AC Power Control
• Pre-programmed Digital Scrolling Message System
• Predefined Speed Control of BLDC Motor
• Precision Current Source With Keypad interface to Select the current
• Precise Illumination Control of Lamp
• Precise Digital Temperature Control
• Pre Stampede Monitoring and Alarm System
• Pre Set Off Timer
• Power failure alarm
• Post Encryption Data Scrambling For Maximum Data Security random
order
• Portable Programmable Medication Reminder
• Porch Light (Auto Turn Off Light) Circuit Diagram
• Pocket CRO using Android
• Pin-Pong Ball Board for Eye Catching Marketing
• Piezo sensor as output
• Piezo sensor as input
• Pick N Place with Soft Catching Gripper
• Phase Sequence Checker for Three Phase Supply
• Phase Preserving Image Denoising for Maximum Noise Removal

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• Periodically Turning On & Off Mosquito Repellent Circuit Diagram
• PC Temperature Controller
• PC Controlled Scrolling Message Display for Notice Board
• PC Based Wireless Appliance Control
• PC Based Electrical Load Control
• Password Based Circuit Breaker
• Parked Vehicle Indicator
• Parallel Telephone Lines with Security System
• Parallel Port Based Home Automation on Linux
• Panic Sensing and Spontaneous Stabilization System for Cars to avoid
Accidents
• Overheat/Overcooling circuit breaker
• Over Voltage or Under Voltage Tripping Mechanism
• Optimum Energy Management System
• Opamp as comparator
• Obstacle Avoidance Robotic Vehicle
• Object Detection by Ultrasonic Means
• Object Counter with 7 Segment Display
• Number Guessing Game
• Notepad Lamp
• Non inverting amplifier
• Night Lamp with Timer for Stairs
• Networking of Multiple Microcontrollers
• Negative supply using 555 IC
• NE 555 Timer based Automatic Headlight
• Music (Data) transfer by IR
• Multi-Utility Flashing Light

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• Multitone Generator Circuit
• Multipurpose Timer With Musical Alarm
• Multimeter Using Android Smartphone
• Multi Color Lighting
• Movement Sensed Automatic Door Opening System
• Motion Detector
• Mobile Phone Sniffer With Over 10 Meter Range Using An Ultrasonic
Device as Antenna
• Minimizing Penalty in Industrial Power Consumption by Engaging APFC
Unit
• Miniature Photonic Rat Bot
• Miniature Disguised Location Transmitter for Military Spying
• Military Grade Video based Steganography
• Microscope Using A Smartphone
• Metal Detector Robotic Vehicle
• MATLAB based Landscape Surveillance System
• Magic Eye using 555 Timer IC
• Magic Eye Circuit Using 4049 IC
• Low pass filter
• Low Cost Touch Screen For Instant Drawing And Presentations
• Long range IR
• Long Range FM Transmitter with Audio Modulation
• Location Mapping Ariel Vehicle
• Location Mapping and Routing System for the Blind With GPS Support
• Location Broadcaster Using Arduino Ethernet Interface
• Liquid level Alarm
• Lighting Controller Counts How Many People are in a Room

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• Light sensor using photodiode
• Light detector
• Light dependent frequency variation using LDR
• Life Cycle Testing of Electrical Loads by Down Counter
• LED Lamp Using CA3140 IC
• LED Based Pendulum Circuit
• LDR Based Automatic Lamp
• Lamp Life Extender by ZVS (Zero Voltage Switching)
• IR Obstacle Detection to Actuate Load
• IR Controlled Robotic Vehicle
• Invisible Image Watermarking in Python
• Inverting amplifier with signal feedback
• Inverting amplifier using 741
• Interfacing 4026 with 7 segment display
• Intelligent Bot Network for Area Monitoring and reporting
• Integrated Energy Management System Based on GSM Protocol with
Acknowledge
• Infrared (IR) sensor
• Industrial Temperature Controller
• Industrial Power Control by Integral Cycle Switching without
Generating Harmonics
• Industrial Battery Charger by Thyristor Firing Angle Control
• Induction Motor Protection System
• Incoming Phone Ring Light Flasher
• Image Watermarking Using Python
• IC555 based Multicolor LED Lamp Circuit Diagram
• IC 555 Based Message Display Circuit

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• Humidity Detector Circuit
• Home Automation Using Digital Control
• Hit the Target Game
• High Voltage DC Upto 2kv from AC by Using Diode and Capacitors in
Voltage Multiplier Circuit
• High Voltage DC by Marx Generator Principles
• Hidden Active Cell Phone Detector
• H-bridge using transistor
• Hardware Level Bit tracing and Data Interpolating Forensic System
• Hardware Authentication Dongle with Fingerprint Recognition
• GSM Based Monthly Energy Meter Billing via SMS
• GSM Based Energy Meter Reading with Load Control
• GPS enabled Quadracopter
• Gesture Operated Wheel Chair
• Generating time delay with 555 IC
• Full range centigrade temperature sensor
• Frequency Counter Using Smartphone
• Four Quadrant DC Motor Speed Control with Microcontroller
• Four Quadrant DC Motor Control without Microcontroller
• Flip Flop based Staircase Switch
• Flash Memory with Self Destroy Master Lock
• Flash Flood Intimation Over GSM Network
• Fixed voltage power supply
• Fire Powered Mini Portable Power Supply
• Fire Fighting Robotic Vehicle
• Finger Print Based Security System
• Fastest Finger Press Quiz Buzzer

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• FACTs by SVC (flexible ac transmission)
• FACTs (flexible ac transmission) by TSR
• Facebook Connected Arduino And Intelligent Event Reporting
• Fabrics That Generate Energy using Dye Based Solar Cells
• Electronic Timer Circuit
• Electronic Thermometer for Beverage Temperature Measurement
• Electronic Soft Start for 3 Phase Induction Motor
• Electronic Number Game
• Electronic Notepad
• Electronic Nose to Indicate gas Leakage in Underground Mines and
Industries
• Electronic Eye Controlled Security System
• Electronic Dog to Sense The Proximity of a Specific Purpose
• Electronic Code Locking System
• Electronic alarm for cash box, lockers
• Electromagnetic Climbing Robots for Industries
• Easy to Use Automatic Light Controller to Turn ON Lights In Dark
• Dual converter Using Thyristors
• DTMF Decoder
• DTMF Based Load Control System
• DTMF Based Car Lock System
• DNA Based Mathematical Calculator
• Distance Measurement by Ultrasonic Sensor
• Display System used in Restaurant
• Display of Dialed Telephone Numbers on Seven Segment Displays
• Dish Positioning Control by IR Remote
• Discotheque Light Stroboscopic Flasher

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• Differential amplifier
• Detecting Power Grid Synchronization Failure on Sensing Frequency or
Voltage Beyond Acceptable Range
• Darkness Detector Alarm
• Cyclo Converter Using Thyristors
• Continuous Speech to Text Conversion for Indian Languages
• Continuous Speech Processing Using Python
• Contactless Liquid Level Controller
• Comprehensive Threat Detection for Offices
• Combinatorial Digital Circuit Logic Determining Device
• Color distinguished using LDR/Color sensor using LDR
• Coin Toss/Flip Simulator Circuit
• Closed Loop Control for a Brushless DC Motor to Run at the Exactly
Entered Speed
• Clock with LED pendulum with tick tock sound
• Cell Phone Operated Land Rover
• Cell Phone Based DTMF Controlled Garage Door Opening System
• CD4049 Based LED torch
• CD4001 IC based Lighting System
• CD 4060IC based Message Display Circuit
• CD 4060 Based Security Alarm
• CD 4027 Based Emergency Lighting System
• CD 4013 Based Two Way Switch
• CD 4013 based Sound Sensing Module
• Car Reverse Horn
• Camouflaged Voice Recording and Transmitting System
• Burglar alarm based Home Security System

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• Bluetooth Controlled Robot
• BLDC Motor Speed Control with RPM Display
• bidirectional Rotation of an Induction Motor with a Remote Control
Device
• Beacon Flasher Using Microcontroller
• Bathroom Light Off Timer
• Background Interpolation for Selective Image Cancellation
• AVR based Heart Rate Monitoring System With Health level Indicator
• Automatic Wireless Health Monitoring System in Hospitals for Patients
• Automatic Wash Basin Tap Controller
• Automatic Vehicle Image Capturing When Overriding traffic lights
• Automatic Threshold Detection System for Phase Preserving Image
Denoising
• Automatic Surveillance Camera Panning System from PC
• Automatic Star Delta Starter Using Relays and Adjustable Electronic
Timer for Induction Motor
• Automatic Speed Regulation Depending On Incoming Vehicle On High
Ways (Fuel Injection)
• Automatic Solar Tracker
• Automatic solar street light controller
• Automatic Road Level Detection And Alerting System for Cars
• Automatic Power OFF timer for CD player
• Automatic light/dark indicator
• Automatic Light Lamp with Morning Alarm
• Automatic Light Beam Shifting Of Vehicles On High Ways
• Automatic Heat Detector
• Automatic Fan Speed Regulator

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• Automatic Exhaust Fan Control Coupled To Gas Leak Detection
• Automatic Elevator Light and Fan Controller
• Automatic Dialing to Any Telephone Using I2C Protocol on Detecting
Burglary
• Automated Vehicle Identification and Toll-Pass System.
• Automated Traffic Signal Controller
• Automated Car Parking System
• Auto turn off battery charger
• Auto Selection of Any Available Phase, in 3 Phase Supply System
• Auto Power Supply Control from 4 Different Sources: Solar, Mains,
Generator & Inverter to Ensure No Break Power
• Auto Metro Train to Shuttle Between Stations
• Auto charging grinding machine with solar power
• Auto Braking System For Cars Detecting Momentum and Road
Irregularities
• Audio Amplifier using Opamp
• ATmega644 JTAG Debugger
• Ariel Red Herrings to Mislead Missile Tracking Systems
• Arduino Ethernet Interface for Industrial Automation
• Arduino Based World Intelligent Event Detection and Alert System with
Network Interface
• Arduino based Waveform Generator For Electronics Laboratory
• Arduino Based Swarm Bots
• Arduino Based Online Database Interfacing
• Arduino Based Earthquake Detection Social Network Broadcast system
• Anti Theft Alarm for Bikes
• Android Controlled Wheel Chair for the Physically Handicapped

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• Android Based Waveform Generator
• Android Based Waveform Analyser
• Amplifier for Musical ICs
• AES256 bit Highly Encrypted Image Steganography
• AES128 Encrypted hardware Lock Using AVR ATMEGA-16
• Active high trigger for 555 in monostable mode
• Accident Detection and Avoidance System Using Doppler Radar
Interfaced with ATMEGA16
• A Swarm of Mutually Interacting Metal Detecting Robots For Scanning
the Area
• A Multiple Bots Operated with a Single Base Station
• 90 Second Timer
• 555 Timer As Amplifier
• 4 Player Quiz Buzzer
• 3D Notice Board using LED Cube
• 2 to 4 Amp arduino Based Motor Shield

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