ElectronicsClass

Electronics Class

This class is targeted at the beginner who wants to learn electronics. It would make a fine prerequisite to the AVRMicrcontrolerClass or the HAMClass

Required Materials

• Soldering Iron (25-30w)
• Solder ( 22ga )
• Bread Board ( or AshClassBoard )
• wire 24ga
• Blue smoke lab 0 30ga solid core wire.
• Resistors 10kohm
• variable resistor 10kohm linear
• switch
• leds (various)
• pn2222 transistor
• lm386 audio amplifier ic
• 1/8 male phono jack

Class Topics

• Read The Fine Manual: They hide the secrets in the documentation.

Metering

There are many like it but this one is mine.

• Naming of parts
  • metering modes
    • restistance - Ohms of resistance
    • voltage - Volts
    • Current - Amps/Milliamps - check the leads
    • diode check - see [Diodes]
  • leads - plugged into the right ports?
• Continuity testing
  • set the meter to the lowest resistance mode (200ohms or auto resistance)
  • reads "off scale" when the leads are unconnected, this is an open circuit
  • reads near 0 if the leads are crossed

Soldering

Heat, beat and treat: Soldering ( for our purposes ) is the process of joining electrical contacts with a low melting point metal to make a mechanically and electrically strong connection.

• Restrain long hair/clothing/jewelry.
• Clean both parts of waxes, oils or debris.
• Mechanically fit connections together
• Clean and wet the iron
• Heat both parts until hot
• Apply just enough solder to wet the contact surfaces
• Wait for the connection to shine smoothly
• remove the iron an test the connection
  • the meter should find near 0 ohms of resistance between the two parts even when mechanically stressed.
  • the meter should read "off scale" to everything that should be isolated

Switch

• use the meter to diagram the electrical layout of the switch.
• solder the switch to the board.

Wire

The basic wire is a pipe through which electrons can flow from the lowest voltage side to the highest. (conventional current huh? [1]). This works up to the physical limits of the wire, when yoy

• Current limit via wire gauge
• Voltage limit via insulation.

Resistor

Resistance = Ohms
[Ohm's law[2]]

Transistor

PN2222 N channel transistor

IC

LM386 Audio Amplifier [3]