Electronics for Absolute Beginners

Iain Sharp
lushprojects.com

These course notes are licensed under a

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.

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Revision 6 - Iain Sharp 2010

Schematic

Batteries and Circuits

Two things are needed to make a an electricity do something

useful:
1) a source of electrical potential to provide the power,
2) a complete circuit round which electricity can flow.

Battery

We are going to use a battery to provide the electrical potential.

A chemical reaction inside the battery works like a pump to
push electricity. The amount of push is the voltage
measured in Volts.

When a circuit is connected a current will flow round the circuit.

The current is like the amount of water flowing through a pipe.
The current is measured in Amps, or more usually for
electronics a 1/1,000th of an Amp or milliamp (mA).
To understand electronic circuits it is normal to draw a circuit
diagram or schematic. This diagram is like the London
Underground map it shows how things connect in a way that
allows you to see the underlying pattern without the complexity
of how things are physically laid out in the real world.

Count Alessandro Volta

1745 1827
Developed the first battery

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Build on Breadboard
Rows along
top and bottom
are connected

Red is positive
Black is negative

Groups in
columns are
connected
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The circuit for the electricity to flow round needs to be built of

electrical conductors and must provide a loop from the positive
to the negative terminal of the battery. Metals are by far the
most common electrical conductors, but there are also all kinds
of other materials that can be used to create special
behaviours.

Bulb

Bulb

MISTAKE
Don't connect components
along the columns this just
connects their leads directly.

No
connection
across the
middle gap

Experiments with Series and Parallel Circuits

Bulbs in Series
Like Christmas tree lights
What happens if you
short-circuit one bulb
with a loop of wire?

Voltage is split evenly

between the bulbs and
both glow dimly. Less
current flows than with
one bulb.

Bulbs in Parallel
Like bulbs in your house

Battery
-

Joints on
schematics are
marked with dots

Bulb

Bulb

Both bulbs get the full

voltage of the battery.
Twice the current
flows when compared
to having one bulb.
Lifting one leg of a
bulb out of the
breadboard breaks the
circuit through that
bulb and allows them
to be switched on and
off individually. This is
the same job a lightswitch does.

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Battery

Apply ends
of wire to
short-circuit
bulb here

Bulb

Bulb

Andr-Marie Ampre
20 January 1775 10 June 1836

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Discovered many properties of

electromagnetism

Resistors
Resistors limit the flow of electricity through part of the circuit. This
can be used to control timing circuits, divide voltages in to smaller
portions or protect devices that are sensitive to too much current.
Resistance is measured in Ohms (),
kilohms (1,000=1k) or
Megohms (1,000,000 =1M)
Resistors can go in the circuit either way round. The value is marked
on the device with a colour code (see right), or it can be measured
with almost any multimeter.
A shorthand is often used to write the value of a resistor. For
example:
100R=100
10k=10k
4k7=4.7k

Some resistors used in these experiments:

220R Red, Red, Brown
1k Brown, Black, Red
10k Brown, Black, Orange
100k Brown, Black, Yellow

Time for:
A resistor game!
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Only for five band resistors!

Skip for four band resistors

Georg Simon Ohm

(16 March 1789 6 July 1854)
Discovered the relationship
between voltage and current in
electrical circuits Ohm's Law.

Light Emitting Diode (LED)

Captain Henry
Joseph Round

LEDs are solid state devices that emit light when electricity
passes through them. They are directional and need to go in the
circuit the right way round.

(2 June 1881 17 August 1966)

First to observe light emitted
by a solid state diode

Once a certain on threshold voltage is reached (about 2V for a

red LED) the current through an LED rises very quickly with the
voltage. In most applications a resistor is needed to protect the
LED from being overloaded due to this effect.

Try using different values of R in

this circuit:
100k, 10k, 1k, 220R

Resistor R
LED

What do you notice about the LED?

What do you notice about the 220R
resistor when it is in the circuit?

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Experiments with LEDs and Resistors

R
Flat &
short-lead

220R
Wire
Probes

LED

Try touching the ends of the wire

probes on to different objects:
- your skin
- fresh water
- salt water
- a thick line drawn with a soft
pencil
- a (non light-emitting) diode (try
this with the diode both ways
round)

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LED

Flat &
short-lead
LED
Probes

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220R

Transistors
The solid state transistor is the single component that has driven
the electronics revolution. Initially they were very hard to
manufacture and regarded expensive specialized parts.
Improved mass production techniques gradually lead to
transistors becoming cheaply and easily available. Later on a
new wave on innovation was created when it was realised that
multiple transistors could be manufactured on a single wafer of
silicon leading to the integrated circuit, microprocessors,
microcontrollers and all the advanced toolkit available to modern
electronic engineers.
We are going to focus on one type of transistor the NPN
bipolar transistor. A transistor has three terminals and acts as an
amplifier. For an NPN transistor the terminals are called the
collector, base and emitter. A small current flowing in to the
base and out of the emitter controls a much larger current
flowing from the collector to the emitter. Think of the current at
the base as working to control a tap that varies the flow through
the collector. If no current flows in to the base then no current will
flow through the collector either.

NPN Transistor
Collector
Base
Emitter
Small control
current

Transistor Packages

Transistor type
2N3704 pinout

The base voltage varies between 0V when the transistor is off

and about 0.7V when the transistor is on. Like an LED the input
to the base normally needs to be protected by a resistor to stop
the base being overloaded.
Using transistors we can build many types of circuits including
amplifiers, logic circuits, oscillators, filters and power controllers.
The maximum collector current ranges from a few hundred mA to
several Amps depending on the transistor. The gain of the
transistor is the multiple of the base current the can flow through
the collector. This is normally in the range 50-400 and is
sometimes written as hFE.

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William Bradford Shockley

(February 13, 1910 August 12, 1989)
Leader of the team at Bell Labs that developed the
junction transistor. Nobel prize winner. Also described
as the notorious eugenicist and scientific racist..

Big current can

flow here

Experiments with a transistor

+

10k

Collector
Base

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220R

220R

10k

LED

2N3704
LED

Emitter
Connect the circuit up as shown and then try applying the
probes to various items. Notice the brightness of the two
LEDs. You should find the LED in the collector circuit is much
brighter than that in the base.
Items to try:
- Probes open (no connection). Transistor is off and neither
LED is lit.
- Probes touching each other. Transistor is fully on. The LED
in the collector circuit glows brightly.
- Probes along a pencil track
- Probes on your skin

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BCE

Flat &
short-lead

Capacitors

Electrolytic polarity

Capacitors store and release small amounts of

electrical charge. In electronic circuits they are used to
control the timing of circuits, smooth out electrical
waveforms and to separate DC and AC components of
a signal.

+ve

Capacitance is measured in Farads (F), but one Farad

is much too big to be practical. Useful units are:
Micro Farads (F or uF) = 1/1,000,000th of a Farad
Nano Farads (nF) = 1/1,000,000,000th of a Farad
Pico Farads (pF) = 1/1,000,000,000,000th of a Farad

-ve

Capacitors less than 1uF can normally go in a circuit

either way round. Larger capacitors normally have a
polarity (normally the negative end is marked) and
have to go in a circuit the right way round.
Capacitors come in a many different types that are
designed for different applications. For this circuit the
type used isn't important so we've used the cheap and
cheerful options. The small capacitors are ceramic
discs and the large capacitors are electrolytics.
Several labelling schemes are in common use for
capacitors. The ceramic discs used in these circuits
are labelled with three digit codes. The first two digits
are the value and the third digits is the number of
zeros making up the capacitance in pF.

+ve
Small indent

So:
10nF = 10,000 pF = 103
100nF = 100,000pF = 104

Michael Faraday

(22 September 1791 25 August 1867)

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Discovered the fundamental relationship

between electricity and magnetism (amongst
many things).

-ve

Experiments with a capacitor

Build the circuit like this with the battery disconnected.
Connect the battery and watch the LED.

100u

100uF

10k
-

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LED

10k

Lift and move

100u
Remove the capacitor and put in in this circuit
without shorting out the legs.
LED

10k
100uF

10k

+
In the first circuit the capacitor charges up with current from the battery.
The value of the resistor and the capacitor determine how quickly the
charge builds up. As the capacitor charges it develops its own voltage that
pushes against the battery. This reduces the flow of current and the LED
goes out.
When the capacitor is moved in to the second circuit it discharges through
the LED lighting it up.

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Flat &
short-lead

Capacitors and transistors

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220R

10k

220R

Building timing circuits that combine capacitors with

transistors offer a number of advantages over just
using capacitors on their own:
- the amplifying effect of the transistor can generate a
clean on/off effect from the gently changing voltage
on the capacitor
- the transistor can isolate the capacitor from other
effects allowing signals to be controlled without
changing the behaviour of the capacitor timing circuit.

0u
10

220R

10k

LED

Flat &
short-lead

220R

BCE

100uF
+
2N3704

Flying lead that can connect to the

negative line

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Build the circuit and then try connecting the flying lead to the
negative line. The LED should go out momentarily and then
relight. Disconnect then reconnect the flying lead to show this is
repeatable.

Times two

0u

0
10

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10

Flat &
short-lead

+
LED

Flat &
short-lead

220R

10k

220R

220R

10k

220R

LED

220R

10k

100uF
+

220R

This manually makes the two LEDs flash alternately.

100uF
+

220R

Build two versions and then cross over the flying leads.
Hold the end that is now on the left in your left hand
and the other end in your right hand. Connect one lead
(say the one in your right hand) to the negative line.
The left hand light will go out. Now follow the rules:
- if the right hand light is on connect the right hand
lead to- ground. If it is off then disconnect it.
- if the left hand light is on connect the left hand lead to
ground. If it is off then disconnect it.

10k

220R

With two copies of the previous circuit you can

manually make an interesting effect.

BCE

BCE

Build the circuit and then try connecting the flying lead to the
negative line. The LED should go out momentarily and then
relight. Disconnect then reconnect the flying lead to show this is
repeatable.

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Multivibrator

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0u

10

Flat &
short-lead

0
10

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220R

10k

10k

220R

Lines that cross without

dots don't connect

LED

220R

100uF
+

10k

This circuit is known as a multivibrator and is the

basis of a whole family of circuit designs. It also nicely
illustrates the two sides to electronics:
1) understanding individual components and their
function
2) Understanding how those components are used to
create common building blocks.

100uF
+

220R

In the circuit below we've removed two of the 220R

resistors and instead cross-wired what were the flying
leads in to the collectors of the opposite transistor. The
two halves of the circuit now work automatically
- each other. When the circuit is powered up the
against
lights will flash.

10k

Wouldn't it be useful if you could replace the manual

fiddling with leads in the previous circuit with
something automatic? Well, guess what with a few
simple changes you can.

BCE

LED

Flat &
short-lead

BCE

For more experiments:

1) Try changing the values of one or both of the 10k resistors.
Suggested alternatives are 22k or 4k7.
2) Try changing the values of one or both of the 100uF
capacitors. Try 10uF instead.
Observe the result of these changes.

Basic organ

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220R

10k

1k

10k

By swapping the capacitors for much smaller values we can

change the frequency of oscillation of the circuit to make it
much higher in the range your ear can hear. By connecting
a speaker to the output instead of an LED this creates a basic
organ. Play the organ by touching the wire probes on a pencil
line.
Note about capacitor marking
10nF = 10,000pF = Normally written as 103 on capacitor

n
10

220R

10k

10k

1k

10nF

Speaker

BCE

10nF

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10nF

BCE

Improved organ

0
10

220R

10k

47k

nF

470pF

1k

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Note about capacitor marking

470pF = 471
100nF = 100,000pF = 104

220R

1k

10k

47k

This circuit is an improvement on the previous design

which allows longer pencil lines to be used. To do this
a very high gain combination of transistors called a
darlington pair is introduced. This allows very large
resistors to be used in the base.

BCE

BCE

BCE

470pF
darlington pair

100nF

Sidney Darlington
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(1906 - 1997)
Invented the darlington pair
and other circuit configurations and applications

Integrated Circuits
Integrated circuits (ICs) are single packages that contain complete circuits consisting
of many components. Today almost all ICs are silicon chips. Intel claims to have
produced single ICs with 2,000,000,000 transistors.
For the last experiment we are going to use a 4017 decade counter. When this is
driven from the output of a multivibrator it can be used to light LEDs in sequence
producing a chain light effect.
Much of modern electronics is based on using ICs rather than discreet components. The
skill lies in finding the right IC and understanding how to use it and its limitations. For
example it's unusual to build multivibrators like the ones in these experiments in most
designs instead a timer IC like the famous 555 might be used.

Note about IC Numbering

Numbering of ICs a pretty hit and miss. The 4017 is just the base name for the device.
The full number will have other numbers or letters attached depending on which
company makes it, what type of package it's put in and so on. You will often find lots of
variants of the same IC with similar numbers. The IC in my parts kit says it's an
CD4017BE.

Gordon Earle Moore

(3 January 1929-)

Observed that the capacity of

economically feasible ICs doubles
approximately every 2 years.
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Chain Light Schematic

Clock

OP 0
OP 3

4017
10uF
+

10uF
+

RESET
ENABLE
13

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VSS
8

4
2
3
7

15

220R

OP 1

220R

14

OP 2

220R

VDD

1k

10k

10k

1k

16

Chain Light Layout

+

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10

BCE

220R

4017

220R

220R

u
10

1k

10k

1k

10k

LED

LED

LED

BCE

Flat &
short-lead

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