Basic electronics for Arduino Makers

Discover the basics of voltage, current, and resistance, and see how moving charges in copper wires drive work in motors and CPUs, while exploring conventional versus electron flow.

Learn how a battery creates an electric field that drives electrons, defines voltage, and distinguishes dc from ac sources, with a focus on dc in electronics.

Define voltage as the force moving charged particles in a wire. Explain how a battery's electromotive force drives current and how higher voltages increase current and heat.

Define current as the rate of electron flow through a conductor, measured in amperes (coulombs per second) and denoted by I, with examples like 0.5, 0.05, 0.005 amps and microamps.

Explore how resistance arises when electrons collide with lattice imperfections in conductors, turning energy into heat, and how resistors control current and voltage in circuits using ohms.

Explore Ohm's law and how voltage, current, and resistance relate, then calculate power and energy in simple circuits, paving the way to Kirchhoff's law in the next lesson.

Calculate the energy of a 100-watt light bulb over 24 hours, converting to joules and then to 2.4 kilowatt-hours. Explain why electricity bills use kilowatt-hours instead of joules.

Plot energy consumption in the simulator using a DC sweep with a time parameter, showing energy in joules for a 9-volt source and 1 kΩ resistor, with CSV export.

Explore Kirchhoff's law and its voltage and current forms, applying KVL and KCL to analyze series resistors, voltage drops, and conservation of energy in circuits.

Explore Kirchhoff's voltage law with a hands-on circuit using a multimeter to measure voltage drops across a battery, resistors, and an LCD, and verify KVL in real life.

Demonstrate Kirchhoff's voltage law by building a simulated circuit with a voltage source, resistors, and an LED, measuring drops that sum to the source voltage.

Explore resistor color codes, values, and tolerance for Arduino makers; compare wattage and power ratings, and build circuits with series, parallel, voltage and current dividers.

Explore a simple resistor circuit using an led, a fixed resistor, and a photoresistor, then measure voltage, current, and power with a multimeter.

Simulate a simple resistor circuit in circuit lab using a photoresistor and resistor to drive an LED, perform a dc sweep, and plot voltage, current, resistance, and power as light intensity varies.

Explore resistor power ratings and how to compute power using I squared R. See practical Arduino examples with a 1 kΩ, 3.5 mA circuit and typical 1/8–1/4 W components.

Explore how a potentiometer acts as a variable resistor in a voltage divider to control led brightness, with current, voltage, and power calculated via Kirchhoff's laws.

Plot the voltage divider response to determine r2 for a 3.3 V output using a 9 V source and a 500 ohm resistor, via a dc sweep.

Learn to design a 5-V voltage divider that feeds a 3.3-V, 10-mA load, applying the 10% bleeder current rule to compute R2, R1, and related power.

Learn to calculate a voltage divider with load current using a simulator and DC sweep to pick R2 around 470 ohms for 3.3 V at 10 mA from 5 V.

Explore current dividers with parallel resistors, showing how total current splits into I1, I2, and I3 and how to compute total resistance and individual currents using Ohm's law.

Apply loop-based current calculations to quiz seven question two, determine i1 to i4, and demonstrate solving the equations bottom-up to reach all currents.

Learn how pull-up and pull-down resistors create definite high or low signals for sensors and buttons connected to microcontrollers, preventing floating inputs and ensuring reliable digital readings.

Explore capacitors for microcontrollers, learning energy storage and filtering, reading values from packages or multimeters, and understanding voltage ratings across electrolytic, ceramic, and aluminum types.

Explore how a capacitor stores energy and powers an LED in a charge–discharge circuit simulated for Arduino makers. Use voltage plots and timer switches to visualize charging and discharging dynamics.

Learn to connect capacitors in parallel and in series, calculate total capacitance, determine stored charge and energy, and compare the voltage tolerance of each configuration.

Explore the RC time constant by charging and discharging a 470 microfarad capacitor through a 1 kilo ohm resistor, using an oscilloscope and multimeter, verifying a 0.47 s time constant.

Use the simulator to plot the capacitor voltage of a 7-volt RC circuit and estimate the time constant, about 481 milliseconds, when the voltage reaches 63.2% of its final value.

Explore diode fundamentals for Arduino projects, including rectifier and zener diodes, forward and reverse bias, and practical voltage regulation.

Explore how forward and reverse biasing affect diode conduction, showing how voltage threshold and current regulation work with a rectifier diode, LED, and a 240-ohm resistor, and preview zener regulation.

Explore how a pn junction diode drops voltage and behaves in forward and reverse bias using a resistor and led, demonstrated with a dc sweep simulation.

Learn how to use a multimeter to measure forward bias voltage drops for common diodes, including LEDs, rectifiers, and zeners, and compare their voltages to size current-limiting resistors.

Explore a voltage dropper circuit with three rectifier diodes and a 220 ohm resistor, showing a relatively steady output as supply varies from 3 to 7 volts.

Explore zener diodes for voltage regulation in Arduino circuits, testing reverse-bias breakdown to produce stable 3.3-volt references from a 5-volt supply using a 220-ohm resistor and a BZX55 series diode.

Explore how a zener diode maintains a constant voltage drop in reverse bias across input ranges, using a simulator sweep with a voltage source and 220 ohm resistor.

Simulate a Zener diode with a load using DC and transient analyses to observe voltages, currents, and power in plots.

Learn to calculate the appropriate current-limiting resistor for LEDs used with Arduino makers by measuring the LED's forward voltage with a multimeter and applying Ohm's law.

Explore bipolar transistors, especially NPN types, and learn to use them as switches to drive motors and high powered LEDs with examples of 2N2222 and TIP122.

calculate emitter, base, and collector currents in a npn transistor circuit using vbe ≈ 0.6 v and determine collector voltage with 12 v, 4.7 kΩ, 3.3 kΩ, and hfe.

Simulate a 2n2222 transistor circuit to observe base, emitter, and collector currents with voltmeters and ammeters, and show how base voltage controls emitter current, acting as an amplifier.

switch a 12-volt led strip with a 2n2222 npn transistor driven from a 3.3-volt control signal, using a 220-ohm base resistor and a 20k pull-down, while observing current limits.

Explore driving a high-power LED with a TIP122 darlington transistor, replacing a 2N2222 for higher current, wiring base, collector, and emitter, with 220 ohm resistors and heat considerations.

Learn how to safely drive a motor with a TIP122 transistor and a flyback diode. Control back currents from coils and protect the circuit while switching motors and relays.

This lecture demonstrates simulating a motor load using a resistor-inductor model, a flyback diode for protection, and transistor switching, comparing 2N2222 and TIP122 transistors for motor control.

Explore how fixed and adjustable voltage regulators power Arduino projects, using LM7805, LM317, and AMS1117CD, with regulator circuits built from resistors, capacitors, and voltage dividers.

Explore how a fixed voltage regulator like the 5 volt L7805 behaves under battery and wall power supplies, and learn to reduce output noise with input and output capacitors.

Explore how a variable voltage regulator using an LM317 controls output voltage with a potentiometer and resistor divider, reduces noise with capacitors, and guides resistor calculations for a desired voltage.

Learn to calculate resistor values for the LM317 variable voltage regulator using the Vout = 1.25 × (1 + R2/R1) formula to achieve outputs such as 5 volts or 3.3 volts. Choose R1 values like 220 ohms or 1 k ohm and solve for R2 (for example 660 ohms for 5 volts and 1.64 k ohms for 3.3 volts), noting that this approach is not much harder than using a fixed regulator and that this is the final lecture leading to the course conclusion.

Simulate the LM317 adjustable regulator to study how the adjust pin and resistor divider set the output, sweeping a variable resistor to visit 0–13.5 V and regulator power.