
Explore current, voltage, and resistance and learn Ohm's law, Kirchhoff's voltage law, and Kirchhoff's current law. See how voltage drops shape current in basic circuits.
Set up a basic breadboard circuit with a voltage source and closed loop, using jumper wires and rails. Learn conventional current, led polarity, and how components connect in columns.
Learn how resistors limit current in circuits, read color codes to determine resistance, and analyze series LED brightness variations as more components are added.
Wire four LEDs in parallel, each with a 200 ohm resistor, from a nine-volt supply to safely maximize brightness while keeping others lit if one fails.
Learn to use a multimeter to measure dc voltage, current, and resistance; apply ohm's law in series and parallel resistors: series raises total resistance, parallel lowers resistance and shares voltage.
Explore ohm's law by building a nine-volt circuit with five 200-ohm resistors in series to reach about 9 amps, and verify current with an ammeter on a multimeter.
Learn how resistors obey ohm's law while LEDs require a threshold voltage and then pass current. This shows a 200-ohm resistor limiting current in series LEDs, measured with a voltmeter.
Explore how a push button acts as a switch to control LED current, with a 200 ohm resistor, turning LEDs on or off when pressed.
Redesign the circuit so leds stay on until their corresponding button is pressed, wiring leds to the supply side and grounding the button to turn them off.
Explore how variable resistors like potentiometers act as adjustable voltage dividers by moving the wiper to change resistance and led brightness.
Explore color mixing with a common-cathode tri-color led wired to red, green, and blue channels via push buttons, an LDR, and a 10k potentiometer, using 200 ohm resistors.
Explore the basics of electronics in this free course, preview the full in-depth course, and use the bonus lecture in the resources folder to access it with a discounted coupon.
Years ago I bought an Arduino and I can remember how awesome it felt to hook it up, write a program, and blink an LED! My next question was "How on earth would you do that without an Arduino?!?". Don't get me wrong, I think Arduino's and all sorts of microcontrollers are awesome, but to me, it abstracted things a little too much. I'm an avid guitarist and a gear head; I love guitar effects pedals. Inside those stomp boxes, you won't find an Arduino. What you will find is the guts of an analog circuit: resistors, diodes, capacitors, transistors, and integrated circuit chips...all working together to create, bend, and shape a waveform.
I know there are tons of YouTube videos out there showing various analog circuits but the vast majority of them are the same: a time lapsed video of someone populating a breadboard or PCB with music playing in the background. No explanation of what they were doing or why they were doing it, no breakdown of the role of each and every component in the circuit, no conveying of understanding at not just a mathematical level but even a conceptual level. That is not learning and as someone who wanted to learn, to dive deeper into the subject, so I could figure out how to blink an LED without an Arduino and eventually more, it was a frustrating experience.
These are the reasons I decided to create this course. These are the reasons I hope you enroll in this free course; because I can help lift those learning frustrations for you and help you gain an appreciation for analog electronics.
By the end of this course, I hope for two things:
You will want to continue learning about electronics and enroll in my full course!
Have the confidence and knowledge to begin making your own basic electronic circuits!
Good luck and I hope to see you in our next video!