Electronics Foundations: Circuits

with Barron Stone

Parts List

Parts Value Quantity Online Store URL

Solderless https://www.sparkfun.com/
1
Breadboard
Breadboard Power https://www.amazon.com/
3.3 VDC & 5 VDC 1
Supply
Wall Adapter https://www.sparkfun.com/
9 VDC, 650 mA 1
Power Supply

22 AWG Wire Assorted Colors 1 https://www.sparkfun.com/

Resistors Assorted Lots! https://www.sparkfun.com/

Capacitors Assorted Lots! https://www.sparkfun.com/

Switch SPDT 1 https://www.amazon.com/

Photoresistor 1 https://www.sparkfun.com/

Potentiometer 10 k 1 https://www.sparkfun.com/

Mini Light Bulb 6.15 V, 0.50 amp 1 https://www.amazon.com/

Mini Light Bulb

1 https://www.amazon.com/
Holder
Arduino Uno R3
1 https://www.amazon.com/
SMD

Inductor 47 uH 1 https://www.amazon.com/

Breadboard Audio
3.5 mm 2 https://www.amazon.com/
Jack

Electronics Foundations: Circuits with Barron Stone

 D1 2
Color Digit Multiplier Tolerance
D2 2
MX 10
Black 0 1
% 5
220 Ω±5%
Brown 1 10 ±1%

Red 2 102 ±2%

Orange 3 103
D1 6
Yellow 4 104
D2 8
MX 104
Green 5 10 5
±0.5%
% 10
680 KΩ±10%
Blue 6 106 ±0.25%

Violet 7 107 ±0.10%

Grey 8 108 ±0.05%

D1 3
White 9 10 9
D2 2
MX 105
Gold 10-1 ±5% % 5
3.2 MΩ±5%
Silver 10 -2
±10%

Digit Digit Multiplier Tolerance

D1 4
D2 0
MX 102
% 5
4.0 KΩ±5%

4-band

Digit Digit Digit Multiplier Tolerance

D1 7
D2 1
MX 108
% 10
5-band 7.1 GΩ±10%

RESISTOR DECODER ELECTRONICS FOUNDATIONS

Voltage Sources
Batteries
Vs+

IN OUT V+
Vout
REF V–

Vs–

VDC VAC Single-Cell Multi-Cell Solar Cell Piezoelectric Voltage Regulator Operational Amplifier
Direct Current Alternating Current

Resistors
Resist and reduce the flow of current in an electrical circuit.

US International Rheostat Potentiometer LDR/Photoresistor

Variable Light Dependent Resistor

Switches
Make and break connections in an electric circuit.

SPST SPDT SP3T DPDT DPST Push Button

Single Pole, Single Throw Single Pole, Double Throw Single Pole, Triple Throw Double Pole, Double Throw Double Pole, Single Throw

Diodes Capacitors
Allow current to pass in one direction. Temporarily store electrical energy in an electric field.

Diode LED Photodiode Schottky Zener Non-Polarized Polarized

Light Emitting Diode

Voltage Nodes Identifying Polarity

Indicate a connection back to power or ground.

Reference Grounds
AGND - Analog Ground
VGND - Virtual Ground
Vcc, 5V, V+ Vee, V- Earth Ground Chassis Ground
Positive Supply Voltage Negative Supply Voltage

Inductors
Oppose changes in electric current. Prefixes Unit Measurement
G Giga 1,000,000,000 Volt Electric potential
M Mega 1,000,000 Ampere Current

US International k Kilo 1,000 Ohm Resistance

m Milli 0.001 Watt Power
µ Micro 0.000001 Farad Capacitance
n Nano 0.000000001 Henry Inductance
p Pico 0.000000000001 Hertz Frequency

SCHEMATIC LEGEND ELECTRONICS FOUNDATIONS

Symbol Mode Unit How to Probe

V DC Voltage (VDC) Volt (V) DMM

V AC Voltage (VAC) Volt (V)

Continuity Open/Short Parallel (in circuit)

A Direct Current Ampere (A)

DMM

A Alternating Current Ampere (A)

Series (in circuit)
Resistance Ohm (Ω) DMM

Diode Test Volt (V)

Parallel (out of circuit)

Auto-Ranging
Manual-Ranging

HOLD MINMAX RANGE

Hz
OFF V
V
mV

A A Hz

Probes
V
A COM

10 A CAT III
FUSED

Large Current Socket (red probe)

Voltages / Resistance / Small Current Socket (red probe)

Common Socket (black probe)

MULTIMETER BASICS ELECTRONICS FOUNDATIONS

Electronics Foundations: Basic Circuits
with Barron Stone

Schematic Prefixes

Name Prefix Component

R Resistor

C Capacitor

L Inductor

S Switch

D Diode

Q Transistor

U Integrated Circuit

Y Oscillator

Electronics Foundations: Basic Circuits with Barron Stone

Electronics Foundations: Basic Circuits
with Barron Stone

Common Resistor Values

1.5 Ω

4.7 Ω

10 Ω

47 Ω

100 Ω

220 Ω

330 Ω

470 Ω

680 Ω

1 kΩ

2.2 kΩ

3.3 kΩ

4.7 kΩ

10 kΩ

22 kΩ

47 kΩ

100 kΩ

330 kΩ

1 MΩ

Electronics Foundations: Basic Circuits with Barron Stone

Electronics Foundations: Basic Circuits
with Barron Stone

Voltage Shifter Circuit

This circuit is a voltage divider that can shift a 5V signal down to 3.3V, which are two

commonly used voltage levels for digital hardware.

Components

• 5 V power source

• 3x 1 kΩ resistors

Schematic Circuit

• 5V 5V 5V
Vout

Electronics Foundations: Basic Circuits with Barron Stone

Electronics Foundations: Basic Circuits
with Barron Stone

Photoresistor Circuit

This circuit creates a variable voltage divider using a photoresistor. By measuring the output
voltage, you can calculate the resistance of the photoresistor to determine whether it is in
the light or dark. The circuit was demonstrated using an Arduino microcontroller to provide
the 5 V power source and to measure the output voltage.

Components
• 5 V power source (use 5 V line from Arduino microcontroller)

• Photoresistor

• 4.7 kΩ resistor

Schematic Circuit

Electronics Foundations: Basic Circuits with Barron Stone

Electronics Foundations: Basic Circuits
with Barron Stone

Trimpot Circuit

This circuit uses a trimpot as a variable voltage divider. The output from the voltage divider
is measured using the analog input of an Arduino microcontroller.

Components
• 5 V power source (use a 5 V line from an Arduino microcontroller)

• Arduino microcontroller

• 10 kΩ

Circuit

Electronics Foundations: Basic Circuits with Barron Stone

Electronics Foundations: Basic Circuits
with Barron Stone

Parallel Resistor Circuit

This circuit was used to demonstrate the result of combining resistors in parallel.

Components
• 10 kΩ resistor

• 20 kΩ resistor (use two 10 kΩ resistors in series)

Schematic Circuit

10 kΩ

20 kΩ

Electronics Foundations: Basic Circuits with Barron Stone

Electronics Foundations: Basic Circuits
with Barron Stone

Wheatstone Bridge Circuit

This circuit demonstrates how a Wheatstone bridge can be used to measure the resistance
of an unknown resistive element by measuring the differential voltage between the two
halves of the bridge.

Components
• 5 V power source

• 3x 10 kΩ resistors

• Unknown resistor (used a trimpot)

Schematic Circuit

5V

Vout

Electronics Foundations: Basic Circuits with Barron Stone

Electronics Foundations: Basic Circuits
with Barron Stone

Challenge

Challenge: Design the light detector circuit for a light-activated switch.

Circuit Description

The light detector circuit is built using a Wheatstone bridge to produce a differential output

voltage.
• When the circuit is under light, Voltage A should be greater than Voltage B.

• When the circuit is in the dark, Voltage B should be less than or equal to Voltage A.

Goal: Determine the value and location of the following components within the

Wheatstone bridge.
• Photoresistor (approximately 1 kΩ in the light/10 kΩ in the dark)

• Variable resistor

• Constant-value resistors

Electronics Foundations: Basic Circuits with Barron Stone

Electronics Foundations: Basic Circuits
with Barron Stone

Capacitor Values

10 pF

22 pF

100 pF

1 nF

10 nF

100 nF

1 µF

10 µF

100 µF

1,000 µF

Electronics Foundations: Basic Circuits with Barron Stone

Electronics Foundations: Basic Circuits
with Barron Stone

Charging RC Circuit

This circuit demonstrates how the voltage across a capacitor changes as it charges. When
the switch is closed, the current will flow through the resistor and into the capacitor, until it
is charged up to 5 V.

Components
• 5 V power source

• Switch

• 1 kΩ resistor

• 1,000 μF capacitor

Schematic Circuit

5V Vout

Electronics Foundations: Basic Circuits with Barron Stone

Electronics Foundations: Basic Circuits
with Barron Stone

Discharging RC Circuit

This circuit demonstrates how the voltage across a capacitor changes as it discharges. The
capacitor is initially charged. Then when the switch is closed, the current will flow out of the
capacitor and through the resistor to ground.

Components
• Switch

• 1 kΩ resistor

• 1,000 μF capacitor (initially charged to 5 V)

Schematic Circuit

Vout

Electronics Foundations: Basic Circuits with Barron Stone

Electronics Foundations: Basic Circuits
with Barron Stone

Challenge

Challenge: Charge and discharge a capacitor to generate a “camera” flash.

Circuit Description
• When the switch is connected to the left side, the current will flow from the 9 V
battery through the resistor to charge the capacitor.

• When the switch is connected to the right side, the current will flow from the charged
capacitor through the light bulb to create a brief flash of light.

Goal 1: Select a resistor value that will charge the capacitor as quickly as possible while
preventing the circuit from ever drawing more than 15 mA of current from the 9 V battery.

Goal 2: Select a capacitor value that will store enough charge to output ≥ 3 V across a 2 Ω
light bulb for ≥ 2 millisecond.

Electronics Foundations: Basic Circuits with Barron Stone

Electronics Foundations: Basic Circuits
with Barron Stone

Low-Pass RC Filter Circuit

This circuit is a simple low-pass RC filter with a cutoff frequency of 1,592 Hz.

Components
• 10 kΩ resistor

• 10 nF capacitor

Schematic Circuit

Vin
Vout

Electronics Foundations: Basic Circuits with Barron Stone

Electronics Foundations: Basic Circuits
with Barron Stone

High-Pass RC Filter Circuit

This circuit is a simple high-pass RC filter with a cutoff frequency of 1,592 Hz.

Components
• 10 kΩ resistor

• 10 nF capacitor

Schematic Circuit

Vin
Vout

Electronics Foundations: Basic Circuits with Barron Stone

Electronics Foundations: Basic Circuits
with Barron Stone

Challenge

Challenge: Design a passive RC filter.

Filter Requirements
• Attenuate frequencies above f-3dB ≈ 150 Hz.

• A 3dB cutoff frequency of fc = of 150 Hz ± 10 Hz is “close enough.”

Goal: Choose a combination of resistors and capacitors that meet the filter requirements.

Electronics Foundations: Basic Circuits with Barron Stone

Electronics Foundations: Basic Circuits
with Barron Stone

RL Circuit

This circuit demonstrates how the voltage across an inductor changes when a voltage is
applied to an RL circuit.

Components
• 5 V power source

• Switch

• 100 Ω resistor

• 100 μH inductor

Schematic Circuit

5V Resistor Vout

Inductor Vout

Electronics Foundations: Basics Circuits with Barron Stone