Electronics Projects For Dummies®
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2006926111
ISBN-13: 978-0-470-00968-0
ISBN-10: 0-470-00968-3
Manufactured in the United States of America
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Earl Boysen is an engineer who after 20 years in the computer chip industry, decided to slow down and move to a quiet town in Washington state. Earl is the co-author of Electronics For Dummies and Nanotechnology For Dummies. He lives with his wife, Nancy, in a house he built himself and finds himself as busy as ever with teaching, writing, house building, and acting. Visit Earl at his Web site to get reviews and information about the latest components and techniques for building projects: www.buildinggadgets.com.
Nancy Muir is the author of over 50 books on topics ranging from desktop computer applications to distance learning and electronics. She has a certificate in distance learning design and has taught technical writing at the university level. Prior to her freelance writing career, she held management positions in the publishing and software industries. She lives with her husband Earl and their benevolent owners — their dog and cat. Nancy’s company, The Publishing Studio, has its Web site at www.pubstudio.com.
Nancy and Earl dedicate this book to their uncle, Ted Stier, with thanks for being such a great guy and giving Nancy away with such style and grace!
The authors wish to thank Katie Feltman for continuing to hire them to work on interesting book projects and to Chris Morris for managing the editing process and the authors so successfully. Thanks also to technical editor Kirk Kleinschmidt and copy editor Teresa Artman for making sure that what we wrote ended up being accurate and grammatically correct.
We also received help during this project from the following people, and they have our sincere gratitude: Bruce Reynolds of Reynolds Electronics (www.renton.com); the helpful folks at Magnevation (www.magnevation.com); and the following helpful members of our local ham radio club: Clint Hurd, Andy Andersen, Jack West and Owen Mulkey; and Gordon McComb of Budget Robotics (www.budgetrobotics.com).
We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our online registration form located at www.dummies.com/register/.
Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:
Acquisitions, Editorial, and Media Development
Project Editor: Christopher Morris
Acquisitions Editor: Katie Feltman
Senior Copy Editor: Teresa Artman
Technical Editor: Kirk Kleinschmidt
Editorial Manager: Kevin Kirschner
Media Development Specialists: Angela Denny, Kate Jenkins, Steven Kudirka, Kit Malone
Media Development Manager: Laura VanWinkle
Editorial Assistant: Amanda Foxworth
Sr. Editorial Assistant: Cherie Case
Cartoons: Rich Tennant (www.the5thwave.com)
Composition Services
Project Coordinator: Patrick Redmond
Layout and Graphics: Claudia Bell, Carl Byers, Joyce Haughey, Barbara Moore, Barry Offringa, Alicia South
Proofreaders: Leeann Harney, Joe Niesen, Christy Pingleton
Indexer: Techbooks
Special Help: Virginia Sanders
Publishing and Editorial for Technology Dummies
Richard Swadley, Vice President and Executive Group Publisher
Andy Cummings, Vice President and Publisher
Mary Bednarek, Executive Acquisitions Director
Mary C. Corder, Editorial Director
Publishing for Consumer Dummies
Diane Graves Steele, Vice President and Publisher
Joyce Pepple, Acquisitions Director
Composition Services
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Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services
Title
Introduction
Why Buy This Book?
Foolish Assumptions
Safety, Safety, Safety!
How This Book Is Organized
Icons Used in This Book
Part I : Project Prep
Chapter 1: Exploring the World of Electronics Projects
What Is an Electronics Project, Anyway?
Mixing and Matching Effects
What Can You Do with Electronics Projects?
What You Need to Get Started
Chapter 2: Safety First
Avoiding Shocks Like the Plague
Protecting Electronic Components from Dreaded Static Discharge
Working with the Tools of the Trade
A Safe Workspace Is a Happy Workspace
Chapter 3: Assembling Your Electronics Arsenal
Tool Time
Multimeter
Components Primer
The Nuts and Bolts of Building Materials
Breadboard Basics
Chapter 4: Running Down the Skills You Need
It’s Symbolic: Reading a Schematic
Breadboarding
Soldering Your Circuit Board
Measuring Stuff with a Multimeter
Working with the Boxes that Contain Your Projects
Part II : Sounding Off!
Chapter 5: Making Light Dance to the Music
The Big Picture: Project Overview
Scoping Out the Schematic
Fancy Footwork: Exploring the Dance to the Music Circuit
Building Alert: Construction Issues
Perusing the Parts List
Taking Things Step by Step
Trying It Out
Taking It Further
Chapter 6: Focusing Sound with a Parabolic Microphone
What a Dish! The Project Overview
Scoping Out the Schematic
Building Alert: Construction Issues
Perusing the Parts List
Taking Things Step by Step
Trying It Out
Taking It Further
Chapter 7: Murmuring Merlin
The Big Picture: Project Overview
Scoping Out the Schematic
Building Alert: Construction Issues
Perusing the Parts List
Taking Things Step by Step
Trying It Out
Taking It Further
Chapter 8: Surfing the Airwaves
The Big Picture: Project Overview
Scoping Out the Schematic
Building Alert: Construction Issues
Perusing the Parts List
Taking Things Step by Step
Trying It Out
Taking It Further
Part III : Let There Be Light
Chapter 9: Scary Pumpkins
The Big Picture: Project Overview
Taking Things Step by Step
Trying It Out
Taking It Further
Chapter 10: Dancing Dolphins
The Big Picture: Project Overview
Scoping Out the Schematic
Building Alert: Construction Issues
Perusing the Parts List
Taking Things Step by Step
Trying It Out
Taking It Further
Chapter 11: Controlling a Go-Kart, Infrared Style
The Big Picture: Project Overview
Scoping Out the Schematic
Building Alert: Construction Issues
Perusing the Parts List
Taking Things Step by Step
Trying It Out
Taking It Further
Part IV : Good Vibrations
Chapter 12: A Handy-Dandy Metal Detector
The Big Picture: Project Overview
Scoping Out the Schematic
Building Alert: Construction Issues
Perusing the Parts List
Taking Things Step by Step
Trying It Out
Taking It Further
Chapter 13: Sensitive Sam Walks the Line
The Big Picture: Project Overview
Scoping Out the Schematic
Building Alert: Construction Issues
Perusing the Parts List
Taking Things Step by Step
Trying It Out
Taking It Further
Chapter 14: Couch Pet-ato
The Big Picture: Project Overview
Scoping Out the Schematic
Building Alert: Construction Issues
Perusing the Parts List
Taking Things Step by Step
Trying It Out
Taking It Further
Part V : The Part of Tens
Chapter 15: Ten Great Parts Suppliers
When Is a Supplier Right for You?
Reynolds Electronics
Hobby Engineering
Jameco
Digi-Key
Mouser Electronics
RadioShack
Fry’s Electronics
Electronic Goldmine
Furturlec
Maplin
Chapter 16: Ten Great Electronics Resources
Electronics Magazines
Jumpstart Your Project Creativity with Circuits
Web Sites That Teach You the Ropes
Writing the Book on Electronics
Chapter 17: Ten Specialized Electronics Resources
Radio
Audio and Music
Robotics
Glossary
If you’ve caught the electronics bug, you’re ready to try all kinds of projects that will help you develop your skills while creating weird and wonderful gadgets. That’s what this book is about: providing projects that are fun and interesting as well as helping you find out about all kinds of electronic circuits and components.
Electronics Projects For Dummies is a great way to break into electronics or expand your electronics horizons. Here, we provide projects that allow you to dabble in using sound chips, motion detectors, light effects, and more. And all the projects are low voltage, so if you follow our safety advice, no electronics folks will be hurt in the process.
Electronics projects not only help you build useful and fun gadgets, but you pick up a lot of knowledge along the way about how various electronic parts work, how to read a circuit diagram, and how to use tools such as soldering irons and multimeters. So by using this book, you have fun and get some knowledge at the same time.
This book provides you with just what you need to get going in the fun world of electronics. It offers projects that you can build in a reasonable amount of time — and in most cases, for under $100 each (some well under!).
This book assumes that you have an interest in electronics and that you’ve probably explored the world of electricity and electronics a bit. You’ve probably scanned a few electronics circuit Web sites and maybe a magazine or two and have picked up some of the jargon. Other than that, you don’t need anything but a minimal budget to buy parts and tools, a small space in your house or apartment that you can set aside for a workbench, and a little time.
You don’t need to be an electrical engineer or have worked on electronic projects in the past. We provide some initial chapters that help you stock up on essential parts and tools, understand what each one does, set yourself up for safety, and master a few simple skills. Then you’re all set to tackle any one of the projects in this book.
We can’t say this enough: Electronics, especially lower-voltage projects like the ones in this book, can be a painless pastime but only if you follow some basic safety procedures from the get-go.
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We recommend that everybody — even those with electronics experience — read the chapter on safety (Chapter 2). And because we can’t cover every potential danger in a single chapter, be sure to read each manufacturer’s warnings about how to use parts, power sources, and tools. Finally, use common sense when working on projects. If in doubt whether a safety precaution is necessary, just do it. Better safe than sorry is one of our mantras.
Electronics Projects For Dummies is organized into several parts, starting off with some general information about safety and stocking your electronics workshop. Then we offer several parts with different types of projects, and finally conclude with the Part of Tens chapters with additional resources you might want to explore. This book also has a spiffy full-color photo spread of some of the circuits and finished products of several of the projects.
Here’s the rundown of how this book is organized.
If you’re new to electronics, read through this part first. Even if you’re seasoned, humor us and read Chapter 2 about safety. Then use Chapters 3 and 4 to gather the parts and tools you’ll need and also bone up on some essential electronics skills, such as soldering and reading schematics.
This part contains the first set of projects, all involving sound in some fashion. Here you work on projects to make lights dance to music, create a parabolic microphone to pick up sounds at a distance, make a wizard that talks when you push his buttons, and create your own AM radio.
Electricity can produce light (as Thomas Edison could have told you), so here we show you how to work with light in a variety of ways. These projects use light to amuse or even make gadgets run. In this part, you light up a pumpkin by using a motion detector, create a light display that will make your next party rock, and build a go-kart that you direct by using an infrared remote control device.
Some electronic gadgets do their thing when they sense vibrations. All the projects in this part depend on vibrations, including electrical, mechanical, or radio waves. Work through these projects to create a metal detector, a radio controlled vehicle that senses light and runs around a track, and a device that sits on your couch and raises a ruckus if your pet jumps on the cushion.
The chapters in this part provide the ever-popular For Dummies top-ten lists. Use the recommendations here to explore some interesting suppliers of electronic parts and tools; get information or swap ideas about general electronics topics online or in print; or look into resources for more specialized interests, such as audio effects and robotics.
We live in a visual world, so this book uses little icons to point out useful information of various types.
In this part . . .
B efore you can jump in and tackle projects, you might want to brush up on (or discover for the first time) the basics. Chapter 1 answers such urgent questions as “What is an electronics project, anyway?,” and Chapter 2 provides our best advice about safety procedures that keep you intact while you play with gadgets. Chapter 3 runs down the parts and equipment you work with in a typical project, and Chapter 4 reviews some basic skills that you need to build all kinds of electronic toys.
Understanding exactly what an electronics project is
Exploring the effects you can achieve
Considering what’s in it for you
Determining what you need to invest to get started
You probably picked up this book because you love tinkering with gadgets, from that train set you got as a kid to the motion-activated dancing monsters on display in the store aisles at Halloween. Not only are you intrigued by them, but you wonder whether you can build something like them yourself. Now that you own this book, yes, you can!
In this chapter, we take a look at exactly what getting into building electronics projects involves, the kinds of great gadgets you can build yourself, what you’ll get from spending your time with electronics, and what you need to commit to take the plunge.
Obviously, an electronics project involves electronics, meaning that you use electricity to make something happen. However, overlaps exist among electronics, mechanics, and even programmable devices such as robots. Here’s what we mean when we say electronics projects.
Do you dream of building elaborate Erector Set-types of mechanical structures — perhaps a model of the Golden Gate Bridge with pulleys and levers moving objects around? Is your goal to create a robot butler with a programmed brain that enables it to serve your every whim? Well, those aren’t exactly what we categorize as electronics projects.
Certainly, electronics projects are often combined with mechanical structures that use motors, and a robot has electronic components driven by microcontrollers and computer programs. In this book, though, we focus on projects that use simple electronics components to form a circuit that directs voltage to produce effects such as motion, sound, or light. By keeping to this simple approach, you can pick up all the basic skills and discover all the common components and tools that you need to work on a wide variety of projects for years to come. For these projects, you don’t have to become a mechanical or programming whiz.
An electronic circuit might run a motor, light an LED display, or set off sounds through a speaker. It uses various components to regulate the voltage, such as capacitors and resistors. A circuit can also use integrated circuits (ICs), which are teeny, tiny circuits that provide a portion of your circuit in a very compact way. This saves you time micromanaging pieces of the project because somebody else has already done that job for you, such as building a timer chip that sets off a light intermittently.
ICs are preprogrammed or programmable. And that brings us to our next distinction.
Although we do use ICs in many of our projects — for example, in the form of a sound chip that’s preprogrammed with beeps and music — for the most part, we keep away from programmable electronics. In order to work with programmable electronics, you have to get your hands dirty with programming code and microcontrollers, and that’s not what we’re about here. Instead, we focus on building electronics gadgets that teach you about how electricity works and get your mind stirring with ideas about what you can do by using electronics, rather than computers.
Don’t get us wrong: Microcontroller projects can be a lot of fun. After you get your hands dirty and pick up lots of basic skills doing the projects in this book, you might just go out and buy Microcontroller Projects For Dummies (if such a book existed).
One other thing that we made a conscious decision about when writing this book was that we didn’t want you tinkering with high-voltage projects. Electricity can be dangerous! Keeping to about 6 volts keeps you reasonably safe whereas working with something that uses 120 volts — like the juice that comes out of your wall socket — can kill you. While you’re discovering the basics of electronics, our advice is that it’s better to be safe than sorry.
When you get more comfortable and more knowledgeable about tools and skills and safety measures (which we put a lot of emphasis on, especially in Chapter 2), you might explore higher-voltage projects such as high-powered audio or ham radio projects. In this book, we show you how to work with low-voltage batteries and still have fun in the process.
The possibilities of what electronics projects can do are probably endless; on a basic level, the projects in this book use electricity to do a variety of things, from running a small cart around the room to setting off a sequence of lights or sounds.
Generally, most electronics projects consist of four types of elements:
Input: This sets off the effect, such as a remote control device or a switch that you push. An event and a sensor, such as a motion or light detector, can also be used to activate an effect.
Power source: We typically use batteries in these projects.
Circuit: Components that control the voltage — such as transistors, capacitors, amplifiers, and resistors — are connected to each other and to the power source by wires and make up the circuit.
Output: This is what is powered by the circuit to produce an effect, such as speaker emitting sound, LED lights going off, or a motor that sets attached wheels spinning.
You get to explore a number of variations in the projects in this book. And sure, this stuff sounds like it might be cool, but what’s in it for you? Electronics projects offer three benefits (at least):
Fun
The thrill of making something work all by yourself
A boatload of useful knowledge
One obvious benefit of tinkering with gadgets is that it’s just plain fun. If you’re the type who’s intrigued by how things work and what’s under the hood, you probably already know this.
In fact, we have lost ourselves for hours figuring out circuits (this is the electronics equivalent of a jigsaw puzzle, which starts as a drawing, like the one shown in Figure 1-1), wiring the components, and refining the results. You can also, quite literally, amaze your friends with the things you build. And if you go in for electronic gizmos that you can race, scare people with, or use to entertain crowds at parties, you can share the fun with others.
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Figure 1-1: The schematic for the Dance to the Music project in Chapter 5. |
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So why, when you can buy an AM radio for $7.95, would you decide to build one yourself with parts that cost $30? That’s a good question. The truth is just about everything you build in the projects included in this book — and most of the circuits floating around on the Internet — is something that you could probably buy in some form somewhere. But where would the challenge be in that?
Here’s why hundreds of thousands of electronics junkies build instead of buying: Because they can. They can make something that grabs music out of the airwaves or sets off a light display or sends a little cart wheeling around the room themselves. We guess this is why people knit sweaters instead of buying them or work on old cars instead of taking them to mechanics. It just feels good to master something on your own.
Some of the things that you build in this book are just for fun, like the dancing dolphin light display (Chapter 10). Other things have a practical use: the Couch Pet-ato (Chapter 14) keeps your cat off the furniture when you leave the house, for example.
Besides building gadgets that have a use, in some cases, you can build items more cheaply than you can buy them in the store. You could just end up with projects you can put to work and save a few bucks in the process.
One of the great things about electronics is that it teaches you about all kinds of things you can use in your life. For example, you discover
How electricity works and how to stay safe when working with it
How to read an electronic circuit and build it on a breadboard like the one shown in Figure 1-2
How to use a variety of tools to solder, build, and customize casings to hold your gadgets
How to work with integrated circuits
A bit about wiring (which can give you a head start when you decide to learn how to add an outlet to your kitchen someday)
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Figure 1-2: Here’s what the breadboard for Dance to the Music in Chapter 5 looks like. |
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Now that you’re all excited about the benefits of working on electronics projects, you’re probably wondering what this will cost you in dollars and workspace.
We tried to keep the cost of the projects in this book to under $100; in many cases, the materials and parts will cost you under $50 or so.
Depending on what you have lying around the house already, you might not have to invest in some of the basic tools, such as pliers or a screwdriver. You will probably have to spend $50 or so for electronics-specific tools and materials such as a soldering iron, solder, and a multimeter like the one shown in Figure 1-3.
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Figure 1-3: A multi- meter is a measuring device that you’ll use often. |
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If you want to get really fancy, you could spend a couple hundred dollars on fancy testing equipment such an oscilloscope, but you don’t have to have that equipment to get through these projects, by any means.
Of course, in the world outside this book, projects can cost you hundreds of dollars. Like any hobby, you can spend a few bucks to dabble or mortgage your house to get into it in a big way. To get your feet wet in electronics, though, the investment is not that great.
See Chapter 3 for information about the parts and tools that we recommend you get to build your basic electronics workshop.
One thing you do need to leap into the world of electronics projects is space. That doesn’t mean you have to take over your living room and build a fancy workbench. In most cases, a corner of your garage or laundry room stocked with a shelf where you can keep parts and a card table works just fine. We do advise that you find a specific space for your projects.
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Figure 1-4: A typical assortment of electron- ics para- phernalia. |
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We also recommend finding a spot that you can close off if there are others in your household — especially small children or pets — who could topple your work surface or eat tiny electrical parts and do themselves damage. Electronic projects don’t happen in a day, and you might work on a single project over a matter of weeks. If you have a small room with a door to keep others out, great. If not, use your common sense about what you leave out on your work surface overnight.