A short circuit is a connection that was not meant to be there. For example, if you accidentally connect the plus to the minus of a battery, you have a short circuit between the plus and minus of the battery. Which is not good.
You can use it as a verb as well:
“I accidentally shorted the battery and it exploded!”
(Yes, some batteries can really explode if you short-circuit them.)
This is a very important concept to understand because it’s used a lot in “electronics language”.
The blinking LED circuit is like the electronics version of the “Hello World”-program. It’s a simple electronic circuit that gives you a visual cue if it works. It was the first circuit I ever built, and it felt GREAT!
The goal is to make a Light Emitting Diode (LED) blink.
Sometimes I really enjoy diving into electronics books with a freshly brewed coffee by my side. Just immersing into some interesting subject. But it is really important to not get stuck in the books. You need to get your soldering iron out and practice what you learn. Otherwise it’s no use learning it, right?
There are many electronics books available today. And they can differ quite a bit in how they are written. And I love that! People like to learn in different ways. Some like the extremely detailed and heavy theory book, while other like to get practical and learn by doing.
In this article I’m going to cover a few electronics books that will help you learn electronics from scratch or expand on the knowledge that you have already gained.
Because of a mistake made by yours truly, I decided to write about how to repair electronics.
You see, I got a drone for Christmas this year.
It was really windy outside that day. However, I was so excited to take it for a spin!
I found a big open space, put my drone down on the ground, and started the take-off.
I only got the drone a couple of meters up into the air before the wind took charge. It blew it further and further away from me until it crashed into a tree and fell to the ground.
This didn’t stop me though. I started over again.
But the same thing happened. It was impossible to control the drone in the strong wind!
After maybe ten crashes, one of the rotors stopped working!
Noooo!
I hoped it was just a flat battery, but it was not.
Build this portable USB charger circuit, and you’ll always have access to a charger.
Imagine a beautiful summer day. You’re on your way to meet friends for a picnic in the park. But, the park is huge and full of people. Since you don’t know where exactly your friends are, you pick up your phone to call them.
But as you dial the number, the battery on your phone dies…
Ahhh!
With this portable USB charger circuit, there’s no need to worry. Just drop by a supermarket nearby and pick up some standard batteries to recharge your phone on-the-go.
These are the components you need for building the portable USB charger circuit.
These are all pretty standard components, so you can probably get these at your local electronics supplier if you have one.
The PNP transistor was a mystery to me for a long time. But when I at some point was forced to learn it, I realized that it was pretty simple. And if you want to design circuits with transistors, it’s really worth knowing about this type of transistor.
For example, want to automatically turn on a light when it gets dark? The PNP transistor will make this easy for you. Let’s dive in!
In my article how transistors work, I explained how a standard NPN transistor works. If you haven’t already, I’d really urge you to read that article first.
If you understand the NPN transistor, it will make it easier to understand the PNP transistor. They work pretty much in the same way, with one major difference: The currents in the PNP transistor flow in the opposite directions of the currents in the NPN transistor.
What do you buy for Christmas for someone who’s interested in electronics? Check out these Christmas gift ideas and get the shopping over with.
Last year I received three boxes with a lot of resistors and capacitors from my family. And I absolutely loved it!
I guess a box of resistors and capacitors isn’t everyone’s cup of tea…
Instead, here are some Christmas gift ideas from me that I think every electronics-interested kid, adult or grandparent would love.
Christmas is coming up, so why not set aside an hour or two to build this blinking Christmas lights circuit?
This circuit is easy to build and it’s something you can put to use right away. I built this and hung it in the window, something my girlfriend loved!
The blinking part of the circuit is made up of only 4 components. Then you’ll add as many lights as you want.
There’s some confusion going on when it comes to how to choose a power supply.
So, I thought I’d clear up some doubts, and give you a simple, beginner-friendly way of choosing a power supply.
Let’s start with the basics. A power supply has a voltage and a current specification:
This power supply circuit is easy to build and cheap. And it requires only 5 components.
I have built many circuits in my life, but this is actually the first time I’ve built a power supply circuit from scratch.
The final project I wanted to build was a wall adapter with a USB socket to charge my iPhone. But first I wanted to start by creating a simple circuit that converts from the main power voltage, 220V or 110V, to 5V.
As I’m in Australia while writing this, and the voltage here is 220V, I built this with 220V in mind. But it’s very easy to convert to 110V instead by switching one connection (or one component).
Do you have an idea for an electronic product that you know will sell? Do you know how to create it?
Back in the days, my friends Olav and Elias and I were certain that we had a revolutionary product idea. We wanted to develop a touch-less controller for games, so that you could play games with your body as the controller.
We had learned a lot about circuit design at the University, but had very little practical experience. And we had never developed an electronic product before.
So many things could go wrong…
Do you have a circuit that doesn’t work?
Do you feel you’ve done everything you could? You’ve reconnected the circuit 100 times, and it still doesn’t work?
You’ve put in so much effort, but still no reward…
How does that feel? Are you starting to feel like building electronic circuits might not be for you?
Don’t worry, I’ve been there.
And I have the solution for you.
The solution is being smart. It’s by not giving in to the feeling of giving up or the feeling of trying to work harder.
I started out writing this for myself as a reminder for next time. But then I figured, hey – maybe more people could benefit from this.
Do you have an idea for an electronics project that you want to build? Are you stuck because you don’t know how to start?
Well, then this is for you…
Whenever I take on a new project that is very different from anything I’ve ever done before, this happens:
Let’s say I want to build an RC model airplane (which is something I’ve never done before). The first automatic reaction in my brain is “But I don’t even know where to start!!!”.
When I was more inexperienced I often gave in to this first reaction. So, I postponed the project.
“Maybe next month” I told myself.
The BeagleBone is a mini computer, in the size of a credit card. Very similar to a Raspberry Pi.
You can connect a mouse, a keyboard and a display – and you’ll have a fully functional computer.
But most people don’t buy it to use as a normal computer…
…so, what is BeagleBone aside from this?
There’s much more exciting things to make from it… Like: