Breadboard is a great way to construct electronic projects easily and in less time without the need for soldering. A problem that is faced by beginners in the field of electronics is that they cannot solder the components neatly on printed circuit boards. One bad solder joint can lead to the project not working. When the project does not work, they eventually lose their confidence and cease to continue making projects. Before attempting another project, they have to think twice. Another problem faced by them is that if they try to solder and make a project, it does not work because of poor soldering or the circuit that was taken from a book or magazine lacked instructions or it was wrong. Now after spending a lot of time on making it, what they have to face is dissapointment.
This instructable gives a walkthrough of ten projects that can be easily made on a standard size breadboard thus solving the problem of hobbyists. Each projects is followed by a schematic, a breadboard layout, complete description with instructions, parts list and the difficulty level. The difficulty level increases as you make each project. Before making the projects a description of breadboard as well as electronic components is given which gives a complete understanding to beginners. All the projects are tested before they were added and all of their work.
It feels good sometimes to make something apart from arduino, microcontrollers and explore the world of digital and analog circuits. All the projects do not use any microcontrollers thus making them non-programmable. The parts can be easily obtained and are cheap. All the circuits were picked from the internet, books and magazines but most of the projects were taken from Talking Electronics (A special thanks to Colin Mitchell for his projects). All the schematics and breadboard layouts were made using Fritzing library.The Projects can be modified to use them in a different and better way and to use them for other applications.
Update: Corrections have been made in schematics and breadboard layouts.
Here is a list of all the projects in the correct order:
Musical Bell
IR Remote Tester
Static Electricity Detector
Ticking Bomb
The Fading LED
Light Activated LED
Dark Activated LED
LED Dimmer
Single Chip Electronic Dice
Manual Counter
After crossing 300K views, receiving tons of positive feedback and a lot of people recommending to post more such projects, I decided to post one more instructable on BreadBoard Projects For Beginners. This one follows the same concept, just that it has 5 projects instead of 10. It was a lot of trouble selecting the best of simple circuits, and due to shortage of time I limited this one to just 5. I will surely try posting one more such I'ble.
Here's the list of all parts required. Some of them can be removed if you don't want to attempt all the projects. The total cost of all the parts is around $5 or 300 INR which varies according to the store of website you buy the parts from.
Breadboard is a base for constructing electronic projects and prototyping electronics. It can be a great option for beginners with the purpose of creating easy and temporary projects without the need to solder the components. It is a great way to construct temporary projects as almost all the components can fit in easily (not the ones with thick leads) in the holes. Almost all the components can be plugged in and out easily thus making it easily to contruct almost all electronic projects. It has mainly two types of rows in a breadboard- bus rows or horizontal rows and vertical rows.
Bus rows or horizontal rows are used to connect power or a battery to a breadboard. There are a total of four bus rows in a breadboard- two in the uppermost part while two in the lower part. In a 840 points breadboard, a divider is present in each row when halfway of a row is completely. Usually these dividers are connected through hookup wire to easily connect the power lines to the vertical rows. Bus rows are also called the power rails of the breadboard.
Vertical rows are another type of rows where most of the electronic components are connected. There is a large gap in the middle of the breadboard where the connection between the vertical rows is broken. This place mainly holds integrated circuits (ics). Since the connection is broken here, each vertical row is connected to its respective pin of the ic where components are added. Vertical rows are connected to bus rows wherever power is needed.
Breadboard is available in various shapes and sizes to meet the needs of a project. They also have grooves through which they can be inter-connected to each other to make bigger breadboards. A special type of wire called hookup wire of jumper wire is used to make connections in a breadboard. Using other types of wires can damage it.
Before you start making the projects, you should understand the functioning of every project to know what you are really doing. For this you need to know about important electronics components used in a circuit. So here is a brief description of all the electronic components used in the projects. I have left the ones that are not used in the projects and are too complicated to understand.
(1) Resistor:
A resistor is a device that reduces current in a circuit by offering obstruction to the flow of electrical current. So if you connect an LED directly to a 3v battery and then connect it by adding a resistor in series. The brightness in the second case would be lower than the first one as the resistor in the second case would not allow much current to pass through thus reducing the brightness. Resistance is measured in ohms, kilo ohms and mega ohms.
(2)Capacitor:
A capacitor is a device that stores electricity inside it when it is supplied and gives it out in a circuit when there is a loss in electricity. It is like a rechargeable battery but there is a lot of difference between them. A capacitor can store a small amount of current and can charge instantly whereas a battery can store a large amount of current and takes a while to charge. There are many types of capacitors but the two common types are- electrolytic (polarized) and non electrolytic (non polarized). Capacitance is measured in pico farads, nano farads and micro farads.
(3)Transistor:
A transistor is a device that amplifies a small current applied to its base pin to produce a large current that flows between the collector and emitter pins. It does not create a large current but acts as a switch which when supplied a small current on the base pin, closes the switch (switches it on). There are two types of transistors- NPN and PNP.
(4) Integrated Circuit (IC):
An integrated circuit is a small package that is made for a particular task. It has a miniature inbuilt circuit that has many components inside it that can perform a particular task. For example- a 555 ic is meant for timing circuits and LM386 is meant for amplifying audio signals. It is usually a small black chip with pins coming out. There are 3 pin ics as well as 32 pin ics and even more.
(5)Diode:
A diode is a device that allows current to flow only in one direction. This is the reason it has polarity and should be connected correctly for its proper functioning. It is used to prevent the reverse flow of current.
(6) Light Emitting Diode (LED):
A light emitting diode is a special type of diode that can emit light when electricity is passed through it. Like a diode, an LED also allows current to flow only in one direction so to make it work it should be properly connected in a circuit. These days LEDs are preferred over lightbulbs as they consume much less electricity than bulbs and CFLs. They are available in different shapes, sizes and colors but being energy efficient, their cost is much high.
(7)Potentiometer:
A potentiometer or a variable resistor is a device that allows us to choose different resistances that may be required in a circuit. It has a knob that can be adjusted to produce a specific resistance.
(8) Light Dependent Resistor (LDR):
An LDR is a special type of resistor that changes its resistance according to the intensity of light falling on it. The resistance of an LDR increases when it is dark and decreases when the intensity of light falling on it is high.
(9) Infra-Red Receiver (IR receiver):
An IR receiver is a device that receives infrared light and gives an output depending on the signal received. It decodes and tells the type of signal received. It is present in all the devices that are controlled using IR remotes.
(10) Seven Segment Display:
A seven segment display is a device that is used to display digits and letters. It has usually a series of seven LEDs placed in a certain odder to form an 8. All the digits can be displayed by lighting a certain number of LEDs. It also has an extra LED for decimal point.
A problem that you have to face in every project is what power supply to use? In this instructable, all the projects that are mentioned are low power projects that do not suck too much power. High power ics and motors are not used here so a 9v battery would be ideal as a power supply for the projects. The first project that is a musical bell uses a um66 ic which cannot be supplied a voltage more than 4.5v. So in that project you need to substitute the 9v battery with two 1.5v batteries. Rest all other projects can be powered safely with a 9v battery. An adjustable power supply can also be a good option for powering the projects.
As for now, connect a switch to the breadboard as shown in the image above. Connect two small pieces of hookup wire to the 9v battery clip as well as the 3v battery holder. Do not connect a battery or a power source right now as we will see that later.
Before you start attempting the projects, it is necessary to make this simple circuit that involves only an LED with a resistor. This is only for absolute beginners who have not made anything before and you may skip it if you have worked before with breadboard.
Connect the negative lead of led to the negative power rail of the breadboard. Now connect a 470 ohm resistor to the positive power rail and the other lead of resistor to the positive lead of LED. A resistor is added here to prevent the led from burning as a 9v battery gives a higher current than the led requires. Connect a 9v battery to the power rails through a battery clip. Now switch the circuit on, this will make the circuit closed (on) and current will flow from positive to negative thus illuminating the led. After that switch it off, now the led will stop glowing as you have made the circuit open (off). As the circuit is broken, current will not flow thereby not illuminating it.
Note: Use a 1K resistor instead of 220 ohm for better results. Using a 220 ohm can damage the resistor as well as the LED.
Description: This is a simple project that can be easily made in five minutes. It is a musical bell that produces a melodious sound just like doorbells. It uses the um66 ic popularly known as the melody ic which has a built in oscillator and an amplifier which can directly drive a buzzer but needs an external circuit to drive a speaker. The supply voltage if the ic is 1.5 - 4.5v so cannot be powered by a 9v battery.
Instructions: Connect everything to the breadboard according to the layout given above. Refer to the images above for the pin configurations of the transistor as well as the ic. Connect a battery holder with 2 AA or AAA batteries to the power rails of the breadboard. Do not connect a 9v battery as it will burn the ic. On switching it on, a musical sound will be heard.
Description: This is another simple project to learn about infrared light. It is an IR remote tester which can be used to test an IR remote whether it is working or not. IR remotes are basically TV or music player remotes. The circuit makes use of an IR receiver which gives a repeated high and low output when it receives infrared light. TV remotes have an IR led in front of them which is used to transmit signals so if the led is working and the receiver is receiving, that means the remote is working. Since infrared light has a higher wavelength than our eyes can see so we are not able to see it however it can be seen clearly using a camera. The circuit is so modified that if you press a button on the remote, an LED will glow indicating that the remote is working.
Instructions: Connect everything according to the layout given above. Refer to the image above for pin identification of the components. Connect a 9v battery to the power rails and switch it on. Now bring an IR remote near it and press any button. The led would glow indicating that the remote is working.
Note: Use a 6v battery instead of a 9v as TSOP can handle voltages upto 6v only. Giving it a higher voltage can damage it however it still works with it. Also use a 470 ohm instead of 220 ohm connected to the LED for better results.
Description: You may have read that static electricity is the type of electricity in which the charges are at rest. It is present almost everywhere around us. So this is a project which can check the presence of static electricity around us. If you touch it to anything, the led will glow indicating the presence of static electricity. The circuit is so sensitive that it can detect your hand even if you keep it near the antenna without touching it.
Instructions: Connect everything as shown in the layout about. Look at the image above for the pinout of bc547. Extract a piece of wire from the base of the third transistor which will act as an antenna to detect charges. After completing everything, switch it on and bring your hand close to the antenna. The led would glow dimly. Now touch your finger to the antenna. This time the led would glow brightly.
Breadboard is a great way to construct electronic projects easily and in less time without the need for soldering. A problem that is faced by beginners in the field of electronics is that they cannot solder the components neatly on printed circuit boards. One bad solder joint can lead to the project not working. When the project does not work, they eventually lose their confidence and cease to continue making projects. Before attempting another project, they have to think twice. Another problem faced by them is that if they try to solder and make a project, it does not work because of poor soldering or the circuit that was taken from a book or magazine lacked instructions or it was wrong. Now after spending a lot of time on making it, what they have to face is dissapointment.
This instructable gives a walkthrough of ten projects that can be easily made on a standard size breadboard thus solving the problem of hobbyists. Each projects is followed by a schematic, a breadboard layout, complete description with instructions, parts list and the difficulty level. The difficulty level increases as you make each project. Before making the projects a description of breadboard as well as electronic components is given which gives a complete understanding to beginners. All the projects are tested before they were added and all of their work.
It feels good sometimes to make something apart from arduino, microcontrollers and explore the world of digital and analog circuits. All the projects do not use any microcontrollers thus making them non-programmable. The parts can be easily obtained and are cheap. All the circuits were picked from the internet, books and magazines but most of the projects were taken from Talking Electronics (A special thanks to Colin Mitchell for his projects). All the schematics and breadboard layouts were made using Fritzing library.The Projects can be modified to use them in a different and better way and to use them for other applications.
Update: Corrections have been made in schematics and breadboard layouts.
Here is a list of all the projects in the correct order:
Musical Bell
IR Remote Tester
Static Electricity Detector
Ticking Bomb
The Fading LED
Light Activated LED
Dark Activated LED
LED Dimmer
Single Chip Electronic Dice
Manual Counter
After crossing 300K views, receiving tons of positive feedback and a lot of people recommending to post more such projects, I decided to post one more instructable on BreadBoard Projects For Beginners. This one follows the same concept, just that it has 5 projects instead of 10. It was a lot of trouble selecting the best of simple circuits, and due to shortage of time I limited this one to just 5. I will surely try posting one more such I'ble.
Here's the list of all parts required. Some of them can be removed if you don't want to attempt all the projects. The total cost of all the parts is around $5 or 300 INR which varies according to the store of website you buy the parts from.
Breadboard is a base for constructing electronic projects and prototyping electronics. It can be a great option for beginners with the purpose of creating easy and temporary projects without the need to solder the components. It is a great way to construct temporary projects as almost all the components can fit in easily (not the ones with thick leads) in the holes. Almost all the components can be plugged in and out easily thus making it easily to contruct almost all electronic projects. It has mainly two types of rows in a breadboard- bus rows or horizontal rows and vertical rows.
Bus rows or horizontal rows are used to connect power or a battery to a breadboard. There are a total of four bus rows in a breadboard- two in the uppermost part while two in the lower part. In a 840 points breadboard, a divider is present in each row when halfway of a row is completely. Usually these dividers are connected through hookup wire to easily connect the power lines to the vertical rows. Bus rows are also called the power rails of the breadboard.
Vertical rows are another type of rows where most of the electronic components are connected. There is a large gap in the middle of the breadboard where the connection between the vertical rows is broken. This place mainly holds integrated circuits (ics). Since the connection is broken here, each vertical row is connected to its respective pin of the ic where components are added. Vertical rows are connected to bus rows wherever power is needed.
Breadboard is available in various shapes and sizes to meet the needs of a project. They also have grooves through which they can be inter-connected to each other to make bigger breadboards. A special type of wire called hookup wire of jumper wire is used to make connections in a breadboard. Using other types of wires can damage it.
Before you start making the projects, you should understand the functioning of every project to know what you are really doing. For this you need to know about important electronics components used in a circuit. So here is a brief description of all the electronic components used in the projects. I have left the ones that are not used in the projects and are too complicated to understand.
(1) Resistor:
A resistor is a device that reduces current in a circuit by offering obstruction to the flow of electrical current. So if you connect an LED directly to a 3v battery and then connect it by adding a resistor in series. The brightness in the second case would be lower than the first one as the resistor in the second case would not allow much current to pass through thus reducing the brightness. Resistance is measured in ohms, kilo ohms and mega ohms.
(2)Capacitor:
A capacitor is a device that stores electricity inside it when it is supplied and gives it out in a circuit when there is a loss in electricity. It is like a rechargeable battery but there is a lot of difference between them. A capacitor can store a small amount of current and can charge instantly whereas a battery can store a large amount of current and takes a while to charge. There are many types of capacitors but the two common types are- electrolytic (polarized) and non electrolytic (non polarized). Capacitance is measured in pico farads, nano farads and micro farads.
(3)Transistor:
A transistor is a device that amplifies a small current applied to its base pin to produce a large current that flows between the collector and emitter pins. It does not create a large current but acts as a switch which when supplied a small current on the base pin, closes the switch (switches it on). There are two types of transistors- NPN and PNP.
(4) Integrated Circuit (IC):
An integrated circuit is a small package that is made for a particular task. It has a miniature inbuilt circuit that has many components inside it that can perform a particular task. For example- a 555 ic is meant for timing circuits and LM386 is meant for amplifying audio signals. It is usually a small black chip with pins coming out. There are 3 pin ics as well as 32 pin ics and even more.
(5)Diode:
A diode is a device that allows current to flow only in one direction. This is the reason it has polarity and should be connected correctly for its proper functioning. It is used to prevent the reverse flow of current.
(6) Light Emitting Diode (LED):
A light emitting diode is a special type of diode that can emit light when electricity is passed through it. Like a diode, an LED also allows current to flow only in one direction so to make it work it should be properly connected in a circuit. These days LEDs are preferred over lightbulbs as they consume much less electricity than bulbs and CFLs. They are available in different shapes, sizes and colors but being energy efficient, their cost is much high.
(7)Potentiometer:
A potentiometer or a variable resistor is a device that allows us to choose different resistances that may be required in a circuit. It has a knob that can be adjusted to produce a specific resistance.
(8) Light Dependent Resistor (LDR):
An LDR is a special type of resistor that changes its resistance according to the intensity of light falling on it. The resistance of an LDR increases when it is dark and decreases when the intensity of light falling on it is high.
(9) Infra-Red Receiver (IR receiver):
An IR receiver is a device that receives infrared light and gives an output depending on the signal received. It decodes and tells the type of signal received. It is present in all the devices that are controlled using IR remotes.
(10) Seven Segment Display:
A seven segment display is a device that is used to display digits and letters. It has usually a series of seven LEDs placed in a certain odder to form an 8. All the digits can be displayed by lighting a certain number of LEDs. It also has an extra LED for decimal point.
A problem that you have to face in every project is what power supply to use? In this instructable, all the projects that are mentioned are low power projects that do not suck too much power. High power ics and motors are not used here so a 9v battery would be ideal as a power supply for the projects. The first project that is a musical bell uses a um66 ic which cannot be supplied a voltage more than 4.5v. So in that project you need to substitute the 9v battery with two 1.5v batteries. Rest all other projects can be powered safely with a 9v battery. An adjustable power supply can also be a good option for powering the projects.
As for now, connect a switch to the breadboard as shown in the image above. Connect two small pieces of hookup wire to the 9v battery clip as well as the 3v battery holder. Do not connect a battery or a power source right now as we will see that later.
Before you start attempting the projects, it is necessary to make this simple circuit that involves only an LED with a resistor. This is only for absolute beginners who have not made anything before and you may skip it if you have worked before with breadboard.
Connect the negative lead of led to the negative power rail of the breadboard. Now connect a 470 ohm resistor to the positive power rail and the other lead of resistor to the positive lead of LED. A resistor is added here to prevent the led from burning as a 9v battery gives a higher current than the led requires. Connect a 9v battery to the power rails through a battery clip. Now switch the circuit on, this will make the circuit closed (on) and current will flow from positive to negative thus illuminating the led. After that switch it off, now the led will stop glowing as you have made the circuit open (off). As the circuit is broken, current will not flow thereby not illuminating it.
Note: Use a 1K resistor instead of 220 ohm for better results. Using a 220 ohm can damage the resistor as well as the LED.
Description: This is a simple project that can be easily made in five minutes. It is a musical bell that produces a melodious sound just like doorbells. It uses the um66 ic popularly known as the melody ic which has a built in oscillator and an amplifier which can directly drive a buzzer but needs an external circuit to drive a speaker. The supply voltage if the ic is 1.5 - 4.5v so cannot be powered by a 9v battery.
Instructions: Connect everything to the breadboard according to the layout given above. Refer to the images above for the pin configurations of the transistor as well as the ic. Connect a battery holder with 2 AA or AAA batteries to the power rails of the breadboard. Do not connect a 9v battery as it will burn the ic. On switching it on, a musical sound will be heard.
Description: This is another simple project to learn about infrared light. It is an IR remote tester which can be used to test an IR remote whether it is working or not. IR remotes are basically TV or music player remotes. The circuit makes use of an IR receiver which gives a repeated high and low output when it receives infrared light. TV remotes have an IR led in front of them which is used to transmit signals so if the led is working and the receiver is receiving, that means the remote is working. Since infrared light has a higher wavelength than our eyes can see so we are not able to see it however it can be seen clearly using a camera. The circuit is so modified that if you press a button on the remote, an LED will glow indicating that the remote is working.
Instructions: Connect everything according to the layout given above. Refer to the image above for pin identification of the components. Connect a 9v battery to the power rails and switch it on. Now bring an IR remote near it and press any button. The led would glow indicating that the remote is working.
Note: Use a 6v battery instead of a 9v as TSOP can handle voltages upto 6v only. Giving it a higher voltage can damage it however it still works with it. Also use a 470 ohm instead of 220 ohm connected to the LED for better results.
Description: You may have read that static electricity is the type of electricity in which the charges are at rest. It is present almost everywhere around us. So this is a project which can check the presence of static electricity around us. If you touch it to anything, the led will glow indicating the presence of static electricity. The circuit is so sensitive that it can detect your hand even if you keep it near the antenna without touching it.
Instructions: Connect everything as shown in the layout about. Look at the image above for the pinout of bc547. Extract a piece of wire from the base of the third transistor which will act as an antenna to detect charges. After completing everything, switch it on and bring your hand close to the antenna. The led would glow dimly. Now touch your finger to the antenna. This time the led would glow brightly.
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