WIXLIB

ElectronicsProjectsFORDUMmIES‰by Earl Boysen and Nancy MuirFree Engineering Bookshttps://boilersinfo.com/

Free Engineering Bookshttps://boilersinfo.com/

ElectronicsProjectsFORDUMmIESFree Engineering Bookshttps://boilersinfo.com/‰

Free Engineering Bookshttps://boilersinfo.com/

ElectronicsProjectsFORDUMmIES‰by Earl Boysen and Nancy MuirFree Engineering Bookshttps://boilersinfo.com/

Electronics Projects For Dummies Published byWiley Publishing, Inc.111 River StreetHoboken, NJ 07030-5774www.wiley.comCopyright 2006 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, IndianaPublished by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, IndianaPublished simultaneously in CanadaNo part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form orby any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior writtenpermission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to theCopyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600.Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Legal Department, Wiley Publishing,Inc., 10475 Crosspoint Blvd., Indianapolis, IN 46256, (317) 572-3447, fax (317) 572-4355, or online athttp://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.Trademarks: Wiley, the Wiley Publishing logo, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, A Reference for theRest of Us!, The Dummies Way, Dummies Daily, The Fun and Easy Way, Dummies.com, and related tradedress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the UnitedStates and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. All other trademarks are theproperty of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendormentioned in this book.LIMIT OF LIABILITY/DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY: THE PUBLISHER AND THE AUTHOR MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES WITH RESPECT TO THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THE CONTENTS OF THIS WORK AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING WITHOUTLIMITATION WARRANTIES OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. NO WARRANTY MAY BE CREATED OR EXTENDED BY SALES OR PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS. THE ADVICE AND STRATEGIES CONTAINED HEREIN MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR EVERY SITUATION. THIS WORK IS SOLD WITH THEUNDERSTANDING THAT THE PUBLISHER IS NOT ENGAGED IN RENDERING LEGAL, ACCOUNTING, OROTHER PROFESSIONAL SERVICES. IF PROFESSIONAL ASSISTANCE IS REQUIRED, THE SERVICES OF ACOMPETENT PROFESSIONAL PERSON SHOULD BE SOUGHT. NEITHER THE PUBLISHER NOR THEAUTHOR SHALL BE LIABLE FOR DAMAGES ARISING HEREFROM. THE FACT THAT AN ORGANIZATIONOR WEBSITE IS REFERRED TO IN THIS WORK AS A CITATION AND/OR A POTENTIAL SOURCE OF FURTHER INFORMATION DOES NOT MEAN THAT THE AUTHOR OR THE PUBLISHER ENDORSES THE INFORMATION THE ORGANIZATION OR WEBSITE MAY PROVIDE OR RECOMMENDATIONS IT MAY MAKE.FURTHER, READERS SHOULD BE AWARE THAT INTERNET WEBSITES LISTED IN THIS WORK MAY HAVECHANGED OR DISAPPEARED BETWEEN WHEN THIS WORK WAS WRITTEN AND WHEN IT IS READ.For general information on our other products and services, please contact our Customer CareDepartment within the U.S. at 800-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax 317-572-4002.For technical support, please visit www.wiley.com/techsupport.Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print maynot be available in electronic books.Library of Congress Control Number: 2006926111ISBN-13: 978-0-470-00968-0ISBN-10: 0-470-00968-3Manufactured in the United States of America10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 11B/RT/QX/QW/INFree Engineering Bookshttps://boilersinfo.com/

About the AuthorsEarl 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 isthe 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 asbusy as ever with teaching, writing, house building, and acting. Visit Earl athis Web site to get reviews and information about the latest components andtechniques for building projects: www.buildinggadgets.com.Nancy Muir is the author of over 50 books on topics ranging from desktopcomputer 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 managementpositions 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.Free Engineering Bookshttps://boilersinfo.com/

Free Engineering Bookshttps://boilersinfo.com/

DedicationNancy and Earl dedicate this book to their uncle, Ted Stier, with thanks forbeing such a great guy and giving Nancy away with such style and grace!Authors’ AcknowledgmentsThe authors wish to thank Katie Feltman for continuing to hire them to workon interesting book projects and to Chris Morris for managing the editingprocess and the authors so successfully. Thanks also to technical editor KirkKleinschmidt and copy editor Teresa Artman for making sure that what wewrote ended up being accurate and grammatically correct.We also received help during this project from the following people, and theyhave 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 BudgetRobotics (www.budgetrobotics.com).Free Engineering Bookshttps://boilersinfo.com/

Publisher’s AcknowledgmentsWe’re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our online registration formlocated at www.dummies.com/register/.Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:Acquisitions, Editorial, andMedia DevelopmentComposition ServicesProject Coordinator: Patrick RedmondProject Editor: Christopher MorrisLayout and Graphics: Claudia Bell, Carl Byers,Joyce Haughey, Barbara Moore,Barry Offringa, Alicia SouthAcquisitions Editor: Katie FeltmanSenior Copy Editor: Teresa ArtmanProofreaders: Leeann Harney, Joe Niesen,Christy PingletonTechnical Editor: Kirk KleinschmidtEditorial Manager: Kevin KirschnerIndexer: TechbooksMedia Development Specialists: Angela Denny,Kate Jenkins, Steven Kudirka, Kit MaloneSpecial Help: Virginia SandersMedia Development Manager:Laura VanWinkleEditorial Assistant: Amanda FoxworthSr. Editorial Assistant: Cherie CaseCartoons: Rich Tennant(www.the5thwave.com)Publishing and Editorial for Technology DummiesRichard Swadley, Vice President and Executive Group PublisherAndy Cummings, Vice President and PublisherMary Bednarek, Executive Acquisitions DirectorMary C. Corder, Editorial DirectorPublishing for Consumer DummiesDiane Graves Steele, Vice President and PublisherJoyce Pepple, Acquisitions DirectorComposition ServicesGerry Fahey, Vice President of Production ServicesDebbie Stailey, Director of Composition ServicesFree Engineering Bookshttps://boilersinfo.com/

Contents at a GlanceIntroduction .1Part I: Project Prep.5Chapter 1: Exploring the World of Electronics Projects.7Chapter 2: Safety First.17Chapter 3: Assembling Your Electronics Arsenal.31Chapter 4: Running Down the Skills You Need .59Part II: Sounding Off! .85Chapter 5: Making Light Dance to the Music .87Chapter 6: Focusing Sound with a Parabolic Microphone .115Chapter 7: Murmuring Merlin .139Chapter 8: Surfing the Airwaves.165Part III: Let There Be Light .185Chapter 9: Scary Pumpkins .187Chapter 10: Dancing Dolphins .215Chapter 11: Controlling a Go-Kart Infrared Style.239Part IV: Good Vibrations.279Chapter 12: A Handy-Dandy Metal Detector .281Chapter 13: Sensitive Sam Walks the Line.301Chapter 14: Couch Pet-ato.343Part V: The Part of Tens .361Chapter 15: Ten Great Parts Suppliers .363Chapter 16: Ten Great Electronics Resources .369Chapter 17: Ten Specialized Electronics Resources .375Glossary.381Index .391Free Engineering Bookshttps://boilersinfo.com/

Free Engineering Bookshttps://boilersinfo.com/

Table of ContentsIntroduction.1Why Buy This Book? .1Foolish Assumptions .1Safety, Safety, Safety!.2How This Book Is Organized.2Part I: Project Prep .2Part II: Sounding Off! .3Part III: Let There Be Light .3Part IV: Good Vibrations.3Part V: The Part of Tens.3Icons Used in This Book.3Part I: Project Prep .5Chapter 1: Exploring the World of Electronics Projects . . . . . . . . . . . .7What Is an Electronics Project, Anyway?.7Electronics, mechanics, robotics: Huh? .8Programmable versus nonprogrammable.8Mixing and Matching Effects.9What Can You Do with Electronics Projects? .10Just for the fun of it .10Building things you can actually use .12Picking up lots of cool stuff along the way .12What You Need to Get Started.13How much will it cost?.13Space . . . the final frontier .14Chapter 2: Safety First . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17Avoiding Shocks Like the Plague.17How voltage and current can get you .18How much is too much? .18Common sense: Protecting yourself from getting shocked .20Protecting Electronic Components from Dreaded Static Discharge.21What static discharge can do .21How to guard against ESD .22Working with the Tools of the Trade .23Safe soldering.24Running with sharp objects: Cutting, sawing, and drilling .25Free Engineering Bookshttps://boilersinfo.com/

xiiElectronics Projects For DummiesA Safe Workspace Is a Happy Workspace .26Dressing for safety.26Clean up your stuff! .29Keeping kids and pets out of your space .29Chapter 3: Assembling Your Electronics Arsenal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31Tool Time .31Soldering prerequisites.32Drills that come in handy .33Hacking away with saws.34Garden variety tools: Pliers, screwdrivers,wire strippers, and more .35Multimeter.37Components Primer.38Running down discrete components: Resistors,capacitors, and transistors .39ICs.42The switch is on .45Sensors .48Microphones .48Let there be light: Light emitting diodes .50Speaking up about speakers .50Buzzers .51The Nuts and Bolts of Building Materials .52Plastic.52Wood .52Build it yourself .53Holding it all together .53Holding down wires.54Breadboard Basics .54Wires pull it all together .56Connectors .58Chapter 4: Running Down the Skills You Need . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59It’s Symbolic: Reading a Schematic.59Perusing a simple schematic .60Switching gears with switches.62Schematic variables .63Pulling it all together.64Breadboarding .65The anatomy of a breadboard .66Figuring and finessing the layout .67Inserting wires and components .68Soldering Your Circuit Board .70Using a soldering iron .71Working with solder .72Soldering extras.75Free Engineering Bookshttps://boilersinfo.com/