16HERTZ GUIDE

ELECTRONICS STARTER KIT

sd

16 hertz

www.16hertz.com

support@16hertz.com

(718) 487 9085

16Hertz Electronics Project Starter Kit

With over 30 items and 200 components, the
16Hertz Electronics Starter Kit is the kit you need to
get started with electronics projects. It has all the
components you need for beginner to moderately
advanced projects. With just the components in the
kit, you can build hundreds of projects, learn the
basics of electronics and circuit building. It is also a
great addition to any micro-controller like the
Arduino or the Raspberry Pi.
The following guide will introduce you to the key
components in the kit and help you get started
building electronic devices.
There are detailed diagrams and explanations for all
the circuits described thorough out this guide.
Please contact us at support@16hertz.com or visit
us at www.16hertz.com for any further questions

33

16 hertz
www.16hertz.com

education@16hertz.com

(718) 487 9085

Inventory of Parts
Quantity
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
2
5
5
5
1
2
2
2
2
2
1
1
5
5
2
2
5
1
5

Item
400 point breadboard
Jumper Wires, assorted lengths
AA battery holder
DC Motor (3V)
RGB LED (common cathode)
Thermistor
10k Potentiometer
Photoresistors
PN2222 Transistors
BC547 Transistors
1N4001 Diodes
RGB LED
Red LED (5mm)
Blue LED (5mm)
Green LED (5mm)
Yellow LED (5mm)
White LED (5mm)
Thermister
Piezo Buzzer
22pF Ceramic Capacitor
0.1 F Ceramic Capacitor
50V 100F Electrolytic Capacitor
50V 10F Electrolytic Capacitor
Push-button switches
9V Battery Connector
10, 100, 200, 330, 1k, 10k, 100k, 1m Resistors

sd

16 hertz

www.16hertz.com

support@16hertz.com

(718) 487 9085

Description & Applications of Key Components

LED (Light Emitting Diode)
An LED is a semiconductor device that emits light. An LED
has 2 leads, an anode (+) and a cathode (-). When a voltage
difference is maintained across the two leads, a current
begins to flow and depending on the configuration of the
LED, it begins to emit light. The larger the current, the more
intense the light it emits. Be careful not to send more current
that the LED is rated for. Typically 5mm LEDs, like the ones in this kit are rated for around
25 mA of current.
This is the schematic symbol for an LED. The side with the arrows is the (-)
side and the other is (+)
Ensure that the polarity of the LED leads match the polarity of your power
source. If these leads are mixed up, your LED wont light up. It is a diode
after all.

RESISTOR
A resistor is a passive electrical component that
acts to reduce the current flow while lowering the
voltage across a circuit. The current flow through a
resistor, or any component for that matter, is given
by Ohms law (I=V/R)
Resistors are some of the most common elements
in all circuits. In your kit you have resistors in 10
different values.

16 hertz
www.16hertz.com

education@16hertz.com

(718) 487 9085

Remember, to create values of resistance you can always connect resistors in series, one
5
after another. For instance, if you need 530 of resistance, you can combine a 200
resistor and a 330 resistor.
The color bands on the resistor arent just there to make it look pretty, the resistance value
and the tolerance of the resistor are encoded in them.
Each color of each band
represents a different value.
You can read the resistance
value of a resistor shown to
the right the following way:
First band Red 2
Second band Black 0
Third band Blue 1M
Fourth band Gold 5%
tolerance

Value of the resistor

20M +/- 5%
A useful mnemonic to
remember the corresponding
color for the number is:
Better Be Right Or Your
Great Big Venture Goes
West

The schematic symbol for a resistor is a line that resembles a triangular wave.
Remember, resistors dont have a polarity, so it doesnt matter which way you
connect them to your circuit.

55

sd

16 hertz

400 POINT BREADBOARD

www.16hertz.com

support@16hertz.com

(718) 487 9085

On the 400 point

breadboard, points

The breadboard, sometimes referred to as

along the two

a solderless breadboard, is an essential

vertical columns

tool for quick and easy electronics

labeled by a + and

prototyping. It is equally used by those

a on either side

learning about electronics and circuitry,

are connected by a rail i.e. if a component

and the more advanced circuit builders.

is inserted into one of the points on this

The breadboard eliminates the need for

soldering components together every time

The rail inside a breadboard

column, it is then connected via the rail to

every other point in the vertical column.

you want to build a circuit by allowing for

Much the same way as the columns,

temporary and easily changeable

points along each of the horizontal rows in

connections.

the center of the board (denoted by

Each point on a breadboard is connected

by a rail to its neighboring points, either
horizontally or vertically, depending on
where they are on the board. When a
component is pushed into a point, it locks
into place.

LED connected to breadboard

numbers) are connected by a rail. Mind

the there is a gap in the middle; the rails
dont extend past it.

77

16 hertz
www.16hertz.com

education@16hertz.com

(718) 487 9085

Using the Breadboard

CIRCUIT 1: Let There Be Light!

This circuit should enable you to turn your

The relationship between current (I),

LED on. LEDs are usually rated for a

certain current. Sending anymore current

voltage (V) & resistance (R) is given by

Ohms law, I=V/R

through the LED might cause it to blow.

Given a set voltage (4.8 V in our case) you

Adding a 330 ohm resistor to our circuit

means that the current in our circuit will be

can control the amount of current by

changing the resistance in the circuit.

about 15 mA, and our LED can handle

that.

sd

16 hertz

www.16hertz.com

support@16hertz.com

(718) 487 9085

You can vary the brightness of the LED by increasing the resistance in the circuit. Now that
you know how to get one LED to turn on, lets try getting a whole lot of them on! There are
many different ways to connect components in a circuit. Lets explore a few of them and
note their differences. The two of the simplest and most frequently occurring ways are
connecting components in series or in parallel.

CIRCUIT 2: Series Circuit

Youve just built a series circuit. Components connected in series are all connected in a
single path.

16 hertz
www.16hertz.com

education@16hertz.com

(718) 487 9085

through the circuit is lower than what9

it

CURRENT

was in Circuit 1. Ohms law (I=V/R) tells us

Since there is one closed circuit, the same
current flows through all the components.

that since the resistance in this circuit is

All 3 LEDs should light up, but notice the

difference between the brightness

current that flows must be lower. Since the

between the LEDs in this circuit and the

LED you lit up in Circuit 1.

each LED is also lower.

larger than the resistance in Circuit 1, the

overall current is lower, the brightness of

VOLTAGE
Since the same current is flowing
throughout the entire circuit, the
brightness of all the LEDs should be the

The voltage varies across each element.

The voltage drop across each component

same. However, the current flowing

can be calculated by Ohms law (V=IR).

CIRCUIT 3: Parallel Circuit

99

10

sd

16 hertz

www.16hertz.com

support@16hertz.com

(718) 487 9085

A parallel circuit is another way to build a circuit. In a parallel circuit, there is more than one
way to form a closed loop, for instance, the battery R1 & LED1 form a closed circuit on their
own. This configuration leads to the voltage across the parallel circuit being the same, while
the resistance in each of the individual closed circuits determines the current flow through
each component.

PROS AND CONS

In a series circuit, every device must function for the circuit to be complete. One component
malfunctioning in a series circuit breaks the circuit. However, in parallel circuits, there are
many independent circuits, so all but one could be burned out, and the last one would still
function.

RGB LED
In your kit, you shouldve gotten an RGB LED. The RGB LED is essentially 3 LEDs in one. It is
a blue LED, green LED and a blue LED in one package. With the RGB LED
you can create almost any color by varying the intensity of each
each of the primary colors. Remember, you can vary the intensity
of an LED by limiting the current that is sent to it.

1
0

111
1

16 hertz
www.16hertz.com

education@16hertz.com

(718) 487 9085

RGB LEDs come in two common flavors, common cathode and common anode. Cathodes
1
are normally (-) and anodes are (+).

The RGB LED in the kit is a common cathode LED. This means that each of the 3 LEDs that
make up the RGB LED have a common cathode i.e. you can ground the long lead (the
cathode) and a positive voltage to each of the other 3 leads.

CIRCUIT 4: The Colors of the Rainbow

If you connect all the 3 colors with the same resistance, the same amount of current will

12

sd

16 hertz

www.16hertz.com

support@16hertz.com

(718) 487 9085

flow through each of them and each color will glow with about the same intensity. We all
know what happens when you combine the three primary colors, red, green and blue you
get white!
So the RGB led in this circuit, with the same resistors connected to each color will glow
white.

TO TRY

QUESTION

Try sending a different amount of current

Is this a series circuit or a parallel circuit?

to each lead by changing the resistors

around to see what other colors you can
create.

POTENTIOMETER
A potentiometer or pot, is a variable resistor. Your kit comes
with a rotary potentiometer with a range of about 10k.
As you turn the knob of the potentiometer, a sliding wiper
inside moves along a track. This mechanism allows for varying
resistances that depend on where the wiper is along the track
at any given time.
Instead of changing resistors each time
we want a new resistance in the circuit, we can use a potentiometer.
Lets try using a potentiometer to control the intensity of one of the
colors in the RGB LED to see what colors we can create.
Potentiometers are used often in many devices from volume controls to
scroll wheels on mice

1
2

16 hertz
www.16hertz.com

education@16hertz.com

(718) 487 9085

1
3
Lets go one step beyond Circuit 4 where we left having to change resistors every time we
CIRCUIT 5: A Pot at the End of the Rainbow

wanted to control the intensity of a color.

This circuit will allow you to control the amount of current going into one of the leads of the
RGB LED by changing the resistance in that circuit by turning the knob.

TO TRY

TROUBLESHOOTING

Try connecting the potentiometer to

Make sure to connect the middle lead of

different leads of the RGB LED to see all

the potentiometer to the desired circuit to

the different colors you can make by

turning the knob.

control. The other two leads go the (+) and

(-) terminals of the battery pack.

PHOTORESISTOR
Photoresistors, sometimes called photocells or light dependent resistors (LDR),
are variable resistors that change their resistance based on how much light is
incident upon it.
The resistance of a photoresistor decreases as the
intensity of the incident light increases. In other

13
1
3

14

sd

16 hertz

www.16hertz.com

support@16hertz.com

(718) 487 9085

words, the brighter the light, the lower the resistance and vice-versa.
Photoresistors are very versatile and easy to use. They are ideal for projects needing light
sensitivity and dependency.
It is good practice to incorporate the photoresistor in a voltage divider circuit when using it.

CIRCUIT 6: Voltage Divider

A voltage divider circuit is one you will see a lot as you delve deeper into electronics. Lets
say that we have a 9V signal that we want lowered to a 5V signal for simple and
rudimentary purposes, where we dont mind energy loss and have a low current draw
situation, voltage dividers are perfect.
Voltage divider circuits can spit out any fraction of the
input voltage that you desire, as long as you have the
components with the needed resistance values.
To calculate the needed resistance values, after applying
Ohms law, you get the expression

You can see from this expression that when R1 decreases, Vout increases and when R2
increases, Vout also increases.
Voltage dividers might seem like a cure for everything, but be careful all that energy from
reducing 9V to 5V has to go somewhere, this turns into heat. If you application is stepping
down a large voltage or is drawing a considerable amount of current you will end up destroy
resistors.

1
4

15
1
5

16 hertz
www.16hertz.com

education@16hertz.com

(718) 487 9085

CIRCUIT 7: Night-Light #1

1
5

This is our first attempt at a night-light. Try turning the lights on and off, or covering the
photoresistor with your hand. What do you see?
After learning about the photoresistor as a resistor that changes its resistance depending on
the light in the room, one might think that connecting it to an LED (Circuit 1) would suffice to
create a night-light.
What do you think the issue is?

16

sd

16 hertz

www.16hertz.com

support@16hertz.com

(718) 487 9085

PROBLEMS WITH DESIGN

First of all, we know that the resistance of
the photoresister goes down as the

Secondly, the resistance range of the

photoresistor in our kit is about 10k and

incident light gets brighter. This translates

to the LED glowing brighter. Therefore, its

at this much resistance, our power supply

wont supply enough current for our LED

really a night-light in reverse.

to glow very brightly.

POSSIBLE FIXES
We will be able to remedy the first problem of the inverted response to light intensity by the
photoresister by making it R1 in a voltage divider circuit. Recall that in a voltage divider
circuit, as the resistance of R1 decreases, the voltage that comes out increases. Therefore,
we can get the desired effect of the LED getting dimmer as the room is brighter and viceversa.
For the second problem, this can be remedied by changing the value of R2 in the voltage
divider circuit such that the right voltage is given out of Vout.

CIRCUIT 8: Night-Light #2

1
6

17
1
7

16 hertz
www.16hertz.com

education@16hertz.com

(718) 487 9085

1
7

TO DO
R1 330 ohm | R2 1k ohm

Experiment with different values for R2

and see how this affects the circuit.

SWITCH
CIRCUIT 9: Breaking the Circuit

18

sd

16 hertz

www.16hertz.com

support@16hertz.com

(718) 487 9085

Switches are a key part of any circuit. They allow for control by enabling you to break a
circuit when you dont want any current flowing.

TRANSISTORS
Transistors are semiconductor devices. They are the sole
reason why most of the modern electronics devices that
we use today are possible. Their invention in 1947 lead
to the modern electronics revolution of microchips and
other semiconductor devices.
Transistors are essentially variable resistors. They vary their resistance
based on another electric signal applied to its base (one of the three leads).
In other words, a voltage or current applied t o the base affects the current that
flows through the other two pins (emitter and the collector) of the transistor.

Transistor 1 NPN

There are many kinds of transistors, but in your kit you will find NPN transistors
(in later kits we include PNP transistors as well). In an NPN transistor you
have to apply a positive voltage to the base to have current flowing from the
collector to the emitter. On a PNP transistor a negative voltage has to be
Transistor 2 PNP

1
8

19
1
9

16 hertz
www.16hertz.com

education@16hertz.com

(718) 487 9085

applied to the base to have current flow through the other two leads.

CIRCUIT 10: Touch Switch

1
9

Hold onto probe one with your left hand and probe 1 with your right, and see what happens
to the LED.
Our bodies have a tremendous amount of resistance. When dry, our bodies have over
100k of resistance. So, one would think the amount of current that can flow thorough our
bodies when connected to a 9V battery for would be too miniscule to do anything
significant, but using a transistor, we can have that tiny bit of current to control the amount
of current that flows through the collector and the emitter of the transistor.
The LED in this circuit is connected in an independent circuit (parallel) with the battery and
the emitter and collector of the transistor. The small current that flows through the second
independent (parallel) circuit which connects the battery with the base of the transistor and
our body, causes enough current to flow through the LED circuit which lights it up.

20

sd

16 hertz

www.16hertz.com

support@16hertz.com

(718) 487 9085

CIRCUIT 11: Night Light #3

This night light design builds on the previous two that we tried. It works out the kinks and
should work best of all three.

THERMISTOR
The thermistor is a variable resistor like the photoresistor and the
potentiometer, but unlike those two, it changes its resistance based
on the temperature around it. The thermistor in our kit has a
resistance range of about 10k ohm.

2
0

16 hertz
www.16hertz.com

education@16hertz.com

(718) 487 9085

2
1
A circuit similar to Circuit 8 or Circuit 11 can be made with the thermistor replacing the
CIRCUIT 12: Hot Light

photoresistor. This circuit would essentially turn the light on and off based on the
temperature around the thermistor.

PIEZO BUZZER
The word piezo comes from the phenomenon of piezoelectricity, electricity generated from
the pressure inside of solid materials.
Piezo buzzers are set up so that when a voltage is applied to its leads it gives off a particular
tone. Varying voltages give off varying tones. Though you would be able to connect it with a
battery pack and various resistors to see all the different types of tones you can make, it is
most effective connecting it to a microcontroller like the Arduino UNO, or the 16Hz UNO (an
Arduino compatible microcontroller)

CIRCUIT 12: BUZZ AWAY

21
2
1

22

sd

16 hertz

www.16hertz.com

support@16hertz.com

(718) 487 9085

To learn more about Arduinos and how to program them, please consult our Arduino
Starter Guide.
The above circuit will get allow us to program the Arduino UNO to send different PWM
(average voltage) signals to the buzzer. This will allow us to play any tone we want with the
click of a few buttons instead of switching around resistors every time we want a different
tone.
The following code will have the buzzer cycle through 10 tones. You can change
Arduino code:

2
2

16 hertz
www.16hertz.com

education@16hertz.com

(718) 487 9085

2
3
DC (direct current) motors are the simplest of electric motors. Though there are various
DC MOTOR (3V)

kinds of DC motors (brushed, brushless, stepper, servo etc.) usually when a component is
simply referred to as a DC motor it tends to imply a brushed DC motor.
DC motors are simple two-lead, electrically controlled
devices that come with a rotary shaft on which wheels,
gears, propellers, etc., can be mounted. DC motors can
generate a considerable amount of revolutions per minute
(rpms) for their size and can be made to rotate clockwise
or counterclockwise by reversing the polarity applied to the
leads. At low speeds, dc motors provide little torque and
minimal position control, making them not ideal for
precision, position-control applications.
To really understand how motors work and how to use
them effectively, we need to explore the intimate
relationship electricity and magnetism share in nature.
For starters, theyre essentially one and the same thing.
What might appear to one observer as an electrical
interaction between charged particles will appear to
another observer in another inertial reference frame as a
magnetic one. In other words, changing magnetic fields
produce currents and currents produce magnetic fields.
In essence, motors have coils of wires surrounded by permanent magnets. When a current
is sent through the coils, a magnetic field is produced. This magnetic field interacts with the
magnetic field from the permanent magnets and causes the motor shaft to spin around. If
the current is flipped around, the polarity of the magnetic field induced is also flipped
around, causing the motor to spin the other way around.

23
2
3

24

sd

16 hertz

www.16hertz.com

support@16hertz.com

(718) 487 9085

Each motor is build to spin at a certain rate (rpm) for a given voltage. If for the motor is
caused to spin slower than it is rated for, due to a load, for example, then, the slower it spins
the more current it draws. If there is a voltage supplied to the motor and the load on it is
such that the motor does not spin, then the motor is drawing a tremendous amount of
current as the resistance in the circuit is very little.
To remedy this, circuits with motors have whats called a motor driver and motors are either
geared up or down depending on the typical load on them to prevent this stall from
happening. Motor drivers are circuits that allow for both current limiting and allow us to
reverse the direction of rotation by reversing the current (this part of the motor driver is
called an H-Bridge).
The easiest way to fully control your motor is with a microcontroller like the Arduino or the
16Hertz Arduino compatible microcontroller and an H-Bridge. Microcontrollers allow us to
send different signals to a transistor, which in turn controls the amount of current sent to the
motor.

CIRCUIT 13: Motorin

2
4

16 hertz
www.16hertz.com

education@16hertz.com

(718) 487 9085

We can control the speed of the motor by changing the signal that goes into the base of
2the
transistor. Recall that transistors are like variable resistors that change the resistance in5the
circuit that passes through the collector and the emitter. The motor is connected in the

circuit that passes through the collector and emitter of the transistor. As the signal applied
to the base of the transistor is changed by the microcontroller (16Hertz Arduino UNO
compatible board), the transistor changed the amount of current that is supplied to the
motor.
Okay, so you might ask, why not control the motor directly with signals from the digital
PWM pin on the microcontroller, the same signals that are being sent to the transistor?
Well, there are a few reasons. Firstly, motors can very easily draw lots of current and
microcontrollers like Arduino UNO cant supply more than 200mA reliably. To be absolutely
safe and ensure reliability, we should really use a battery pack to power the motor instead of
drawing current from the Arduino. Secondly, we can supply a smooth varying signal to the
motor from the transistor that we cannot from the Arduino digital pins.
Arduino Code:

25
2
5

26

sd

16 hertz

www.16hertz.com

support@16hertz.com

(718) 487 9085

H-Bridge
The H-Bridge is a circuit that can drive a DC motor in both directions. Recall that simply
flipping the direction of the current does the same to the direction of motor. You can try this
out yourself by connecting the motor to the battery pack and then trying it again with the
polarities reversed.
The H-Bridge circuit enables us to do this without having to manually switch the polarities of
the motor every time we want to change its direction.
The H-Bridge consists of four transistors, which essentially function like switches that
complete the circuit when applied in pairs. When one pair is chosen the current flows in one
direction and when the other is chosen the direction of the current is reversed.
NOTE: both connections should not be chosen at the same time, as this will cause a short
circuit by connecting the + & - terminals of the battery together without much resistance in
the circuit leading to a very high current draw.
You might ask, why not just use physical switches instead of transistors. Well, would you
want to sit there flipping switches in pairs every time you want your motor to move forward
or backwards. I think not.

2
6

27
2
7

16 hertz
www.16hertz.com

education@16hertz.com

(718) 487 9085

2
7

Please visit our store for more

great kits and guides.

support@16hertz.com
www.16Hertz.com

Copyright 16Hertz LLC, 2014

MUMN Corporation
(718) 487 9085

2
8