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Parts in Your Kit: Breadboard

This document introduces the key components included in an Arduino starter kit. It provides images and descriptions of each component, including the Arduino Uno microcontroller, breadboard, jumper wires, resistors, capacitors, LEDs, buttons, sensors, motors, and more. The goal is to familiarize the reader with the parts needed to begin exploring and building basic circuits and interactive projects with an Arduino board.

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cesar
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© © All Rights Reserved
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94 views

Parts in Your Kit: Breadboard

This document introduces the key components included in an Arduino starter kit. It provides images and descriptions of each component, including the Arduino Uno microcontroller, breadboard, jumper wires, resistors, capacitors, LEDs, buttons, sensors, motors, and more. The goal is to familiarize the reader with the parts needed to begin exploring and building basic circuits and interactive projects with an Arduino board.

Uploaded by

cesar
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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6 Introduction

Welcome to Arduino!

+ -

+ -
+
+ -

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PARTS IN
Breadboard - A board on which you can build
electronic circuits. It’s like a patch panel, with

YOUR KIT
rows of holes that allow you to connect wires
and components together. Versions that re-
quire soldering are available, as well as the sol-
der-less type used here.

Capacitors - These components store and re-


lease electrical energy in a circuit. When the
Arduino Uno - The microcontroller develop- circuit’s voltage is higher than what is stored in
ment board that will be at the heart of your the capacitor, it allows current to flow in, giv-
projects. It’s a simple computer, but one that ing the capacitor a charge. When the circuit’s
has no way for you to interact with it yet. You voltage is lower, the stored charge is released.
will be building the circuits and interfaces for Often placed across power and ground close to
interaction, and telling the microcontroller how a sensor or motor to help smooth fluctuations
to interface with other components. in voltage.

Battery Snap - Used to connect a 9V battery to DC motor - Converts electrical energy into me-
power leads that can be easily plugged into a chanical energy when electricity is applied to
breadboard or your Arduino. its leads. Coils of wire inside the motor become
magnetized when current flows through them.
7

These magnetic fields attract and repel mag-


nets, causing the shaft to spin. If the direction
of the electricity is reversed, the motor will spin
in the opposite direction.

- +

Diode - Ensures electricity only flows in one di- Jumper wires - Use these to connect compo-
rection. Useful when you have a motor or other nents to each other on the breadboard, and to
high current/voltage load in your circuit. Di- the Arduino.
odes are polarized, meaning that the direction
that they’re placed in a circuit matters. Placed
one way, they allow current to pass through.
Placed the other way, they block it. The anode
side generally connects to the point of higher
energy in your circuit. The cathode typically
connects to the point of lower energy, or to - +
ground. The cathode is usually marked with a
band on one side of the component’s body.
Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) - A type of diode
that illuminates when electricity passes through
it. Like all diodes, electricity only flows in one
direction through these components. You’re
probably familiar with these as indicators on a
variety of electronic devices. The anode, which
typically connects to power, is usually the long-
er leg, and the cathode is the shorter leg.
Gels (red, green, blue) - These filter out differ-
ent wavelengths of light. When used in con-
junction with photoresistors, they cause the
sensor to only react to the amount of light in
the filtered color.

H-bridge - A circuit that allows you to control Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) - A type of alpha-
the polarity of the voltage applied to a load, numeric or graphic display based on liquid crys-
usually a motor. The H-bridge in the kit is an in- tals. LCDs are available in a many sizes, shapes,
tegrated circuit, but it could also be construct- and styles. Yours has 2 rows with 16 characters
ed with a number of discrete components. each.
8 Introduction
Welcome to Arduino!

Male header pins - These pins fit into female


sockets, like those on a breadboard. They help
make connecting things much easier.

Potentiometer - A variable resistor with three


pins. Two of the pins are connected to the ends
of a fixed resistor. The middle pin, or wiper,
moves across the resistor, dividing it into two
halves. When the external sides of the poten-
tiometer are connected to voltage and ground,
Optocoupler - This allows you to connect two the middle leg will give the difference in voltage
circuits that do not share a common power as you turn the knob. Often referred to as a pot.
supply. Internally there is a small LED that,
when illuminated, causes a photoreceptor in-
side to close an internal switch. When you ap-
ply voltage to the + pin, the LED lights and the
internal switch closes. The two outputs replace
a switch in the second circuit.

Pushbuttons - Momentary switches that close


a circuit when pressed. They snap into bread-
boards easily. These are good for detecting on/
off signals.

Piezo - An electrical component that can be


used to detect vibrations and create noises.

Resistors - Resist the flow of electrical energy


in a circuit, changing the voltage and current
as a result. Resistor values are measured in
Photoresistor - (also called a photocell, or light-
ohms (represented by the Greek omega char-
dependent resistor). A variable resistor that
acter: Ω). The colored stripes on the sides of
changes its resistance based on the amount of
resistors indicate their value (see resistor color
light that falls on its face.
code table).
9

ling high current/high voltage components like


motors. One pin connects to ground, another
to the component being controlled, and the
third connects to the Arduino. When the com-
ponent receives voltage on the pin connected
to an Arduino, it closes the circuit between the
ground and the other component.
Servo motor - A type of geared motor that
can only rotate 180 degrees. It is controlled by
sending electrical pulses from your Arduino.
These pulses tell the motor what position it
should move to.

Temperature sensor - Changes its voltage out- USB Cable - This allows you to connect your
put depending on the temperature of the com- Arduino Uno to your personal computer for
ponent. The outside legs connect to power and programming. It also provides power to the Ar-
ground. The voltage on the center pin changes duino for most of the projects in the kit.
as it gets warmer or cooler.

Tilt sensor - A type of switch that will open or


close depending on its orientation. Typically
they are hollow cylinders with a metal ball in-
side that will make a connection across two
leads when tilted in the proper direction.

Transistor - A three legged device that can op-


erate as an electronic switch. Useful for control-
UNCONNECTED WIRES TRANSISTOR PUSHBUTTON

TILT SWITCH MOSFET MOTOR

RESISTOR PHOTO RESISTOR POTENTIOMETER

LED DIODE PIEZO

POLARIZED CAPACITOR CAPACITOR BATTERY

In this book we will show you circuits both with realistic


illustrations and with schematic diagrams.
Illustrations will give you an idea of what the breadboard
GROUND might look like in one possible implementation of the project.
Schematics, instead, use symbols to capture the essence of
circuits: they present the components and the ways they are
connected in a clear, succinct, and unambiguous form, but not
their physical organization. Schematics and schematic symbols
are how we communicate about circuits. As you explore the world
CONNECTED WIRES of electronics you will discover that some books and websites
only provide schematic diagrams, so learning to read circuits this
way is a valuable skill.
Here are the symbols we will be using throughout the book.

TABLE OF SYMBOLS

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