Ten most needed circuits for the DIYer
I have decided to compile a list of the top ten most needed circuits that are a must know for anyone interested in DIY projects. These are the basics that can all be interchanged and used in conjunction with each other to make many of the projects that we all love so much.
10. The 5 v voltage regulator is a must, and is used to convert any 9v battery to the much needed 5 volts. This is used to power IC (integrated circuit) chips, as well as can be connected to a USB port to charge your ipod. The most common part is the 7805 chip, and here is the schematic.
9. Most projects require the use of an LED. This stands for a light emitting diode, and a diode only lets current go in one direction. It is important to put the LED into the circuit correctly or it won’t work. The longer lead is the positive lead, and must be placed in the circuit that way. theledlight.com gives an indepth tutorial on how to find the correct resistance values for different LEDs. Just remember the old equation V=IR (Voltage = Current * Resistance). For a nine volt battery a good 470 ohm resistor is a safe bet. Here is the simple circuit.
8. There are many times when a transistor is needed to be used as a switch. The NPN transistor can be used when the base is brought to a high voltage. The input current needs to be lower than the current through the collector (the top pin of the transistor). There is a 0.6 v drop accross the transistor, so the voltage accross the RB is going to be input voltage-0.6v. Go here for a more thorough explanation of picking the right resistor values.
7. There are many projects that require the use of USB, so it is important to know what the different pins of the USB are. This picture was found at networktechinc.com
6. There is much need for a simple audio amplifier. There are many ways to do this, one is to use a darlington transistor like my 1-watt amplifier, and another way is to use an opamp like my post on the CMOY pocket amplifier, but the best way is to use an LM386 chip. The different gains can be changed by changing the resistor values. C5 filters out the DC, and C4 and R1 act as a low pass filter. Go to warplink.com for the values to use for the comonents.
5. Often times when dealing with amplifiers you will need a low pass filter. This can be done with a simple RC circuit. To find the frequency that you are filtering, use the formula F=1/(2*pi*R*C)
4. If building a robot that follows a line, it is important to have an Infrared sensor and detector. You can read about this in my line following robot post.
3. Often it is necessary to use a simple NPN transistor as an amplifier. This is useful as a preamp for a microphone,
(Image from reconnsworld.com)
or even as a motor controller.
2. It is important to test your circuits before soldering anything together. Lots of times it is useful to have a powersupply that you can plug into the wall. Here is a circuit for building a 12v power supply. , this could be changed to a 5 volt power supply alsoThis is from a recent post of mine found at 12v power supply
1. It is often important to convert an AC signal to a simple DC signal. This can be done by using a rectifier. This can be found from a previous post of mine at AC-DC rectifier The diodes make the negative part of the AC sin wave positive, and the capacitor smooths out the ripples.
47 Responses to “Ten most needed circuits for the DIYer”
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Picture #5 of the low-pass filter is ripped shamelessly from wikipedia, without even citing the source.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low_pass_filter
The text below the picture gave it away.
Thanks for that.. Actually, I removed the pic, and replaced it with my own… It was a mistake on my part. Thanks for telling me. I really try hard to give credit where it is due..
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[...] Ten most needed circuits for the DIYer submitted by lipscgr 8 hours 51 minutes ago (via http://www.diylive.net/index.p…
This is a list of the top ten most needed electrical circuits for anyone interested in doing DIY projects. It explains how to use an LED, a 5v voltage regulator, as well as how to wire to a USB port. • • • [...]
Stealing from wikipedia is fine. That’s what it is there for.
For more circuits like these get a copy of “The Forrest Mims Engineer’s Notebook”
My copy is from HighText Publications, ISBN 1-878707-03-5.
It would be useful when publishing the USB plug to make sure the (Plus in) +5 and +Data were legible. Now I know where they are but I am not the intended audience. Check for legibility in Diagrams of symbols. That’s why the ROW went to 4K7 instead of 4.7K.
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Thanks John Jeffers, I fixed the problem. I could read it fine on my laptop, I guess others could not. That is useful information. Some of the other schematics that I thought were hard to read I made clickable to bring up a larger image.
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[...] Thanks to Boing Boing for pointing me to the article, “Ten most needed circuits for the DIYer” on DIYLive. The ten circuits include an audio amplifiers, RC lowpass filter, and power supply. [...]
Some of these circuits are useful. However the obvious inconsistencies in the schematics show that they were ripped from other websites. My two cents: 1) Use schematics that are consistent in form and explain them. If you are trying to appeal to people who don’t know a lot about electronics random schematics without explanation of the symbols is very weak. 2) Provide follow up sources of books or websites to provide more detail 3) About half of these circuits are typically needed by the novice, they look more like the first 10 circuits that the author used.
Actually most of these schematics are either hand drawn by me, and were used in my line following robot, or were drawn by me using ExpressSCH. A few were from other websites, but they were not ripped off from them. The websites were given credit. I did not write this as an explanation of how to read circuits, but for people with a small amount of knowledge that want to know how to wire simple parts together. I have recently given a post on how to read circuit symbols. It can be found here http://www.diylive.net/index.php/2005/12/09/circuit-symbols-for-noobs/
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Thanks for these, much appreciated. I wouldn’t say the schematics are inconsistent - I’d have thought most people with any basic knowledge of electronics are perfectly at home reading conventional symbols in a variety of versions. Although I remember once being castigated for using /\/\/\ instead of [__] type resistors in a very basic sketched diagram!
I liked your list of circuits. Don’t worry too much about previous carping criticism. However, do worry about my carping criticisms:
1. I think analog circuit diagrams are *much* easier to understand if all components are arranged so that the pin with highest DC voltage is at the top.
2. The bias setup in your mic amp (circuit 3) looks all wrong. I don’t know the dc gain of the 3904, but if it’s more than about 10 the collector is going to be pulled way too low. I think you were thinking “hmm, about 200 mV from the mic, about 2 V output — OK”. Also, you’re driving a low-impedance input from a high-impedance output. You need to do a full bias setup to get consistent output DC at the collector: ie, use an emitter resistot, bypassed with a cap if you need maximum gain (probably not but you never know for a mic circuit). Also, your users are probably going to try to drive random lengths of wire: instability! (If you don’t check with a scope, you may never even *know* it’s unstable — all you know is that the bias point seems to wander, it’s distorted, etc etc…)
3. Generally, your components seem old-fashioned. I was using designs like this 30 years ago. How about more integrated devices like serial/RS232 conversion (max232 — no longer high tech!), negative voltage regulators, usb interfaces, etc? The audio amp you show seems particularly fussy. I vaguely remember more integrated designs for little audio amps thirty years ago.
4. A general problem for tinkerers is that in a lot of cases they want to make the circuit work with a single, or maybe two, 1.5-V batteries. Ideas?
Danny, I like your advice. I would gladly look at some designs you have, esp. on the mic amp.
If you have a schematic in mind would you email it to me? lipscgr@gmail.com. I will post an ammendment to this article.
As far as your number three goes. I agree, these are old circuits, but are very simple. I would not say that since they are over thirty years old that an LED circuit is invalid. They are essential to understand in order to move on. I like your idea though, and may post a more “modern” IC list. I would add microcontrollers, and DTMF encoder/decoders, as well as the devices that you mentioned.
Thanks for taking the time to look over my stuff.
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Thanks for these. As a beginner trying to get into DIY circuits, this kind of advice is invaluable!
As a total newbie, another thing that I would find incredibly helpful is actual photos of a breadboard with these circuits built. I’m sure for y’all who’ve done these a million times, the schematic is enough, but for us newbies it really is kind of confusing; what wires to where? How do both those pins go to ground? Certainly there’s more than one way to wire up a circuit, but seeing an actual breadboard with all jumpers and components next to the schematic is incredibly helpful. Again, for non-newbies it’s probably a total waste of time, but for the beginner, electricity is just…weird. So seeing real examples is very helpful in making basic circuits. Thanks again!
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Thanks! Finding sites like yours is a rare treat.
With respect to:
“Picture #5 of the low-pass filter is ripped shamelessly from wikipedia, without even citing the source.”
So low-pass filters did not exist before Wikipedia and the internet? All of the Wiki posting is original material? If not, where are all the references. The information provided is part of the common body of knowledge. Whining about credit is pointless and petty. Good grief.
Rob
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Wow. Just wow.
“Picture #5 of the low-pass filter is ripped shamelessly from wikipedia, without even citing the source. [..]60′
The text below the picture gave it away.”
The triumphant cawing of that post… Congratulations, you’re an a-hole.
Low pass / high pass / buttersworth / chebyshev / etc filters are all extremely common knowledge, and there are only so many ways to draw two components with 3 connections, yes?
Let’s see who else shamelessley ripped off wikipedia:
sosnick.uchicago.edu/LowPass_Filter.html
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/electric/filcap2.html
http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~jw/RCfilters.html
http://www.phys.ualberta.ca/~gingrich/phys395/notes/node42.html
http://www.phys.ualberta.ca/~gingrich/phys395/notes/node44.html (I needed to point this out becuase in addition to their appaling plagiarisim of wikipedia, they dare to switch the resistor and capacitor around and call it a “high pass” filter, to throw off any would be plagiarism searchers. Luckily I was wise to their tricks)
I even have an electronics book from the 1973 in my hand at the moment showing almost exactly the same image… I feel betrayed by this once indespensible reference, knowing they stole their content off wikipedia, without attributing it.
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top 10 most needed circuits
This is a list of the top ten most needed electrical diagrams for anyone interested in creating their own circuits.
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[...] Ten most needed circuits for the DIYer…Pretty good list of some starter circuits for many projects…“a list of the top ten most needed circuits that are a must know for anyone interested in DIY projects. These are the basics that can all be interchanged and used in conjunction with each other to make many of the projects that we all love so much.” Link. [MAKE Magazine] [...]
http://1moyblog1.blogspot.com
DIY is a Great way to learn, it is for the sheer joy of accomplishment.
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Hey, good job on the schematics, Might i suggest a simple timer circuit? the “555″ is still the fastest and easiest way to produce a pulse or time train that can be easily modified or adjusted and can then be hooked to the LED schematic you show, or relays etc. For a beginner i believe that would make a valuble top ten item…hmmm maybe top eleven?
Great circuits more sites like this one make electronics so much more fun thanks. 555’s are great, op amps rock the hardest! again thanks.
dude SYUKTON i hope you see this, because you need to know. noone likes a bitch, and you my friend, are a bitch. please kill yourself. especially if your whiny post gives an accurate impression of you. you are plauging humanity, and need to be elininated. its wiki-fucking-pedia for crissakes! ever heard of free content??
I dont understand the comments on here. so many people hating on you.
For one a schematic for a simple lowpass filter called ripped off??? who cares? its not like he copied some SSL schematics and called it his console mixing board. But anyways i agree “even if they are 30 years old” they are key circuits to understanding the greater picture. Thanks for sharing. and i respect you ability to maintain your professional reply’s dealing with some of earth idiots. peace
OMFG gettin all worked up about someone reposting some old info on his website he copied
from a different site.
Get real and get a life there is more to life then to fidget about someone copying some info.
why dont you go to the big news websites and bug them for copying eachother’s source
im sure they really apreciate your 2 bits of whining .
Thanks for sharing
I’d prefer reading in my native language, because my knowledge of your languange is no so well. But it was interesting! Look for some my links:
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