This lab was designed to us familiar with the basics of circuits. We had to properly wire our breadboards to light up two LEDs, and then create our own DIY switch and enclosure for our breadboard.
I haven't used electronics before so when I first got all my supplies I tried to connect it not realizing that the different pins meant something on some of the parts. So, the first part was figuring that out. I got my power jack connected to the power and ground on the board. Then using the schematic figured out how the voltage regulator should be connected. I then connected the switch to power as well.
SERIES
The first problem of this lab was figuring out how to wire LEDs in a series. The schematic below shows how I hooked everything together. Once I had my power jack hooked up to the voltage regulator and the that to the switch, I had to figure out which resistor to use.
The voltage regulator makes sure that there is 5V going through the circuit. Each LED takes about 2V and has 20mA of current.
--> (5V - 2V - 2V) / .02 A = 50 Ohms
The BTU didn't have any 50s, so I looked for the next higher value for resistors. So, the only one I found at first was 220 ohms. This would still work the LEDs just wouldn't be as bright. Later, I found some 100 ohm resistors and switched them out with those (which is why it says 100 ohms on my schematic. After the LEDs were connected to the switch then I connected them to ground and plugged the board in to an outlet to test if they lit up or not.
Breadboard with 220: I included these photos just because it's easier to see how I hooked up my bread board, and it didn't really change much as I moved to a 100 ohm resistor
A picture of the breadboard with a 100 ohm resistor and two red LEDs to show that worked:
PARALLEL
The next part of this lab was to connect the LEDs in parallel. For the most part the first part of my breadboard.remained the same and it was just switched out the resistors hooked up to the switch.
My calculations for the regulator to use: V(s) - V(f) / I (1) + I (2)
(5V - 2V)/ .04 = 75 ohms
I ended up just using two 100 ohm resistors.
Here is my schematic:
Here are the photos of my breadboard powered:
BUILDING A SWITCH
Now it was time to build my own switch. I followed the instructions laid out for the "sandwich" switch on the switch pdf.
I cut out three pieces of foam, two pieces of copper tape, and two wires. I accidently cute STR wire, and I didn't know there was a difference between SOL and STR so I had to solder. I haven't really soldered before but that was okay since the BTU has wonderful people that showed me how. I then folded the wire in the copper tape and then trimmed it on the sides so it would better fit in the foam I had cut out. I rearranged the LEDs back into a series formation.
MAKING AN ENCLOSURE:
The two LEDs reminded me of monster eyes and we are approaching upon the best month indisputably, October, so I wanted to make something spooky. I dug a small box out of recycling and used this to act as my container. I poked holes in front for the LEDs, and then found some tissue paper to prop up my breadboard. I then removed the sides of the lid and taped down the top. I cut a little slit on the side of the box so the wire for the switch could get out of the box and then poked a hole at the bottom of box for the power to go through. Using construction paper and crayons, I made a "window" with the LEDs sticking out to represent monster eyes. I then cut out little bats to disguise the switch. This was the result:
FINAL:
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