Bro and the Beast 3

Hobbyist electronics can be a fun way to learn new skills that can be helpful to your career. Those who understand the basics of electronics can design their own circuits and projects. However, before you run, you need to learn to walk. It all starts with analogue electronics. You should be familiar with the simple components and circuits and understand their basic behaviors and the issues you may encounter. The best way to do this is through real experiments. Theory alone is not enough. This book offers a large number of practical entry-level circuits, with which everyone can gain the basic experience. Through the widespread introduction of microcontrollers, a new chapter in electronics has begun. Microcontrollers are now performing more and more tasks that were originally solved using discrete components and conventional ICs. Starting out has become easier and easier thanks to platforms including Bascom, Arduino, micro:bit. The book introduces numerous manageable microcontroller applications. It's now a case of less soldering and more programming. Part 1 Analogue Electronics 14 Chapter 1 • Electronics for Starters (1) 15 Diodes and LEDs 15 LED with series resistor 16 Component dimensioning 18 Series circuit 18 Semiconductors and depletion layers 19 Blinking LED 21 Chapter 2 • Electronics for Starters (2) 22 Transistors in action 22 First experiments 22 Circuit design 23 Inverter 24 Delayed switch-off circuit 25 Twilight switch 26 Darlington circuit 27 Using a LED as a photodiode 28 Glory days of TUP and TUN 28 Microcontroller time switch 29 Chapter 3 • Electronics for Starters (3) 30 Transistor measurements 30 Practical tips 30 Negative feedback 33 Making measurements with an ohmmeter 33 Transistor testing 35 Transistor tester 37 Chapter 4 • Electronics for Starters (4) 40 Constant current sources 40 A constant current source 40 Using a BF245 JFET 41 Using a bipolar transistor 42 Soft LED blinker 44 Field-effect transistors 45 Chapter 5 • Electronics for Starters (5) 48 Voltage stabilisation 48 Diode stabilisation 48 Quick solution 49 Efficiency 50 Series regulators 50 Integrated voltage regulators 52 Current mirror 54 Voltage monitor 54 Chapter 6 • Electronics for Starters (6) 56 Flip-flops 56 The flip-flop 56 RS flip-flop 57 Triggering and clearing 58 Monostable flip-flops 59 Schmitt trigger 59 Simplified Schmitt trigger 61 Thyristors 61 Twilight switch 62 Chapter 7 • Electronics for Starters (7) 64 Blinkers and oscillators 64 Simplified multivibrator 65 LED voltage converter 65 Audio generator 66 Voltage to frequency converter 67 NPN/PNP flip-flop circuit 67 Energy-saving LED flasher 68 Sawtooth generator 69 NPN sawtooth signal generator 70 A voltage to frequency converter with the Tiny13 70 Chapter 8 • Electronics for Starters (8) 73 Audio Preamplifier 73 Negative feedback 74 Two stages 76 DC-coupled stages 76 Three stages 77 The Emitter Follower 77 An audio millivoltmeter 78 Chapter 9 • Electronics for Starters (9) 81 Sine-wave oscillators 81 RC oscillators 81 Ring oscillators 82 Three-phase LED blinker 84 The Miller effect 85 Three-phase blinker 85 Chapter 10 • Electronics for Starters (10) 87 Radio Frequency (RF) 87 Generating HF signals 89 LC oscillators 89 Crystal oscillators 92 Short wave regenerative receiver with feedback 93 Resonant Circuits 94 An AM signal generator 95 Chapter 11 • Operational Amplifiers in Practice 98 Part 1: Introduction and basics 98 Basic opamp circuits 98 Voltage follower 98 Non-inverting amplifier 99 Inverting amplifier 99 Adder 100 Oscillator 100 Under the hood 101 Chapter 12 • Operational Amplifiers in Practice 104 Part 2: FET-input opamps and wide-bandwidth applications 104 Voltage ramps 105 Wide-bandwidth applications 108 Chapter 13 • Operational Amplifiers in Practice 111 Part 3: Opamps with PNP input stage, and power types 111 Comparator type LM339 113 Clap-activated switch 115 Power amplifier 116 Chapter 14 • EMV-EMC Limit Values and CE Declaration 120 Simplified measurements for private individuals and small companies 120 Statutory requirements 120 To mark or not to mark 121 Contact with the authorities 122 EMC limit values 123 EMC estimation with simple resources 124 Summary 126 Chapter 15 • LED-LDR Ring Oscillator 127 Chapter 16 • Picoammeter 128 Chapter 17 • LC Oscillator with Pot Tuning 130 Chapter 18 • FET Radiation Meter 132 Chapter 19 • ‘Green’ Solar Lamp 133 Chapter 20 • Battery Maintainer 134 Chapter 21 • One-transistor Voltage Converter 135 Chapter 22 • Analogue LED Chaser Light 137 Chapter 23 • Experimental Hall Sensor 138 Chapter 24 • Minimalist Dip Meter 140 Chapter 25 • Wideband Receiver for Spark Transmissions 141 Chapter 26 • Ring Oscillator 142 Chapter 27 • LED Multi-Flasher 144 Chapter 28 • Emitter-Follower Audion 146 Chapter 29 • NPN Relaxation Oscillators 147 Chapter 30 • Measure Gamma Rays with a Photodiode 149 Radiation detector using a BPW34 149 Radiation 149 Diode as detector 149 Amplifier 150 Construction 151 Experiments and results 152 Outlook 155 Luminous dials 155 From radiation to sound 155 Radon decay products 156 Chapter 31 • Short-Wave Regenerative Receiver 158 Chapter 32 • DRM Double Superhet Receiver 160 Chapter 33 • Transistor Dip Meter 162 Chapter 34 • DRM Direct Mixer Using an EF95/6AK5 164 Chapter 35 • Medium-Wave Modulator 165 Chapter 36 • EE-ternal Blinker 167 Chapter 37 • Short-Wave Superregenerative Receiver 169 Chapter 38 • Short-Wave Converter 171 Part 2 Microcontroller 172 Chapter 39 • Microcontroller BootCamp (1) 173 Arduino and Bascom 173 For comparison: the NE555 timer IC 173 Reducing development time 174 Arduino and Bascom 175 Your first program 177 Software: the compiler 179 The simplest way: use the boot loader 180 Good job: it works! 182 Chapter 40 • Microcontroller BootCamp (2) 184 Digital inputs 184 Digital inputs 184 Protection diodes 185 Reading input states 186 What makes a high level high? 187 Switching back and forth 189 Branching 190 Reading switch states with a pull-up resistor 192 Bits and Bytes 193 Latch-up 195 Chapter 41 • Microcontroller BootCamp (3) 198 Serial interface and A/D converter 198 Print output 198 Assignments 200 The A/D converter 201 A bit of math 203 Measuring the temperature 206 Measuring the input hysteresis 208 External programmer 211 Chapter 42 • Microcontroller BootCamp (4) 214 User interfaces 214 LCD connection 215 A two-channel voltmeter 216 PWM outputs 220 Button polling 222 Liquid Crystal Displays 223 MCS Boot Loader 225 Chapter 43 • Microcontroller BootCamp (5) 227 Using timers 227 Measure those microseconds 227 Measuring the period of a signal 229 Square wave generator, 125 Hz to 4 MHz 230 Timer interrupts 233 Averaging analog readings 235 Frequency measurement 238 External display 240 Chapter 44 • Microcontroller BootCamp (6) 243 The SPI interface 243 Port extension with a shift register 243 Manual data transmission 246 From microcontroller to microcontroller 249 SPI EEPROM 25LC512 253 Data logger 256 Subroutines 259 Tip for using the Arduino programmer in Bascom 260 Chapter 45 • Microcontroller BootCamp (7) 261 The I2C-Bus 261 Data transfer and addressing 262 The PCF8574 port expander 265 PCA9555 16-bit I/O port 267 Analog I/O with the PCF8591 270 Future prospects 272 Other interesting I2C components 272 Chapter 46 • Sensors Make Sense (1) 274 For Arduino et al. 274 Overview: sensors and actuators 274 Displaying voltages in Bascom 277 Measuring voltages with Arduino 280 Temperature measurement using NTC sensors 282 RGB LED with joystick control 284 Laser light control 286 Chapter 47 • Sensors make Sense (2) 289 For Arduino and more 289 Sensors equipped with comparators 289 Software-based Schmitt trigger 291 Polling contact sensors 293 Processing switching signals 295 Shock sensor 296 Buzzers and other actuators 298 Bypass capacitors 299 Oscillators 300 Chapter 48 • Sensors Make Sense (3) 302 For Arduino and more 302 Arduino software for the 18B20 302 18B20 in Bascom 304 Temperature and humidity using the DHT11 305 DHT11 and Bascom 307 Infrared remote control 308 Arduino and IR 310 The 1-Wire protocol 312 The RC-5 protocol 313 Chapter 49 • Sensors Make Sense (4) 314 For Arduino and more 314 The tracking sensor 314 Optical fork sensors 315 The pulse sensor 315 Measuring pulses with Bascom 320 Encoding in Bascom 324 Chapter 50 • A Beginner’s Guide to Microcontroller Development Kits 326 The first step is the... easiest! 326 JOY-iT Nano V3 326 First impressions 327 Drive the buzzer with PWM signals 329 Plotting analogue signals 330 ISP Programming 332 NodeMCU (Author: Fabian Kainka) 333 Unboxing 334 Flash the latest firmware 334 Hello World – Lua-Test 336 Chapter 51 • BBC micro:bit for Electronicists (1) 341 In bed with mbed 341 Vital connections 341 Our first programs 343 Measuring voltages 345 Sensors galore 346 Static numerical display 348 Chapter 52 • BBC micro:bit for Electronicists (2) 351 Data acquisition and oscilloscope functions 351 A USB oscilloscope 351 Faster sampling by buffering 353 Wireless transfer of captured data 355 Mini-oscilloscope with LED display 358 Chapter 53 • RF Detector using an Arduino 360 Programmed in Bascom 360 An LED as a detector diode? 361 An Integrating Detector 363 Chapter 54 • Resistance Measurement with the Arduino 366 Great for testing humidity sensors 366 Resistance measurement 367 Circuit optimization 368 Logarithmic measurement 369 Chapter 55 • Arduino-Powered AM Transmitter 372 Broadcast the inductive way on Medium Wave 372 Microcontroller RF source 373 Circuit 373 Software 373 Operation 376 Chapter 56 • Security Labels are the Key 378 Door-entry system using Bascom 378 Reactivate 379 Software 381 Index 385