Top products from r/breadboard

You can try /r/electronics, /r/askelectronics, /r/EngineeringStudents, /r/engineering and /r/arduino too, in case this doesn't receive much attention. This is a pretty small subreddit, with very few subscribers. You'll have much more luck in those subreddits (the first two are very good for these types of questions).

This book would be perfect for you. Heck, I'm in my fourth year of electrical engineering, and I love that book. I'm sure you can find a free version somewhere, but I won't link you to that. It truly is an exceptional book that really teaches you about these things. Highly recommended and well worth the money. You'll have to make some purchases before each chapter, nothing too expensive. Just stop wasting money on alcohol or drugs and spend it on something that will benefit you in the future, something more relevant to education haha.

Seriously, that book will explain to you like you're five. It is great. And if you have any questions about the contents of it, you can google it, ask someone on the subreddits, or PM me for information.

Mind if I ask where you live? And what inspires you to be an engineer? What are some of your favorite classes in school? Tell me more about you.

I must say, your approach is a very good one. I can already tell you're a highly motivated person. You have a good attitude.

Edit: Some people are suggesting you start with arduino. But I really recommend you start with reading, and the basic tools (breadboard, components, etc). Although arduino can be basic, it involves coding as well, something you're likely not familiar with. Just get the book, and I promise you'll be satisfied.

I assume you are running it off a CR2032. Not going to happen. You read adafruit's page on powering this thing right?

http://data.energizer.com/pdfs/cr2032.pdf

> Pulse drain of ~6.8mA.

EDIT: Your breadboard has just one issue. You really should solder the screw terminals to that board. I doubt you are going to get a very good electrical connection with the way you have it wired right now. It might work, might make it sound terrible, might not work at all. You can push the wires against the holes for a short term fix, but stuff like that is asking for trouble. You might put some capacitance in parallel with your button to do hardware debouncing. The capacitor would go from pin 2 to ground. The value doesn't matter much and you'll know if it's too small because you won't be debounced. 1n, 10n, 0.1u, 1u are all fine.

Check and make sure your speaker is either 4 or 8 ohms.

While you wait for your battery stuff from Adafruit you can try powering board from a cell phone charger. Don't do this with a USB port on your computer. You will likely either trip a resettable fuse, but you could possibly also damage the USB port drawing as much power as this thing takes. This idea probably won't work with two 4 ohm speakers, but should work with two 8 ohm or one 4 ohm speakers. As to the USB charger you want one that's rated for 5v 2a. From there you just use a wire to connect Vbus (pin 3) and Vin (pin 1).

Last bit of advice I have is use solid wires whenever possible. I pretty much only use stranded jumper wires when I need a female connector on one or both ends. Pull back the rubber boot over one of your alligator clips. If they look like this don't trust them. They're pretty much garbage which is why they are so cheap. The wire gauge is a lot thinner than the insulation leads you to believe. You can make them better by at least soldering the wire to the alligator clips, but really you would want thicker wire. At that point you should just buy good ones. You can get them from Amazon, but it's kind of a rip off. Better to get them from aliX and just be patient on the shipping.

https://www.amazon.com/Alligator-Clips-Heavy-Silicone-Jumper/dp/B07L29V4Z2/

I've bought leads from this aliX store before and have had good luck with them:

https://cleqee.aliexpress.com/store/group/Test-Leads/1810103_253379085.html

As to the actual clips I recommend these:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32352890876.html

Good luck!

Thanks for the informative reply! I really appreciate it! I am on a budget, but i am willing to wait for better parts, It is just going to be about a month before i can work again, and i don't feel like the kit i got will last me long enough(In terms of things to do with it).

Would you recommend reading more into reading/understanding voltages, resistances, and currents? Or can i pick up most of that from a good multimeter, testing how much parts can take(when i can) and knowing what is bad and good?

I am not a fan of tutorials, unless they explain what each part does, rather than "This goes here so this works".

I have watched a lot of videos on how to do certain things, like always keeping the power supply off until you work with parts, and short circuits, and the basics of soldering. I already got the arduino software installed, and i am planning on ordering a simple microcontroller to use on my lcd display. I got the programming down already, just seeing if i should get the cheaper one. What is the lowest you would spend on a decent multimeter? I have one that is about 10$ bookmarked, and now that you mentioned it, i am having second thoughts.

This is the best book on the subject and really got me far in creating original circuits: My copy is as dog-eared and bookmarked as could be.

Nicolas Collins
Handmade Electronic Music: The Art of Hardware Hacking

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0415998735/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_57MCAbAZ0WC52

More than hacking and mods, really gets into playing with ICs and such.

Have fun.

I just bought some of this wire
And so far it's been great

Looks like you want these: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00M5WLZDW

That stuff is pretty good, but I especially like the silver-bearing solder, like this. https://www.amazon.com/Cardas-Soldering-Eutectic-Silver-Solder/dp/B015X68HXW/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1469639712&sr=8-2&keywords=silver+bearing+solder

I'd go for leaded solder with no silver rather than a silver-bearing lead-free mix, though. Lead-free solder is harder to use, especially with no flux/rosin. No wonder you were having problems.

The black brick thing with the screws on top? Terminal block, I think. You put wires in there and tighten down the screws and it makes an electrical connection.

I concur with this. If you are talking portable and not a 110AC deal, put a 12v car or motorcycle battery at your launch station with power routed to each launch pad. You can go with a microcontroller if you want but I think it would be overkill and I would prefer physical switches in any event. Big buttons to mash. You can get some 18-5 or 18-7 thermostat wire:

https://www.amazon.com/Southwire-64169622-Conductor-Thermostat-Power-Limited/dp/B0069F4HHC

(here is some 14-5 if you're really worried about the gauge)

https://www.wireandcableyourway.com/14-5-soow-portable-cord-600v-ul-csa.html



If using a 5 conductor as an example, you ought to be able to take power to the buttons on one wire of the five through a master kill switch, then use fire buttons on the other four that return the individual launch pads to ground. One cable from launch control to launch station.