Electrical Components
sourcing electrical components to build a quality electrical engineering program at your school does not need to be difficult. Just keep a few pointers in mind. You don’t need thousands of components, just a few key components that will provide you with the greatest range of options.
For example there are hundreds of resistors on the market but you don’t need to purchased every single one. Instead try to buy incremental values that cover the largest possible range using the fewest number of restores possible. Although you may not always have the exact value that would be the mathematical ideal, real circuits operate within a range of tolerance so you have some room to work with values that may not be exact but are close enough to do what you need. This also makes it much easier for students learning electronics as they will be able to focus on the big ideas rather than being distracted by trying to decifer the differences between nearly identical components.
For this reason Sino-Exchange has designed numerous projects and experiments that utilize the fewest number of base components. This helps teachers easily maintain an inventory of parts while also helping students learn what each component does and when to use it.
Although Sino-Exchange does not sell any of the components that you need we will help you source all the parts you need to complete any of the projects that we have designed. Therefore to make things easier for you we have partnered with a Chinese supplier that will help you get what you need. If you are just starting out you can order an educational starter kit that they have designed for us, or if you only need to order a few parts to top up your kit you can do that as well. We have provided descriptions of the key components you need, what they are useful for and provided you with the links you need to find them quickly on the suppliers website.
Batteries
You will need power for your projects. A simple CR2032 battery clip is a great way to power your circuits by including the power supply right on your prototype board.
Order a CR2032 battery clip with a horizontal configuration.
9V Batteries
Some projects will require more power than others, or there is just not enough space on a prototype board to include the battery. In these situations you will need to consider an external power supply. A 9V battery is powerfully enough to power servos, run a wide variety of integrated circuits and is much more practical than having to use battery packs with multiple batteries.
Wires and Solder
You will need wires to connect all of the components on your prototype boards, and solder to secure the connections. It is very helpful for students to colour code their circuits so they can easily follow the flow of electricity through their circuits. As circuits become more complex you may need additional colours for power, ground, digital inputs etc.
Order different colour wires for your projects. Ask the supplier to provide you with the following 6 colours: Red, Black, Green, Blue, Yellow, Orange
LED Lights
Light Emitting Diodes (LED) are an incredibly useful component for a wide variety of projects and experiments in middle and high school. These come in different colour and sizes but it is not necessary to have every possible combination. Having 4 options in stock provides students with enough options customize their projects without overly complicating things. Getting Red, Green, Blue, and White LEDs in a 5mm footprint is ideal.
In addition to LED you will also need regular diodes in your electronics kit. Diodes are important for controlling the direction electricity flows in a circuit and are commonly used in rectifier circuits.
Resistors
Most projects will need resistors for one reason or another. Although there are hundreds possible resistors that you could order, all having different values and tolerances, you can consolidate to a set of 12 resistors that are able to cover the majority of your needs.
Order resistors here. Ask the supplier to provide you with the following 12 values: 100r, 200r, 330r, 500r, 750r, 1k, 2k, 10k, 51k, 75k, 100k, 1M
Variable Resistors
In addition to your standard resistors it is good to have a few variable resistors in stock. These can be very useful in projects where you need to be able to adjust the resistance value in the circuit, or for experiments where you need to calibrate a circuit after the fact. Due to the massive range of most variable resistors you only need to keep a few key values in stock. For example a 10k variable resistor can often produce a range between 8 and 10,000 ohms of resistance.
Order compact variable resistors here. Ask the supplier for the following values: 103 (10K) and 105 (1M)
It is also helpful to have the larger B10K Potentiometer available for projects as well.
Switches
switches will likely be one of the most important components that your students will use. They can be used to add simple OM/OFF functionality to your circuits, but can also be used to create logic gates, flipflop circuits, H-bridges and many more.
Order push switch (Momentarily ON) here.
Order ON / OFF switches (SPST) here.
Capacitors
capacitors are critical components in many advanced digital circuits, particularly oscillators or multivibrators. When used with transistors or Integrated Circuits (IC) such as a 555 timer a number of advanced circuits designs can be created.
Order 0.1UF porcelain dielectric capacitor here.
Order 10uf 25V electrolytic capacitors here.
Order 47uf 25V electrolytic capacitors here.
Transistors
Transistors are the key component of all digital circuits. They can be used to create logic gates, astable oscillators, LED chases and much more. Transistors come in one of 2 configuration NPN (Negative Positive Negative) or PNP (Positive Negative Positive). Although there are hundreds of transistors available, you can get away with have just 2 transistors in your arsenal.
I/O Input and Output Devices
As your projects get more advanced you will likely need a variety of Input and output derives for your projects.
Integrated Circuits
There are many IC circuits that you could oder for your projects but one of the most useful ICs on the market is the 555 timer. It can be used to create astable and monostable circuits, digital oscillators and H-bridges.
Circuit Board
You can’t design your circuits without prototype boards. All of the projects and experiments available form Sino-Exchange are designed around the 3x7cm circuit board layout.
Storage Containers
You will need somewhere to store all of the parts you buy for your electronics program, and you also need these parts to be easily accessible to students. The following 36 compartment storage container is perfect.
Set up 2 containers for each workstation in your classroom. Set up the first bin with all 36 compartments so you can have all of the small parts that the students need for their projects in one place. then in the second bin remove most of the divers so you can create 12 large compartments. Cut about 125cm (which will be 250 resistors) from the strip of bulk resistors and roll them up. Place the rolls resistors in the available slots ascending order to make it easy for students to find the resistor they need quickly and easily.
Order storage containers for all of your electrical components here.