style="font-size:15px;"> ✓ You have some money to spend on project supplies and tools. With some smart shopping, $50 will get you most of what you need and $70–$100 will cover everything.
✓ You’re able to place an online order for electronic components and get to a store or two (probably with help from an adult).
✓ You will carefully follow the safety tips in this book.
In addition to the content in this book, you’ll find some extra content available at the www.dummies.com website:
✓ The Cheat Sheet for this book at www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/electronicsfk.
✓ Online materials covering additional topics are at www.dummies.com/extras/electronicsfk.
✓ Updates to this book, if any, at www.dummies.com/extras/electronicsfk.
As a project-based book, Electronics For Kids For Dummies is designed to allow you to choose what you want to work on when you want to work on it. You can build each project in order or skip ahead to a project that especially interests you. If specific information about, say, how to attach wires to a speaker appears in an earlier project, you’ll find a reference to that earlier information in all later projects that use a speaker.
Even if you choose to jump into a later project first, you’d be wise to read Project 1 before you get started. Buying electronic components isn’t like buying a laptop or a TV: You can’t just walk into your neighborhood electronics store and pick up a few transistors and other parts. Project 1 lists everything you need to build the projects in the book and guides you through the shopping process to ensure that it’s as easy, quick, and inexpensive as possible.
If you’re new to electronics or have never built a circuit on a solderless breadboard, I recommend you read through Projects 2 and 3 before tackling the other projects. However, because each project walks you through the building steps in great detail, you don’t have to master your breadboard to successfully build any of the projects in this book.
I hope you’re as excited about electronics as I am. Have fun building the projects in this book!
Part I
Discover Basic Circuits
In this part, you’ll build
Project 1
Go Shopping
To build the projects in this book, you need to buy a bunch of electronic components (including resistors, capacitors, diodes, LEDs, transistors, and integrated circuits), accessories (such as alligator clips and wires), tools (such as wire strippers), and other supplies.
I wish I could name a store in a shopping mall close to your house where you could just walk in, pick out all the parts you need, plunk down about $100, and go home and start building projects. Unfortunately, there is no such store (even RadioShack stores no longer carry a wide variety of electronic components).
So, you will need to order many of your supplies online, which means you have to plan to allow time for shipping. The good news is that you can save a lot of money by shopping online, and you can get most of the components you need in just one online trip (with an adult’s assistance or, at least, an adult’s credit card). You may still need to go to a couple of local stores to pick up some tools and other supplies.
Here are some recommended suppliers:
✓ Tayda Electronics: With warehouses in Colorado (US) and Bangkok (Thailand), Tayda ships worldwide. Allow 1–4 weeks for delivery, depending on where you live. The website, www.taydaelectronics.com, is easy to use. One visit to Tayda and you can order every electronic component and some of the accessories you need at reasonable prices (many for just pennies). I’ve provided Tayda part numbers for many of the components you need in the next section.
✓ Fry’s Electronics: Between its stores (in several US states) and website (www.frys.com), Fry’s stocks many of the electronic components and accessories you need. Fry’s ships worldwide.
✓ Farnell element14: Start at www.farnell.com and select your country for the Farnell element14 company in your region. (The US company is branded Newark.) You’ll find all the electronic components and many accessories you need. The website is geared toward industrial customers, so be prepared for highly technical product descriptions.
✓ RadioShack: RadioShack’s online (www.radioshack.com) and in-store stock of electronic components seems to be dwindling, but if you really need a certain component right away, and your local store (US only) has it, it’s worth the trip. Expect to pay significantly more at RadioShack than at other online suppliers.
You can also find most (or all) of the components, accessories, tools, and supplies you need on www.amazon.com or www.ebay.com. However,
