Today I spent the first half of the day putting together an fm radio kit. It comes with all the components needed (minus some good, solid instructions), and you just have to solder the electronics in. Here are some pictures of before and during this project process:
However, when I finally finished, I realized that the thing didn’t work- I couldn’t even get the LED to turn on! We tested the LED, and figured out it works, but after testing other components and fixing my soldering for a while, still couldn’t come up with a solution. So, I set out to learn more about electronic components and how to test them in the hopes that tomorrow I can figure out what went wrong and fix it. Bets are that the problem is in the zener diode, and I guess we’ll find out soon!
Here are the videos I watched and took notes on to help learn more about electronic components. Note: Mr. Carlson’s Lab is the best channel to learn from, and I’ll be trying to find more videos of him for what I need in the future.
- “Transistor identification and testing”- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGcoOETCaEQ&t=0s&index=2&list=PLeGRfpxbYeoUd_FHxYQZny0_g1_USttXk
PNP, NPN and Emitter, Collector, Base.
- “How to check fuses, diodes, transistors, voltage regulators”- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5FZJXO9sVc&list=PLeGRfpxbYeoUd_FHxYQZny0_g1_USttXk&index=4
Which lead goes where when using a multimeter to check if the above components are still good.
- “Easy way to test capacitors, diodes, rectifiers in a power supply”- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4jTHhXuKLA&list=PLeGRfpxbYeoUd_FHxYQZny0_g1_USttXk&index=5
Similar to above video.
- “How to test capacitors in circuit”- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0Cy9wfrMFQ&index=6&list=PLeGRfpxbYeoUd_FHxYQZny0_g1_USttXk
He actually took the capacitor out of circuit, so the title isn’t very correct.
- “How to solder properly, with tips”- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tf2vxwm52fU
Great tips from Mr. Carlson’s lab, and even talked about how to solder surface mount components (really important for when our PCB boards arrive).