Concepts

These are the various concepts that people may need to know while learning a technology tutorial and could be required to complete a ‘hookup’ tutorial. Concepts are most often a general building block that may be built upon other concepts. Concepts can generally be learned without physical objects but are reinforced with a hookup tutorial.

Pulse Width Modulation

February 27, 2013

An introduction to the concept of Pulse Width Modulation.

Voltage Dividers

February 8, 2013

Turn a large voltage into a smaller one with voltage dividers. This tutorial covers: what a voltage divider circuit looks like and how it is used in the real world.

Light

February 7, 2013

Light is a useful tool for the electrical engineer. Understanding how light relates to electronics is a fundamental skill for many projects.

Analog to Digital Conversion

February 7, 2013

The world is analog. Use analog to digital conversion to help digital devices interpret the world.

What is a Circuit?

February 6, 2013

Every electrical project starts with a circuit. Don't know what a circuit is? We're here to help.

Voltage, Current, Resistance, and Ohm's Law

February 6, 2013

Learn about Ohm's Law, one of the most fundamental equations in all electrical engineering.

Gyroscope

February 1, 2013

Gyroscopes measure the speed of rotation around an axis and are an essential part in determines ones orientation in space.

Pull-up Resistors

February 1, 2013

A quick introduction to pull-up resistors - whey they're important, and how/when to use them.

Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI)

January 14, 2013

SPI is commonly used to connect microcontrollers to peripherals such as sensors, shift registers, and SD cards.

Serial Communication

December 18, 2012

Asynchronous serial communication concepts: packets, signal levels, baud rates, UARTs and more!

PCB Basics

December 14, 2012

What exactly IS a PCB? This tutorial will breakdown what makes up a PCB and some of the common terms used in the PCB world.
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Old Tutorials

Looking for the old, archived tutorials? Head on over to the archived tutorials on the main SparkFun site.
Please be aware that the tutorials you find there are no longer actively maintained.