Electrical Engineering

Discussing what thermal resistance is, how it’s used for thermal management, and how to maximize the life of your project.

The SparkFun Clock Generator 5P49V60 (Qwiic) breakout board offers a wide range of customizable frequencies in a wide range of different signal types using a single reference clock. This hookup guide will go over all of the many available functions and gives the hardware rundown on what exactly is on this board.

Showing off some of the features of the SparkFun Ruler.

The essential parts for beginning (or even experienced) hobbyists that gives you all of the basic through-hole components you will need to get started playing with embedded projects. We'll identify a few parts in the kit and provide a few basic circuits to get started!

Learn how to measure the current consumption of your project using the ACS723 Current Sensor.

This tutorial will show you how to use a headless Raspberry Pi to flash hex files onto AVR microcontrollers as a stand-alone programmer. It also tells the story about production programming challenges, how SparkFun came to this solution, and all the lessons learned along the way.

Not working as expected? In this tutorial, we will be exploring a few general troubleshooting tips and possible solutions that frequently come up with SparkFun's Technical Support.

Picking up where we left off in "Getting Started with LTSpice," we delve a little deeper into LTSpice through an introduction of Operational Amplifiers (OpAmps).

How to crack an unknown safe in under an hour.

LTspice is a high performance SPICE simulator, schematic capture and waveform viewer with an impressive library of passive devices. Over 1000 models are included in the download but you can also add third party models.

With this, you will be able to upload Arduino sketches directly to the ATtiny84 over USB without needing to use a programming device (such as another Arduino or FTDI chip).

Learn techniques on how to use Finite Impulse Response (FIR) filters and other data-processing tools to turn data into information.

A tutorial about different ways to reduce the current draw for your next Arduino project the easy way.

Building a gyrator-based analog equalizer using the Proto Pedal.

Building a pedal around the Teensy 3.2 and Teensy Audio shield. Changing the effect in the pedal is as easy as uploading a new sketch!

Getting started with the SparkFun Proto Pedal. We'll assemble the board, then discuss some of the details of the circuit.

How to use the 74HC4051 multiplexer breakout to drive eight LEDs, read eight button inputs, or monitor eight potentiometers.

Classroom STEM activity that has students build a battery from a lemon, measure the open and closed circuit voltages, and determine the battery's internal resistance.

An overview of the inner workings of a battery and how it was invented.

Build a Boss Alarm that alerts you of anyone walking into your office and automatically changes your computer screen.

Learn about the SparkFun RedStick, a USB thumb drive-sized Arduino-compatible development platform.

Get to know the contents of the SparkFun Discrete Semiconductor Kit.

Assembly and application of the 8-pin SOIC-to-DIP adapter.

A basic introduction to working with the microSD Sniffer.

Learn the basics of using a multimeter to measure continuity, voltage, resistance and current.

A general guide for using SparkFun Blocks for Intel® Edison in your next project!

How to assemble and use the SparkPunk Sequencer kit.

Examine the inner workings of the SparkPunk Sequencer, then explore some modifications and alternate applications.

A crash course in bi-polar junction transistors. Learn how transistors work and in which circuits we use them.

How to take a solar powered pathway light from a hardware store and make it into a crude soil moisture sensor.

How to assemble and modify the SparkPunk Sound Generator kit.

Learn how to assemble and use the TL431 in the Uh-Oh Battery Level Indicator Kit.

Experiments guide for the LogicBlocks kit. Build oscillators, latches, multiplexers and more with the LogicBlocks.

Introducing fundamental digital logic concepts and LogicBlocks

Learn how to create your own Fritzing part so you can make amazing looking wiring diagrams, learn about schematics and PCB design, and get your design fabbed into a real PCB with Fritzing's PCB manufacturing service.

How to work the dials and buttons on an oscilloscope, and a glossary of the o-scope lexicon.

100-in-1? 500-in-1? It's up to you when you build your own Science Fair style experiment board!

In this article, we share our recent advancements in quality control. Along with making our tests more thorough, we have also made them more efficient and robust.

A primer on digital logic concepts in hardware and software.

Learn the differences between AC and DC, the history, different ways to generate AC and DC, and examples of applications.

An introduction to shift registers and potential uses.

An introduction into series and parallel circuits.

Learn the basics about LEDs as well as some more advanced topics to help you calculate requirements for projects containing many LEDs.

This tutorial covers the concept of analog and digital signals, as they relate to electronics.

An introduction to integrated circuits (ICs). Electronics' ubiquitous black chips. Includes a focus on the variety of IC packages.

An overview of component circuit symbols, and tips and tricks for better schematic reading. Click here, and become schematic-literate today!

This tutorial will explain how to use and convert between the standard metric prefixes.

An overview of electric power, the rate of energy transfer. We'll talk definition of power, watts, equations, and power ratings. 1.21 gigawatts of tutorial fun!

Learn about all things capacitors. How they're made. How they work. How they look. Types of capacitors. Series/parallel capacitors. Capacitor applications.

An introduction to polarity in electronic components. Discover what polarity is, which parts have it, and how to identify it.

We can see electricity in action on our computers, lighting our houses, as lightning strikes in thunderstorms, but what is it? This is not an easy question, but this tutorial will shed some light on it!

Learn the difference between 3.3V and 5V devices and logic levels.

Welcome to the wonderful world of breadboards. Here we will learn what a breadboard is and how to use one to build your very first circuit.

A diode primer! Diode properties, types of diodes, and diode applications.

A tutorial on electronics' most overlooked and underappreciated component: the switch! Here we explain the difference between momentary and maintained switches and what all those acronyms (NO, NC, SPDT, SPST, ...) stand for.

A tutorial on all things resistors. What is a resistor, how do they behave in parallel/series, decoding the resistor color codes, and resistor applications.

An introduction to the concept of Pulse Width Modulation.

How to strip, crimp, and work with wire.

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.

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

A tutorial to help figure out the power requirements of your project.

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

The basics behind the batteries used in portable electronic devices: LiPo, NiMH, coin cells, and alkaline.

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

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

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.