Electrical Engineering

These tutorials help form some of the fundamentals you would learn in an Electrical Engineering course of study.

8-Pin SOIC to DIP Adapter Hookup Guide

August 13, 2015

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

Alternating Current (AC) vs. Direct Current (DC)

September 5, 2013

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

Analog to Digital Conversion

February 7, 2013

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

Analog vs. Digital

July 18, 2013

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

Battery Technologies

February 6, 2013

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

Beginner Parts Kit Identification Guide

March 22, 2019

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!

Boss Alarm

March 30, 2016

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

Building a Safe Cracking Robot

March 29, 2017

How to crack an unknown safe in under an hour.

Button and Switch Basics

May 7, 2013

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.

Capacitors

June 19, 2013

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

Constant Innovation in Quality Control

December 11, 2013

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.

Current Sensor Breakout (ACS723) Hookup Guide

June 21, 2018

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

Digital Logic

October 3, 2013

A primer on digital logic concepts in hardware and software.

Diodes

May 9, 2013

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

Discrete Semiconductor Kit Identification Guide

November 19, 2015

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

Electric Power

June 26, 2013

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!

General Guide to SparkFun Blocks for Intel® Edison

January 5, 2015

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

Getting Started with LTspice

March 1, 2017

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.

How to Install an ATtiny Bootloader With Virtual USB

February 14, 2017

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).

How to Power a Project

February 7, 2013

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

How to Read a Schematic

July 12, 2013

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

How to Use a Breadboard

May 14, 2013

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.

How to Use a Multimeter

January 9, 2015

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

How to Use an Oscilloscope

February 25, 2014

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