Power
Power is one of the more fundamental concepts in electronics. Check out the following tutorials to reduce current consumption, toggle high power applications, monitor your battery, or charge your LiPo battery safely! Not sure the power requirements of your project? Try checking out the tutorial on how to power your project for some considerations.
Photon Remote Water Level Sensor
June 2, 2016
Learn how to build a remote water level sensor for a water storage tank and how to automate a pump based off the readings!
Beefcake Relay Control Hookup Guide
June 2, 2016
This is a guide for assembling and basic use of the Beefcake Relay Control board
How to Build a Remote Kill Switch
May 31, 2016
Learn how to build a wireless controller to kill power when things go... sentient.
Hobby Servo Tutorial
May 26, 2016
Servos are motors that allow you to accurately control the rotation of the output shaft, opening up all kinds of possibilities for robotics and other projects.
Measuring Internal Resistance of Batteries
May 5, 2016
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.
What is a Battery?
May 3, 2016
An overview of the inner workings of a battery and how it was invented.
Blynk Board Project Guide
March 25, 2016
A series of Blynk projects you can set up on the Blynk Board without ever re-programming it.
ESP8266 Powered Propane Poofer
March 15, 2016
Learn how Nick Poole built a WiFi controlled fire-cannon using the ESP8266 Thing Dev Board!
PicoBuck Hookup Guide v12
February 18, 2016
The PicoBuck board is a high-efficiency three-channel constant-current LED driver.
FemtoBuck Constant Current LED Driver Hookup Guide v13
December 10, 2015
The FemtoBuck board is a high-efficiency, single-channel constant-current LED driver.
Adding a Timed Button to a Project
July 29, 2015
This tutorial will walk you through making a timed power controller for interactive projects. You will learn how to add an on button that will provide power to your project for an amount of time and then turn off again.
Photon Battery Shield Hookup Guide
July 2, 2015
The Photon Battery Shield has everything your Photon needs to run off, charge, and monitor a LiPo battery. Read through this hookup guide to get started using it.
Wake-on-Shake Hookup Guide
March 13, 2015
A basic hookup guide for getting started with the SparkFun Wake-on-Shake. The board gives you the ability to put your project into hibernation until bumped or shaken awake using the ADXL362 accelerometer. This means you can design projects meant to stay inert for long periods of time, possibly even several years, depending on the battery type used to power the project.
LilyPad Simple Power Hookup Guide
January 15, 2015
A basic guide for getting started using the LilyPad Simple Power with LiPo batteries.
Benchtop Power Board Kit Hookup Guide
November 3, 2014
Need more power? This Benchtop ATX Power Supply Kit should help give you the boost you need to power those energy hungry projects.
Sunny Buddy Solar Charger V13 Hookup Guide
October 13, 2014
How to hookup the Sunny Buddy: a solar-powered, MPPT (peak-power tracking), LiPo battery charger.
LTC4150 Coulomb Counter Hookup Guide
September 18, 2014
A "Coulomb Counter" is like a gas gauge for your battery. Here's how to use it.
How Lithium Polymer Batteries are Made
May 28, 2014
We got the opportunity to tour the Great Power Battery factory. Checkout how LiPos are made!
LiPo USB Charger Hookup Guide
May 1, 2014
How to charge your LiPo batteries with the USB LiPo charger. Plus how to modify your charger to set the charge current.
Uh-Oh Battery Level Indicator Hookup Guide
April 9, 2014
Learn how to assemble and use the TL431 in the Uh-Oh Battery Level Indicator Kit.
INA169 Breakout Board Hookup Guide
November 20, 2013
How to interface with the INA169 Breakout Board to measure current.
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.
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!
How to Power a Project
February 7, 2013
A tutorial to help figure out the power requirements of your project.
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.