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Power
Resistors
Capacitors
Diodes
Electronics can at first seem extremely complicated to understand and learn. One look at
a circuit board with all those little blinky LED's and black chips and unidentifiable circle
pointy things can make anyone quit before starting.
But actually electronics can be much simpler than you think. Learning electronics is more
like learning a foreign language alphabet. At first glance it is all a bunch of squiggles. But
actually each letter has its own pronounciation and its own rules of use. And certain
combinations of letters in a certain order form a word of some meaning. And a
combination of words forms a sentence. This is the same for a circuit board. Each tiny
component, such as a resistor or capacitor or transistor, has special rules and abilities.
Combining a few into a circuit can create interesting effects. Combine a bunch of
unrelated circuits together and suddenly you have a robot. So your first step would just to
be to learn and understand the smallest of the components. Once there you can learn
about combining them. Just like learning a foreign alphabet, no?
POWER
Power is simply the energy required to do something. If you are moving a large amount
of electrons, and moving them through something that is resistant of that movement,
power is used. Power is voltage times current. Power is also voltage squared divided by
resistance.
P=I*V
P = (V^2)/R
RESISTORS
These do exactly what they say. They resist the flow of electrons. These are necessary for
several reasons:
- they can control how much current goes down each wire
- they can control power usage
- they can control voltages (since current, resistance, and voltage are interrelated)
The last point is important as it is the basis of Ohm's law, V=IR. Voltage = Current x
Resistance. For example, suppose you take a resistor and connect the two ends of a
battery with it. You know that your battery is 9V (or whatever) and you know the resistor
is 3Kohm (determined by the color stripes on the resistor), so 9V divided by 3Kohm is
.003amps (3 milliamps). So why is this information useful? Well now that you know the
current, you can determine other useful things such as power. P=IV. You will notice that
if you increase resistance, you decrease current. If you decrease current, you decrease
power use. Put a 1ohm resistor between the battery and it will get so hot it could burn
because of the power use. Use a 100Kohm resistor and almost no power at all will be
used.
So about determining the value of a resistor, all resistors have the value labled on them.
You will notice colored stripes on the resistor. Each stripe means a certain number. This
has been explained a billion times online already so I won't, just google search 'resistor
color tutorial.'
Click for a quick resistor color code reference chart.
Capacitors are somewhat complex in theory, but most people can get by on the basics
which I will explain here. Capacitors are like electron storage banks. If your circuit is
running low, it will deliver electrons to your circuit. If your circuit is in excess (such as
when your robot motors are turned off), it will store electrons. In our water analogy, think
of this as a water tank with water always flowing in, but with drainage valves opening
and closing. Since capacitors take time to charge, and time to discharge, they can also be
used for timing circuits. Timing circuits can be used to generate signals such as PWM or
be used to turn on/off motors in solar powered BEAM robots.
Quick note, some capacitors are polarized, meaning current can only flow one direction
through them. If a capacitor has a lead that is longer than the other, assume the longer
lead must always connect to positive.
How do capicitors charge over time? This Capacitor Charge Curve Chart should help.
The discharge rate would be the direct inverse. Theoretically (as made obvious by the
graph) a capacitor can never be fully charged or discharged, but in reality this is never the
case.
Capacitors can also be used to prevent power spikes that could potentially fry circuitry.
Next to any on/off switch or anything that that could affect power suddenly should have a
capacitor across it.
Capacitors can eliminate switch bouncing. When you flip a mechanical switch, the
switch actually bounces several times within a microsecond range. Normally this is too
small of a time for anyone to care (or even notice), but note that a microcontroller can
take hundreds of readings in a single microsecond. So if your robot was counting the
number of times a switch is flipped, a single flip can count as dozens. So how do you stop
this? Use a small ceramic capacitor! Just experiment until you find the power
capacitance value.
Capacitors can improve efficiency and longevity of electric motors up to 100%. Place a
small ceramic capacitor of like 10uF across the two leads of your motor. This works
really well with el-cheap-o motors. Not much effect with high-end expensive motors
however. These capacitors will also signficantly reduce EMI (Electro Magnetic
Interference) and system noise too.
DIODES
Diodes are what you would use to ensure current flows in only a single direction. A great
water analogy to a diode is a dam. Water never flows up a damn. But the analogy goes
even further. With diodes, there is always a voltage across it (typically .7V forward
voltage). Meaning if you have a diode come after a 7.2V battery, the voltage would then
be 6.5V. This is just like a dam in that the water level will always drop. Doesnt current
already always flow in only a single direction? No. RC circuits, or circuits involving AC
power, or circuits that are noisy (such as with motors), involve currents that changes
directions. So why would you only want current to flow in a single direction? Many
many reasons. But for a beginner, you need to protect your circuitry from noise. A
This below chart represents the current vs voltage curve typical of diodes. As you can
see, the current passing through a diode changes non-linearly as voltage changes linearly.
There is another special diode called a zener diode. With the water analogy, a zener
diode is like a dam, but with a pump at the bottom pumping water back to the top. Zener
diodes allow current to flow in reverse as well as forward. The forward voltage is still
around .7V, but there is a different reverse voltage of around negative ~2.3V. You will
probably never need to use a zener diode.
The LED, a light emitting diode, is also a well . . . diode. When using an LED make sure
you always place a resistor (~100 ohm) in series with it. The LED will fry otherwise.
Source - www.societyofrobots.com