Simple Electric Circuit

Hello!

Thanks for choosing this intractable to start your DIY journey into electronics. In this intractable, we will be building a super simple electric circuit consisting of a battery, a resistor, and two LEDs. I will help to guide you through the process, but please feel free to comment if anything is unclear or you have some questions. With that said, lets begin.

The Materials: All of these things can be bought at radioshack or any other local hardware/DIY store.

4 5mm LEDs (you will want extra because LEDs are easy to burnout)

1 Nine Volt Battery

1 150 Ohm Resistor

Tools: All of these can be bought online at amazon or at your local hardware/DIY store.

Soldering iron (I recommend the Weller Sp23L goo.gl/GwdKzN )

Wet Sponge (I keep mine in a small bowl so it stays wet)

Bread Board ( goo.gl/J07Jfj )

Solder (http://goo.gl/uXUuv1)

Multimeter (http://goo.gl/dy0ft9)

Needle Nosed Pliers

I have labeled the schematic with what every symbol means. Another important thing to know, is which side on an LED is negative; you can tell this by either which side has a flat edge or which lead is shorter.

The bread board is where you assemble the circuit without soldering. Bread boards are connected up and down, so to connect two components put them in the same column. Sometime it's hard to push a component in, so use needle nose pliers to help. Check if your components are connected by setting the multimeter to ohms (Ω) and touching it to the two components that are supposed to be connected. If you get a "1 ." then the components aren't connected. If everything is connected, then plug in your battery to see if the lights turn on. If everything works, then disassemble it and move on to soldering.

To "tin" a solder iron, plug it in (the light will come on when it's plugged in) and wait a couple minutes until it's hot enough to melt your solder. Important safety note: DO NOT TOUCH ANY METAL PART OF THE SOLDERING IRON it's extremely hot and will burn you. While you're waiting get your sponge soaked, so you don't burn it. Finally just melt some solder on the iron then wipe it off on the sponge until the soldering iron tip is nice and shiny.

To solder two parts together, first you must two both parts' wires that you will be connecting. Once this is done, you put the two wires together, hold the solder to them, and touch the soldering iron to the parts (not the solder) to allow the solder to flow onto your joint like water. The joint should be shiny if you did a good job; if the joint is dull, then heat it up and re-solder.

If all your connections are good and you soldered the components according to the diagram, then plug in your battery and watch the magic as you light up your LEDs.