I used to look forward to the occasional Amazon box that would show up on my doorstep. Not anymore... now it's boxes from Mouser or AllElectronics.

In addition to much of the stuff specified in Chapter 5, I also managed to squeeze in some extra components that I've been wanting to add to my collection. As you can see from one of the photos, I took this chance to throw in an order for a bunch of capacitors of various values. Some are used in the book, others are not, but I've learned that you can never have enough of them and the one you need will always be missing when you need it the most.

The two brown containers in the right side of the photo contain the speakers used in various experiments in Chapter 5... the rest of the stuff is described below. Note that I did NOT buy everything yet for Chapter 5. A couple of the later experiments call for some more components that I'll likely purchase locally when I need them. Those large purple things are capacitors... BIG capacitors. They look scary... and fun.

So, here's a partial list, with prices and part #s:

Mouser.com

NTE110A General Purpose Diode, Germanium - $1.57 each - purchased 2 (Exp 31)
2N2222 General Purpose Bipolar Transistors - $1.09 each - purchased 2 (Exp 30)
TEA2025B Stereo Audio Amp - $0.68 each - purchased 2 (Exp 29)

(That last one, TEA2025B, I could only find on Mouser.com - AllElectronics didn't seem to have any alternative to it - if anyone finds an alternate source, let me know.)

AllElectronics.com

26YL-100 Yellow Hookup Wire, 26AWG, 100' - $4.30 - purchased 1 roll
MW-26-4 Magnet Wire, 26AWG, 1/4LB roll - $6.58 - purchased 1 roll
SK-63 63Ohm speaker, 2.25" - $1.25 each - purchased 1 (Exp 27)
GM-858 Midrange Driver 60W speaker, 8ohm, 5.25" - $8.70 each - purchased 1 (Exp 29)
100R50 Capacitor, 100microfarad/50V, $0.30 each - purchased 2 (Exp 26)
2200R50 Capacitor, 2200microfarad/50V, $1.25 each, purchased 2 (Exp 28)
ATP-100K potentiometer, 100K, $0.75 each, purchased 1 (Exp 30)

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While I wait for my final shipment of parts to arrive for Chapter 5, I've read over the first part of the chapter covering the work area and reference material.

For a while I was working on my dining room table... certain looks from the wife made me realize that my upstairs office might be a better location. Luckily I had a second desk up there that I was able to clear off and use for a bit... but my ultimate goal has been to get my electronics stuff moved to a dedicated spot in my basement workshop. I've got a very good spot for a desk, and there's a nice power outlet right there for me to use to hookup a power strip for more plugs.

I've been collecting small plastic boxes for all my components... but I've also discovered that I'm building up my component collection faster than my storage boxes. Fortunately the author makes some good recommendations and I'll be paying a visit to Michael's or Hobby Lobby soon to see what they have to offer. Ideally I'd like to buy the color coded boxes - one color for resistors, one for capacitors, etc... right now my boxes are compartmentalized but might contain one bin of capacitors, one bin of potentiometers, another bin of gator clips... you get the picture. (My resistors are the only components I have that are organized properly in their own boxes.)

I've been on the lookout at Craigslist.com for The Desk. You know - the perfect desk. Low price (free would be great). Not too beat up. Drawers that work. Plenty of desk space. So far, nothing meets my requirements. I'll keep looking.

As for reference books - "Practical Electronics for Inventors" ... I had another electronics expert tell me that it's a great book to own in addition to the author's recommendation - so based on these two recommendations I grabbed a used copy for $26.00.

I already owned a copy of "Getting Started with Arduino" - personally, I found it too simplistic and skimpy for the price.

I also have had a copy of "Getting Started in Electronics" by Forrest M. Mims III - great book but still didn't get as much from it as I got from Make: Electronics. Everyone raves about this book (and his Notebook series) but I view them more as reference because I just didn't get much of an education from reading it straight through... maybe your mileage will vary.

And while I'm here, I have to thank my good friend Chris Smith (a fellow LEGO Mindstorms NXT robot enthusiast) for introducing me to Fritzing. If you are already familiar with it and using it, then you know how cool it is - but if you're not experienced with it, check it out... totally free and I can already tell it'll be a great tool for helping me document future breadboard work. Chris also pointed me to Drawdio - yet another project to add to my TO DO list... but 100% doable after having gone through Make: Electronics. This one should be a piece of cake.

My AllElectronics order is supposed to arrive tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to this chapter's experiments.

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I've begun ordering some of the components for chapter 5... but not all. I'll try and get a detailed list (with part #s and prices) posted soon, but I did want to alert readers to the fact that I'm having some real difficulty locating a few items.

For Experiment 26, I ordered the wire (both hookup and magnetic) from AllElectronics - only because I was planning on ordering more small pieces from them and figured since I was paying for shipping, I might as well bulk up that order...

The magnets have been ordered for Exp26, too - a little pricey but I've always wanted some strong magnets anyway, so I ordered 3/4, 1/2, and 1/4" diameters, all in 1.5" lengths.

The TEA2025B audio amplifier IC for Exp29 stumped me - couldn't find an equivalent at AllElectronics and ACK Supply (my local supplier) doesn't carry them. So I ordered 2 of them from Mouser.com along with a small collection of capacitors, both polarized and nonpolarized based on the Exp29 requirements.d

None of my suppliers carry the Crossover Coil (see Figure 5-45 on pagee 253)- the author does state these are tricky to find and eBay did have 2 of them for $13.00 plus shipping. I read over the writeup there... I'll continue to try and find some inexpensive ones, but if not, I may skip that part of the experiment or substitute the coil wire as the author suggests... (but I get the impression that it won't work very well without the actual crossover coils...)

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I never got my Alarm System to work quite right back in Chapter 3... after re-checking the circuit board (this one was soldered, so any errors I made will be difficult to fix) I I still can't figure out why it doesn't work properly.

Experiment 24 is all about upgrades to that device. The author suggests using a 555 Timer chip to give a delay after you set the alarm (time to get out of the house)... as well as adding the keypad to activate and deactivate it with a code. Another 555 chip is suggested to add a delay before deactivation (to allow you to enter house and enter code before alarm goes off).

All three are great upgrades, but I've decided to move forward to Chapter 5 rather than go back and try to fix my Alarm System so these upgrades might (or might not) work. My intention with this blog was to perform all the experiments, but on this one I've read the text and understand what the upgrades will do... I may choose to come back and revisit this exercise when I'm done with the book...

I'd still like to see a fully functional alarm system with all these upgrades... so while I ponder doing it myself, I'll create a new contest here. I've got 2 more Maker's Notebooks as prizes. The first two readers who submit a video and a few photos of their upgraded Alarm System that works based on the Experiment 24 writeup will each get a copy. So, if you're working on the Alarm System now, set it aside when done and come back to it for Experiment 24 - you may win a Maker's Notebook if you succeed in getting it to work.

I'll be attending the WorldFest International Robotics Competition this week, so I'll start up with Chapter 5 this weekend. I've been looking forward to this chapter - it's got some very interesting projects to build.

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Just for today - a nice price on a good multimeter - I'll remove this post when the item is sold out.

http://auto.tooliday.com/

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