30-in-1 Electronic Projects Lab (280-0161) Features Faxback Doc. # 18973 Congratulations! We think you made a great choice with RADIO SHACK's 30-IN-1 "ELECTRONIC ADVENTURE LAB" SCIENCE FAIR KIT. This kit is almost like "instant electronics" because you can begin building your first project right now, whether you know anything about electronics or not. Don't believe us?.....You will in a few minutes! Before we begin, make sure you have two A-A batteries like the RADIO SHACK Cat. No. 23-582. Almost every project will use them. Place the batteries in the battery holder (underneath) and check to see that the + and - markings on the batteries match the ones on the holder. Don't ever leave the batteries in the holder when you are not using your kit. Even "leakproof" batteries CAN leak and damage the parts of the kit. Now let's get started. The 30-IN-1 SCIENCE FAIR KIT consists of a board covered with electronic parts, and an assortment of wires you'll use to connect those parts. There are several different colors and lengths of wire. In addition to the electronic parts on the board, you'll see some shiny, silver springs with numbers next to them. These springs and numbers are the keys to starting right now. We simply tell you which ones to connect for each of the THIRTY projects. The first connection for your first project will be from 23 to 17. Locate these two springs and choose a wire long enough to reach between them. To attach the wire, just bend the spring to one side with your finger and stick the wire into one of the gaps that you see. Now let the spring go and it will clamp the wire firmly in place. After you have connected 23 and 17, make sure the spring is touching the metal part of the wire and not the plastic insulation. The projects won't work if the metal part of the wire isn't touching the spring. The next connection is from 17 to 39. You'll find that when you have two connections at the same spring (like at 17), it is easier if you make them on opposite sides of the spring. Now connect 24 to 14, 25 to 28, 29 to 37, 37 to 15, 32 to 22, 22 to 13, 13 to 19,......HANG IN THERE! You'll be listening to your "creation" very soon,......33 to 43, 12 to 42, 42 to 38, 16 to 18, and 36 to 20. The last connection will be for the EARPHONE. One wire of the EARPHONE goes to 18 and the other to 20. Finished at last! Put the EARPHONE in your ear and press the KEY on the CIRCUIT BOARD (circuit is a fancy word for the wiring you just did). Hold it down for about 5 seconds. You should hear a high-pitched sound. If you don't check your connections. There were lots of wires! When you hear the sound, begin to press and release the KEY about once a second. Does that sound familiar.....like maybe a siren or one of those electronic games you like to play? You can experiment with different speeds of pressing the KEY and.......HEY! Wait a minute. You're playing with your first electronic circuit, that YOU put together. WE TOLD YOU SO! TWENTY-NINE TO GO Now that you're a "veteran," we'll be giving you the wiring for the other twenty-none projects in a slightly different way.........like this: 23-17-39, 24-14, 25-28, 29-37-15, 32-22-13-19, 33-43, 12-42-38, 16-18-EARPHONE, 36-20-EARPHONE This is called the WIRING SEQUENCE. It is important to make the connections in the order they are given, to prevent damage to any of the electronic parts. If you follow the wiring sequence above, you will see that it is the circuit you just built. You can build, play with, and enjoy every circuit in this kit by just following the wiring sequences, but we hope (in fact we're almost sure) that you'll get a little curious about how they work. HOWEVER, if you're not the curious type, just skip the next section of the manual. MORE ABOUT THE CIRCUIT BOARD You've probably already noticed the different kinds of parts on the CIRCUIT BOARD, so now we're going to tell you something about what each one can do. RESISTORS: Resistors are the brown tubular objects with colored bands around them. They are called resistors because they resist the flow of electricity through them. The amount of strength a resistor has to resist the electricity is measured in units called OHMS. Each of the five resistors in your kit has its strength (in ohms) listed underneath it. The K after some of the numbers stands for thousands, so the "strongest" resistor in the kit has 470K or 470,000 ohms of resistance. CAPACITORS: Capacitors store and release electricity as a circuit needs it. Their ability to store electricity is measured in units called FARADS, but since a farad is a very large amount, most capacitors are rated in micro-farads (micro f). A micro-farad is one million of a farad. You have two-different kinds of capacitors in your kit, and we'll talk about the differences later. The capacitors in this kit are all rated in micro- farads (micro f). DIODE: Diodes do one simple thing. They allow electricity to flow through them in only one direction. You'll see proof of this later. LED: Look at the CIRCUIT BOARD and count the diodes that you see. If you just counted one, look again, because LED stands for light emitting diode. The LED does the same thing as any other diode, except that it gives off light when the electricity passes through it (in the right direction). LEDs last longer and use less electricity than regular light bulbs. Transistors: Transistors have three connections (instead of two like the other parts you have seen). You'll see why this is important later. In your kit, transistors act either as switches to turn things on and off or as amplifiers to make things louder or brighter. ANTENNA COIL:The antenna coil is used to send and receive radio signals... That's right! You will be making a radio and some other "Wireless" projects with your kit. The antenna consists of a coil of wire wrapped around a ferrite (a special form of powdered iron) core. TUNING KNOB: The tuning knob is actually a variable capacitor. It will be used to "tune" radio signals. TRANSFORMER: The transformer is a coil of wire around a plastic core. It can help different parts of a circuit "get along" and work more efficiently. KEY: The key is a switch that completes a path for the electricity to flow through, when it is pressed. EARPHONE: The earphone is a device that turns electrical information into sound for you to hear. It can also turn sound into electricity, as you will see in several of the projects. BATTERIES: Of course you know what batteries are! They will be the power source for most of your circuits. We included them in this section because of the symbol next to the illustration. In fact you may have noticed a symbol next to each one of the components (parts). These will be very important to you later, so don't forget about them. Here is a list of experiments which can be performed with this 30-in-1 Electronic Projects Lab. CIRCUIT #2: The Electronic Storage Tank CIRCUIT #3: The One-Way Street CIRCUIT #4: The "Invisible Power" Radio CIRCUIT #5: The Transistor, An Electronic "Trigger" CIRCUIT #6: The Transistor and "Amplification" CIRCUIT #7: The Sunrise-Sunset Light CIRCUIT #8: The Slow Motion Sunrise-Sunset Light CIRCUIT #9: The "Secret Code" Key CIRCUIT #10: The Highs and Lows of Oscillation CIRCUIT #11: The Beacon Light CIRCUIT #12: Music From A Pencil CIRCUIT #13: The Leaky Faucet CIRCUIT #14: The Bee CIRCUIT #15: The Electronic Canary CIRCUIT #16: The Burglar Alarm CIRCUIT #17: The Touching Light CIRCUIT #18: The Rain Detector CIRCUIT #19: The Radio Station CIRCUIT #20: The "Wireless" Rain Detector CIRCUIT #21: The Metal Detector CIRCUIT #22: Blowing "ON" A Candle CIRCUIT #23: The Blinker CIRCUIT #24: The Two-Transistor Oscillator CIRCUIT #25: The Timer CIRCUIT #26: The Memory CIRCUIT #27: The "AND" Gate CIRCUIT #28: The "OR" Gate CIRCUIT #29: The "NAND" Gate CIRCUIT #30: The "NOR" Gate PARTS LIST Antenna Coil (with 5 leads) Antenna Holder Bar Antenna Battery Contact, W Size Battery Contacts, S Size (2) Battery Holder Capacitors: 0.0022 microF, ceramic disc type 0.022 microF, ceramic disc type 10 microF, 16-volt electrolytic type 100 microF, 10-volt electrolytic type Diode, 1N60 (Germanium) Earphone, high impedance, crystal type Frames, plastic (right, left) (2) Key Lever Knob for Key Knob for Variable Capacitor (Tuning) LED, SR-503 (or LT-4203), Red Nut, 3mm (5) Paper Panel Resistors: 680 ohm 5.6K ohm 10K ohm 100K ohm 470K ohm Screws: 2.6 x 4 mm 3 x 8 mm(5) 2.6 x 3 mm (2) Spring Terminals (43) Transformer Transistor. 2SC945 (or 2SC828), NPN, silicon (2) Variable Capacitor, 265 pF (Tuning) Wires: White, 7.5 cm(7) Red, 15 cm(8) Blue .25 cm(3) Green, 3m (br/all-02/14/96)