Electronics from first principles — voltage, current, resistance, and circuit design explained clearly. Real components, real numbers, no prior knowledge assumed. https://electronics.bradpenney.io/ Brad Penney en Thu, 08 Oct 2026 23:26:19 -0000 Thu, 08 Oct 2026 23:26:19 -0000 1440 MkDocs RSS plugin - v1.19.0 https://electronics.bradpenney.io/images/exploring_electronics.png https://electronics.bradpenney.io/ How soldering works: solder bonds only to clean, hot metal. Heating the parts, flux, choosing solder and temperature, judging a joint, desoldering, and fume and lead safety. https://electronics.bradpenney.io/tools/soldering/ Mon, 05 Oct 2026 05:00:00 -0300 Exploring Electronics https://electronics.bradpenney.io/tools/soldering/ How a bench power supply works: an adjustable regulator with a current limit. CV and CC modes, the crossover, a safe first power-up, and reading the spec sheet. https://electronics.bradpenney.io/tools/bench_power_supply/ Mon, 05 Oct 2026 03:00:00 -0300 Exploring Electronics https://electronics.bradpenney.io/tools/bench_power_supply/ How SPI works: two shift registers swapping bits on every clock, a chip-select wire instead of an address, clock modes, and reading an MCP3008 ADC from an Arduino. https://electronics.bradpenney.io/spi/ Mon, 05 Oct 2026 01:00:00 -0300 Exploring Electronics https://electronics.bradpenney.io/spi/ The Communication articles in reading order: serial between two devices, the I²C bus for many sensors on two wires, and fast SPI with a wire per device. https://electronics.bradpenney.io/communication/ Sun, 04 Oct 2026 23:30:00 -0300 Exploring Electronics https://electronics.bradpenney.io/communication/ How the I²C bus lets an Arduino talk to many sensors on two wires: open-drain lines and pull-ups, a shared clock, 7-bit addresses, ACK, and reading an MCP9808. https://electronics.bradpenney.io/i2c/ Sun, 04 Oct 2026 23:00:00 -0300 Exploring Electronics https://electronics.bradpenney.io/i2c/ How serial (UART) works: one bit at a time on one wire, no clock, just an agreed baud rate. Framing, wiring TX to RX, voltage levels, and two-way Arduino serial. https://electronics.bradpenney.io/serial_communication/ Sun, 04 Oct 2026 21:00:00 -0300 Exploring Electronics https://electronics.bradpenney.io/serial_communication/ The Power articles in reading order: cells and batteries, then voltage regulators and the power supplies that turn a wall outlet into steady DC. https://electronics.bradpenney.io/power/ Sun, 04 Oct 2026 18:30:00 -0300 Exploring Electronics https://electronics.bradpenney.io/power/ How a voltage regulator holds a steady output: linear regulators and their heat, dropout, switching regulators, and the stages of a complete power supply. https://electronics.bradpenney.io/voltage_regulators/ Sun, 04 Oct 2026 18:00:00 -0300 Exploring Electronics https://electronics.bradpenney.io/voltage_regulators/ How a vacuum tube works: a heated cathode, a positive plate, and a grid that controls the stream. Diodes and triodes, why tubes resemble FETs, and why they're still made. https://electronics.bradpenney.io/vacuum_tubes/ Sun, 04 Oct 2026 15:00:00 -0300 Exploring Electronics https://electronics.bradpenney.io/vacuum_tubes/ How a multimeter works: why the jacks matter more than the dial, what the fuse and CAT rating protect, auto-ranging and accuracy, and the habits that keep readings honest. https://electronics.bradpenney.io/tools/multimeter/ Sun, 04 Oct 2026 12:00:00 -0300 Exploring Electronics https://electronics.bradpenney.io/tools/multimeter/ How two resistors split a voltage, why the output collapses under load, and how to scale a 12 V battery down for an Arduino's analog pin safely. https://electronics.bradpenney.io/voltage_divider/ Fri, 02 Oct 2026 23:30:00 -0300 Exploring Electronics https://electronics.bradpenney.io/voltage_divider/ The fourteen Circuit Foundations articles in reading order: charge, voltage, current, resistance, Ohm's law, AC, magnetism, capacitors, and inductors, with real numbers. https://electronics.bradpenney.io/circuit_foundations/ Fri, 02 Oct 2026 23:00:00 -0300 Exploring Electronics https://electronics.bradpenney.io/circuit_foundations/ The Components articles in reading order: resistors, diodes and LEDs, transistors, vacuum tubes, temperature sensors, and the physical packages parts come in. https://electronics.bradpenney.io/components/ Fri, 02 Oct 2026 23:00:00 -0300 Exploring Electronics https://electronics.bradpenney.io/components/ The Microcontrollers articles in reading order: the Arduino board and its code, digital pins, blinking an LED, reading buttons and analog sensors, and staged output. https://electronics.bradpenney.io/microcontrollers/ Fri, 02 Oct 2026 23:00:00 -0300 Exploring Electronics https://electronics.bradpenney.io/microcontrollers/ The bench equipment this site uses: breadboards, arduino-cli for programming an Arduino, the multimeter, the bench power supply, and soldering. https://electronics.bradpenney.io/practical_tools/ Fri, 02 Oct 2026 23:00:00 -0300 Exploring Electronics https://electronics.bradpenney.io/practical_tools/ How an inductor stores energy in a magnetic field and resists any change in current: the henry, what sets a coil's inductance, the L/R time constant, and why switching one off bites. https://electronics.bradpenney.io/inductors/ Fri, 02 Oct 2026 22:00:00 -0300 Exploring Electronics https://electronics.bradpenney.io/inductors/ How a transistor lets a tiny current or voltage control a large one: bipolar and field-effect transistors, switching a 12 V load from an Arduino pin, and amplifying. https://electronics.bradpenney.io/transistors/ Fri, 02 Oct 2026 19:00:00 -0300 Exploring Electronics https://electronics.bradpenney.io/transistors/ How a diode lets current through one way only, why every LED colour has its own forward voltage, how to size an LED resistor properly, and what diodes do in real circuits. https://electronics.bradpenney.io/diodes_and_leds/ Fri, 02 Oct 2026 16:00:00 -0300 Exploring Electronics https://electronics.bradpenney.io/diodes_and_leds/ How a capacitor stores charge between two plates, what a farad is, why it fills on an RC curve, and how a camera flash turns two AA cells into a 15 kW burst. https://electronics.bradpenney.io/capacitors/ Fri, 02 Oct 2026 12:00:00 -0300 Exploring Electronics https://electronics.bradpenney.io/capacitors/ What's inside carbon, metal-film, and wire-wound resistors, what a temperature coefficient means, and how potentiometers, rheostats, trimmers, and tapped resistors work. https://electronics.bradpenney.io/resistor_types/ Fri, 02 Oct 2026 10:00:00 -0300 Exploring Electronics https://electronics.bradpenney.io/resistor_types/