Startup kit. This looks like a pretty good deal.
- Thread starter boriz
- Start date
westaust55
Moderator
IMHO it would be better to have has a reduced range if components and more of each.
Want to drive. 7-seg display via a 74HC595 (no e of that I. Or 7-seg display in kit) then one needs 8 resistors.
Could use 330, 390, 470 or even 510 Ohms but only 5 of each.
Sure for the PICAXE programming one could use a 10k, 11k, or 12 k Ohm but why not 20 x 10k and none of some others. Ditto for the 22 kOhm.
If someone puts each component size/type/rating in a separate bin/container that's a lot of compartments needed.
We would get. Breadboard but no wires to interlink.
EDIT:
To be fair, to buy the same general quantities of components (ie 520 carbon film caps 125 ceramic caps, a breadboard, etc) from Futurlec would cost me twice as much after including for AUD$4 postage. However half of what is in the Starter kit is not very useful to me which would double the cost of the useful bits.
Having a couple of years ago picked up the entire electronics components stock from a local electornics store, and given away a lot of bits I foresaw I would never use, there were some components that were clearly very popular. For example several hundreds of some values of resistors on the E24 0.25 W range but almost no 1 K, 10K and 100K resistors. Had to buy some from futurlec to have some in the trays for those values.
Want to drive. 7-seg display via a 74HC595 (no e of that I. Or 7-seg display in kit) then one needs 8 resistors.
Could use 330, 390, 470 or even 510 Ohms but only 5 of each.
Sure for the PICAXE programming one could use a 10k, 11k, or 12 k Ohm but why not 20 x 10k and none of some others. Ditto for the 22 kOhm.
If someone puts each component size/type/rating in a separate bin/container that's a lot of compartments needed.
We would get. Breadboard but no wires to interlink.
EDIT:
To be fair, to buy the same general quantities of components (ie 520 carbon film caps 125 ceramic caps, a breadboard, etc) from Futurlec would cost me twice as much after including for AUD$4 postage. However half of what is in the Starter kit is not very useful to me which would double the cost of the useful bits.
Having a couple of years ago picked up the entire electronics components stock from a local electornics store, and given away a lot of bits I foresaw I would never use, there were some components that were clearly very popular. For example several hundreds of some values of resistors on the E24 0.25 W range but almost no 1 K, 10K and 100K resistors. Had to buy some from futurlec to have some in the trays for those values.
Last edited:
Yeah - mixed feelings. Cheap though.
40x sub-5pF capacitors and 45x sub-27R resistors - they'll pretty much stay unused for ever.
(1n4148 and 1n4007 descriptions swapped I notice)
Would be an interesting challenge (that I won't be taking up) of working out what alternative set of more useful components you could get for £9.99 from say Rapid or similar
40x sub-5pF capacitors and 45x sub-27R resistors - they'll pretty much stay unused for ever.
(1n4148 and 1n4007 descriptions swapped I notice)
Would be an interesting challenge (that I won't be taking up) of working out what alternative set of more useful components you could get for £9.99 from say Rapid or similar
Yes, all points noted, but from Rapid at £9.99 you will have to be footing a (£6?) postage bill too. It's an attractive looking offer, but maybe not quite as useful as first thought.
I normally buy what I want and then some to fill the obligatory bits box, often because spending a little in anticipation of future needs can save me the postage on the current order.
I normally buy what I want and then some to fill the obligatory bits box, often because spending a little in anticipation of future needs can save me the postage on the current order.
It's always worth taking a look at www.techsupplies.co.uk where you can buy a bag of 100 R's or diodes for less than a quid. You can get more than enough of those for a reasonably low sum, and 4.7K, 10K and 22K can usually replace each other in parallel or series if pushed.
I'd say grab five each of the complete E12 range, and buy bags of the ones you're likely going to use. You can get a fair way with just 1K and 10K.
I'd say grab five each of the complete E12 range, and buy bags of the ones you're likely going to use. You can get a fair way with just 1K and 10K.
premelec
Senior Member
I'm still salvaging from older printed circuit boards such as you find in older stereo, computer and TV equipment - lots of parts and learn soldering skills at the same time - as well as seeing various styles of layout etc.... recycle! [I confess to having way too many parts from years of this activity!]
Using repurposed parts is really the way to go. The starter kits rarely contain enough real usable parts mixed into the rest of the offering. Westy brought that ussue up first and if you take your time and shop a little more wisely you can reallyy extend your parts budget a good long way. I started out buying different combo selections of common parts like caps, resistors and basic components. When I started buying IC and transistors I always ordered 10 or 20 of each. High pin count chips come 5 at a time, common drivers and display components also come in bulk. I do buy a lot of parts from chinese wholesalers due to free shipping and quantity discounys, so my parts collection in 2 years has become rather formidable, on the order of 10,000 different part numbers and growing everyday.
Bob
Bob
Forgive me for overlooking the obvious Hippy and yes, it's all about buying so that you are likely to have all the basics covered before too long. For the more exotic components you might have to look elsewhere, but no clone copies with DS18B20 or DS1307 from Rev Ed and of course if people will buy in IR sensors outwith the Rev Ed recommendation, then there is always that niggle that the spec of your device may be significantly different and cause some builders to have problems with alternative package pinouts.
Probably because a lot of copying and not quite as much reference material reading is going on. All very understandable; didn't we all just clone simple circuits before we better understood the rules - cagey statement there you will notice ;-)
In a rush the other day, using a piece of Veroboard, I matched up the strips to variously coincide with the natural pin spacings of bridge rectifier, electrolytic capacitors, two links to compensate, an LM7805 regulator, a surface mount resistor and a nice large red LED - because it was just to hand. I switched on the mains and the AC wall wart pushed around 10V into the bridge rectifier, The LED glowed nicely and I thought that all was well with the world. Then the LED went out. The regulator was fairly hot to the touch which I thought unusual until I began the post mortem.
In my haste to get out of the door, I had forgotten to cut tracks and in doing so shorted out one of the Bridge rectifier diodes 10V AC to DC+ line downstream with the first link and effectively bypassed the very neat surface mount LED current limiting resistor with the other link.
In conclusion, thank goodness I hadn't put in any more links as the link count seems to have been directly proportional to the error count. No my proudest day I have to admit.
The regulator was hot, presumably because it it had gone into foldback current limiting - good job too. The only permanent casualties being my pride and one rather large LED indicator. :-( Never rush, always check.
Hmmmmmmmm
Probably because a lot of copying and not quite as much reference material reading is going on. All very understandable; didn't we all just clone simple circuits before we better understood the rules - cagey statement there you will notice ;-)
In a rush the other day, using a piece of Veroboard, I matched up the strips to variously coincide with the natural pin spacings of bridge rectifier, electrolytic capacitors, two links to compensate, an LM7805 regulator, a surface mount resistor and a nice large red LED - because it was just to hand. I switched on the mains and the AC wall wart pushed around 10V into the bridge rectifier, The LED glowed nicely and I thought that all was well with the world. Then the LED went out. The regulator was fairly hot to the touch which I thought unusual until I began the post mortem.
In my haste to get out of the door, I had forgotten to cut tracks and in doing so shorted out one of the Bridge rectifier diodes 10V AC to DC+ line downstream with the first link and effectively bypassed the very neat surface mount LED current limiting resistor with the other link.
In conclusion, thank goodness I hadn't put in any more links as the link count seems to have been directly proportional to the error count. No my proudest day I have to admit.
The regulator was hot, presumably because it it had gone into foldback current limiting - good job too. The only permanent casualties being my pride and one rather large LED indicator. :-( Never rush, always check.
Hmmmmmmmm