With this course you will learn the basics of electronics that every new Arduino should know BEFORE getting started with the Arduino.

Eager to learn Arduino?
Hold on, grasshopper!
Making gadgets with the Arduino requires knowledge from several fields.
But, two fields are fundamental:

Electronics

Programming

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Course Update

I have updated this course with new lectures to teach you how to use an online circuit simulator. With this simulator, you can boost your understanding and learning of electronics. You will be able to conduct many experiments to examine multiple circuit scenarios and easily plot currents, voltages, and power without hardware expense. You will learn to use multiple power sources and built-in and custom component models. You can even conduct experiments that would be too dangerous to do in real life.

A solid understanding of the simple electronics that are used in most hobbyist Arduino projects will accelerate your learning of the Arduino.

That is why I always recommend to my student to start with Basic Electronics for Arduino makers, before they dig into our dedicated Arduino courses.

In Basic Electronics for Arduino Makers you will learn about fundamental concepts, such what is electricity, voltage and current. 

I love the way Dr. Peter explains the basic concepts of electronics. Besides, when I had troubles understanding some parts in his other courses (Rapsberry related) he would always answer my questions and make sure I get it and ready to move forward. Great teacher, great course. I recommend checking out his other courses

Dmitiry K

Then, you will learn about discrete components and the Law that govern their operation, such as the resistor, capacitor, diode, and transistor. 

Just with this knowledge, once you add the Arduino, you will be able design very interesting gadgets. 

Great course - I am looking forward to more from this instructor. Thoroughly enjoyed and learned from this course! Highly recommended

Robert F

But, this course has more.

It will also teach you how to use voltage regulators, so you can create gadgets that don't need to be connected to an external power supply.

You will also learn how to use the multimeter to take voltage, resistance, and current measurements.

By the end of this course, you will have learned how to use commonly used components found in Arduino projects. You will also have learned how to do the relevant measurements and calculations to help you select appropriate components for your projects.

To complete this course, you will need a few cheap and common components and tools: resistors, capacitors, transistors, LED, diodes, and batteries. You will also need a multimeter, a small breadboard and jumper wires. All of these are probably things that you already have.

An example lecture from the course

By completing Basic Electronics for Arduino Makers, you will..

  • Understand the concepts of voltage, resistance and current.
  • Learn how to use Ohm’s Law to calculate voltage, current and resistance.
  • Learn how to use Kirchhoff’s Laws to calculate voltage and current.
  • Understand the meaning of and calculate energy and power.
  • Learn how to use resistors in various configurations, like in voltage dividers and voltage ladders.
  • Learn how to read the value of a resistor from its package.
  • Learn how to use pull-up and pull-down resistors.
  •  Understand how to use capacitors.
  • Learn how to use a circuit simulator, and boost your understanding and learning speed and quality.
  • Learn how to use capacitors as energy stores and filters.
  • Learn how to calculate the RC time constant of a capacitor.
  • Understand diodes.
  • Learn how to measure the voltage drop of a diode.
  • Understand how to use rectifier and zener diodes.
  • Learn how to protect a circuit from reverse polarity.
  • Understand how to use a transistor to control small and large power loads.
  • Learn how to calculate the currents and resistors for a bipolar transistor.
  • Learn how to use the correct voltage regulator for any circuit.

What is this course about?

Here's what you are getting:

  • Full lifetime access to all content.
  • 10 hours on-demand video.
  • Study at your own pace - no formal start and end date.
  • Certificate of completion.

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  • Cancel when you complete the course.
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Course contents

1. Starting up

- Study guide

- List of parts

- The tools you will need

- The parts you will need

- About software


2. Electronics, basic concepts

- Electricity, particles and current

- What is voltage?

- What is voltage? (supplemental)

- What is current?

- What is resistance?

- Ohm's Law

- Ohm's Law Quiz

- Ohm's Law in the simulator

- Calculate energy

- Power and Energy Quiz

- Plot energy consumption in the simulator

- Kirchhoff's Law


3. Resistors

- Introduction to resistors

- Reading resistor values

- A—simele—resister—eireuit

- Simulated simple resistor circuit

- Resistar—pewer—rating

- Resistor—power

- The variable resistor

- Voltage divider

- Voltage dividers

- Voltage divider plot calculation of R2

- Voltage divider with current draw

- Voltage divider with current draw

- Voltage divider with current draw in the simulator

- Current divider

- Current dividers


4. Capacitors

- Introduction to capacitors

- Basic capacitor quiz

- Capacitors as energy store

- Capacitor as energy store in the simulator

- Capacitors as filter

- Capacitors in series and in parallel

- Capacitors in series and in parallel quiz

- What is the RC time constant

- An RC time constant experiment

- RC time constant in the simulator


5. Diodes

- Introduction to diodes

- Voltage drop and current regulation

- Voltage drop and voltage regulation simulated

- Measuring the voltage drop in a diode

- The voltage dropper circuit

- Voltage drop quiz

- Voltage dropper circuit simulated

- Zener diodes

- Zener diode in the simulator

- A circuit that includes a zener diode with a load

- Zener diode quiz

- Zener diode with load simulation


6. Transistors

- Introduction to transistors

- Calculating the currents in a transistor circuit

- Calculating transistor currents quiz

- Simple transistor circuit simulation

- A circuit with the 2N2222 bipolar transistor

- A circuit with the 2N2222 bipolar transistor simulated

- A circuit with the TIP122 and a high-power LED

- Using a custom SPICE model

- A circuit with a TIP122 and a motor

- A circuit with a transistor and a motor simulated


7. Voltage regulators

- Introduction to IC voltage regulators

- Fixed voltage regulator

- Fixed voltage regulator simulation

- A variable voltage regulator circuit

- Variable voltage regulator simulation

- How to calculate the input resistors for a variable voltage regulator

- Voltage regulation with the LM317 quiz

This course instructor is Peter Dalmaris, PhD.

Peter has created over 20 other courses on technology education.

He is the author of Maker Education Revolution, a book on how making is changing the way we learn and teach.

He is also the host of Stemiverse, a podcast in which he discusses education and STEM with the shakers and movers of technology and science education from around the world.

After years of on again off again experimenting with electronics, I learned a lot of basic things that I had never really grasped before. I watched the entire course once through without doing the exercises and breadboard experiments, and look forward to a second pass doing everything as presented. I had no idea before about how to calculate values for components in a circuit, or how crucial it is for many applications. Bravo! I look forward to your Arduino course

Steve W

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