TEJ2O_electronics

include component="page" page="course_tabs_header" include component="page" page="menu_TEJ2O_crumbs"

=Software & Electronics=

In this last section of the course we'll be examining two things:

1) Software Design 2) Electronics

1) Software Design:
We'll be using Construct and Game-Maker. They are simple to use game design platforms. Copy Construct and later Game-Maker from the handout folder.

Resources for Construct [|may be found here] A great resource for the more advanced functions of GameMaker can be [|found here]



Assignment # 18 - Construct
You are to choose one of the [|following tutorials]and complete it. You are to turn in your finished game into the handin folder.

Don't hesitate to use [|this site] to look for help.



Assignment #19 - Game-Maker Game
Make your own game (it can be based on a previous tutorial, or completely original). A plan of your game will be required and discussed in class prior to beginning the project.

Don't hesitate to use [|this site] to look for help.



We will be using breadboards as an introduction to electronics in class. We will be using [|Virtual Breadboard] to explore basic circuits. The program can be downloaded [|here], or obtained from the handout folder.

Breadboards
A breadboard is used to make up temporary circuits for testing or to try out an idea. No soldering is required so it is easy to change connections and replace components. As long as you're careful, components will not be damaged so they will be available to re-use afterwards.

Many electronics start their life out on a virtual breadboard of sorts to make sure that the concepts will work before implementation.

The diagram at right shows how the breadboard holes are connected: The red column is the + voltage column. When the "+" voltage (red) linked to the "-" column (0V) through a wire, you've created the most basic circuit (a short-circuit in fact, which will blow out most power supplies or burn out your wire looping + to -, so don't do it).

Additionally, each row is linked horizontally in blocks of 5 holes with a gap in the middle to separate out another block of 5 holes. A typical simple circuit then, would look like the picture at right (of course, the picture at right shows a circuit that to us wouldn't appear to DO anything, but is a complete circuit nonetheless, the current enters the resistor at left, then proceeds through to the capacitor at right.

Circuit Components:
Before we get much further, various components of a circuit should be explained. The basic parts of a circuit are:
 * [[image:http://www.eleinmec.com/articons/015.gif align="left"]]**Capacitors**: Capacitors store electric charge. They are used with resistors in timing circuits because it takes time for a capacitor to fill with charge. They are also used in filter circuits because capacitors easily pass AC (changing) signals but they block DC (constant) signals.



[|How to read/use capacitors] || **Diodes**: Diodes allow electricity to flow in only one direction. The arrow of the circuit symbol shows the direction in which the current can flow. Diodes are the electrical version of a valve and early diodes were actually called valves.



[|How to read/use diodes] ||
 * [[image:http://www.eleinmec.com/articons/006.gif align="left"]]**Light Emitting Diodes**: When you need to add light to a model, an ordinary filament lamp is the first thing that springs to mind. But if you don't need a high light output, or you need light as an indicator, an LED has many advantages over a lamp.



[|How to read/use LED's] || **Relay**: It is often desirable or essential to isolate one circuit electrically from another, while still allowing the first circuit to control the second. One simple method of providing electrical isolation between two circuits is to place a relay between them. A relay consists of a coil which may be energised by the low-voltage circuit and one or more sets of switch contacts which may be connected to the high-voltage circuit.

[|How to read/use relays] ||
 * **Resistors**:[[image:http://www.eleinmec.com/articons/014.gif align="left"]] A resistor placed in a circuit will resist the passage of electrical current through it and will therefore alter the voltages in the circuit according to Ohm's Law

[| A very sweet resistor calculator] [|How to read/use resistors] || **Transformers**: Transformers are used to convert electricity from one voltage to another with minimal loss of power. They only work with AC (alternating current) because they require a changing magnetic field to be created in their core. Transformers can increase voltage (step-up) as well as reduce voltage (step-down).



[|How to read/use transformers] ||



When placed together, a breadboard circuit may seem daunting, but in reality, if you follow the path of the current logically, you can figure out not only the components in a circuit, but likely the function of a circuit itself. For example, the circuit at left can be simplified in a diagram below:





Assignment #19-23 - Breadboarding exercises
Using the virtual breadboard, you are to follow along in the electronics handbook available in class and complete circuits 1-5. Once each exercise is complete I want you to take a screen capture (PRNT SCR button up by the scroll-lock and pause/break buttons on the top right if your keyboard) and paste the image into the Paint.Net program on your computer. Save the image as a JPG and submit it to me in the handin folder.

A breadboard: What a breadboard looks like underneath:

[|Assignment # 19 - Introductory Bread board exercise how to turn on a LED.]

[|Assignment #20 - Setting up a CMOS 4002] (pdf warning)