Cool Electronic Projects
By V. Subhash
()
About this ebook
If you are learning electronics or thinking of it as a future hobby, here are some fun home-improvement projects to begin with. They:
will be extremely useful (particularly in emergencies),
will not waste your time or money and
are quite easy to make.
Just one of these projects uses AC (alternating current). The rest work on DC (direct current) and are safe for kids (if you think soldering is safe).
These projects are good for the environment too, as they reuse electronic parts that would have been discarded. If you are a prepper or survivalist, then you will be happy that all the projects will run off-the-grid, as they can consume renewable energy.
For the tinkerer, there are projects that add MORE POWER than what the manufacturer had designed for. For the parent of lazy children, there are annoying alarms that can wake up the dead.
Everything is explained in plain English. Simple and straight-forward. No exotic projects or obscure concepts.
V. Subhash
V. Subhash is an invisible Indian writer, programmer and cartoonist. In 2020, he published one of the biggest jokebooks of all time — 2020 FRESH CLEAN JOKES FOR EVERYONE. He followed this jokebook with a tech book on the free multimedia-editing utility FFmpeg and a 400-page volume of 149 political cartoons. Although he had published a few ebooks (using off-the-shelf software) as early as 2003, Subhash did not publish books in the traditional sense until 2020. For over two decades, Subhash had used his website www.VSubhash.com as the main outlet for his writing. During this time, he had accumulated a lot of published and unpublished material. This content and the advanced book-production process that he had developed helped him publish 21 books in his first year. In February 2023, Apress/SpringerNature published his rewritten and updated FFmpeg book as QUICK START GUIDE TO FFMPEG. Thus, by early 2023, Subhash had published 30 books! In 2022, Subhash ran out of non-fiction material and tried his hand at fiction. The result was UNLIKELY STORIES, a collection of horror and comedy short stories. After adding new stories to this fiction title (for its second edition), Subhash plans to pause his writing and move on to other things. Subhash pursues numerous hobbies and interests, several of which have become the subject of his books such as COOL ELECTRONIC PROJECTS, HOW TO INSTALL SOLAR and HOW TO INVEST IN STOCKS. He was inspired to write his jokebook after years of listening to vintage American radio shows such as ‘Fibber & Molly’ and ‘Duffy's Tavern’. For more, check out: www.VSubhash.in
Read more from V. Subhash
400 Fresh Clean Jokes For Everyone Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsVastu Shastra Explained Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLinux Command-Line Tips & Tricks Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHow To Install Solar Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPC Hardware Explained Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHow To Invest In Stocks Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDictionary Of Indian English Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLearn To Ride A Motorcycle In Five Minutes Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUnlikely Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEmail Newsletter Strategies For Profit Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCommonMark Ready Reference Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUnlikely Stories, 2nd Edition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Cool Electronic Projects
Related ebooks
Electrical Projects for Beginners: New projects for high school students Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHaywired: Pointless (Yet Awesome) Projects for the Electronically Inclined Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Learn Electronics on Your Smartphone Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Geek Girl's Guide to Electronics and the Internet of Things Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCircuitry and Electronics Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings71 Electrical & Electronic Porjects (With Cd): For beginners, intermediate and engineering students Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Solar & 12 Volt Power For Beginners Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Complete Electronics Self-Teaching Guide with Projects Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Fun Projects for the Experimenter - volume 2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSoldering electronic circuits: Beginner's guide Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Five Mini Manuals Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsElectronics Principles Teachers Pack V11 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFun Experiments with Electricity: Mini Robots, Micro Lightning Strikes, and More Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Electronics Principles V11 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Electricity for Beginners Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Build Your Own Small Solar Power System Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How Transistors Work Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Guide to Electronic Maintenance and Repairs Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Soldering Electronic Components 2nd Edition Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Electronics for Artists: Adding Light, Motion, and Sound to Your Artwork Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Reference Guide To Useful Electronic Circuits And Circuit Design Techniques - Part 1 Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Robot Book: Build & Control 20 Electric Gizmos, Moving Machines, and Hacked Toys Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Electricity - Your Common Sense Guide Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Conductors and Insulators Electricity Kids Book | Electricity & Electronics Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTroubleshooting Electronic Components With The PET Bloodhound Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBasic Electronics: Book 2 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Electrodynamic Waves: Wireless Transmission Through Air, Metals, Water and the Human Body Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsElectrical & Electronics Projects: New projects for senior school students Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Electrical Engineering & Electronics For You
The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Programming the Raspberry Pi, Third Edition: Getting Started with Python Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/52022 Adobe® Premiere Pro Guide For Filmmakers and YouTubers Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Rare Metals War: the dark side of clean energy and digital technologies Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Digital Filmmaking for Beginners A Practical Guide to Video Production Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHigh Performance Loudspeakers: Optimising High Fidelity Loudspeaker Systems Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How the World Changed Social Media Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Mind at Play: How Claude Shannon Invented the Information Age Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Metaverse: 7 Books in 1: NFT collection guides Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Electrical Engineering | Step by Step Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBeginner's Guide to Reading Schematics, Fourth Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Future Horizons: Canadian Digital Humanities Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsYour Face Belongs to Us: The Secretive Startup Dismantling Your Privacy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Common LISP: A Gentle Introduction to Symbolic Computation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Digitalisation Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Proof of Stake: The Making of Ethereum and the Philosophy of Blockchains Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHow to Diagnose and Fix Everything Electronic, Third Edition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsInformation Theory Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAnalysis of Electric Machinery and Drive Systems Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWinning in 2025: Digital and Data Transformation: The Keys to Success Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsArduino Essentials Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Electric Circuits Essentials Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Practical Creativity and Innovation in Systems Engineering Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsProgramming FPGAs: Getting Started with Verilog Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Digital and Microprocessor Techniques V11 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5INCOSE Systems Engineering Handbook: A Guide for System Life Cycle Processes and Activities Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Teach Yourself Electricity and Electronics, Seventh Edition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDigital Electronics for Beginners: 1, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsProgramming Arduino: Getting Started with Sketches Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Cool Electronic Projects
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Cool Electronic Projects - V. Subhash
Introduction
When I was in school, a classmate told me that he had built a radio that could run without a battery. He said that there was enough energy in medium-wave broadcasts that they could power a headphone! I was fascinated. I asked him how much it cost him and he quoted a fairly large amount just for the parts. My uncle had given me just that kind of cash as a gift and here was an opportunity to spend it. It was too late when I realised that my friend had only read about it and had never actually built it. My money was gone and I bid goodbye to electronics as a hobby forever… until about a decade-and-a-half later.
The publisher of my Linux magazine also had an Electronics For You magazine. Its subscription ads rekindled my interest. I bought and read the Electronics For Dummies book. I then bought a soldering kit and electronic components that the book authors had suggested I start with. I also did some research and found that the radio that my friend had hoped to create was known as a ‘crystal radio set’ and required a special kind of ear-piece typically used by the hearing-impaired. It seemed expensive and I did not pursue it. I settled for a simple mono amplifier with the ever-popular LM386 chip. This IC was louder than I expected. For my next project, I bought a cheap Chinese-made car MP3 player module and built a tiny boombox. I also created powerbanks and solar chargers to drive such speaker thingies. I built a whole of lot of DC-based off-the-grid survivalist stuff, not because I am a survivalist but because the electricity supply in my area is very unreliable.
Most of my projects are low-cost, recycled or made from extremely cheap kits. I use them almost every day. I wish I had not ignored electronics as a hobby for so many years. In this book, I show how easy my projects are to build and how you can embark on a similar journey… hopefully much earlier than I did.
Important Warning
This book describes DIY electronic projects in graphic detail. These projects were created for their utilitarian home-improvement value and were never intended to be showcased in a future book… too late.
WarningUSB-powered LED Light
You can build an LED lamp that can be powered by the USB port of your computer. You will need a USB plug connector for this. For online purchase, search for ‘ 4-pin Type A USB 2.0 plug’.
USB-powered LED lightsAn LED (light-emitting diode) requires around 3 volts. The USB port provides 5 volts. To protect the LED, you need to add a 220Ω resistor. (Ω = Ohm)
Construction: Solder the first pin of the USB plug to one lead of the resistor. Solder the other lead of the resistor to the positive lead of an LED. Solder the negative lead of the LED to the fourth or the ground pin of the USB. Use the continuity function of a multimeter to ensure that the USB pins are not connected to each other or to the metal sleeve. Insert the USB plug into an USB port of a phone charger. (Do not use your computer ports for testing.) If the LED stays lit up, it is