It is May, and we are assembling kits for our microcontroller course. So I thought I would share a list of the components and materials we use to make up our own Arduino Starter Kit.
On the other hand, there are a lot of pre-made Arduino Starter Kits available out there that you can start it by just now. However, we found that many of them had components that we did not need it.
We have provided you with all the information that can help you in making your kits. However, you can make your own Arduino starter kit from scratch if you don’t want to purchase from the market. Believe me, not that hard.
Table of Contents
What is Arduino and do I need special skills for it?
To begin with, Arduino is based on two parts: Hardware and software. Firstly, An Arduino microcontroller board that comes in hardware, and can be used to control lights, motors, and relays. Secondly, IDE (Integrated Development Environment) comes with software and is used to create a sketch that you upload on the board via a printer cable.
In the same way, Arduino follows the simple pattern that we say “The Interactive Device.” An interactive device is an electronic circuit that is clever enough to read the environmental data with the help of components and sensors (convert environmental data into binary). People of all skill levels can take advantage of the Arduino platform.
You may be asking, Why Arduino UNO board? Arduino UNO makes your life easy in building electronics projects. It is friendly and makes a great platform for people who just starting out with electronics. You can easily start controlling lights, motors, and relays with zero experience in electronics.
Why did we choose the Arduino Starter Kit?
The Arduino starter kit should be a good start for beginners and it can facilitate you in learning to program and build Arduino-based projects. As you all know, Arduino is an open-source software and hardware platform that allow you to use it as a free hand.
If you are a beginner and have zero experience in building electronics projects, then our guide about Arduino family might help you select the right Arduino that you can use in most of your projects.
What projects you can do?
If you like to play with complex components and love electronics. Well, you can make unique projects with the Arduino board. As you all know that Arduino board is cheap and beginners, students, and hobbyists have already made amazing projects with this board. A few projects you can make with Arduino.
What you will need?
Below is the components list you will need for your starter kit and all these components should come in under $40. These components are enough to understand the basics of programming and electronics.
- 1 x Arduino
- 1 x Breadboard
- 1 x Printer Cable
- 1 x Jumper wire kit
- 1 x 1K ohm resistor
- 1 x 10K ohm resistor
- 3 x LED
What is Arduino UNO R3?
Arduino UNO is by far the most used, and unique board among all the boards. The best thing about Arduino UNO is a flexible microcontroller, if you somehow burn the atmega328 (microcontroller) you can change it with the new one. You don’t need to buy the Arduino board again. It is good for beginners if you want to learn basic programming.
It has 20 digital input and output pins which are more than the original Arduino UNO board which provides you with more area to play with. You can use these pins to interface with Arduino Shields and other circuits.
What is Breadboard?
You might have pictured a board on which you chop vegetables, but it is a special board that allows you to test your components, prototypes, and experiments with circuit design before you solder your components on a Vero board or on your PCB.
A solderless board has come into your life to make it easier. It comes in different sizes and can be attached two, three, and more to make it one giant board.
What are Jumper Wires?
Jumper wires are extremely important when you are playing on a breadboard with some components in hand and trying to make a circuit from it. You will need jumper wires to connect two points. I will highly recommend you use different colors of wires as it will help you in debugging and changing the right wire on time.
Different colors of jumper wires mean nothing, but these different color wires are to bring ease to your life.
You can use one color wire in your circuit, but it will be difficult to identify a mistake. Just like black color wires are used as a ground, and red color wire uses as a power source. You can either use yellow for the ground and black for power. It totally depends on you.
As you have now understood what is jumper wire? And why are they colored? Now you will learn about different types of jumper wires.
There are mainly three types of jumper wires which are used in the electrical world. Following are the types of jumper wire:
- Male-to-male
- Female-to-female
- Female-to-male
What are Resistors?
You cannot deny the importance of a resistor in an electrical network. A passive electrical component is a resistor whose basic function is to limit the flow of electrical current. Its resistance is measured in ohms.
For what purpose resistors are used in electrical circuits? A few examples like a voltage divider, limit electrical current, control gains, etc.
Resistance value and tolerance can be measured through different colors embossed on resistors. These color stripes on resistors are called bands and resistors could be up to 6 color bands. If you are confused between a 1k Ohm resistor and a 10K Ohm resistor, then you can calculate resistance it through color bands on it.
What is LED?
LED stands for Light-Emitting Diodes. You might have seen this in your appliances indicating on and off. In the same way, it plays an important role in the Arduino Starter kit as well, you can control it through Arduino. Also, Arduino has a built-in LED on 13 pins that is widely used to check the Arduino.
What is Printer Cable?
Most of the Arduino boards support printer cables while a few boards support micro USB cables. You can use a printer cable for two reasons: to transfer the code to Arduino and to power up the Arduino board.
Conclusion
In the meantime, I have provided you with information about making your own starter kit rather than buying from the market.
You can get these components and materials from amazon within a week and get started.
Let us know in the comment section what you have done with your Arduino starter kits.