I got behind. Catching up with the rest of the class, I did some fun stuff with relays. Relays are switches powered electronically. They have an electromagnet inside that controls its switch gates, and that magnet gets its own circuit.
Hah, that jumper cable is huge.
The red and yellow lights alternate when I activate the magnet. I know, yellow is super dim.
Next was to have the relay oscillate, in other words, operate itself.
I basically routed the magnet's circuit through the switch gates it controls.
It just buzzes because the relay is switching itself on and off ultra-fast. It's so fast, the lights just look dimmer.
This will destroy the relay pretty quickly though.
What do? ...Capacitor!
A capacitor is basically a super-fast rechargeable battery. The capacitor will soak up the current and release it, over and over, effectively slowing down the alternation of the relay.
The capacitor I used was smaller capacity than what was recommended, so the lights alternate faster than everyone else's. *shrug*
Next is transistors. Finally!
-The heart and soul of electronics.
...OK, maybe not the soul. But still pretty freakin' important!
They have just three nodes: the collector, emitter, and base. The first two relay a current, and the base controls the current. It's similar to a relay switch, except faster, simpler, and cheaper.
Here I control an LED with a transistor that I actuate by completing a circuit with my finger.
The great thing about them is that a tiny current can control the flow of a large one.
Oh, and finally I built a robot from those parts I showed earlier. It's a simple "Boxbot," and it's currently just an r/c toy.
OK, I did not want this video in vertical, but that controller is HUGE, and I was my own camera man. Deal with it.
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