Sat 08/01/20 07:22:53 pm
Categories:
Electronics
This kit included a practice area, an IC, and Tin-Copper solder.
After completing Blink and Hue I worked on a European Siren Kit by Elenco. The circuit consists of a multivibrator circuit to create a square wave and a 555 timer IC to create two frequency pitches for the speaker. The square wave drives the LEDs to flash and the IC to switch between pitches.
Here is the assembled kit while it is running:
Here is the sound:
/assets/recordings/siren.mp3?
This kit was challenging because it required soldering the IC directly to the circuit board. In addition to dealing with close leads (similar to the potentiometers on the Hue kit ) I had to work quickly to avoid burning the IC.
The circuit board had a practice area and the manual included several exercises. I used the Tin-Copper lead free solder included with the kit. Here is what the practice area looked at some point during the exercises.
Notice some of the solder blobs look shiny. I was not expecting this from what I read about lead free solder. I was also not expecting the Tin-Copper solder to be easy to work with. I got the Tin-Silver-Copper solder (which I used for the Blink and Hue kits) because I read a couple of reviews saying it was easier to use.
Here are two photos showing the solder joints on the completed kit:
After completing the exercises (and some of my own tests) the practice area looks like a mess. Some parts of the circuit look really good: shiny joints in the shape of a mountain covering the pad. The pairs of burned looking joints on the bottom were part of an exercise in the manual to install one set of resistor, remove them, and then install another set. At some point I decided to conserve the Tin-Copper solder for the next kit so I switched to the SAC 305. Most of the dull looking joints are from the SAC. This was great kit to learn from and get experience with. After completing this kit I felt ready to try soldering components for my edrums project.
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