ELECTRONIC COMPONENTS AN EASY TO USE GUIDE

1. Resistors
As you know the resistor is an inevitable part of a circuit. It is meant for reducing the
current and voltage in the circuit parts. Resistors are identified using the standard colour
code chart. A simple trick can be used to identify the resistor value range. The third colour
band on the body of the resistor represents the multiplier value. So by identifying the third
colour, it easy to know the value in range.

1.1

BALLAST RESISTOR

A ballast resistor is a resistor inserted into a circuit to compensate for different changes.
A resistor that has the property of increasing in resistance as current flowing through it
increases, and decreasing in resistance as current decreases

Ballast resistors can be used to

compensate arising from temperature fluctuations

limit the amperage through a certain device

use in series with LEDs to minimize current

They are sometimes used in car engines produced with breaker-points type
ignition. Engineers often need to connect LEDs in parallel so they add a ballast resistor in
series with each LED to minimize currrent differences.
One simple use for it can be seen when we connect one LED in series with a resistor. Every
LED has a different operating current and voltage drop. The resistor value can be calculated
like this:
R () = (Supply Voltage LED voltage drop) / I (A)
For example we have a 9V battery and a white LED with a typical voltage drop of 3.1V. The
desired current is 13 mA so by applying the formula results:
R = (9V 3.1V)/0.031A = 452
We choose a 470 value for the ballast resistor

Capacitors

A capacitor is a body which can store an electrical charge. It consists of 2

conducting plates facing each other and separated by an insulating material. This insulating
material is also called dielectric material. When a charge is stored in one plate, an equal and

opposite charge is inducted on the other plate and thus a potential difference is set up
between the plates.
The unit of measurement for capacitance is Farad but this unit is much too large for practical
work. It is usually measured in microfarads (uF) or picofarads (pF). The formula of
calculating capacitance is
C = [(0.224 KA) (n-1)]/d
where
C = capacitance in pF
K = dielectric constant of material between plates
A = area of one side of the plates square inches
d = separation of plate in inches
n = number of plates
The potential difference V developed when a charge Q is stored depends directly on the
value of Q and inversely with the capacitance C of the cap.
V = Q/C
Capacitors are used for:

in timing circuits as it takes time for a cap. to be charged up

to smooth varying DC power supplies by acting as a reservoir of charge

in filter circuits because they easily pass AC signals but they block DC signals

DC Voltage Rating
The DC working voltage of a cap. is the maximum voltage which may be applied
continuously on the electrodes of the cap. at the upper limits of the working temperature
range. The peak value of an alternating voltage should not exceed this rating and have to be
derated according the the FMEA as recommended in FMEA.
Leakage Resistance
The dielectric of a practical cap. introduces power losses which can be represented by a
small resistance connected in series with the cap. The insulating resistance is often greater
than 3,000 Meg ohm.
Types of Capacitors
There are many different types of cap. that are used for different types of applications. They
are electrolytic cap., ceramic cap., tantalum cap., polyester cap., polystyrene cap. and safety
cap.(namely X and Y types of cap.).
Electrolytic cap. have leads that are marked with + or signs. They have polarity and must
be connected with the correct polarity. The values of the capacitance and voltage rating are
printed with on its body. The voltage rating can range from 5V up to 440V DC. Generally this

type of capacitor is used as smoothing cap. in power supply regulation. The bigger the value
of the cap. is, the less ripple the DC supply that has been rectified will be.
Electrolytic capacitors have value printed on its body. Pins can be easily identified. Large pin
is positive. Moreover a black band is printed near the negative terminal to identify the
polarity. Do not change the polarity. Capacitor will explode. In Disc capacitors, only a
number is printed on its body so it is very difficult to determine its value in Pf, KPF, UF, N
etc. In some capacitor, its value is printed in UF eg.0.1 in some others EIA code is used e.g.
104. The following tricks can solve the problem.

One or two numbers on the capacitor represents value in pF e.g. 8 = 8pF

If the third number is zero, then the value is in pF e.g. 100 = 100pF

If the capacitor has three numbers and the third number is not a zero, it represents
the number of zeros after the first and second digits e.g. 104 = 10 0000 pF

If the value is obtained in pF, it is easy to convert it into KpF or F

pF / 1000 = KpF or nF
pF / 10, 00000 = F
For example, if the capacitor is 104, then it is 10-0000 pF or 100 KpF or nF or 0.1 F

Conversion formula
nF X 1000 = pF pF/1000 = nF pF/1,000,000 = F F X 1,000,000 = pF F X
1,000,000/1000 = nF nF=1/1,000,000,000F F = 1/ 1000,000 F

English letter below the value represents tolerance e.g. 473 = 473 K. If the capacitor
has four digits and the fourth digit is a zero, then the value is in PF. E.g. 1500 =
1500pF

If a number is represented with a decimal, the value is in F. E.g. 0.1 = 0.1 F

If an alphabet is given below the digits, it represents a decimal and the value is in
KpF or nF e.g. 2K2 = 2.2 KpF

If the values are given with slashes, the first digit represents value in F, second its
tolerance and third its maximum voltage rating e.g. 0.1/5/800 = 0.01 F / 5
Percent / 800 Volt.

Capacitor color code

Polyester capacitors have five colour bands similar to the resistor colour code value.

Band 1 - Temperature tolerance

Band 2, 3, 4 Value in PF as per colour code used in resistors

Band 5 Tolerance

Circuit and Biasing Technique

There is so much to learn about the single-transistor amplifier, that this brief tutorial hardly
scratches the surface. This discussion considers only the common-emitter configuration as
applied to low level audio.
History
In the early days of solid state amplifiers, thermal stability was the big issue. The first
devices available were leaky germanium PNP transistors. The collector to base leakage was
often so excessive that it could cause thermal run-away because the leakage increased
exponentially with temperature. The classic way of keeping this under control was the base
divider-emitter swamping resistor topology. Early text books (including the one I used in
1963) had a detailed section on this and included a mathematical calculation for stability
factor.

Unfortunately, now (some 50 years later), we are still suffering from vestiges of this
approach as we continue to see the same circuits popping up even though germanium
transistors have been obsolete and unavailable for well over 30years, and the silicon bipolar
NPN has been long the transistor of choice. Since leakage in silicon devices is so low that it
can hardly be measured, we can make a fresh start.
Self-Biased Circuit Schematic

A stable quiescent operating point (Q point) can be established simply by sourcing the
base divider from the collector voltage. This dispenses with the emitter swamping resistor.
While not perfect, it provides predictable results and simplicity. It is good for low power
amplifier transistors that dissipate less than about 100mW. R1, 2 & 3 form the base divider.
The juncture of R2 & 3 is bypassed to common via C2 to eliminate negative feedback from
the collectorthis negative feedback tends to reduce voltage gain. We will be covering
negative feedback in the future. C1 is the input coupling capacitor and C3 is the output
coupling capacitorboth pass the AC signal while blocking the DC component. To
accommodate a wide range of hFEs, the base divider current is in the range of 5 to 10 *
base current.
Operating point calculations (ohms law)
1. Set collector voltage: My rule-of-thumb is to set it at about 40% of Vcc. In this case
it is 5V.
2. Calculate collector current: Ic = (Vcc Vc) /R4 = (12V 5V) /2.2K = 3.2mA.
3. Calculate base current: Ib = Ic / hFE = 3.2mA /200 = 16uA (using the common
2N3904)

4. Establish base divider current: Id = Ib * 5 = 16uA * 5 = 80uA (a factor of 5 is good)

5. Calculate Ir1: Ir1 = Id Ib = 80uA 16uA = 64uA
6. Calculate R1: R1 = Vbe / Ir1 = 0.65V /64uA = 10K
7. Calculate R2 + R3: R23 = (Vc Vbe) /Id = (5 0.65V) /80uA = 54K
8. Calculate R2,3: R2 = R3 = 54K / 2 = 27K (may be unequal, but total must be 54K)
Data

The transistors used have hFEs ranging from 58 to 414.

Observe variations in Vbe: (0.615 to 0.708V) This is a greater range that I expected.
Observe variations in Vc: (4.32 to 6.67V) This are the quiescent operating points at room
temperature.)
(Will drop significantly at higher temperatures.)
Observe variations in Av: (170 to 234) Only the device with the lowest hFE had lower
voltage gain.
(44.6 to 47.4db) This was more stable than expected
Update
The gain data is significantly updated and as a result my observations also changed. The
voltage gain (Av) is remarkably stable in regard to the transistor hFEonly the lowest hFE
showed any reduction in Av.
Previous data erroneously indicated the opposite because the amplifier was dangerously
close to oscillation due to the phase shift caused by the low values of C1 & C2, and the low
source resistance (10). In the real world this would not have happened because the
capacitor values would be selected for the full audio bandwidth (20 to 20,000hZ).
Attenuator
One mistake often made by amateurs concerns signal level. Few function generators put out
signal levels that are low enough to be used as a low-level signal source. A 100:1 voltage
divider is a necessary addition to your signal generatorit gets the signal level low enough
to prevent distortion in a high-gain amplifier and provides a low impedance output that
makes measurements easier. Furthermore, the AC voltage can be measured at the input to
the attenuator thus simplifying instrumentation requirements.

Graphical Visualization

Do not attempt to reconcile this with the circuit in figure 1the parameters (Vcc, RL,
Operating point etc.) were selected for best visual representation.
The input current signal (right) is tilted slightly to match the tilt of the characteristic curves.
).The output current (left) indicates the input current times the current gain (hFE or
The output voltage (bottom) indicates delta E = delta I * R (where delta = the change in
value)
It can be observed how signal clipping occurssaturation on the upper left and cut-off on
the lower right.
Circuit replication
Readers are invited to replicate my simple circuit and findingshopefully you have as much
fun and learn as much or more. Not much equipment is requiredcheck out the following
list:
Protoboard

Small DC power supply or battery

Function generator

Signal Attenuator make your own

DMM preferably one that can read mV AC, or better yet, one that can display
signal level in db or perhaps a classic vintage audio voltmeter (eBay search for HP
403B)

Oscilloscope no need for high performance