Description

PRE-ORDER ITEM

Reference Circuits Volume 0 will be released in April or May of 2026, after we have fulfilled all Kickstarter rewards. In the meantime, you can reserve your copy by placing a pre-order right here. As the manufacturing progresses and the Kickstarter rewards are fulfilled, we will post updates on this page. If you order other items, they will ship in April or May when Reference Circuits Volume 0 is officially released.

About the Book:

Reference Circuits, Volume 0 is a 12-page introduction to electronic components, designed to help you build understanding through direct interaction – not memorization. Instead of describing components using only descriptions, explanations and diagrams, real circuits are built directly into this book that show each component in action. You can power it on, press buttons, probe it, and see exactly how each component behaves in context. You won’t find any paper in this book. It’s built from FR-4 printed circuit board material.

This volume focuses on the fundamentals — resistors, capacitors, diodes, transistors, and other core building blocks — showing not just what they do, but why they behave the way they do when placed in a circuit.

Volume 0 has two more pages than Volume 1 and 2, with a total of 6 pages of circuits!

Here’s what’s on each page:

• Page 1: Resistors. An overview of resistors, including: how they work, how to decode color bands, how to decode numerical codes on surface mount resistors.

• Page 2: Specialty resistors and switches. On this page, you’ll find a photoresistor, the thermistor, and an assortment of switches in action. Cover up the photocell to turn the LED on, and place a warm finger on the photocell to turn on an LED.

• Page 3: Capacitors and How They’re Used in a Circuit. An overview of how capacitors work, and an example of how they are used in a circuit.

• Page 4: Capacitors in Action. This page has four types of surface mount capacitors: ceramic, aluminum electrolytic, variable, and tantalum soldered directly on the page. The through hole equivalents of these capacitors are also shown as a drawing. Plug it in, and press the button to see a visualization of how a capacitor stores electrons. An LED will slowly illuminate and fade as the capacitor is charged and discharged.

• Page 5: Fuses, and Resettable Fuses. Here you’ll find an overview of how a fuse protects a circuit, and how resettable fuses work.

• Page 6: Inductors, Transformers, Optocouplers, and Relays. This may be the coolest page in the book as you walk through a real example of an inductor, an explanation of transformers, an optocoupler, and a relay. A live circuit demonstrates an optocoupler and a relay in action. Press the button to turn on the optocoupler. When the optocoupler is on, the relay coil is energized and the relay is closed, causing the normally open LED to turn off, and the normally open LED to illuminate.

• Page 7: PN Junction Diodes and Photodiodes. This page provides an overview of what a PN Junction diodes do, and how the silicon that makes a diode is structured. It also covers how light rays cause electrons to flow in PN junction diodes and photodiodes.

• Page 8: Diodes and Zener Diodes in Action. Here, you’ll get an overview of how diodes are used in a circuit and an assortment of real diodes in surface mount packages. See a Zener diode in action when you slide a potentiomiter up and down and witness the Zener effect first hand.

• Page 9: Light Emitting Diodes and Transistors. Page 9 features a graphic showing the anatomy of an LED, and an explanation of the principal of operation of an LED.  You’ll also find a brief overview of transistors.

• Page 10: Transistors and Op-Amps. Page 10 shows a Bipolar Junction Transistor and a Metal Oxide Field Effect Transistor in action. Press their respective buttons to see how the transistors go into saturation and illuminate an LED. Op-Amps are also covered. Adjusting the potentiomiter up and down causes an inverting amplifier’s output to vary. The difference between the input and output can be seen by comparing the difference in brightness between the input and output LEDs.

• Page 11: DC-DC Converter Theory. This page covers how DC-DC converters operate.

• Page 12: DC-DC Converters in Action and Linear Voltage Regulators. Page 12 features two DC-DC converter circuits and a linear voltage regulator. The incoming 5 volts is stepped up to 20 volts with a boost converter, and back down to 5 volts with a buck converter. An L7812 linear voltage regulator also regulates 20V down to 12 volts. Three LEDs illuminate indicating the presence of each voltage and each voltage can be measured with a volt meter.

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