Author Topic: What was your first circuit? Do you still remember it?  (Read 16631 times)

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Offline bjcuizonTopic starter

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What was your first circuit? Do you still remember it?
« on: July 25, 2017, 07:01:33 am »
Hi, I found out that there were already threads about something like your first multimeter, etc. Now, I think sharing (and maybe talking) about our first circuit would be fun as all of us had our beginning days.  :) ...And hopefully, it could inspire and motivate some beginners and newbies too.

So here we go, let's start with mine.
Back in the day, when I was 8, I was really interested in analog audio stuff. I was not really interested in electronics back then, I just loved connecting wires (and lots of them) on audio systems ::). But while surfing on the web, I was directed to this circuit which says that the LEDs will light up depending on the intensity of the sound.

I then went to my local electronics shop to buy some parts and connected some bare wires to the transistor. And to my excitement, it worked perfectly!
This was a thing of beauty for me and so that's how I got into electronics.

Anyway, that was my beginning. What's yours?
Don't mess with an Electronics Engineer, it Megahertz!
 

Online ataradov

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Re: What was your first circuit? Do you still remember it?
« Reply #1 on: July 25, 2017, 07:40:06 am »
Hooking up some music playing IC.

EDIT: This one:
 
Alex
 

Offline capt bullshot

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Re: What was your first circuit? Do you still remember it?
« Reply #2 on: July 25, 2017, 07:58:30 am »
I don't remember what was exactly the first circuit I built, one was a rather big and loud installation:

My grandfather complained about the birds picking the best cherrys from the big cherry tree we had back then in the garden. So I wanted to help him out with an automatic solution:

I hooked up a lot of electromechanical stuff (like a master clock providing a pulse per minute driving a uniselector salvaged from a PABX (fully electromechanical type, a cupboard sized box full of relays etc.), some relays, transformers, rectifiers to finally drive a relay on for some seconds every ten minutes. I even integrated a (also mechanical) timer to stop the ringing at night.
The relay in turn switched (ac mains) power to a large telecom outdoor electric bell that I installed in the cherry tree.

The whole installation lasted for about half a day, since my parents were asked by the neighbours to remove the annyoing noise.

Other (more electronic) things I built can be seen here:
http://wunderkis.de/Blinkenlights/blinkedinger.html
(sorry, it's German text, just look at the pictures - no schematics)
Safety devices hinder evolution
 
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Offline RoGeorge

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Re: What was your first circuit? Do you still remember it?
« Reply #3 on: July 25, 2017, 08:03:21 am »
Of course I remember!

It was a 'square' 4.5V battery and a light bulb.
As a kid, it was totally mind blowing to discover that you don't actually need a flashlight to light the bulb.
 
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Offline bjcuizonTopic starter

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Re: What was your first circuit? Do you still remember it?
« Reply #4 on: July 25, 2017, 08:16:35 am »
Other (more electronic) things I built can be seen here:
http://wunderkis.de/Blinkenlights/blinkedinger.html
(sorry, it's German text, just look at the pictures - no schematics)

It's Okay. My browser translated the text automatically to english. Now I can read and understand it.
Don't mess with an Electronics Engineer, it Megahertz!
 

Offline NivagSwerdna

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Re: What was your first circuit? Do you still remember it?
« Reply #5 on: July 25, 2017, 09:27:01 am »
ETI Metal Detector was my first 'proper' project.  It never worked very well... in reterospect I probably didn't have the proper equipment to set it up properly.
A copy of the original article is here... https://my.vanderbilt.edu/mriinterlock/files/2013/01/Induction-Balance-Metal-Detector.pdf

(Before that lamps and switches and charging discharging big capacitors from salvage TVs)
 

Online Zero999

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Re: What was your first circuit? Do you still remember it?
« Reply #6 on: July 25, 2017, 09:46:16 am »
Of course I remember!

It was a 'square' 4.5V battery and a light bulb.
As a kid, it was totally mind blowing to discover that you don't actually need a flashlight to light the bulb.
I did a similar thing. I used to be fascinated with lights as a child and used to play with the light switch. My dad probably got fed up with me turning the lights on and off, so found an old doll's house, put some batteries, a switch and a light in is, so I could play with that instead. Of course it wasn't long before I took it to bits to see how it worked. I can't remember how old I was but it was before I started school, so under 5.

I learned a lot of things, just by doing experiments. I didn't have access to the Internet or many books on the subject.

I remember making my own relay, before I even knew the word relay or had read about it in a book. I used a large nail wrapped in thin wire as the armature, which doubled as one of the contacts. The other contact was a springy piece of steel. I was amazed that the electromagnetic switch I'd made allowed a tiny 1.5V battery to switch a motor running of a 12V battery.

I made myself a motor generator set, using a lower voltage motor, driving a higher voltage motor. It enabled me to power a 9V walkie talkie off a 1.5V battery. I also learned about conservation of energy when I tried to connect a motor to a dynamo to make an overunity device and failed.
 

Offline rdl

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Re: What was your first circuit? Do you still remember it?
« Reply #7 on: July 25, 2017, 01:02:43 pm »
I'm sure I assembled a lot of stuff on breadboards just playing around. I'd bet that an LED circuit was the first, but I don't remember now. The first thing I ever built that was permanent and meant to be used was an LM317 based power supply. I built it in 1985 and disassembled it many years ago. I don't remember why and wish I hadn't, but I still have most of the parts.



That's a genuine Simpson meter. I flipped the faceplate and made my own scale with rub on lettering. The transformer came from Radio Shack.
 

Offline Rbastler

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Re: What was your first circuit? Do you still remember it?
« Reply #8 on: July 25, 2017, 01:29:29 pm »
My first circuit was either a led blinking device, or a one transistor middle wave transmitter

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Offline kakabouras

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Re: What was your first circuit? Do you still remember it?
« Reply #9 on: July 25, 2017, 01:45:50 pm »
A crystal radio receiver that could pick up a single local MW station during the evenings only :)   
I was at the 4th grade at school  then.
 

Offline KL27x

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Re: What was your first circuit? Do you still remember it?
« Reply #10 on: July 25, 2017, 09:42:45 pm »
I was probably 4 when I made my first circuit. Staple in the wall outlet.
 
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Offline georges80

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Re: What was your first circuit? Do you still remember it?
« Reply #11 on: July 25, 2017, 10:45:49 pm »
Crystal set for sure was #1 in primary school.

#2 was a 2n3055, a battery, a CDS cell, a bulb and a battery in 1st yr HS. Was fascinated that I could turn on/off the bulb via the CDS cell.

All downhill after that as I headed along the path to choose EE as a career :)

This all 45+ years ago... Been a hoot of a trip so far.

cheers,
george.
 

Offline Alex Eisenhut

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Re: What was your first circuit? Do you still remember it?
« Reply #12 on: July 26, 2017, 01:36:44 am »
Like "designed", or from a book? I don't know exactly which one was first, but I have several firsts.

1) I borrowed a book from the library about lasers. I was maybe 12. I read the thing, understood it at a 12 year old level. This was a 1970s book. The circuit shown for driving LED lasers was kind of complicated, I guess 1970s laser LEDs needed a big kick to start. I used a regular red LED. I turned on the circuit and the LED exploded and the top flew at the ceiling. It smelled pretty bad.

2) I also had a bunch of 1950s kid encyclopedias with tube-based circuits. I was only able to get tubes from salvaged TVs. I didn't understand the part numbers and had no real way to find out. I tried different ways to build the promised radio, instead I ended up cracking the tubes in my Dad's vise to peel apart the insides. I'm amazed I didn't eat it...

3) A success was a RAM expansion for the VIC-20. By this time I was maybe 14 and much better, I worked a lot to scrape together the 40$ I needed for two 8Kx8 chips. I wired it up from an article in 73 Magazine, for hams. This worked great and made the VIC more useful until I got a 64.

4) I tried electrolysis of water. This book said to take apart carbon zinc batteries for the carbon electrodes. I built a nice big cell and ignited the hydrogen. That's a circuit, right?

I built a lot of circuits from Radio Electronics (1980s).

My first self-designed stuff must have been a 555 based timer for model rocketry, to stage motors. Black powder engines stage themselves, but I was looking forward to composite engines. I made a test with Estes black powder engines but my stager was so heavy that the rocket only made it 40 feet up until it ignited the second stage. It was sketchy but it worked.

I quite stupidly put a bunch of N NiCd batteries IN the rocket to power the igniter.
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Offline Mr.B

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Re: What was your first circuit? Do you still remember it?
« Reply #13 on: July 26, 2017, 01:43:38 am »
I was 6 years old.
It was Christmas.
My uncle who was an EE gave me the following:

A 12v minature ES lamp.
A minature lamp holder with screw terminals.
A SPST switch with screw terminals.
Four alligator clips with screw terminals.
Two 6v lantern batteries.
A couple of metres of insulated wire, red and black.
A small, old screw driver with a turned wooden handle.
A schematic diagram.

It all started then and there.

More than 40 years later, I still have the screwdriver.
« Last Edit: July 26, 2017, 01:50:10 am by Mr.B »
Where are we going, and why are we in a handbasket?
 
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Offline floobydust

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Re: What was your first circuit? Do you still remember it?
« Reply #14 on: July 26, 2017, 04:34:05 am »
The cartoons made the difference, as a kid I could not understand the little parts.
 

Offline dos

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Re: What was your first circuit? Do you still remember it?
« Reply #15 on: July 26, 2017, 05:19:01 am »
First was probably what another poster said, hooking a small incandescent lamp to a battery, adding a switch, etc. Second-1000th was stuff on one of these



I remember wanting to get into electronics at a really young age and my dad first just went to radio shack and bought a few random parts, like a strip of resistors of one value, a two-pack of electrolytic caps, and a LM7805 (I still have this in it's package!). No breadboard or anything  :D When he realized that there was nothing I could really do with that stuff he went back and asked the salesperson what to get a kid for learning electronics and he recommended that project lab, which I must still have somewhere. I spent hours making the dumbest things on it (lots of noisemakers if I remember right) but it really helped to familiarize me with the basics, and I remember the book it came with being excellent.
 
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Offline Red Squirrel

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Re: What was your first circuit? Do you still remember it?
« Reply #16 on: July 26, 2017, 05:45:15 am »
Of course I remember!

It was a 'square' 4.5V battery and a light bulb.
As a kid, it was totally mind blowing to discover that you don't actually need a flashlight to light the bulb.

Pretty much mine too, but with 2 D cells, a wire and a bulb.  My grandpa showed that to me.

I got home, and figured the mains plug must work the same way, one side is negative, the other is positive (I did not know the concept of AC or DC).  That's when the paper clip came out, and a C9 christmas light bulb.  I got it to light up and thought it was the coolest thing, until my finger slipped and I got a pretty nasty shock.  >:D    I was probably like 10.  My exploration of electricity just kind of grew from there. Though I never really got into electronics itself other than taking things apart or seeing how much voltage something can handle before it blows up, my interest in component level electronics was always kinda around but never really pursued it till recently.  I'm still a newbie in that respect. 
 

Offline ivaylo

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Re: What was your first circuit? Do you still remember it?
« Reply #17 on: July 26, 2017, 06:45:37 am »

Of course done crystal radios before and what not, but this was the first to fit in a plastic soap box, to have a battery holder, etc... Must have been 10-11?
 

Offline Gary350z

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Re: What was your first circuit? Do you still remember it?
« Reply #18 on: July 26, 2017, 11:50:58 am »
My first circuits were the Heathkit Electronic Workshop "19".
This is about 1967 as far as I remember. I was about 10.

After seeing this post I did a google image search and found these photos.
« Last Edit: July 27, 2017, 08:54:21 am by Gary350z »
 

Offline CJay

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Re: What was your first circuit? Do you still remember it?
« Reply #19 on: July 26, 2017, 12:05:42 pm »
Five or six years old, 4.5V battery with screw terminals, wired to a light bulb and switch mounted on the roll top of a cigarette box so the bulb illuminated my Grandad's cigarettes when the roll top was opened, later replaced with the filament from a gas lighter so he could light his cigarettes when the roll top was opened.

My first radio was a crystal one with high impedance earpiece, again built with Grandad and around 7 years of age but my very first soldered project was an 'electronic dice' which was a 555 and 4017 on Veroboard.

Sadly I didn't realise that I needed to cut tracks on my pristine lump of Vero but a very nice bloke at Van Bek electronics in my home town showed me the error of my ways and at the age of 9 or 10 I had built my first 'proper' electronic project.

Oh, and it was a 126 Bell battery. I used to save pocket money to buy those. Wish I still had one or two, just for nostalgia.
« Last Edit: July 26, 2017, 04:30:16 pm by CJay »
 

Offline VK3DRB

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Re: What was your first circuit? Do you still remember it?
« Reply #20 on: July 26, 2017, 12:23:41 pm »
My first circuit was a voltage divider. I turned the theory into practice by taping various (unregulated) voltages off a power supply.

My first program was on an TI SR-56 calculator which made a counter, something like:

+
1
=
DISP
GOTO 1


My first job during high school was as in the Children's Shoes Dept at a major department store in Melbourne. My manageress's name was Mrs Shine. Colleagues names were Mrs Springett and Mrs Niblett. In the women's lingerie department next to ours there was one male employee. His name was Mr Strange. I am not kidding - it is true. What's that got to do with electronics? Well as much as I hated that job, Mrs Shine gave me a glowing reference which helped secure my first real job after uni at IBM, and I have been designing circuits ever since.
 
 

Offline brucehoult

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Re: What was your first circuit? Do you still remember it?
« Reply #21 on: July 26, 2017, 12:41:02 pm »
Like many people, I started with lantern batteries, hookup wire, bulbs, switches.

I was fascinated by how there were two switches in our hallway and either one could always turn the light on or off. I was happy when I figured out how to use two DPDT switches to do that, and then totally proud when I extended the solution to an arbitrary number of switches.

Making electromagnets from nails and finer wire came soon after, and then crude buzzers (using bits of hacksaw blade) and relays and motors.

My first real "project" was for a primary school play when I was 10. The play involved a UFO and the UFO needed flashing lights. I designed a thing with a short length of broomstick rotated by an electric motor, using an old alarm clock as a reduction gearbox and a rheostat from a model railway set as a speed control, I put drawing pins along the broomstick at different angles and a set of copper fingers touching the drawing pins as the broomstick rotated. The copper fingers were then connected to small bulbs spaced around the circumference of the UFO (big enough for several actors to stand inside it) with coloured cellophane over them.
 

Offline G7PSK

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Re: What was your first circuit? Do you still remember it?
« Reply #22 on: July 26, 2017, 03:57:01 pm »
A crystal set was my very first circuit, my parents had just bought a big old rambling house and in the attic I found among a lot of other junk a cats whisker crystal still in it's box so I made a radio from it then it was not loud enough so I built an amplifier for it from an old transistor tape recorder of the reel to reel variety and put the whole thing into a cigar box powered by six D cells. I had that radio for years before I got anything better it worked so well I did not need a big antennae. I was 11 when I built it and had the radio into my 20's
 

Offline Refrigerator

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Re: What was your first circuit? Do you still remember it?
« Reply #23 on: July 26, 2017, 07:09:51 pm »
I made my first circuit when i was four. It was a potentiometer, an incandescent bulb and a 9V battery in a cardboard box. :-/O
You turn the pot and the bulb got brighter and dimmer.
I brought it to the kindergarten the next day to show off. 8)
I have a blog at http://brimmingideas.blogspot.com/ . Now less empty than ever before !
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Offline spudboy488

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Re: What was your first circuit? Do you still remember it?
« Reply #24 on: July 27, 2017, 11:34:06 am »
Similar to other posts, I started with a Radio Shack 65 in 1 kit. The first circuit was probably the first one in the book. The first one I remember though was a crystal radio. It helped to have a 50KW station 10 miles from the house.
 


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