Latest insights, tutorials, and news from the world of electronics
Two resistors turn a voltage into a smaller one. Learn the voltage divider formula, how to read an LDR or potentiometer, how to measure a LiPo battery with an ESP32, and the loading mistake that makes dividers give wrong readings.
A microcontroller pin can light an LED, but not a relay, motor or LED strip. Learn how to switch bigger loads with an NPN transistor or a logic-level MOSFET, how to calculate the base resistor, and why the flyback diode is not optional.
Resistors don't print their value — they wear coloured bands. Learn to read 4, 5 and 6-band resistors, which end to start from, what tolerance means, and why the values you can buy are 4.7k and 2.2k instead of round numbers.
Why does your button read random values when nobody's touching it? Learn what a floating input is, how pull-up and pull-down resistors fix it, when the microcontroller's internal pull-up is enough, and how to debounce a button.
Voltage, current and resistance are linked by one equation. Learn Ohm's law with real circuit examples, the power formula that tells you which resistor wattage to buy, and the mistakes that make components smoke.
A look inside the Meshmerize MicroMouse built by the Robotics Club, WRC: how it explores a line maze with the left-hand rule, shrinks its recorded path to the shortest route, and follows the line with a tuned PD controller.
Every LiPo and 18650 in your projects charges the same way: constant current, then constant voltage. Learn what the TP4056 module actually does, how to set its charge current safely for small batteries, and what the protection chip on the back is for.
An LED without a resistor is a short circuit with a light on it. Learn the one formula for sizing an LED resistor, typical forward voltages by colour, safe pin currents for Arduino and ESP32, and how to wire several LEDs correctly.
A PCB mistake costs you a week and a new order. This is the checklist we use at ElectroPhobia workshops before ordering a board or etching one in-house: schematic, footprints, layout, design rules and Gerber export in KiCad.
Sensors, displays and modules talk to your microcontroller over UART, I²C or SPI. Learn how each one works, how many wires it needs, how fast it is, and how to debug the most common problems — with examples from real ESP32 projects.
A multimeter is the first tool to buy and the one you'll use most. Learn how to measure voltage, current and resistance, use continuity mode to debug a PCB, and avoid the mistake that blows the meter's fuse.
The HC-SR04 measures distance with sound. Learn how the trigger and echo pins work, why the formula divides by 58, how to wire it safely to a 3.3 V ESP32, and how to fix the random zeros and spikes that make readings jumpy.
A complete walkthrough of our Flappy Bird clone on an ESP32 and a 128×64 OLED: the hardware, a fixed-timestep game loop, gravity in two lines of code, collision detection, and what we'd improve in version two.
The line follower is the classic first robot. Build it in two stages: a simple two-sensor version that works in an afternoon, then an 8-sensor PID version that's smooth and fast — with a step-by-step method for tuning the gains.
A 4-day hands-on pre-event workshop for Vector 3.0 covering PCB design using KiCad, Gerber file generation, in-house fabrication, etching, and soldering with industry mentors from Yarsa Tech.
Vector 3.0 Pre-Event
Learn how to create PCBs in-house using UV photolithography, chemical etching, and fabrication