Solar Design Stars�SOLAR BOAT PROJECT

INTRODUCTION TO THE ELECTRONICS YOU WILL BUILD

YOU CAN BUILD IT IN TINKERCAD

YOU CAN BUILT IT FOR YOUR PROJECT

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Nick Carter 10/5/21

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TODAY – �WE WILL BE USING TINKERCAD SIMULATOR

• What is the TinkerCAD simulator
• A Computer on the Internet makes the things you design act as if they are real
• They look real
• They behave very close to real
• Nothing to buy

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• TinkerCAD is FREE!!!!
• You can use it at home to experiment
• Use the Class account or your parents can sign you up for a personal account
• Your personal account will have access to designs shared by designers all over the world – findable through search

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TinkerCAD Start Screen� - Making a new circuit

• Click on
• “Circuits”
• Then
• Click on
• “Create new Circuit”

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• This screen is where TinkerCAD shows you your saved circuits
• Saving is automatic

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TinkerCAD - �DESIGN and Circuit Simulation screen

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Double click to get back to START Screen

Click this if your circuit disappears

Mouse scroll or screen pinch to change size

Select and Drag to move component or all components

Trash

Select item and click this or use delete key

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Undo

Redo

Components - select and drag to Work Area

Work Area

Click to Simulate.

Turns on “Electricity”

Find something

Rotate item

See Component description

Such a silly name!

What is a CIRCUIT??

• What does a Circuit need?
• A circuit has an electrical power source and a load connected so that current can flow in a loop.
• What is Polarity?
• Batteries, Solar Panels and LED lights are polarized, they have a positive and negative terminal, and it matters which way you connect them.
• It is coded with Red/Black or labelled +/-
• How does the Power transfer?
• Current flows through the load and some power is transferred depending on the load resistance and the power voltage

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Let’s Make a Circuit like we will build

• What kind of power source do we need?
• Search for one in TinkerCAD
• Drag it onto your Work Area
• What kind of load will we have?
• Search for one in TinkerCAD
• Drag it onto the Work Area
• What other kind of load could you use?
• Configure the components using the pop-up box
• Power source 2.16 Volts, 0.4 Amps
• How can we make current flow from the power source to the load?
• How do we make wires and how/where do we connect them?
• Changing wire shapes and colors
• How do we make it behave like it is real?
• Can you use more than one power source or load?

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• See Note page

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HINT

Arrange and rotate the components so that the connections will be easy and clear

Your Circuit now:

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Let’s Measure the Circuit

• Your kit will have a Multimeter
• Who knows what that is
• Anyone seen or used one?
• It measures Electrical values like:
• Voltage (measured in Volts)
• Current (measured in Amps)
• Resistance (measured in Ohms)
• The Rotary switch selects the value type and maximum value it can measure.
• It has a Positive (RED) and a Negative (BLACK) input connection
• TinkerCAD has multimeters but they look more simple
• They measure the same values
• They also have RED and BLACK terminals
• They have no knob, but you can use the popup box to change what it does

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Use the TinkerCAD Multimeter to measure

• Measuring the Voltage of the Solar Panel
• Find a multimeter (scroll down or use search box)
• Drag it onto the work area
• Connect the positive terminal to the load positive terminal
• Connect the negative terminal to the load negative terminal
• Configure the Multimeter for voltage in the pop-up box
• Start Simulation
• Change the amount of sunlight with the slider
• What do you see?

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Your Circuit now

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Add Energy Storage

• Find a Polarized Capacitor (See Picture on Next Slide)
• Drag it onto the work area
• Configure the Capacitance for 10 and the dropdown list to F
• Configure the voltage to 2.7 V
• Connect it to the Solar Cell
• Connect negative to negative and positive to positive
• Simulate the circuit again
• Set the Solar Cell light to maximum
• Wait for the Capacitor to charge up and the motor to start turning
• Reduce the light to minimum
• See what happens
• Try changing the Capacitance to 1 and see if it works differently Why?

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Your Circuit now

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Backup Power

• What else do we have that can give us power?
• Find it on in TinkerCAD
• Drag it onto the Work Area
• Do we want it connected all the time, or only when we want to use it?
• How do we do that?
• We want to turn the backup power on and off
• Look at the Battery options in its popup box

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• See Notes

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The Battery – use the 1.5V Battery

• Configure the battery
• Select Count = 2 batteries
• Select Type = AA
• Select Built in Switch = Yes, and it changes

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• Connect the Battery with wires
• Positive and Negative
• Use the Switch to turn on the battery and charge the Capacitor
• Then you can turn it OFF again

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Your Circuit now

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A Complete Circuit

• TinkerCAD has components to let you build the whole circuit needed for the boat.
• Solar Panel
• Configure the Voltage to 2.16 Volts and the Current to 0.4 Amps
• LED
• Configure the color in the popup box
• You will get a RED one for the project
• Battery
• Configure for 2 AA cells in the popup box
• SuperCapacitor to store energy
• Configure to 10 F and 2.7V in the popup box
• DC Motor – see how many RPM you get when you simulate

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Here is a Complete Circuit

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Components can be placed differently

BUT

Wire connections have to be the same

AND

You won’t put the real battery on your boat

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YouTube Class Videos

• I have recorded some videos on my youtube channel
• Search for “PinkSpaceTheory Solar Boat Project”
• Or click this
• PinkSpaceTheory Solar Boat Project - YouTube
• If you are interested and have time, you can watch them.
• They show me using the components you will get.
• They will explain more about using and connecting them.
• There is even a bonus experiment ☺

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GOOD LUCK WITH BUILDING YOUR BOAT

HAVE FUN

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