Every experimenter should have this LED accessory kit. The typical price is about $2.50, shipping included. They are so cheap and useful, I always have a few of them in my lab ready to grab for quick experiments. When I am looking for an LED or switch or jumper wire, this is my goto kit.
Here’s what comes in the kit:
The large white plastic brick with all the holes is a solderless breadboard. This will be used to connect wires or leads together by plugging them into the same row.
The kit contains five each of a red, yellow and green light emitting diodes (LEDs). These are simple, general purpose LEDs. Note the short lead and the long lead on each LED. The short lead will connect to the lower voltage and the long lead to the higher voltage. This is the orientation for current to flow through the LED and for it to light up. No current will flow if it is connected in the reverse direction. You should try this.
There are six square shaped switches with small square black buttons on top. When left alone, the two pairs of pins on the bottom are open from the other two pins. But when the button is pushed and held down, the two pairs of pins are connected together.
The six round covers, white, blue and red, fit over the switches and make it easier to press them. These switches will snap into the solderless breadboard.
The resistors are mounted to paper tape in five groups. There are ten each of 220 Ohms, 1k Ohms, 10k Ohms and 100k Ohms. These are rated at 1/4 watt of power dissipation, very standard.
Two photo-resistors are included, and shown just underneath the solderless breadboard in the figure above. Their resistance changes with the amount of light shining on them. When dark, it’s resistance is about 10k Ohms. As more light shines on it the resistance can drop to lower than 1k Ohm in a bright light.
There is a small power adapter that plugs into a 9 V battery and ends as a power plug. This can plug into an Arduino and power it eternally on a battery.
Finally, this kit also includes a selection of 12 male to mail 6-inch long jumper cables. They can connect an Arduino socket to the solderless breadboard.
I am a big fan of low-cost and versatile electronics kits. There are so many to choose from, it can be confusing and overwhelming and sometimes results in disappointment. The kits I recommend I have tried and love, and I do not receive any sort of compensation or kickback from them. I recommend them because they are great, useful and very low cost.
