Adafruit Daily

Electronics

2025

May

LED overload? Psst. I’ll let you in on a secret.

Long live labels!

Counting Pin Numbers

April

Get Oriented!

Breadboard Capacitance

Hummm… 60Hz noise in your amplifier driving you nuts?

Get the scoop on crystal capacitors

Even lower power!

March

Test for interference on the cheap!

Function Generator Marketing

Oscilloscope Bandwidth

Disable unused channels!

February

Ew! Sticky!

Got flux?

SMT Tip

Why is my battery dead? – I haven’t even been using it!

January

SMT Tip – Stop moving around!

Lower power!

Low power?

Level Conversion Hack

Tristates!

2024

December

Servo Pulses

Heatsinks aren’t enough!

Crouching LED, Hidden Photodiode

Are you grounded?

November

Probe Compensation

Aliasing is ugly!

I touched my circuit, and now it glitches!

Oscilloscope Jumble

October

Trigger happy oscilloscope?

Alternate Triggering

I touched my glitchy circuit, and now it works!

My signal isn’t THAT noisy, is it?

When do I use X10?

September

When do I use X1?

Wipe your iron!

Autoscale is cheating!

Function Generator Outputs

August

Watch that ground clip!

Have any spare fuses?

Diode Test Current

Too much noise?

July

Multimeter Capacitance Measurement

Protect your multimeter!

Multimeter Peaks

Multimeter Bandwidth – AC Signal

Keep track of those rails!

June

Soldering Pointer!

LED Basics!

Tactile Confusion?

Desolder with… more solder!

May

The advantage of ‘Rail to rail’ op amps!

When is a via not a via?

If you don’t ask, you won’t receive.

Steady Headers

Sizzlin’ Chip Test

April

The Case Of The Disappearing Capacitance

Build It!

Probe Currents!

Simulate It!

March

The Glitchy Switch

Footprint Fail!

Free Heatsink!

USB Powered Mayhem!

February

Is your op amp going crazy?

Electrolytic Limitations

To Y5V or not to Y5V?

Have you met Charlie?

January

Inadequate volt signal

Diode-less MOSFET?

My MOSFET has parasites!?

1 Wire Woes

Beware expanding LiPos!

2023

December

Tricky Diode Vf

Diode Vf vs Voltage

Free ICs!

To shield or not to shield?

November

What the mF?!

Logic Analyzers On The Cheap

Print your PCB!

Design for test!

1k1? 4R7? Whaaa?

October

Never Get Lazy With Decoupling Capacitors

Spit in your eye

Proceed with caution

Linear Love

September

Trouble with LM741

Turn the heat up! when unleaded

The deets on Electret Microphones

Through Hole SMD

August

Switch Mode Power

Can’t afford a current probe?

Nasty fumes

Calc that whip!

Lead-free Soldering Temperature

July

Connect your grounds!

Transformers: More than meets the eye!

Motor interference

Higher isn’t always better

June

Stay disciplined with ERC

It sure is crowded in here.

Watch the gate voltage!

Meaningful gains

May

Capacitor ESR

Potentiometer conventions

N vs P!

Ground connections cooler via more vias

LED colors: what they tell you

April

Look to ferrites (no, not ferrets, the European polecat) when faced with high frequency

DRC Confusion

Lazy Libraries

Resistors are inductors?!

March

Copper keepout!

Audio amplifier advice

Lost signal? Have no fear!

You’ve got the power! (right?)

This tip’s a real circuit slugger

February

The 411 on 555s

Stay current with sourcing and sinking

Code like everyone’s watching

Shift away from basic arithmetic

January

Check out this shorthand shortcut

Keep this in mind when working on project layout

Working with sensitive circuits?

Diamonds may be forever… but components? Not so much.

2022

December

Must read MOSFET material

Cool your FETs!

What’s in a diode?

Have the need for speed? This diode might be right for you

November

Storage Safety 101

Solder braid quick fix

Let us clear up your aluminum confusion

Voltage drop from cables

Zener voltage

October

Fuse Safety

Dream big, start small

Hi-res mode for the (detailed) win!

Avoid serial confusion!

September

= != ==.

When to opt for alkaline batteries

How to make your LiPo long-lasting

Emergency ferrite

August

1, 2, 3, Freeze!

Help yourself with helping hands

Signature required?

Current limiting!

Solder isn’t everything.

July

Schottky power!

Electrical Tape and PVC Glue to the Rescue!

Relieve Strain with Hot Glue

Capacitor Polarity Markers

June

Damp Sponge vs Drenched Sponge

February

Don’t blow it with your microcontroller

January

Your job’s a joke, you’re broke, your semiconductor is DOA

How to make your own magnetic field probe!

High voltage logic

Lithium chemistries

2021

December

A short lesson in RF protection

A way around surface mount snags

A few words on inductor resistance

Probes aren’t perfect!

November

Invisible Bugs

Designing a PCB?

Don’t float!

Blown transistor?