Essential Electronics Components that you will need for creating projects!

Hi there, some of you might not know this, but up until this point I've been producing videos about electronics for about 7 years and during that time I've created over 100 project videos. And the one thing you will always need when it comes to creating electronics projects are components, of which I have probably a thousand laying around in different drawers and storage compartments. Over time I noticed though that having thousands of components is not that important, since there's a group of electronics components that I would call essential, which always probably make up around 80% of all my projects. So due to popular demand from my viewers, I will present you my choice for the essential electronics components that you should have laying around. And of course you can find links to all the mentioned components in the video description. But keep in mind that I will not be talking about tools like pliers, wire strippers or for example soda, since that would be a topic for another video. Now with that being said, let's get started. This video is sponsored by JLCPCB, from who I just received new PCBs that I actually ordered not even a week ago. So feel free to try out their awesome PCB service and fast delivery times today, by uploading your Gerber files and get 5 PCBs for just 2$. Before we talk about electronics components, I would like to mention that shoving them all in one drawer is not recommended, since you can never find what you're looking for when you're in a hurry. Instead I recommend these wall mounted component storage boxes, of which I have plenty. Now granted they're not the cheapest option, but they're super simple to mount, their drawers can be divided and they're easy to label, which makes finding a specific component very easy. With that being said, let's start off with the most basic passive components, resistors, capacitors and inductors, beginning with resistors. Their main job is to limit the current flow and pull a certain part of a circuit to a voltage potential, which is why you should always have tons of 10kΩ resistors. But besides that, I also highly recommend such a ¼W metal film resistor kit, which basically comes with all the values you could possibly need for a circuit, and a ¼W is plenty for normal projects. Of course if you want to limit the current of a high power LED with them, then you might run into problems, but if you got a specific project in mind, then you can always get yourself a specific power resistor fairly easy. The only power resistors you should have laying around are 1Ω ones, because you can place them in series to your load and thus use them as a Last but not least, for resistors, since I am also getting more and more into SMD circuits, I recommend such a 1206 SMD resistor sample book, in which you can quickly find the desired resistor value and the 1206 size is still pretty easy to solder by hand. Next, we got capacitors, which are not only useful for creating RC time circuits, but also act as energy reservoirs for decoupling purposes. Which is why 100nF ceramic capacitors and 47-100μF electrolytic capacitors are super important. But it would be the best if you got one of those electrolytic and ceramic capacitor kits laying around, just in case you want to build And once again, for SMD circuits, I recommend such a 1206 SMD capacitor book. Last but not least, we got inductors, which are mostly used as energy storage devices for switch mode power supplies or to build up filters. In the first case, your choice of inductor truly depends on what kind of power supply you want to build and thus it is advised to search for specific ones when you know the details of your circuit. But you should know that, if you watched my video on how to choose the correct coil. And by the way, you can find all of my existing videos to the here mentioned components in the video description. Anyway, for building up filters on the spot however, I would recommend such a power inductor kit. And with the basics out of the way, let's move on to regulating the input power to projects. For low current projects where you got a high input voltage and either require the common 5V or 12V, I would recommend either the LM7805 or the LM7812 which according to the datasheets are super simple to setup. For a bit more current demanding tasks however, I would recommend the boost converter built around the MT3608 to step up voltages or the buck converter built around the LM2596 to step down voltages. The next essential component is the operational amplifier or opamp which can not only, like the name implies, amplify voltages but can also be used as for example a comparator. For 5V projects, I always go with the MCP602 which not only features two opamp stages but also comes with a rail to rail output which means its output can swing almost completely up and down to the supply voltage limits. For 12V projects and beyond, I mostly go with the LM358 which is a pretty generic opamp that always works for me. Next we got the MOSFETs which are basically efficient electrical switches which can be used in switch mode power supplies or to basically switch things on and off. I always go with the IRLZ44N N-channel MOSFETs for low side switching or the IRF5305 P-channel MOSFETs for high side switching. They both can handle high current and voltage values and are easy to drive with low level logic voltages. And speaking of driving, since it is always important to charge and discharge a MOSFET gate as quickly as possible, I also recommend the TC4420 MOSFET driver IC. Or if you want to drive more than one MOSFET simultaneously, then the TC4428 IC or its siblings are your best friends. But let's say you want to build up a half bridge or full bridge with N-channel MOSFETs, then I would recommend the IR2113 driver IC since it comes with a bootstrapping feature. Next we got BJTs which I pretty much only use when I want to build up a small transistor logic or do not want to waste a MOSFET on a low current switching task. That is where I either use the BC547NPN BJT or the BC557PNP BJT depending on how the load is tied to the supply voltage. Next we got diodes which are not only mandatory for switched mode power supplies but also for flyback purposes or for example reverse voltage protection. For undemanding tasks I use the general purpose 1N4148 or if I need a faster Schottky diode with a lower forward voltage drop then the 1N5819. But if you get yourself such a kit then you should have all the diodes that you could ever need. Next we got the legendary 555 timer which you can not only use to generate triangle and square wave voltages but you can also use it as a D-type flip flop. That is why I recommend having the TLC555 for demanding timing tasks and the NE555 for tasks where you need a bit more output current. Next I thought about what logic ICs I mostly use and I have to say that besides the HCF4013 D-type flip flop, I only often use the 74HC14 hex inverting Schmitt trigger IC which like the name implies can basically invert a logic signal. Besides that I would always recommend having a couple of Arduino Nanos lying around since they are easy to set up and use in just a few minutes and there are thousands of applications for them. And of course we should not forget about LEDs which are super handy to display certain conditions of a circuit or to be the main attraction of the circuit itself. For that purpose I would recommend having such a kit with different 5mm LEDs. Now those were basically all the electronics components but since there are also quite a important components which are more in the realm of mechanical components for electronics, I decided to include them as well. Such a fuse kit with decent fuse holder always guarantees no exploding circuits. You should always have 50kΩ potentiometers and or 50kΩ trimmers in order to create adjustable voltage inputs for a microcontroller or to create adjustable timer circuits. Tactile switches are also great as inputs for microcontrollers and toggle switches are great as power switches. Screw terminals are essential for supplying power to your PCB and IC sockets make sure that you can easily replace broken ICs. Male and female headers are also useful to easily swap components and having a breadboard in combination with jumper wires and alligator clip wires for prototyping circuits actually goes without saying. And those were basically all of my essential components but feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section below about what components I missed. As always, thanks for watching. Don't forget to like, share, subscribe and hit the notification bell. Stay creative and I will see you next time.