Beginner Parts Kit

Replacement:KIT-10003. We switched to a better trimpot and green LED. This page is for reference only.

This is a kit that gives you all of the basic through-hole components you will need to get started playing with embedded projects. These are the 'bubble gum' parts that we regularly use. A good starter assortment of caps, resistors, ICs, regulators, diodes, and good-for-blinky LEDs. Be sure to look through our tutorials for some great projects.

This assortment of parts makes a great gift for beginner and advanced electronics nerds! For more gift ideas check out the SparkFun Gift Guide!

You may notice there are very few resistors in this kit. We recommend purchasing the resistor kit listed below for all the resistor values you may need.

Included Components:

  • 1 - Parts Box
  • 10 - 0.1uF cap
  • 5 - 100uF cap
  • 5 - 10uF cap
  • 5 - 1uF cap
  • 5 - 10nF cap
  • 5 - 1nF cap
  • 5 - 100pF cap
  • 5 - 10pF cap
  • 5 - 1N4148 Diode
  • 5 - 1N4001 Diode
  • 5 - 2N3906 PNP Transistor
  • 5 - 2N3904 NPN Transistor
  • 3 - 20 pin female header
  • 3 - 20 pin male header
  • 3 - Mini power switch
  • 2 - Push buttons
  • 2 - 10k trimpot
  • 2 - LM358 OpAmp
  • 2 - 3.3V regulator
  • 2 - 5V regulator
  • 1 - 555 Timer
  • 1 - Green LED
  • 1 - Yellow LED
  • 1 - Red LED
  • 1 - 7 segment Red LED
  • 1 - mini Photocell

Comments

Looking for answers to technical questions?

We welcome your comments and suggestions below. However, if you are looking for solutions to technical questions please see our Technical Assistance page.

  • SirCastor / about 15 years ago / 4

    Really pleased to see this kind of thing. When I first started with Electronics, I found myself without a good starting point. This will help someone jump in.

    • Thank you very much! That's the kind of feedback that makes our job really great.

  • Jamo / about 15 years ago / 3

    Why not drop one of the 3.3v or 5v regulators for one of the variable regulators? along with some PTCs?

  • TomA / about 14 years ago / 2

    The 7 segment LED is common anode, so not as useful with PICAXe unless a shift register chip is included as well....

    • TomA / about 14 years ago / 1

      oops Disregard my earlier comment :-) I figured the 7 segment pinout and got this thing to work.

  • MShort / about 15 years ago / 2

    How about a tutorial explaining all the pieces, while the LEDs are pretty self explaintory knowing when to use an opamp/ transistor/ or diode are a little trickier. Even knowing when to use which capacitor.
    I've gone through the first 5 tutorials and have a good basic understanding of the components used there, but am unsure of some others

  • Member #509551 / about 10 years ago / 1

    Beginner Parts Kit is one of the finest product because i am using it and i am a regular customer of this amazing product. It is so nice to say that it is one of the <a href="http://www.twitter.com/bestessayscomau">best essays</a> which i have ever read online because it has helped me through other Parts Kit which look amazing and valuable. I appreciate your nice sharing with notorious ways.

  • wil2k / about 14 years ago / 1

    Is there any indication when this kit will be in stock again?

  • Pettichord / about 14 years ago / 1

    Wondering if you could post links to the datasheets for these. I just bought it and am not sure, e.g., how to figure out how to wire up the 7 segment LED. I thought maybe there would be some details packaged with the kit, but there aren't.

  • mikemack / about 14 years ago / 1

    i ordered this kit too and it is great. though i wish it would have clicked to order some resistors with it has well, i do think they would be good even just to have 2 in this kit has well. i do under stand that it is not the most economical thing for you do do. time wise.
    hind site is 20/20, but what makes it worse is that i read that it never came with them and it just never clicked

  • anderson12 / about 14 years ago / 1

    I think this is a great kit even for the slightly more experienced. Reason being, it is a real pain in the you know what to be in the middle of something and need a part, particularly if it's late at night. So it's handy to have kits like this around to raid from, unless you have enough space and forethought to keep your own private electronics supply. Though admittedly if you do as I do and buy extra every time you do something you will get your own selection soon enough...which can be added to the great little parts box! Though I agree it'd be awesome if this had a roll of resistors...come on, even a handful of 1k and 10k's would be awesome since you can make most of the other values by being smart w/series parallel combos. But the trimpot can take the place of a resistor temporarily, so good enough.

  • WilliamGlover / about 14 years ago / 1

    This is a really great kit. I used to play with electronics as a kid with the radio shack experimentation kits. I got out of it for a long time, and had gotten rid of everything. 17 or so years down the road, i got bit by the bug again.. I remember how long it took me to develop a good parts bin. A couple of these kits and various other bits from this site and i have most everything i need to pick up where i left off. After finding this site, I told my wife that its analogous to her massive collection of shoes.. Except i'll use most of my "shoes" =)

  • philba / about 15 years ago / 1

    great addition. while I won't be buying it, I see lots of beginners wanting to know what to get. This looks pretty good with one major omission.
    How come no resistors? I'd add 10K, 330, 470, 100K and maybe a few others. You could drop 2 of the power switches to keep the BOM cost down.

    • We were putting the list together, including 15-20 resistor values (to enable lots of opamp configurations). Kitting resistors is a painful and expensive task. We opted to offer this boxed kit (with no resistors) and offer the resistor kit separately so that users could get the most flexibility for the least cost.

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