What Components do you use?

[AtomSoft]

Hey im trying to get a nice little setup going for future projects. Im not rich so i wanted to know if some of the people on the forum can give me some sort of listing of commonly used components and there values. This can include but is not limited to:

Resistors
Capacitors
Switches (tactile types pushbutton)
Relays (solid or not)
Triacs
Transistors (value as 2n2222 or something)
Common uCs (PIC or ATMEL any or)
Common ICs ( bridges, 555s, 485s, 232s etc)
Parts like Sockets and there different types
Leds (3mm or 5mm or quare)
conductors
connectors like polarized and non-polarized
plain Crystals or Oscillators or resonators

You dont have to know about all but info on whats commonly used on at least 1 part from above would be nice. Like what are the most commonly used resistor values? 1k, 22k, 4.7k etc...

Thanks again. I know it actually depends on the project you are working on but whenever i seem to start a project i tend to stray... nay add something to it. I would just like to be prepared and not have to order 1 thing at a time only and wait like 1 month to finish 1 project.

I have no local sources for these parts that can even compare to the online prices and availability and selection. So any help would be GREATLY! appreciated.

 

[3v0]

This question is asked and answered on a regular basis. The last good thread I recall was started by Krunlink.
I for resistors I suggest getting an assortment from the people on EBAY. For digital work you do not need a wide variety of caps. If you plan to do much analog work then get an asortment of the types you tend to use. To figure out what you want/need look at projects of the sort that you might want to build.

 

[Pommie]

Breadboards and voltage regs.

Mike.

 

[3v0]

When I started I purchased two ceramic osc in the most common freqs. Mosty 2 MHz steps from 4 to 20. They are great for breadboarding or if your app does not require an exact clock you use one part instead of three. They are good enough for communication but not good enough to generate video signals.

Most modern PICs have internal oscs so they are not as useful as they once where.

I stock the common crystals and required caps.

 

[ericgibbs]

hi atom,
A few low cost OPA's [NOT 741's] , I use the CA3140 single and CA3240 dual opa,
they have a reasonable spec and the can go close to zero on the output.

Comparators , low cost LM393's.

Dont forget a pnp version of the 2N2222 and say a couple of 2N7000 NMOSFET's

You have listed leds, but also 7seg leds are handy and also a 4 line * 16 LCD.

 

[AtomSoft]

Wow thanks a bunch guys!

Pommie:
Breadboards and voltage regs.

How could i forget those Thanks

3v0 love the info

ericgibbs Thanks a bunch!

Looking into that other post from 3v0 bbs

 

[picbits]

I started making a database of all my components.

Got to around 20,000 components (individual ones, not individual types) and got bored.

 

[AtomSoft]

lol cool tho... Sounds like fun to have that many you should be prepared more or less for many projects.

 

[3v0]

I started making a database of all my components.

Got to around 20,000 components (individual ones, not individual types) and got bored.

I do not have near the inventory but made a database just the same. The key is to start when your inventory is small. If you wait till you have 20K parts to enter you will never finish.

There are some things I do not inventory. Mostly resistors and caps. When I see that the supply of a value is getting low I add it to my current order. Values like 1K and 10K are used so frequently in digital work that I order them 200 at a time and get a good price break. Again for sets go to Ebay.

With Mouser I start my next order almost as soon as I hit the confirm button on the current one. The open order is online for months if needed. Filled orders also stay online so you can lookup the number of that part when you forget what it was. DigiKey and Newark are possibly about the same here.

 

[picbits]

lol cool tho... Sounds like fun to have that many you should be prepared more or less for many projects.

I've got a terrible memory so can never remember if I have the right parts or not. I tend to order a couple of hundred resistors or capacitors at a time then find a box of them sitting where I would never have thought of looking for them.

This ROHS business was good for stocking up as well - I bought maybe 10,000 surplus non-ROHS compliant components for a fraction of the price they should have been.

 

[AtomSoft]

Dont be upset but i dont even know what ROHS is and ive seen the logos so many times. Im about to look it up.

EDIT: Found info @ RoHS - Home. I guess mostly a UK thing (EU)

The RoHS Directive stands for "the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment". This Directive bans the placing on the EU market of new electrical and electronic equipment containing more than agreed levels of lead, cadmium, mercury, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyl (PBB) and polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) flame retardants.

Manufacturers need to understand the requirements of the RoHS Directive to ensure that their products, and their components, comply.

 

[AtomSoft]

I do not have near the inventory but made a database just the same. The key is to start when your inventory is small. If you wait till you have 20K parts to enter you will never finish.

There are some things I do not inventory. Mostly resistors and caps. When I see that the supply of a value is getting low I add it to my current order. Values like 1K and 10K are used so frequently in digital work that I order them 200 at a time and get a good price break. Again for sets go to Ebay.

With Mouser I start my next order almost as soon as I hit the confirm button on the current one. The open order is online for months if needed. Filled orders also stay online so you can lookup the number of that part when you forget what it was. DigiKey and Newark are possibly about the same here.

Do you use a special program to keep track of what you own? Like MS Access.

 

[3v0]

Do you use a special program to keep track of what you own? Like MS Access.

I run a mysql server on my linux web server. I talk to the database from my XP PC with a database query browser called mySQL from the mySQL website,

Writting the queries by had keeps me from forgetting everything about DB.
Not exactly the sort of thing thing I would suggest for everyone. But it is powerful.

When we talked about this earlier some people said they used a spread sheet instead of a database. That should work too.

 

[AtomSoft]

yeah i know some MySQL im using it on my personal web server along side php. I guess i could setup a database with some tables with common information im going to need on parts... ex:

Table: Resistance
Fields:
Autoid
Type: Metal / carbon / pot etc / network
Resistance: in ohms and have it calculated through php
Tolerance
Quantity


Something like that and just make a nice page for adding parts (just like i did for my site)

and make a nice page for viewing with a search engine and categories.

I bet it will take me only like 2 hrs to make it i love PHP/MySQL so simple to work with.

 

[Dean Huster]

For the transistors, I prefer the very common (and probably most-often found in schematics) 2N3904 and 2N3906 NPN/PNP pair. I also use the TIP120 power darlington a lot, but only because I have bunches from an acquisition. Keep lots of 10µF 25v aluminum electrolytics on hand as well as a few billion 0.01µF and 0.1µF ceramic types, all for bulk capacitance.

In general, rather than stock up on bunches of what everyone else thinks you need, just order more of what's actually required for a project and slowly build up your stock. Harvesting used parts from a circuit board is a good idea, but buying 40 assorted values of a type of part can be very wasteful. You're better off putting your money to better use on what you know you need now.

Dean

 

[Mikebits]

That is so true, I still have a bag of 2pf caps that I have no use for. Oh! and if anyone needs tubes (Valves for you Canadians ) let me know.

 

[3v0]

You're better off putting your money to better use on what you know you need now.

Dean and Mikebits are so right on this one.

I do not think anyone mentioned IC sockets or connectors. These are 1/3 the going price at Futurlec. Spend $35 and get $100 worth of connectors. Stock up on single and double row .1 inch pin headers in the 40 pin long size. Snap/cut to length as needed. You also need the female 2x5 IDC for ICSP cables. Harvest the cable stock out of old PCs and rip it to 10 conductors. A metal 4 or 6 inch vice for squeezing the IDC connectors onto the cable.

IC sockets in 8, 14, 16, 28, and 40 pin.

Always check the quantity discount regardless of where you order. Resistors at Mouser are about 5 cents each but under 2 cents in 200 quantity. I think it was $3 or $3.20 for 200, not sure.

You definitely want to get .1uf bypass caps in bulk.

 

[AtomSoft]

cool thanks.

 

[ericgibbs]

cool thanks.

You have mail.

 

[futz]

That is so true, I still have a bag of 2pf caps that I have no use for. Oh! and if anyone needs tubes (Valves for you Canadians ) let me know.

We call em tubes. You're probably thinking of the UK (England).