TinkerPieCircuit tutorials24 step-by-step projects
Twenty-four projects: open and closed circuits, series and parallel, your first blinking LED, RGB lights, and sensor projects with ultrasonic, IR, PIR, temperature and soil sensors. Every tutorial opens a ready-made circuit you can run in your browser.
1. Closed circuit: make a bulb glowJoin a battery, a switch and a bulb in a loop and see why a closed circuit lets electricity flow.Beginner · 10 min2. Open circuit: find the gapSee what an open circuit is: the bulb is off because the switch leaves a gap in the loop.Beginner · 10 min3. Series and parallel circuitsCompare two bulbs in series (one path) with two bulbs in parallel (two paths).Beginner · 15 min4. Torch with a push buttonBuild a torch: a battery, a push button and an LED with a resistor.Beginner · 10 min5. Switch and motorSpin a DC motor with a battery and a switch, then make it spin the other way.Beginner · 10 min6. Measure with a voltmeter and ammeterMeasure volts and current in a circuit and check Ohm's law: V = I × R.Intermediate · 15 min7. RGB colour mixerMix red, green and blue light with an RGB LED to make any colour.Intermediate · 20 min8. Blink an LEDWire one LED and a resistor to the TinkerPie board and make it blink, the "hello world" of electronics.Beginner · 10 min9. Button controls an LEDRead a push button with INPUT_PULLUP and light an LED only while it is pressed.Beginner · 10 min10. Dim an LED with a knobUse a potentiometer as an analog input and analogWrite to change the brightness of an LED.Beginner · 15 min11. Build a night lightA light sensor (LDR) and a resistor form a voltage divider. The LED turns on when the room gets dark.Intermediate · 15 min12. Make a servo sweepConnect a servo motor to power and a signal pin and sweep it from 0 to 180 degrees.Beginner · 10 min13. Play a melody with a buzzerPress a button to play the notes of a scale on a buzzer using tone().Intermediate · 15 min14. Why LEDs need a resistorSee what happens when an LED is connected without a resistor, and fix it. Learn about current and safe circuits.Beginner · 10 min15. Traffic lightControl three LEDs in a sequence, with one shared resistor, to build a traffic light.Intermediate · 20 min16. Light alarm for a secret boxUse a light sensor and a buzzer to build an alarm that beeps when the lid of a box is opened.Intermediate · 20 min17. Dot game on the LED matrixUse the two on-board buttons and the 6×5 LED matrix of the TinkerPie board to move a dot. No wires needed.Intermediate · 20 min18. Distance meter with an ultrasonic sensorMeasure distance with an HC-SR04 ultrasonic sensor and show it as a bar on the LED matrix.Intermediate · 20 min19. Car parking sensorCombine an ultrasonic sensor, an RGB LED and a buzzer into a car parking assistant.Advanced · 25 min20. IR sensor people counterUse an infrared obstacle sensor to count how many times something passes in front of it.Intermediate · 20 min21. Automatic door with IR and a servoOpen a door with a servo when the IR sensor sees someone, then close it again.Advanced · 25 min22. Motion alarm with a PIR sensorSound an alarm and flash an LED when a PIR sensor sees movement.Intermediate · 20 min23. Thermometer and fever lightRead a temperature sensor, convert volts to degrees Celsius and light a warning LED.Intermediate · 20 min24. Plant watering helperUse a soil moisture sensor to tell you when a plant is thirsty.Intermediate · 20 min