This potentiometer is a two-in-one, good in a breadboard or with a panel. It's a fairly standard linear taper 10K ohm potentiometer, with a grippy shaft. It's smooth and easy to turn, but not so loose that it will shift on its own. We like this one because the legs are 0.2" apart with pin-points, so you can plug it into a breadboard or perfboard. Once you're done prototyping, you can drill a hole into your project box and mount the potentiometer that way.

This 1K potentiometer is a two-in-one, good in a breadboard or with a panel. Its a fairly standard linear taper 1K ohm potentiometer, with a grippy shaft. Its smooth and easy to turn, but not so loose that it will shift on its own. We like this one because the legs are 0.2" apart with pin-points, so you can plug it into a breadboard or perfboard. Once you're done prototyping, you can drill a hole into your project box and mount the potentiometer that way.

A button is a button, and an LED is a LED, but this LED illuminated button is a lovely combination of both! It's a medium sized button, large enough to press easily but not too big that it gets in the way of your project panel. It has a built in LED that can be controlled separately from the switch action - either to indicate or just to look good.The body is a black plastic with the LED built inside. There are two contacts for the button and two contacts for the LED, one marked + and one -. The forward voltage of the LED is about 2.2V so connect a 220 to 1000 ohm resistor in series just as you would with any other LED to your 3V or higher power supply.This particular button has a yellow body and LED and is momentary, normally open. The two switch contacts are not connected normally. When you push the button they will temporarily connect until the button is released. The LED is separated from the button, so you can make it light up when pressed, light up when not pressed, always lit, etc.

16mm Illuminated Pushbuttons (7:54)

A switch is a switch, and an LED is an LED, but this LED illuminated button is a lovely combination of both! It's a medium sized button, large enough to press easily but not too big that it gets in the way of your project panel. It has a built in LED that can be controlled separately from the switch action - either to indicate or just to look good.The body is a black plastic with the LED built inside. There are two contacts for the button and two contacts for the LED, one marked + and one -. The forward voltage of the LED is about 2.2V so connect a 220 to 1000 ohm resistor in series just as you would with any other LED to your 3V or higher power supply.This particular button has a green body and LED and is latching on/off. The two switch contacts are either connected or disconnected. When you push the button they will switch from one to the other, like an on-off switch. The LED is separated from the button, so you can make it light up when on, light up when off, always lit, etc.

16mm Illuminated Pushbuttons (7:54)

Little clicky switches are standard input "buttons" on electronic projects. These work best in a PCB but can be used on a solderless breadboard as shown in this tutorial. The pins are normally open (disconnected) and when the button is pressed they are momentarily closed.These buttons are bigger than the 6mm ones we carry, and come in a pack of 15. Each button comes with a candy-colored round cap that snaps on. You get three of each color-- blue, grey, yellow, green, and red. The round plastic button tops affix easily to the tactile switch body.

Assembled button dimensions: 12mm x 12mm x 12mm

Pulse Sensor Amped is a greatly improved version of the original Pulse Sensor, a plug-and-play heart-rate sensor for Arduino and Arduino compatibles. It can be used by students, artists, athletes, makers, and game & mobile developers who want to easily incorporate live heart-rate data into their projects.Pulse Sensor Amped adds amplification and noise cancellation circuitry to the hardware. It's noticeably faster and easier to get reliable pulse readings. Pulse Sensor Amped works with either a 3V or 5V Arduino.Lastly, the Pulse Sensor creators have also streamlined and improved the Processing visualization software and Arduino code that comes with this hardware.The kit includes:

A 24-inch Color-Coded Cable, with a standard male header connectors. Plug it straight into an Arduino or a Breadboard. No soldering is required.

An Ear Clip, perfectly sized to the sensor. It can be hot-glued or epoxied to the back of the sensor to get reading from an ear lobe.

Parts to make a handy Velcro finger strap. This is another great way to get heart-rate data.

4 Transparent Stickers, to insulate the front of the Pulse Sensor from oily fingers and sweaty earlobes.

The Pulse Sensor has 3 holes around the outside edge which make it easy to sew it into almost anything.

Visualization software (made in Processing) to instantly see output of the sensor and for troubleshooting.

Your 5V system can wield great power with this big, beefy relay board. How does 10A on the NC contacts and 20A on the NO contacts at 220VAC sound? The SparkFun Beefcake Relay Control Kit contains all the parts you need to get your high-power load under control. Only minimal assembly is required!

The heart of the board is a sealed, SPDT 20A/10A Relay. The relay is controlled by 5V logic through a transistor, and an LED tells you when the relay is closed. This is a kit, so it comes as through-hole parts with assembly required, which makes for some nice soldering practice. Screw terminal connectors on either side of the board make it easy to incorporate into your project.

There are some pretty beefy traces connecting the relay to the load pins, but the 3-pin terminals are only rated for 15A max! If you plan on connecting a larger load, you’ll need to solder directly to the board. As always with high current and voltage, play it safe and use your judgment when deciding how much of a load you want to put on a board – in open airflow the PCB can handle the full 20A for a few minutes at a time, but in an enclosed area heat can build up.

Note: Please keep in mind that this board is really meant for someone with experience and good knowledge of electricity. If you’re uncomfortable soldering or dealing with high voltage, please check out the PowerSwitch Tail II. The PowerSwitch Tail II is fully enclosed, making it a lot safer.

Get Started With the Beefcake Hookup & Assembly Guide

Features

Voltage Rating: 220VAC/28VDC

VCC requirements: 4-6V, 150mA capable

SPDT pins exposed (Form C)

14 AWG screw terminals for relay connections.

10 AWG solder lugs for relay connections.

Flyback diode included

Zener recovery diode included (decreases turn-off time)

Heavy 2 oz. copper on PCB

By popular demand, we now have these buttons with a full color RGB LED ring light! These chrome-plated metal buttons are rugged, but certainly not lacking in flair. Simply drill a 16mm hole into any material up to 1/4" thick and you can fit these in place – there's even a rubber gasket to keep water out of the enclosure. On the front of the button is a flat metal actuator, surrounded by a plastic RGB LED ring. On the back there are two gold contacts for the button and 4 for the RGB LED ring (one anode and 3 cathodes for each red, green, and blue). Power the anode at 3-6V and light up the red, green, and blue LEDs by pulling their designated contacts to ground as you desire – there's a built in resistor! If you want to use this with a higher voltage, say 12V or 24V, simply add a 1K ohm resistor in series with the LED cathodes to keep the LED current at around 20mA. You can PWM the RGB pins to make any color you like.This button is a momentary push button, when you press it the 'normally-open' contact shorts to the common contact. When you release it, the contacts open up again.The switch and LED are electrically separated, so to change the color, use a microcontroller to both read the contact pins and toggle the color control pins.

These chrome-plated metal buttons are rugged and look real good while doing it! Simply drill a 16mm hole into any material up to 1/2" thick and you can fit these in place, there's even a rubber gasket to keep water out of the enclosure. On the front of the button is a flat metal actuator, surrounded by a white plastic LED ring. On the back there are 3 contacts for the button (common, normally-open and normally-closed) and 2 for the white LED ring (+ and -). Connect 3 to 6V to the LED to have it light up nicely, there's a built in resistor! If you want to use this with a higher voltage, say 12V or 24V, simply add a 470 ohm resistor in series with the LED connection to keep the LED current at around 20mA.This button is an on/off switch button, when you press it the 'normally-open' contact shorts to the common contact and the button stays 'pressed'. When you press it a second time, the button springs open, and the contacts open up again.The switch and LED are separated, so you could wire it to turn on when pressed or vice versa or whatever you wish! Check the tech details for information!

These chrome-plated metal buttons are rugged and look real good while doing it! Simply drill a 16mm hole into any material up to 1/2" thick and you can fit these in place, there's even a rubber gasket to keep water out of the enclosure. On the front of the button is a flat metal actuator, surrounded by a red plastic LED ring. On the back there are 3 contacts for the button (common, normally-open and normally-closed) and 2 for the red LED ring (+ and -). Connect 3 to 6V to the LED to have it light up nicely, there's a built in resistor! If you want to use this with a higher voltage, say 12V or 24V, simply add a 470 ohm resistor in series with the LED connection to keep the LED current at around 20mA.This button is a momentary push button, when you press it the 'normally-open' contact shorts to the common contact. When you release it, the contacts open up again.The switch and LED are separated, so you could wire it to turn on when pressed or vice versa or whatever you wish! Check the tech details for information!

These chrome-plated metal buttons are rugged and look real good while doing it! Simply drill a 16mm hole into any material up to 1/2" thick and you can fit these in place, there's even a rubber gasket to keep water out of the enclosure. On the front of the button is a flat metal actuator, surrounded by a blue plastic LED ring. On the back there are 3 contacts for the button (common, normally-open and normally-closed) and 2 for the blue LED ring (+ and -). Connect 3 to 6V to the LED to have it light up nicely, there's a built in resistor! If you want to use this with a higher voltage, say 12V or 24V, simply add a 470 ohm resistor in series with the LED connection to keep the LED current at around 20mA.This button is an on/off switch button, when you press it the 'normally-open' contact shorts to the common contact and the button stays 'pressed'. When you press it a second time, the button springs open, and the contacts open up again.The switch and LED are separated, so you could wire it to turn on when pressed or vice versa or whatever you wish! Check the tech details for information!

These chrome-plated metal buttons are rugged and look real good while doing it! Simply drill a 16mm hole into any material up to 1/2" thick and you can fit these in place, there's even a rubber gasket to keep water out of the enclosure. On the front of the button is a flat metal actuator, surrounded by a red plastic LED ring. On the back there are 3 contacts for the button (common, normally-open and normally-closed) and 2 for the red LED ring (+ and -). Connect 3 to 6V to the LED to have it light up nicely, there's a built in resistor! If you want to use this with a higher voltage, say 12V or 24V, simply add a 470 ohm resistor in series with the LED connection to keep the LED current at around 20mA.This button is an on/off switch button, when you press it the 'normally-open' contact shorts to the common contact and the button stays 'pressed'. When you press it a second time, the button springs open, and the contacts open up again.The switch and LED are separated, so you could wire it to turn on when pressed or vice versa or whatever you wish! Check the tech details for information!

A button is a button, and an LED is a LED, but this LED illuminated button is a lovely combination of both! It's a medium sized button, large enough to press easily but not too big that it gets in the way of your project panel. It has a built in LED that can be controlled separately from the switch action - either to indicate or just to look good.The body is a black plastic with the LED built inside. There are two contacts for the button and two contacts for the LED, one marked + and one -. The forward voltage of the LED is about 2.2V so connect a 220 to 1000 ohm resistor in series just as you would with any other LED to your 3V or higher power supply.This particular button has a red body and LED and is momentary, normally open. The two switch contacts are not connected normally. When you push the button they will temporarily connect until the button is released. The LED is separated from the button, so you can make it light up when pressed, light up when not pressed, always lit, etc.

16mm Illuminated Pushbuttons (7:54)

A button is a button, and a switch is a switch, but these translucent arcade buttons are in a class of their own. They're the same size as common arcade controls (often referred to as 30mm diameter) but have some nice things going for them that justify the extra dollar.First, they look fantastic, all 6 colors have a crystal translucent glossy look. Although they do not have LEDs built in, we're confident that sticking a diffused LED into the body would make it light up very nicely. They are also shorter than cheap arcade controls, and snap into place, so you only need 1.5" of depth (1.25" if you bend the contacts over). The button action is smooth, without a strong click, yet you can definitely feel when the button is pressed. A tiny micro-switch is pre-installed, with gold plated contacts.

A button is a button, and a switch is a switch, but this LED illuminated arcade buttons is in a class of its own. It's similar in size to an arcade button (and will fit in holes drilled for 'standard' 30mm buttons) but has a built in LED that can be controlled separately from the switch action - either to indicate or just to look good.The body is a black plastic, and a lamp holder fits inside. These were originally designed for 'incandescent' lamps but is easy to use with an LED, just wrap the legs around the holder as shown. It comes with a clear blue LED but honestly, we suggest finding a diffused LED to use instead, with a wide illumination since this clear one doesn't fill the square as nicely as it could. (The button factory didn't have diffused LEDs available). You can even disassemble the button itself and slip an image under the clear cover for backlighting.The button comes with a normally-open micro-switch. Once you have put in the LED you like, just snap in the micro-switch. You can always remove it later to change out the LED color. The micro-switch is fairly clicky, so you will hear and feel it when it actuates.

A button is a button, and a switch is a switch, but these translucent arcade buttons are in a class of their own. They're the same size as common arcade controls (often referred to as 30mm diameter) but have some nice things going for them that justify the extra dollar.First, they look fantastic, all 6 colors have a crystal translucent glossy look. Although they do not have LEDs built in, we're confident that sticking a diffused LED into the body would make it light up very nicely. They are also shorter than cheap arcade controls, and snap into place, so you only need 1.5" of depth (1.25" if you bend the contacts over). The button action is smooth, without a strong click, yet you can definitely feel when the button is pressed. A tiny micro-switch is pre-installed, with gold plated contacts.

A button is a button, and a switch is a switch, but these translucent arcade buttons are in a class of their own. They're the same size as common arcade controls (often referred to as 30mm diameter) but have some nice things going for them that justify the extra dollar.First, they look fantastic, all 6 colors have a crystal translucent glossy look. Although they do not have LEDs built in, we're confident that sticking a diffused LED into the body would make it light up very nicely. They are also shorter than cheap arcade controls, and snap into place, so you only need 1.5" of depth (1.25" if you bend the contacts over). The button action is smooth, without a strong click, yet you can definitely feel when the button is pressed. A tiny micro-switch is pre-installed, with gold plated contacts.

A button is a button, and a switch is a switch, but these translucent arcade buttons are in a class of their own. They're the same size as common arcade controls (often referred to as 30mm diameter) but have some nice things going for them that justify the extra dollar.First, they look fantastic, all 6 colors have a crystal translucent glossy look. Although they do not have LEDs built in, we're confident that sticking a diffused LED into the body would make it light up very nicely. They are also shorter than cheap arcade controls, and snap into place, so you only need 1.5" of depth (1.25" if you bend the contacts over). The button action is smooth, without a strong click, yet you can definitely feel when the button is pressed. A tiny micro-switch is pre-installed, with gold plated contacts.

This sensor can detect flexing or bending in one direction. They were popularized by being used in the Nintendo PowerGlove as a gaming interface.These sensors are easy to use, they are basically resistors that change value based on how much they're flexed. If they're unflexed, the resistance is about ~10KΩ. When flexed all the way the resistance rises to ~20KΩ. They're pretty similar to FSRs so following this tutorial will get you started. You can use an analog input on a microcontroller (with a pullup resistor) or a digital input with the use of a 0.1uF capacitor for RC timing.The bottom part of the sensor (where the pins are crimped on) is very delicate so make sure to have strain relief - such as clamping or gluing that part so as not to rip out the contacts!

This sensor can detect flexing or bending in one direction. They were popularized by being used in the Nintendo PowerGlove as a gaming interface.These sensors are easy to use, they are basically resistors that change value based on how much their flexed. If they're unflexed, the resistance is about ~25KΩ. When flexed all the way the resistance rises to ~100KΩ. They're pretty similar to FSRs so following this tutorial will get you started. You can use an analog input on a micro-controller (with a pullup resistor) or a digital input with the use of a 0.1uF capacitor for RC timing.The bottom part of the sensor (where the pins are crimped on) is very delicate so make sure to have strain relief - such as clamping or gluing that part so as not to rip out the contacts!

These are very thin variable potentiometers. By pressing down on various parts of the strip, the resistance linearly changes from 100Ohms to 10,000Ohms allowing the user to very accurately calculate the relative position on the strip. Can be used as an accurate positional indicator for CNC head positioning, variable user input (volume level input for example), straight user input (multiple button areas translate to given resistance levels), and many other applications.

Unit comes with adhesive backing. Connector is 0.1" spaced and bread board friendly.

Note: These potentiometers work great with a finger, or stylus.

These are very thin variable potentiometers. By pressing down on various parts of the strip, the resistance linearly changes from 100Ohms to 10,000Ohms allowing the user to very accurately calculate the relative position on the strip. Can be used as an accurate positional indicator for CNC head positioning, variable user input (volume level input for example), straight user input (multiple button areas translate to given resistance levels), and many other applications.

Unit comes with adhesive backing. Connector is 0.1" spaced and bread board friendly.

Note: These potentiometers work great with a finger, or stylus. For premium repeatability, the wiper listed below is perfect for machine and object positioning.

These are very thin variable potentiometers. By pressing down on various parts of the strip, the resistance linearly changes from 100Ohms to 10,000Ohms allowing the user to very accurately calculate the relative position on the strip. Can be used as an accurate positional indicator for CNC head positioning, variable user input (volume level input for example), straight user input (multiple button areas translate to given resistance levels), and many other applications.

Unit comes with adhesive backing. Connector is 0.1" spaced and bread board friendly. However the connector does not fit nicely into standard female headers because the pins are too small.

Note: These potentiometers work great with a finger, or stylus.

This is the FemtoBuck, a small-size single-output constant current LED driver. Each FemtoBuck has the capability to dim a single high-power channel of LEDs from 0-350mA at up to 36V while the dimming control can be either accessed via PWM or analog signal from 0-2.5V. This board is based off of the PicoBuck LED Driver, developed in collaboration with Ethan Zonca, except instead of blending three different LEDs on three different channels the FemtoBuck controls just one.

For the FemtoBuck, we’ve increased the voltage ratings on the parts to allow the input voltage to cover the full 36V range of the AL8805 driver. Since the FemtoBuck is a constant current driver, the current drawn from the supply will drop as supply voltage rises. In general, efficiency of the FemtoBuck is around 95%, depending on the input voltage. On board each FemtoBuck you will find two inputs for both power input and dimming control pins and an area to install a 3.5mm screw terminal. Finally at either side of the board you will find small indents or “ears” which will allow you to use a zip tie to secure the wires to the board after soldering them down. This version of the FemtoBuck is equipped with a small solder jumper that can be closed with a glob of solder to double the output current from 330mA to 660mA.

USB has become the core of many projects, but it's troublesome to test USB voltage levels and current usage using a breadboard. Some people try to splice cables and alligator clip onto frayed ends, but it's difficult to get solid readings. This USB Tester will make it much easier to monitor any USB project's power source.As part of the USB spec, ports are limited to 500mA, so you want to monitor how close you are. Most people use USB hubs, both powered and unpowered, and with many devices connected, you can end up with less than 5V which can cause havoc on you projects. The USB Tester will make it a snap to monitor voltage levels and current usage without having to re-wire your breadboard. Just connect to your oscilloscope or DMM test leads, and you’re good to go! The USB Tester has both banana clip sized drills and standard 0.1” headers. When you are not testing current you can add a jumper for normal operation. The USB D+/D- pins are also broken out so you can monitor those on an oscilloscope, or for USB sniffing.Comes with an assembled PCB and a jumper. For more information on how to use, check out the product page.

FriedCircuits USB Tester v1.3 (5:39)

Add Internet to your next project with an adorable, bite-sized WiFi microcontroller, at a price you like! The ESP8266 processor from Espressif is an 80 MHz microcontroller with a full WiFi front-end (both as client and access point) and TCP/IP stack with DNS support as well.  We do sell these on a breakout, but maybe you wanna just put this in your own project PCB.

These modules are very easy to hand solder, with big pads! We have this part in the Adafruit Eagle library (ESP12) - the extra pads don't appear but they are not usable anyways.

Comes with 4MB flash chip, ESP processory, and onboard antenna. These come pre-progammed with the NodeMCU Lua firmware, so you are ready to rock. Some extra parts will be needed to get this going, check out the HUZZAH schematic for the extra components we recommend

For advanced users only! This product is just the module - which can be difficult to use.  Click here if you're looking for the Huzzah ESP8266 Breakout!

Breathe easy - we finally have an I2C VOC/eCO2 sensor in the Adafruit shop! Add air quality monitoring to your project and with an Adafruit CCS811 Air Quality Sensor Breakout. This sensor from AMS is a gas sensor that can detect a wide range of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) and is intended for indoor air quality monitoring. When connected to your microcontroller (running our library code) it will return a Total Volatile Organic Compound (TVOC) reading and an equivalent carbon dioxide reading (eCO2) over I2C. There is also an onboard thermistor that can be used to calculate the local ambient temperature.

The CCS811 has a 'standard' hot-plate MOX sensor, as well as a small microcontroller that controls power to the plate, reads the analog voltage, and provides an I2C interface to read from.

This part will measure eCO2 (equivalent calculated carbon-dioxide) concentration within a range of 400 to 8192 parts per million (ppm), and TVOC (Total Volatile Organic Compound) concentration within a range of 0 to 1187 parts per billion (ppb). According to the fact sheet it can detect Alcohols, Aldehydes, Ketones, Organic Acids, Amines, Aliphatic and Aromatic Hydrocarbons. We include a 10K NTC thermistor with matching balancing resistor which can be read by the CCS811 to calculate approximate temperature.

Please note, this sensor, like all VOC/gas sensors, has variability and to get precise measurements you will want to calibrate it against known sources! That said, for general environmental sensors, it will give you a good idea of trends and comparisons.Also, AMS recommends that you run this sensor for 48 hours when you first receive it to "burn it in", and then 20 minutes in the desired mode every time the sensor is in use. This is because the sensitivity levels of the sensor will change during early use. Finally, this chip uses I2C clock stretching, and some microcontrollers/computers don't support that (e.g. Raspberry Pi)

The CCS811 has a configurable interrupt pin that can fire when a conversion is ready and/or when a reading crosses a user-settable threshold. The CCS811 supports multiple drive modes to take a measurement every 1 second, every 10 seconds, every 60 seconds, or every 250 milliseconds.

For your convenience we've pick-and-placed the sensor on a PCB with a 3.3V regulator and some level shifting so it can be easily used with your favorite 3.3V or 5V microcontroller.

We've also prepared software libraries to get you up and running in Arduino IDE or CircuitPython with just a few lines of code! Check out our tutorial for more information!

You just found the perfect I2C sensor, and you want to wire up two or three or more of them to your Arduino when you realize "Uh oh, this chip has a fixed I2C address, and from what I know about I2C, you cannot have two devices with the same address on the same SDA/SCL pins!" Are you out of luck? You would be, if you didn't have this ultra-cool TCA9548A 1-to-8 I2C multiplexer!

Finally, a way to get up to 8 same-address I2C devices hooked up to one microcontroller - this multiplexer acts as a gatekeeper, shuttling the commands to the selected set of I2C pins with your command.

Using it is fairly straight-forward: the multiplexer itself is on I2C address 0x70 (but can be adjusted from 0x70 to 0x77) and you simply write a single byte with the desired multiplexed output number to that port, and bam - any future I2C packets will get sent to that port. In theory, you could have 8 of these multiplexers on each of 0x70-0x77 addresses in order to control 64 of the same-I2C-addressed-part.

Like all Adafruit breakouts, we put this nice chip on a breakout for you so you can use it on a breadboard with capacitors, and pullups and pulldowns to make usage a snap. Some header is required and once soldered in you can plug it into a solderless-breadboard. The chip itself is 3V and 5V compliant so you can use it with any logic level.

We even wrote up a nice tutorial with wiring diagrams, schematics and examples to get you running in 10 minutes!

Give your 40 pin, 0.5mm pitch, devices a strrrreeeetch with this extension board.  This 40pin FPC extension board has two 40-pin flex connectors (both are bottom contact type), and an extension cable to add ~22cm (20cm cable plus 2cm board)  Each order comes with one board a 20cm long, 40-pin 0.5mm pitch FPC cable and board. Works great with our 40pin TFTs!

Keep it cool with a Peltier module. These unique electronic components can generate a temperature differential when powered. That is to say, apply 5V to the red (positive) and black (negative) wires and one side will get cold while the other side gets hot. For best results, you'll need to wick away that heat (otherwise the cold side will slowly get warmer). A fan and/or heatsink is ideal.This module is a 5V module, and is rated for 5W max (5V/1A) but when we plugged them in they seemed to draw more like 1.5A so we suggest our 5V/2A power adapter for use.

Peltier Thermo-Electric Cooler Module - 5V 1A (5:20)

Keep it cool with a Peltier module. These unique electronic components can generate a temperature differential when powered. That is to say, apply 12V to the red (positive) and black (negative) wires and one side will get cold while the other side gets hot. For best results, you'll need to wick away that heat (otherwise the cold side will slowly get warmer). A fan and/or heatsink is ideal.

This module is a 12V module, and is rated for ~72W max (up to 14V/6A) but when used with a regulated 12V output they don't draw more than 5A so we suggest our 12V/5A power adapter for use.

Peltier Thermo-Electric Cooler Module - 12V 5A (5:20)