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SparkFun Beginner Parts Kit
This is the new revision of the kit. We switched to a better trimpot and green LED. 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, 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 no 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
- 1 - 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
**Replaces: **KIT-09285
SparkFun Beginner Parts Kit Product Help and Resources
Core Skill: Electrical Prototyping
If it requires power, you need to know how much, what all the pins do, and how to hook it up. You may need to reference datasheets, schematics, and know the ins and outs of electronics.
Skill Level: Rookie - You may be required to know a bit more about the component, such as orientation, or how to hook it up, in addition to power requirements. You will need to understand polarized components.
See all skill levels
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.
Customer Reviews
4.2 out of 5
Based on 5 ratings:
1 of 1 found this helpful:
Would Be 5 Stars With Resistors
This kit contains lots of items that are fun to explore and discover. Starting with the LEDs and leading into the 7 segment display and then the 555 timer is natural and fun. The photo-resistor and 10k pot are also fun to play around with and teach electronics with. However, I can't give this 5 stars due to the fact that there are no resistors in this "Beginners Parts Kit". Most of the kit items are useless without the appropriate resistors and resistors are as beginner as it gets. Add to this the fact that the kit contains nearly 50 capacitors?!? Don't be cheap and don't try to pass the buck by adding a disclaimer to the description - just add a small reasonable set of resistors to this.
1 of 1 found this helpful:
Good selection
It's a good selection of components, but a bit heavy on capacitors. Get it with the resistor kit and you'll be ready for all kinds of projects!
Packaging for shipment could be improved
I haven't yet used any of the parts, so this review comments on the way it was packaged. The latch on the lid of the parts box is not very secure, and mine had popped open presumably during shipment. When I unpacked my order, I spotted the two LM358s at the bottom of the box, like fries in the bottom of the bag. Their pins were bent to varying degrees, with one pin bent inward 90 degrees. I checked the rest of the kit, and the leads for the voltage regulators and the trim pot were also bent. The legs of the voltage regulators weren't secured in a piece of cardboard or such as pictured. It seems many of these issues could have been avoided by better securing the lid for shipping.
I'm hoping everything's fine since I was able to bend everything back into place. Everything else seemed ok, and there were quite a few extra capacitors that made up for the packaging issues. I'm looking forward to using the kit!
Oh no! I'm sorry that it arrived in a mess. Thanks for letting us know about this - I'll be passing the feedback along to our Kitting crew. Do let us know if you find anything that isn't working correctly. We'll get you taken care of! :)
Great Kit for Beginners
Contains a good collection of components, I know that they don't include resistors because they sell a separate kit for them but a few would have been nice, lucky I remembered to buy the resistor kit. Also 3 LEDs is a little low for a beginner kit, I fried 2 of them in the first day, again lucky I bought a separate pack of LEDs.
When will these be available to buy?
"'Bubble Gum' parts that we use on a daily basis.". That gives me an idea, Pop Rocks that spark like WintoGreen Lifesavers in the dark. You could call them SparkyFunRocks.
You can look up capacitor values using the 3 digit code and this calculator: http://www.muzique.com/schem/caps.htm100
404, so bad, this box is a capacitor mess!
Just remove the 100 so that it's .htm and ta-da! It's there.
A basic multimeter should be able to tell you the capacitance.
TOL-09141 does not, so you need a not so basic one. This is a "Beginner Parts Kit", so it would be cool to help customers to identify the items a bit. I assume Sparkfun takes those from a shelf separatedly, so why the need to put them all together?
This kit could use a few more LEDs... You can never have too many LEDs.
Sorry for such a silly question, but are the headers included in this kit break-away?
Hi, sorry for this silly question, but I'm wondering if the headers included in the kit are meant to be used in the 20 pin block or whether it is possible to break them into shorter lengths. Thanks!
I think you should make a kit without all these caps, regulators, things, but with resistors for LEDs, more LEDs, a button matrix (2x4 would be okay), breadboard, some wires, maybe a stepper motor, just a simple kit for any microcontroller and stuff.
We do have two kits similar to that, the Starter Kit for the Redboard, and the SIK refill kit.
It might be good to update the little paper cover you get on this thing to say that theres only 1 10K trimpot, I had remembered it only saying theres 1 in it on the site here (which I only got one, have about 50 form a previous order though). but the cover of the case specifys 2. might bring someone down a bit when they get one of these with their first ardino and then they think that they got shafted on a couple parts. Also, Could probably put a few more LEDs in here and throw in 1 shift register, that so vastly expand what one could do with this at very little cost. And would give people who get it more reason to look into picking up a hobby uController to learn more. (It was a 74HC that a friend had in a project of his that got me started into this world)
Hi @Nikarus, I just grabbed one of the kits off of our inventory shelves to look into the trimpot quantity issue. The kit decal on the front of the ones that are shipping out now specify that the kit only includes 1 x 10K trimpot. So hopefully you just got an old version of the kit that has since been corrected. I like your idea of a few more LEDs and a shift register. We'll look into that for the next iteration. Thanks!
I received my Beginner Parts Kit recently, and had the same issue. The paper cover lists 2x 10k Trimpot, and omits the yellow LED.
I also got two extra of each capacitor.
If you received the wrong parts or are missing parts, please contact techsupport@ with your order number and they will get you set up with replacement parts as needed.
Just got mine today, it's pretty sweet! Only thing I could ask for would be a resistor assortment. Make sure you pick some up if you're just getting started!
you should add another parts box in there
I'm getting this hooway :D
What is the esr value from the 100uF cap?
Sparkfun's version of Make's Mintronics, though the one by Make has a mini breadboard and other parts.
what is the voltage rating for the 1uf caps in this kit?
This is exactly what I needed, as a complete newbie. My only problem is that nothing in the kit is labeled, which makes it hard for someone as new to this hobby as myself to figure out what all the pieces are. But I guess that's how you learn.
How about combining this with the resistor kit or at least have a Combo Pack?
Are the capacitors labeled?
This kit will save you money. I never seem to have everything I need to complete a project. A quick trip to this kit, and I find just the parts I needed. This kit has saved me its cost, just in shipping charges. Thanks! (I have the previous kit)
Every part i can think of that I need is in this kit!
I'll start off by saying that this is a great kit. But whoever (or whatever) packs these things isn't too good at doing so.
I'm missing a 3V regulator (only got 1 of them), a trimpot (only got 1).
As for caps:
5- 100u (electrolytic)
5- 10u (electrolytic)
5 - 1u (ceramic, code 105)
10 - 100n/.1u (104)
5- 10n (103)
10 - 1n (102)
0 - 100p (101)
5 - 10p (100)
I don't have a cap meter, but I checked all of the codes online.
I got everything else.
Thanks!
contact customerservice@sparkfun.com, i think we had a few that had a problem getting put together. They'll take care of you. Sorry about that!
I have the same problem with my kit :( Only one 3.3V regulator, and only one trimpot. I have not checked the capacitors yet.
You probably should... I ordered this kit because it had all the capacitors, I have almost everything else. I needed the 100pF for a project, an now that will have to wait. :(
Hope all your caps are there!
MORE!!!!
It says we get 2 op amps, but aren't there 2 inside each package, giving us 4?
Technically yes, but they meant 2 LM358 ICs. So technically they're right.
My multimeter can't read the capacitance, and I haven`t found any reference on the internet about the capacitance. It would be usefull if anyone could match the cap reference with the capacitance.
most of the time meters are not going to be able to register a capacitance of caps that are much less than a few hundred nF, much less pF caps.
How long have these been out of stock?
I ordered the older version of this kit when I started out. Great little kit for starting out, with a nice box to boot. I use it to hold all of my ICs and misc parts now. Just trim the protective foam the ICs come shipped with to fit in the box and you have a great storage solution.
Any idea when this will be back in stock?
Soon? We are only ever out of stock on items for a few days, unless there is a hold-up (out of stock on an item, etc).
It would really help to know which caps are witch, they aren't labeled.
Whoa! 89 parts in the kit (excl. box)!