WARNING: SHOCK HAZARD Never connect E-Blox® Circuit Blox™ to the electrical outlets in your home in any way! ! WARNING: Only use the battery holder with the cover securely in place. ! WARNING: CHOKING HAZARD Small parts. Not for children under 3 years. ! WARNING: MOVING PARTS Do not touch the fan while it is spinning. -1- WARNING: Always check your wiring before turning on a circuit. Never leave a circuit unattended while the batteries are installed.
! Batteries: l Use only 1.5V “AA” type, alkaline batteries (not included). l Do not mix alkaline, standard (carbon-zinc), or rechargeable (nickel-cadmium) batteries. l Insert batteries with correct polarity. l Remove batteries when they are used up. l Non-rechargeable recharged. batteries should not be l Rechargeable batteries should only be charged under adult supervision, and should not be recharged while in the product. l Do not mix old and new batteries.
About Electricity (Science) 1. What is Science? Q: What do we mean when we say “Science”? A: Science is defined as the intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behavior of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment. Early scientists were curious people that wondered what made lightning. They decided to experiment to see if they could understand lightning and even make their own somehow. 3.
About Electricity (Technology) 5. What is Technology? Q: What is technology and who used technology in the past? 6. Technical Terms Q: What terms do electrical technicians need to know? A: Technology is the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes. Dating back to the 18th century, Benjamin Franklin (a famous American) proved that lightning was caused by electricity by performing an experiment in which an electrical conductor would be used to extract power from a thundercloud.
About Electricity (Engineering) 9. What is Engineering? Q: What is Engineering? What do engineers do? 10. Is Engineering only about Electronics? Q: Besides Electronics what else do Engineers do? A: Engineering is the application of Science, Technology, and Mathematics to make products that are useful to people. Engineers are skillful in using their knowledge to make products.
About Electricity (Mathematics) 13. Ohm’s Law 14. Switches and Power Ohms Law states that Voltage equals Current multiplied by Resistance. If V = Voltage, I = Current, and R = Resistance, then mathematically Ohms Law is V = I x R where “x” stands for “multiplied by”. Since the law starts with Voltage, we need a voltage source or a Power Supply. There are both DC (direct current) and AC (alternating current) power supplies. Batteries are also a source of DC voltage.
About Electricity (STEM) 17. Circuit Blox™ 18. Short Circuits in Circuit Blox™ For Circuit Blox™, the definition of an electrical circuit is: The complete path for an electric current flow, usually including the source of electric energy. The path shown in the circuit below is from the battery, through the blue 2-wire, through the motor under the fan, through the blue 4-wire, through the switch, through the blue 2-wire, and then back to the battery.
Parts List (colors and styles may vary) Symbols and Numbers Important: If any parts are missing or damaged, DO NOT RETURN TO RETAILER. Call toll-free (855) MY EBLOX (693-2569) or e-mail us at: help@myeblox.com. Customer Service: 880 Asbury Dr., Buffalo Grove, IL 60089 U.S.A. Qty. Name 2 Symbol Part # Qty.
Qty. Name 1 1 1 -9- Part # Qty.
How to Use Your E-Blox® Circuit Blox™ Set E-Blox® Circuit Blox™ parts contain a PC board with connectors so you can build the different electrical and electronic circuits in the projects. Each block has a function: there are switch blocks, a light block, battery block, wire blocks, etc. These blocks are different colors and have numbers on them so that you can easily identify them. For Example: This is the press switch, it is green and has the marking 61 on it.
About Your E-Blox® Circuit Blox™ Parts (Part designs are subject to change without notice). The base grid (39) functions like the printed circuit boards found in most electronic products. It is a platform for mounting parts and wire blocks (though the wires are usually “printed” on the board). The blue wire blocks are just wires used to connect other components, they are used to transport electricity and do not affect circuit performance.
DOs and DON’Ts of Building Circuits After building the circuits given in this booklet, you may wish to experiment on your own. Use the projects in this booklet as a guide, as many important design concepts are introduced throughout them. Every circuit will include a power source (the batteries), a resistance (which might be an LED, lamp, motor, integrated circuit, etc.), and wiring paths between them and back.
Examples of SHORT CIRCUITS – NEVER DO THIS! Placing a wire block directly across the battery holder is a SHORT CIRCUIT, indicated by a flashing LED in the battery holder. When the switch (S1) is turned on, this large circuit has a SHORT CIRCUIT path (as shown by the arrows). The short circuit prevents any other portions of the circuit from ever working.
Advanced Troubleshooting (adult supervision recommended) E-Blox® is not responsible for parts damaged due to incorrect wiring. If you suspect you have damaged parts, you can follow this procedure to systematically determine which ones need replacing: 1. Lamp (76), LEDs (69, 70, 71), Battery Holder (91): Place part directly across the battery holder as shown, it should light. If none work, then replace your batteries and repeat, if still bad then the battery holder is damaged.
Project Listings # Description 1. Closed Circuit 2. Magnetic Switch 3. The ‘Momentary’ Switch 4. LED, the Check Valve Light 5. Magnetically-controlled LED & Motion Sensing 6. Press Switch-controlled LED 7. Bi-directional LED 8. Bi-directional LED Sensor 9. Warning Alarm 10. House Alarm 11. Morse Code 12. Electronic Efficiency 13. Morse Code Revisited 14. Digital Transmission 15. Ohm’s Law 16. Reed Switch Technology 17. Parts Connected in Parallel 18. Press Lights 19. Blind Spot Simulator 20.
1. Closed Circuit E-Blox® Circuit Blox™ uses electronic blocks that plug into a clear plastic grid to build different circuits. These blocks have different colors and numbers on them so that you can easily identify them. Build the circuit shown on the left by placing all the parts that plug into the first layer base. Then, assemble the parts that connect to the secondary layer. Install three (3) “AA” batteries (not included) into the battery holder (91). Secure the battery cover before using it.
4. LED, the Check Valve Light Replace the lamp (76) with the LED (69), making sure it’s in the correct direction. Press the switch (62) to turn it ON and OFF. Reverse the LED (69) and repeat. Notice that the LED does not light when in the circuit in the reverse direction, demonstrating how LEDs only allow current to flow in one direction. 5. Magnetically-controlled LED & Motion Sensing Replace the switch (62) with the reed switch (83).
7. Bi-directional LED Build the circuit to the left and turn on the switch (62). You will see the bi-directional LED (71) is on with red light. Disconnect the switch (62) and the bi-directional LED (71) will be turned off. Reverse the direction of the bi-directional LED (71) and you will see the bi- directional LED (71) is turned on with blue light. Bi-directional LEDs actually have two diodes in them in opposite directions so current can flow in both directions.
9. Warning Alarm Build the circuit to the left and turn on the switch (62). You will hear an alarm sound from the alarm (78). This type of device could be used to create an audio signal if you need help. + – 10. House Alarm Replace the switch (62) with the reed switch (83), then touch the reed switch (83) with the magnet (7); you will hear the alarm (78) sound. This simulates a house alarm triggered by motion sensing. 11.
12. Electronic Efficiency Electronic Efficiency is defined as the Useful Power Output divided by the Total Power Input. Build the circuit to the left and press the switch (62). The LED (70) will light, but the lamp (76) will not light or will be very dim. There is resistance built into the LED (70) to protect it (too much current could damage an LED), and this resistance is limiting the current in the circuit, preventing the lamp (76) from lighting.
15. Ohm’s Law Using Ohm’s Law the resistance of each part could be calculated. Build the circuit to the left and turn on the switch (62). In this circuit the lamp (76) and the star LED (70) are in series so they all see the same current. If you had a voltmeter and measured the voltage drop across each component, you would see that the voltage drop across the star LED (70) is much greater than the voltage drop across the lamp (76).
17. Parts Connected in Parallel Build the circuit on the left and turn the switch (62) ON. The heart LED (69) and the bi-directional LED (71) will both be on. Notice that both the heart LED (69) and bi-directional LED (71) are bright. This is because the heart LED (69) and bi-directional LED (71) in this circuit are in parallel, allowing each to have separate paths for current flow. 18.
20. Parts Connected in Series Build the circuit, turn on the switch (62) and you will light up two LEDs at the same time. Notice that both LED components are dim. This is because they are in series in this circuit and each LED has an internal resistance that is adding up together to limit the current through each LED. 21. Kirchhoff’s First Law Replace the switch (62) with the press switch (61), then press the press switch (61) and you will light up the two LEDs at the same time.
23. Parts Connected in Series and Parallel Build the circuit to the left, turn on the switch (62) and you will light up the two LEDs and the lamp (76) at the same time, but the lamp (76) is dim. Notice that the lamp (76) isn’t as dim as it was in project 12. This is because having two LEDs in parallel with each other reduces the total resistance in the circuit since there are two ways for current to flow, and thus more current is now flowing through the lamp (76). 24.
– + 26. Mechanical to Electrical to Mechanical Energy Replace the lamp (76) with the alarm (78), then turn on the switch (62). If you turn the hand crank generator (94 & 99), you will hear sound from the alarm (78). If you hear no sound, then try turning the hand crank (94) in the reverse direction. The alarm (78) makes sound by creating vibrations in the speaker that your ear can hear.
28. Conductivity Tester By using this circuit, we can identify which materials in our daily life are conductors, and which are insulators. Connect the testing item across points A (using the hook from the maze (37)) and B (using the pin on the bottom of the spring wire (9)). If you see the lamp (76) on, the tested item can be considered a conductor. Otherwise, it can be considered an insulator. 29.
30. Pros and Cons of Parallel Circuits – + Build the circuit, turn on the switch (62) and you will light up the heart LED (69), the lamp (76) and the alarm (78) at the same time. The LED (69) and lamp (76) are bright and the alarm (78) is loud. This demonstrates the benefit of putting all three of these components in parallel because they all have their own current paths and thus all operate well.
32. Electronic ‘AND’ Gate Build the circuit, turn on the switch (62) and the press switch[61] and you will light up the lamp (76). In digital electronics there are seven logic gates: AND, OR, XOR, NOT, NAND, NOR, and XNOR. This circuit represents an AND gate. If ON = True and OFF = False then an AND gate is best defined as: The output is TRUE only when both inputs are True.
34. Calculating Equivalent Resistance Build the circuit, turn on the switch (62) and you will light up the lamp (76), the star LED (70), and the bi-directional LED (71) at the same time. Notice that the lamp (76) is dim, but not as dim as it was in project 12. This is because the equivalent resistance of the parallel connection of the star LED (70) and bi-directional LED (71) is less than the resistance of the star LED (70) alone.
35. Switches in Your House 1st level Build the circuit, turn on the switch (62) or touch the reed switch (83) with magnet (7), you will light two LED at the same time. If you want to turn off them, you should disconnect both these two switches. You might think this type of circuit could be used to have multiple switches in a room in your house control the same device(s). However, this type of circuit is not ideal because the switches do not toggle with each other.
37. Hand Crank Generator-controlled Parallel Siren & Bi-directional LED – + Build the circuit, turn the hand crank generator (94 & 99) clockwise and blue light will emit from the bi-directional LED (71) and the alarm (78) will sound too. Turn the hand crank generator (94 & 99) counterclockwise and the alarm (78) will turn off while red light emits from the bi-directional LED (71).
39. History of Hand Crank Generators Build the circuit, then turn the hand crank generator (94 & 99) and you will light up the heart LED (69) initially. If you turn the hand crank generator (94 & 99) faster, you will see the lamp (76) light and get brighter the faster you turn. Did you know that hand crank generators date back at least to the 1960s? Military units used special hand generators that could fold up into a backpack.
41. LED Colors Build the circuit, turn the hand crank generator (94 & 99) and you will light up the heart LED (69) and the star LED (70) at the same time. If you turn the hand crank (94) faster, you will see the lamp (76) will light and be brighter the faster you turn. 1st level 42. Hand Crank Generatorcontrolled Three LEDs in Parallel Build the circuit, turn the hand crank generator (94 & 99) and you will light up three LEDs at the same time.
1st level 43. Triple Input ‘OR’ Gate Build the circuit as shown on the left. If you turn on any one of the switches, you will light up the lamp (76). If you want to turn off the lamp (76), you must turn off all the switches. Electronic OR Gates can have two or more inputs but the function is still the same. All inputs must be False (OFF) for output to be False (OFF). 44. The Resettable Fuse Build the circuit as shown on the left.
45. Switches in Series and Parallel In this circuit, if you want to light up the lamp (76), you can turn on the switch (62), or you can place the magnet (7) near the reed switch (83) and press the press switch (61) at the same time. Using a hotel analogy, the reed switch (83) could represent a key card holder and the press switch (61) could be a light in the room.
2nd level 47. Electrical Current Detector Build the circuit as shown on the left. You will light up the heart LED (69) at once. If you want to turn on the star LED (70), you should turn on the switch (62) or the press switch (61). The star LED (70) in this circuit is a very simple device that can be used to detect current flow. A more advanced device, called an ammeter, is used to measure the amount of electrical current flowing in a circuit. 48.
49. History of LEDs 2nd level Build the circuit as shown on the left and you will light up the star LED (70). If you want to turn on the heart LED (69) and the bi-directional LED (71), you must press the press switch (61) or touch the reed switch (83) with the magnet (7).
51. Power Outage Build the circuit as shown on the left and turn on the switch (62). Press the press switch (61) and you will light up the heart LED (69) and the star LED (70) at the same time. You could use this circuit to simulate a power outage in your neighborhood. Pretend the switch (62) is the power plant in your neighborhood and the press switch (61) represents switches in your house.
53. LED Light Bulbs Build the circuit as shown on the left and turn on the switch (62). Press the press switch (61) and you will light up the heart LED (69) and the star LED (70) at the same time. LED-based light bulbs are increasingly being used instead of traditional light bulbs these days. One reason is because goodquality LED bulbs can have a useful life of 25,000 hours or more. This means they can last more than 25 times longer than traditional light bulbs.
55. Backup Switch Build the circuit as shown on the left and turn on the switch (62). Press the press switch (61) or touch the reed switch (83) with the magnet (7) and you will light up the heart LED (69) and the star LED (70) at the same time. This circuit could simulate having a backup switch, where if for whatever reason reed switch (83) stopped working, you could still use the press switch (61) to turn on the LEDs. 56.
57. Light Power Build the circuit as shown on the left and you will light up the two LEDs at the same time. If you turn on the switch (62) now, the two LEDs will be turned off, while the lamp (76) will still be on and will be brighter. Light power can be measured in Watts or Lumens. Watts refer to how much energy the bulb uses while Lumens are a measure of the bulb’s light output intensity. 58. Visual Effects 2nd level 1st level Replace the switch (62) with the press switch (61).
60. Tornado Drill Build the circuit as shown on the left and you will light up the two LEDs at the same time. If you turn on the switch (62), the two LEDs will be turned off and the alarm (78) will sound. This circuit could simulate a tornado drill in your school where they intentionally turn off the lights while activating a tornado alarm and have you practice where to go and what to do during a tornado. 2nd level + – 61. Help! Replace the switch (62) with the press switch (61).
63. Failures in Series Circuits Build the circuit as shown on the left, turn the hand crank generator (94 & 99) clockwise and you will light up all the LEDs at the same time. Note that if you were to remove any one of the LEDs from the circuit (e.g. remove the star LED (70)), this opens the circuit and both of the other LEDs turn off. This is a disadvantage of series circuits: if one light goes out then they all go out (remember those old Christmas tree lights?). 64.
65. Gears Build the circuit as shown on the left, turn the hand crank generator (94 & 99) clockwise, and you will light up three LEDs and the lamp (76) at the same time. 1st level 1st level If you look inside the hand crank, you will see several toothed wheels called gears. Gears are used to alter the relation between the speed of the driving mechanism (the hank crank) and the speed of the driven part (the shaft from the generator (99)).
67. Electrical to Mechanical Energy Build the circuit as shown on the left and you will light up the heart LED (69) at once. If you turn the hand crank generator (94 & 99) clockwise, you will see the heart LED (69) become brighter and the lamp (76) will be turned on. Try removing the hand crank (94) from the generator (99). Notice that the shaft on the generator (99) may be spinning (if not you might need to start it spinning with your finger).
69. Newton’s First Law of Motion 2nd level Build the circuit as shown on the left and you will light up the heart and star LED. Turn the hand crank generator (94 & 99) and you will see the two LEDs become brighter. The faster you turn, the brighter they will be. If you turn on the switch (62), the LEDs will turn off and the lamp (76) will be turned on. Now you can turn the handcrank generator (94 & 99) and the heart and star LEDs will be turned on again.
70. Inertia Build the circuit as shown on the left. If you turn the hand crank generator (94 & 99), you will light up the lamp (76) and the bi-directional LED (71) at the same time. If you turn on the switch (62), you will light up the heart LED (69). Try removing the hand crank (94) from the generator (99). Note that when you turn the switch (62) on, the generator (99) shaft may start spinning, but sometimes you need to start it spinning with your finger and then it continues spinning.
+ – 71. Test Your Hand Steadiness Build the circuit as shown above and turn on the switch (62). Then move the hook that is connected to the 5-wire (5) through the metal of the maze (37). When the metal of the maze (37) is touched by the hook, you will light up the heart LED (69) and the alarm (78) will sound. Test how steady your hand is.
+ – 72. Nerves & Muscles Build the circuit as shown above and turn on the switch (62). Then move the hook that is connected in the 5-wire (5) through the metal of the maze (37). When the metal of the maze (37) is touched by the hook, you will light up the bidirectional LED (71) and the alarm (78) will sound.
Other E-Blox® Products More sets available! Visit www.myeblox.com Story Blox™ include a storybook with QR codes that create an interactive learning environment using online resources. Eight models are built one at time in several parts of the story using a fully illustrated and easy-to-follow assembly manual, further enhancing the learning experience. Builds Deluxe 395 Projects Contains over 100 parts, including 8 LEDs. 66 pieces, including resistors, capacitors, Compatible with other toy brick sets.
880 Asbury Dr. Buffalo Grove, IL 60089 U.S.A. Visit us at: www.myeblox.com U.S. Patents: 6,805,605 and other patents pending. Copyright © 2018 E-Blox®, Inc. All rights reserved. Colors and styles may vary.
