"A product perfect for beginners who want to learn the basics of electronics and get used to resistors, motors, LEDs, capacitators and other components."
I noticed on the ICStation website that they sold a variety of DIY kits, that include various components that you can solder together. These, I would imagine, are targeted at people looking to get better at soldering, learning Arduino or wanting to understand electronics a little better without having to write endless lines of code.
I decided to pick up one of their kits, titled ‘D2-5 Intelligent Tracking Car Suite DIY Kits DC Motor Electric Accessories’, selling at $5.99. This is incredibly cheap considering the number of
components you get with it, so I decided to check it out
With this tiny robot set, you get a hell of a lot of components and a PCB to solder them on to. This makes this good if you want to get comfortable with working with different components and want to understand how they work. This list shows the components included and the specification of the component.
| Components | Specification | Quantity |
| IC | LM393 | 1 |
| IC Socket | 8-pin | 1 |
| Electrolytic Capacitor | 100uF | 2 |
| Adjustable Resistor | 10K | 2 |
| Color Ring Resistor | 51 ohm | 4 |
| Color Ring Resistor | 1K ohm | 2 |
| Color Ring Resistor | 10 ohm | 2 |
| Photoresistor | CDS5 | 2 |
| LED | 5mm Red Red | 2 |
| LED | 5mm White Red | 2 |
| Triode | 8550 | 2 |
| Switch | 6*6mm | 1 |
| DC Motor | JD3-100 | 2 |
| Car Wheel | 2 | |
| Car Axle | 2*30mm | 2 |
| Spacer | 2mm | 6 |
| Shaft Sleeve | 2.5mm | 2 |
| Gear | 22mm | 2 |
| Screw Rod | 5mm | 2 |
| Screw | 2.2*8mm | 4 |
| Motor Screw | 1.7*4mm | 4 |
| Universal Wheel Screw | M5*20mm | 1 |
| Universal Wheel Screw Nut | M5 | 1 |
| Screw Sleeve | M5 | 1 |
| PCB | 1 | |
| Connection Wire | 2 | |
| Battery Case | AAx2 | 1 |
The quality of the components is truly excellent, and the method of attaching the motors onto the PCB means that the wheels are securely attached and won’t come out. The PCB itself is labeled with where each component should be placed and maintains the fantastic build quality from the rest of the kit. The IC behind this kit is the LM393.
Being as this is a product targeted at beginners, you would expect it to be relatively straightforward. It is in some ways easy to assemble, but not in others. You will have to have some understanding of schematic diagrams unless you want to assemble it purely based on the picture on their website, which I imagine would be painfully difficult. The soldering behind it is tricky and fiddly, so if you are not comfortable with soldering then I wouldn’t recommend this product.
Other than the soldering, it’s relatively easy to get it working. There’s no code involved, making it very easy to operate. When it was fully built, it worked perfectly and did exactly what I expected it to. I forgot to solder in one of the components the first time round, but I quickly corrected that and was on my way.
Being as you could end up paying $6 for the 2 motors alone on some websites, this robot set is incredibly good value for money. Any other robot set, on places such as Amazon, will cost you at least £60. Of course, this is a very basic set, and you cannot program it yourself, but it still acts as a way of teaching you about electronic components and getting you used to soldering.
Conclusion
Pros:
- Very Cheap
- Lots of components to get your hands on
- Relatively straightforward to get working – no code involved
- Works Well
Cons:
- Soldering the components onto the PCB is difficult and could be frustrating to beginners.
If this seems like something that could be useful to you, then check it out here.
You can use the coupon code below to get 15% off all products at ICStation.com:
Code: Dylan
Discount Amount: 15% off
Max Use: 1 (one for per user)
Amount Limit: 300
Pi and Chips 