Breadboard BoosterPack

When it comes to start exploring modern electronics, the choice of an introductory kit is difficult. The kit should provide a large set of electronic components, and most important, the relevant training material.

Here comes the Sidekick Basic Kit by Seeed Studio, with the Breadboard BoosterPack for Texas Instruments LaunchPads.

Hardware

Although small, the box is packed with many elements, including the Breadboard BoosterPack, a 400-hole breadboard, 90 components and 25 jumper wires.

The Breadboard BoosterPack can be used with 2 configurations:

20 pins only (pins 1 through 20) with more room for circuits, below left, or
all 40 pins (pins 1 to 40), below right.

I like the printed manual with an introduction to each components. So I strongly recommended as first step to unpack, sort and identify each of them to get familiar with them. An additional poster provides a useful reminder.

The stickers are really fun!

The included components offer a wide range and cover most of the fields:

optoelectronics with LEDs (red, green and RGB) and 7-segment display,
sensors like thermistor and photoresistors,
actuators with motor and buzzer,
logic with shift register IC,
switches and buttons,
and the usual passive and active components like resistors and capacitors, diodes and transistors.

Part List

1 x Breadboard
5 x Green LED
5 x Red LED
1 x RGB Common Anode LED
10 x Ceramic Capacitor 10nF
10 x Ceramic Capacitor 100nF
5 x Aluminum capacitor 100uF
10 x Resistor 330R
10 x Resistor 1K
10 x Resistor 10K
1 x Tilt switch
1 x Thermistor
1 x Photoresistor
1 x Diode
1 x Buzzer

Part List

5 x Button
5 x Switch
2 x Potentiometer with knob
5 x Breadboard jumper wire – long
20 x Breadboard jumper wire – short
1 x 7 segment display
1 x Small DC motor
1 x TI 8-bit shift register (SN74HC595N)
1 x TI Analog Temperature Sensor (LM19CIZ/NOPB)
1 x TI NPN transistor (LP395Z/NOPB)
1 x TI NPN transistor (PN2222/NOPB)
1 x Breadboard BoosterPack Adapter PCB
1 x Label for components
1 x Sidekick basic for LaunchPad Manual

Software

The recommended IDE is Energia, an Arduino-compatible IDE or integrated development environment.

It is derived from Arduino 1.0. As Processing-based Wiring-derived, it is platform-agnostic and runs on Windows, Mac OS X or Linux.

A special package contains the code for all the examples.

Download the Energia IDE and the sample code folder.

Training

A special emphasis has been put on training with two sets of examples.

Basic examples introduce each component with a simple circuit.
More advanced examples may require additional components for elaborate application.

Each example comes with a dedicated page and includes video, hardware, introduction, circuit, code, challenge and troubleshooting sections.

Additional chapters focus on Energia Core Tutorials and Mix Sidekick with Grove Starter Kit for LaunchPad.

Basic Examples

Blinking LED (Output)
Fade RGB LED (PWM)
Push Button (Input)
Multiple LED (Many Outputs)
Shift Register (Integrated Circuit)
Piezo Buzzer (Sound)
Potentiometer (Variable Resistor)
Photoresistor (Light Sensor)
Spin the Motor (Transistor)
Switching Voltage (Transistor)
Temperature (Thermistor and Temp Sensor)
7 Segment Display (Digital Display)

Advanced Examples with additional components

Switches (Tilt Switch and Toggle Switch)
Button Press Counter (Input and Display)
Potentiometer Dial (Input and Display)
Photoresistor Fade (Input and Output)
Shift Register 2 (IC and Display)
Shift Register 3 (IC)
Shift Register 4 (Shift In IC)
Spin the Motor 2 (Motor Driver)
Spin the Servo (Servo)
DAC (Digital to Analog IC)
555 Timer (IC and Switch)
IR Emitter and Receiver (Wireless)

Pins Map

This is the pins map based on the Dec 30, 2012 BoosterPack standard.

Conclusion

How the Sidekick Basic Kit compare with the Educational BoosterPack or the Grove BoosterPack? The Sidekick Basic Kit provides the first step to learn electronics because it plays with components directly.

Next step could then focus on a set of advanced sensors and actuators like the Educational BoosterPack, or on a modular system like the Grove BoosterPack.

Which LaunchPad to use with the Sidekick Basic Kit? I'd recommend the MSP430F5529 LaunchPad for its versatility and low price.

Now, I'm a strong advocate for bundle, fully self-contained and affordable. Purchasing the Sidekick Basic Kit (USD30) and the MSP430F5529 LaunchPad (USD13) separately sums USD43.

Similarly, I'd like to see a printed version of the training material. The screen real estate is always limited and a book allows annotations. Or maybe I'm old fashioned! Maybe a revised version of the best-seller Getting Started with the MSP430 LaunchPad?

Good news, the box is large enough to carry the breadboard, the BoosterPack, all the components and the LaunchPad!

Pros

Large set of electronic components and circuits
Excellent training material

Cons

No LaunchPad bundled, need to be bought separately

Wrap-Up

Excellent training material
Great value