Lab 1 - Introduction to dc circuits

Introduction to DC Circuits

Objectives:

1. Become familiarized with lab components and instrumentation equipment for circuit design

2. Design a circuit with unknown resistance load to oblige given constraint variables such as power and voltage.

Process:

1. Problem
          Find resistance in given simple circuit schematic required for it to operate properly with known values. Analyze circuit for distribution efficiency and approximation time before the battery discharges.        

2. Given assumptions
            Power consumed by Voltage load or "load" is 0.144W.
            Load functions at greater than 11V.
            Battery Voltage is constant at 12V(approx) and has a capacity of .8A-hr  

3. Circuit Calculations

     

4. Built Circuit

     

5. Data Collected

     

6. Data Analyzed

     

Conclusion:

         Objective one was met through hands on measurement of the the resistors, voltage source, and current of the circuit built using a Digital Multi-Meter. Classifying the components individually was essential to building the circuit on a breadboard. To find the unknown resistance that the tether could hold was derived through the power equation and came out to be theoretically 1000 ohms. When completed design of the circuit was successful, objective two was achieved. The results configured that it would take 71.81 hours to discharge the battery.