Introduction: Breadboarding: the Darlington Pair

Recently, iv found myself surfing Ibles, and noticed alot of simple circuits, but few show, or even better, explain the fundamental circuit of  the Darlington Pair. I plan, by the time that you have flipped through this article, to have shed a great deal of light on this great circuit for the beginner and the veteran builder alike. Enjoy, and if i get anything wrong, or neglect to clarify a process  feel free to comment or to private message me!

Step 1: A Little Insight....

As we know, transistors are in just about everything. With that being said, its obvious that they have a HUGE range of functions, from amplifiers and switches, to voltage regulators, and mass storage devices, like memory cards and RAM.

The Darlington transistor, or more commonly, the Darlington pair, consists of two separate bipolar transistors sharing a common collector, and when combined, offer an exponentially higher gain than both transistors separate. 

The idea was created by engineer Sidney Darlington of Bell Labs in 1953. He also patented the idea of having 2 or 3 transistors on a single chip,sharing a collector pin.

In  a way, the pair could be seen as operating in 2 ways. The 1st, and most commonly accepted, is where both transistors act like amplifiers, the 2nd stage further strengthening the output of the 1st stage. I have a slightly different view of it, where the 1st stage acts as an amplifier, beefing up the input, so that it saturates the base of the 2nd stage, turning it on, like a switch.

With all that being said.... LETS BUILD SOMETHING!!!!!!!!!



Step 2: What You'll Need

Being a basic, project, you will only need basic skills, and parts.
In this rendering of the circuit,there are only 3 actual components, or 4 if you decide to run 9 volts instead of 5.
All parts can be had from Radio-shack, or any hobby shop for around 3-5 bucks, assuming you already have a breadboard.

PARTS LIST
Breadboard
2 NPN transistors (i used MPS2222's , but any NPNs should work well)
Short jumpers, preferably some small solid core wire you could cut to fit
LED capable of handling 5 volts, 5 mm whites work well
560 ohm resistor (only if using 9 volts, value not critical)
5 or 9 volt supply, your choice, i just had a USB supply handy.
A pair of old nail clippers works well for the cutting and stripping of wires as well. 

Step 3: Placeing the Transistors

1st off, you will want to place the 2 transistors as shown in the photo and in the drawing.

Step 4: Adding the V+ and Ground Jumpers

Next would be adding the ground jumper to the left most emiter, and add the V+ jumper to the strip just next to the right most collector.             **************Make sure you do not connect V+ to the collector!!!**************

Step 5: Insert the Collector-collector & Emitter-base Jumper

NOTE; THE REAL PHOTO IS WRONG!!! PAY ATTENTION TO THE INSTRUCTIONS, AND THE DRAWING FOR THIS STEP!!!

This step involves jumpering the emitter of the right transistor to the base of the left transistor, and jumpering both collectors together.

Step 6: Installing the LED and Touch Wire

Almost there!!! You've made it this far,bare with me for a few more seconds, and you'll have your very own Darlington pair touch switch!! 

The next step is installing the LED and touch wire. KEEP IN MIND the led is polarized, meaning it will only light when it has -voltage to - and +voltage to +. I will attach a drawing of how to tell the difference,just in case you don't know. 

As you will see,the touch sensitive wire attaches to the base of the right transistor.

Step 7: Juice It Up, and Start Touching!!!

Congratulations! You built it! Throw some power toit,and everything should work. If there are any problems, go back over your circuit, and my schematics,and if all else fails, drop a comment, or PM me. Have Fun!!!!!

Step 8: But Wait!!! the 9 Volt Schems.

The entire Ible' was built with running the circuit on 5 volts in mind. its so simple to convert it to 9 volts,il let the picture and tag explain that! Enjoy!!

Make It Glow

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Participated in the
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