30 Days Lost in Space → Help Center

Components — 30 Days Lost in Space Help Center

Component guides, wiring references, code explanations and fixes for the errors people hit most in 30 Days Lost in Space.

Components

Electronic parts reference: LEDs, resistors, sensors, and more

• 7-Segment Display — Think alarm clocks and old-school scoreboards. Seven LED segments light up in different combinations to show digits 0 through 9.
• DIP Switch — It looks like a row of tiny light switches, and that's basically what it is. Three switches give you eight possible combinations.
• HERO Board — The brain of every project in your kit — an open-source, Arduino Uno-compatible microcontroller board that runs every mission in the course.
• Keypad (4x4) — Sixteen buttons, but only eight pins. The trick is a clever row-and-column scanning technique, and once you get it, you can build password locks and menu…
• LED (Light Emitting Diode) — You'll use LEDs more than any other part in your kit. Here's how they work, why they need resistors, and how to not blow them up.
• OLED Display — This 0.96-inch screen packs 128x64 individually lit pixels, and it only needs two data wires to talk to your Arduino over I2C.
• Passive Buzzer — Want your HERO board to make noise? A passive buzzer turns electrical pulses into sound, and you control the pitch by changing the frequency.
• Photoresistor (LDR) — Cover it with your hand and the resistance shoots up. Shine a light on it and the resistance drops. That's how you give your board the ability to see.
• RGB LED — One component, millions of colors. An RGB LED lets you blend red, green, and blue light together, and the mixing happens in code.
• Resistor — Without resistors, your LEDs would fry and your circuits would short. Learn how to read their color bands and pick the right value.
• Rotary Encoder — A knob with no beginning or end — it clicks forever in either direction, and your code counts every click. Twenty clicks per full turn.