http://www.instructables.

com/id/Breadboarding-The-Darlington-Pair/
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Breadboarding: The Darlington Pair
by KJ4ZVQ on October 7, 2012
Table of Contents
Breadboarding: The Darlington Pair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Intro: Breadboarding: The Darlington Pair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Step 1: A little insight.... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Step 2: What you'll need . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Step 3: Placeing the transistors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Step 4: Adding the V+ and Ground jumpers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Step 5: Insert the collector-collector & emitter-base jumper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Step 6: Installing the LED and touch wire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Step 7: Juice it up, and start touching!!! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Step 8: But Wait!!! The 9 volt schems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Related Instructables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
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Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
http://www.instructables.com/id/Breadboarding-The-Darlington-Pair/
Intro: 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!
Image Notes
1. NPN transistor #1
2. NPN transistor #2
3. LED, white 5mm
4. Ground, 0 volts
5. positive voltage, i used 5v, usb
6. Touch wire here
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.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Breadboarding-The-Darlington-Pair/
Image Notes
1. 5 mm white LEDs
Image Notes
1. A nice mix of NPN's
Image Notes
1. Jumpers, cut, bent, and ready to conduct!
Step 3:Placeing the transistors
1st off, you will want to place the 2 transistors as shown in the photo and in the drawing.
Image Notes
1. 2 transistors, placed & ready
2. Finished pair,Ignore for now
Image Notes
1. Emitter-Base-Collector
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!!!**************
http://www.instructables.com/id/Breadboarding-The-Darlington-Pair/
Image Notes
1. Left: ground to emiter
Right:V to...... nothing yet
Image Notes
1. Ground to Emiter
2. V to what will be on LED
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.
Image Notes
1. Checked, double checked, all is good here!
Image Notes
1. THIS is RIGHT
2. THIS is WRONG
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.
Image Notes
1. 2 ways to tell Polarity
#1; negative lead will be shorter than positive
#2; negative internal will look more flag-like than the smaller positive side, much
like the drawing
2. Positive to the V jumper
Negative to the collector of the right transistor
http://www.instructables.com/id/Breadboarding-The-Darlington-Pair/
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!!!!!
Image Notes
1. Touching=ON
Image Notes
1. Hovering=OFF
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!!
Image Notes
1. Move the leg over 1 row, and run the resistor between V and the leg of the LED
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Comments
16 comments Add Comment
Adarsh_tronix says: Apr 16, 2013. 12:32 AM REPLY
I was wondering how to increase the limit of the current running through transistors and luckily found this well-written 'ible of yours.Thank you very much for
taking such an initiative.
KJ4ZVQ says: Apr 17, 2013. 1:44 AM REPLY
Your welcome. Glad it came in handy for you!
asesingle says: Feb 21, 2013. 12:10 AM REPLY
Can you explain this to me. How and Why the touch-switch here works? what kind of touch switch; capacitance or resistance? I have a defense on Monday
please answer. This circuit troubles me.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Breadboarding-The-Darlington-Pair/
KJ4ZVQ says: Feb 22, 2013. 1:05 AM REPLY
I see that the "switch" in this diagram is just like the one above.Transistors TR1 & TR2 form the Darlington pair. It works by taking the very small electrical
potential your body has, and amplifies it to eventually saturate or "Turn on" the switch. I believe, don't take it for fact though, that this is a resistance switch.
Your body conducts more energy between the plate and ground than just the air around it when its not being touched, so the change from the relatively high
resistance from the air, to the relatively low of your finger is what turns the circuit on. If this isn't what your looking for, I could go more in depth into this
circuit, but I believe this is what you needed. Good luck!
vricsi94 says: Nov 25, 2012. 10:24 AM REPLY
Nice instructable :D However, I can't understand something: what could cause the LED to sometimes stay turned on? I want to use this circuit with an
optocoupler as a turn on "button" for my computer, but if it gives a too long signal, the computer will turn offxD
Do you have any suggestions?
vricsi94 says: Nov 25, 2012. 10:48 AM REPLY
btw I'm using BC 517 transistors
KJ4ZVQ says: Nov 26, 2012. 8:49 AM REPLY
The only reason I could see that the LED would remain lit is either stray capacitance in the circuit, or strong electrical/magnetic interference. If you have
it built on a breadboard, both of those causes are very likely, and building a final circuit on perf board would probably eliminate this. All transistors have
different values of gain, and different amounts of sensitivity. I have never used the BC 517's in a circuit, but those are the only reason I could think of.
Best of luck :D
vricsi94 says: Nov 27, 2012. 5:26 AM REPLY
Yeah I built it on a breadboard, will try your solution, thank you :D
KJ4ZVQ says: Nov 8, 2012. 12:02 PM REPLY
Questions? Comments? Suggestions?
amandaghassaei says: Oct 10, 2012. 10:06 AM REPLY
nice tutorial! I actually have a darlington array instructable in the works, but I hadn't gone to this level of detail. great info here! what do you normally use
these for?
KJ4ZVQ says: Oct 10, 2012. 10:25 AM REPLY
Why,thank you:) Just the other day I made a liquid level sensor out of 5 pairs. (Instructable coming soon) Other than that, im still playing with options and lay
outs!
mohammadsalem94 says: May 26, 2014. 11:48 AM REPLY
i made it with 3 transistor.. "super gain "
http://www.instructables.com/id/Breadboarding-The-Darlington-Pair/
KJ4ZVQ says: May 26, 2014. 4:10 PM REPLY
nice work!
Cheerfultrout says: Feb 23, 2014. 9:09 PM REPLY
The potential for this bit of circuitry are overwhelming, I'll definitely make this next time I'm breadboarding. Thank you for making this great instructable!
KJ4ZVQ says: Feb 9, 2014. 7:10 PM REPLY
MPW ; I cant really tell by the pictures but it sounds like either there is a break in the circuit between the two transistors or a path of high resistance. either that
or your using low gain transistors. sorry for the late reply , and hope it helps!!
MPW says: Sep 17, 2013. 1:50 PM REPLY
can you please help me, I've tried over and over to replicate what you have done but no matter what I try it will not work. if however , I touch the legs of the
LED whilst holding the wire you are supposed to touch then the LED will light up, I have tried different transistors and double checked the ECB but it just will
not work. The last one I tried were the "can" ones but I get the same results no matter what I try. They are all NPN types. If I touch the top of the right hand
metal transistor the LED will also light up. I have checked them with the multimeter to make sure they are OK and they all test OK I am baffled please help