The circuit board is very rudimentary with thick tracks and is completely single-sided. Overall the quality is quite decent and it's a fun kit to put together especially for the festive season!
I ended up buying two kits, the first was put together 'as is'. For the second kit, I changed some of the LEDs to make it a just a little bit different (topmost LEDs replaced with blue and yellow). This was the final result...
As usual the kit came in a zip lock bag with all the components loosely packed inside. All the components are standard through-PCB except the battery holder.
The instruction were completely in Chinese and of no use to me. You don't really need the instructions however. As long as the resistor values are measured, the PCB clearly marks what goes where.
I started off by soldering in all the resistors. The first kit I opened had all the correct resistors packaged with it, however the second kit did not have the 100k resistors, instead it had 1k resistors in their place, along with the remainder of the 1k resistors that are already required. I swapped these out and used my own 100k resistors. Be careful and measure the resistor values before soldering them in!
After the resistors were in, I soldered in the transistors. The orientation of these is marked out on the PCB so no need to check anything, just follow the picture.
The capacitors and the LEDs were next. Most of the capacitors are aligned the same way, except C1. C1 is soldered in in a reversed position relative to the other capacitors so be careful with where the negative terminal goes.
The LEDs, just like the transistors are marked out on the PCB so getting their orientation is easy.
The switch and the battery terminal went in last.
The battery pack is a bit is screwed in to the PCB in three places. One of these is under the C1 capacitor, so you need to pul it up to screw the battery pack in, then push it back down.
So that I didn't have the wires going all over the place, I cut the battery pack wires down to their correct lengths before attaching to the power terminal.
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to see more photos of the kit assembly.That's all there is to it! Just plug the battery in and you're set. The kit is available online here: Christmas Tree Flash LED Electronic DIY Learning Kit (SKU180142).
-i
