Tutorial TinkerCAD Electrical Series Circuit

By: Matthew Jourden

Brighton High School
Brighton, MI

1. Navigate to TinkerCAD.com > Click Sign In Icon (Top Left Side of Screen > Select Students, Join your Classroom >
Classroom CODE: HEQ2VA3WQT4N > Nickname: Student First Name (all lower case)

2. Select Circuits > Select Create New Circuit

2. Select Create new Circuit

1. Select Circuits

3. Change Name of Circuit to Electrical Circuit 1: Series Circuit

Select Default File name in the Top Left Corner

4. Adding Electrical Components. TinkerCAD is a Drag and Drop interface

5. Rename File > TinkerCAD Electrical 3: Arduino 1
 Arduino: is an open-source hardware and software that allows users to wire a circuit using resistors, buttons, sensors,
etc. and write a program that can receive and transmit data to control the circuit.

Arduino has its own IDE Software where the user programs then downloads to the Arduino Board. TinkerCAD offers a
simulation, that allows the user to create a simulated Arduino board and its circuit and then the user can write a
program to receive and/or transmit data to control said circuit.

Arduino uses a C++ based programming language. Arduino Programming Syntax is very similar to C++, so things like
comparison (IF/THEN Statement), Mathematical Computations, Loops (FOR, DO, DO/WHILE), Ending of Line
Statements ( ; ), etc. are written the same. What differs is how to INPUT/OUTPUT data varies.
See Reference Document: Arduino Common Syntax on the class website for common coding commands.

Objective: First Tutorial is designed to simply wire a single LED and then Program its use.

1. Electrical Component Toolbox > Find Arduino Uno > Drag and Drop Arduino Uno onto screen

Power Cord to Scroll Down in

Computer. Power Cord the Basic
will take the place of a Category
battery. When
simulation runs then the
power cord will plug into
the Arduino board
automatically.

2. Arduino Board Overview

Digital I/O Pins 0-13: Operate in an On/OFF State. Meaning what is being controlled in these ports is either On or
OFF. Example would be a push button: it is either pressed or it is not, there is no in-between state.

Analog In Pins 0-5: Operate within a range of values, which allows the user to bring in data that is constantly
changing. Example: Thermocouple (Thermometer) is constantly sensing temperature and has a range of values
that it falls into.
3. Wire the following Circuit (Change Electrical Component Ratings and Wire Color as shown)

a. Start Digital Pin 7: The digital pins act as a switch to turn on/off the flow of electricity to the circuit. On the
Arduino Board is a 5V and 3.3V Port that can be used to apply direct electricity to a circuit without
b. Drag Wire to + Row on Breadboard
c. Place Resistor = 220 Ω starting from + row on breadboard to adjacent row

Notice: The end of the Resistor is not touching the Red Wire from Arduino. Once a wire is in either the + or –
row the whole row is charged with electricity

d. Place LED with the pins in different columns. NOTE: Anode (Bent Wire) should be on the Resistor Side and
the Cathode (Straight Wire) should be leading towards the – on the board.

Notice: The end of the Resistor is not touching the end of the LED. Once a wire is placed in the column a-e or
f-j the whole column (vertically) is charged with electricity

e. Drag a wire from Cathode side of the LED to the – Row on breadboard
f. Drag a wire from – row on breadboard to GND (Ground) on the Arduino (NOTE: the Arduino Board has 3
GND (Ground Ports). It does not matter which of these ports the user places the wire.
 4. Select the Code Button on the Top Right Hand Side of the Screen > Select Drop Down Menu (Defaults at Blocks) >
Change to Text > Pop-Up Message will appear > Press Continue

TinkerCAD allows the user to program in 1 of 2 ways

a. Block: Which is designed with blocks of prebuilt code and link together like puzzle pieces. Similar to
Scratch or Snap. Block is an easier form of programming and is a good place to start, but there is less
flexibility when doing complex computations, controlling of multiple motors/sensors, etc.
b. Text: is C++ based programming language. The user will type the code to operate the circuit. Text offers
the user a wider range and flexibility of options when programming

5. Highlight all code and delete

6. Type the following code Libraries: Allows users advanced
functions like LCD, motors,
Game controllers, etc. without Choose the type of
have to program the base code Arduino that is being
Download: Saves the code to be for those components used. NOTE: we are using
downloaded onto an Arduino the Arduino Uno in class
Board for live testing.
Debugger: User can
check to see if the
code has any errors
in it.
 7. Program: Blink
Objective:
1. Turn the LED ON/OFF
2. Using Variables in Arduino Code
3. Control the Number of Times the LED is turned ON/OFF
4. Output Text using the Serial Monitor

NOTE: whenever the users // before any text; the text that follows on that line becomes a comment, which the software will
not read it as a command and skip over it. To comment out large sections at a time use /* at the beginning and */ and the end,
this allows the user to comment large portions of code out at a time.

Objective 1: Turn LED ON/OFF

a. Type the following Code (NOTE: do not worry about the color coding. Original code is programmed in the
Arduino IDE, which color codes commands. TinkerCAD only codes some of the commands.) > Select
Debug to see if there are any errors > Correct errors as needed

b. Running the Code. Press Start Simulation > Notice the following
i. Power cord plugs into the Arduino providing electricity to the board
ii. LED turns on for 1000ms or 1s then turns off.
iii. Simulation continues to run until user presses Stop Simulation. Theoretically the program is
continue to run because the void loop() is unbreakable, but since there is nothing located in this
function nothing appears to be happening.
 c. Adjust the code as shown below

d. Running the Code. Press Start Simulation > Notice the following
i. Power cord plugs into the Arduino providing electricity to the board
ii. LED turns ON for 1000ms or 1s
iii. LED turns OFF for 2000ms or 2s
iv. Then void loop() repeats itself

Objective 2: Variables in Arduino Code

In Arduino Code the same variable types are used as C++

- int = integer
- double or float = real number
- char = character
- string = 286 consecutive characters
- among others

One issue we may run into when programming and wiring circuits if we need to move wires for different pins, then in our code
we would have to change the pin numbers more than likely missing one. So, what we will do is use a variable name to act as
our pin.

There is three four places where variable can be declared

1. before void setup(): this allows the variable to be used throughout the program (void setup(), void loop(), any other
functions that maybe used
2. in the void setup(): this allows the variable only to be used within the void setup() function
3. above void loop(): this allows the variable to be used by any functions after the declaration
4. in the void loop(): this allows the variable only to be used within he void loop()

Depending on what you want the variable to do will depend on where it is declared; I prefer to option 1 so I only need to look
in one location. Mind you it depends on the program the more complex the program is the more likely variable declartions
will be placed throughout the program.
 1. Adjust the code as follows.
Since the pin we are using is the number 7 and the number 7 is an integer we will declare a variable called redled (my
led is the color red) as a integer and assign the value of 7 to it > then adjust our code to where ever the number 7
appears to redled

a. Run the simulation > Notice the program runs the same as previous

Objective 3: Control the Number of Times the LED is turned ON/OFF

Now the code will be adjusted to turn the LED ON/OFF a number of times then give the illusion that the program has ended

1. Add the following code

2. Run the Simulation
a. Notice the code runs and the LED is always flashing. The reason for this is the FOR loop is running 3 times
turning the LED ON/OFF then resets itself after it falls out of the loop the 3rd time. So, we still have an infinite
loop.
b. Test to show the FOR loop ends, but the void loop () does not.

Add a delay statement after the FOR Loop of 3000 ms (3s) > Notice know that the light flashes fast then there
is a long delay to reset itself.

Now we will trap the user within a loop that does not do anything to give them the illusion that the program
has ended by using a while loop.

c. Modify the code as follows

 d. Run the Simulation > Notice
i. Light Flashes ON/OFF 3 times checking each time with the IF/THEN if counter equals 4
ii. Once counter equals 4 the light turns off

Objective 4: Adding Text Output

Adding text to a program to output/input information Arduino uses the Serial Monitor. The Serial Monitor is located on the
Bottom Left of the Programming Screen

Serial Monitor

This is where Arduino programming varies from C++ programming when dealing with Input/Output.

1. Connecting to the Serial Monitor and outputting to the Serial Monitor

a. In void setup() place the following line of code
serial.Begin (9600); This code sets the baud rate in which information is sent between the PC and
the Arduino board. 9600 is the goldilocks number to transfer English data charaters.
 b. In void loop() place the following code
Two Options to print items to the Serial Monitor
Option 1: Serial.print (“TYPE INFO TO OUTPUTTED); or Serial.print (Place Variable Name); Both options will
keep the cursor on the same line when outputting

Insert Output Line

Here

Text stays on same line

Option 2: Serial.println (“TYPE INFO TO OUTPUTTED); or Serial.println (Place Variable Name); Both options will
drop the cursor down to the next line

Insert Output Line

Here

Text stays on drops to the next line

NOTE: There is not a way in Arduino to mix User Text (“HELLO WORLD “) with variables. Each has to be on its own Serial.print
or Serial.println line

NOTE: TinkerCAD Serial Monitor does not clear the previous run. Refresh the Browser and it will clear the last test run
 c. Type the following code where the arrows are located

d. Run the Simulation Output Should look as follows

Submission

1. Take a Screenshot of the following

a. Complete Code
b. Final Output
c. Preview screen of program from User Hub (similar to Tutorials 1 and 2 Electrical Circuits series/parallel)

Place each screenshot in a Word or Google Document and send me a pdf of completed work.