RSSMy First Amplifier Circuit: LM386 Easy Amp
Dec 06
Educational/Interesting, Electronics, Projects amplifier, audio, breadboard, circuit, lm386 1 Comment
It’s no secret that if you read at least two articles on this blog you know that I know just slightly more than diddly-poo about electronics. That’s OK, though! I’m learning and it’s WAY fun! It’s like making cool stuff with Legos™ but with the caveat that you could electrocute yourself or start a fire.
The other day, I tore down an RCA radio and CD alarm clock that my wife had owned for a while. Its LCD display was failing. We didn’t really have a used for it, so I took it apart. I got a great collection of little tactile buttons and motors and other cool circuit boards full of capacitors and diodes and whatnot. But, two of the coolest parts I got were a couple of pretty beefy but small 8-ohm speakers with really great range. They sound awesome when hooked up to something that can drive them properly.
I decided to build a quick amplifier circuit around the LM386 amplifier IC. It’s an 8-pin DIP and it is really easy to get going if you’re past the super-newbie stage. Or, at least if you are me. I fried two of these in the very early stages of my electronics experimentations. That’s an accomplishment, since the versions I have of this IC can withstand up to 15VDC or 18VDC (I can’t remember what the National Semi datasheet said). I was young and stupid and needed the lesson.
Here is the breadboard of the circuit…
Simple LM386 Audio Amplifier
