Project Ideas for year 11 student

Hello Electro Tech citizens,

I just registered here a couple of minutes ago.

I'm doing a subject at school called "Systems Engineering units 3&4" and I'm in need of some project ideas. I'm not very imaginative, so that's why I'm here!

The idea doesn't have to be original, obviously the reason I'm here. All I'm looking for are some ideas, and maybe some examples.

I'm in year 11 (turning 17 this year) and I like electronics, only that I'm good at it theory-wise. Practical stuff, not really

The project will span for probably 3/4 of a year...

I know this is an electronics forum but the project must consist of both an electronic and mechanical aspect...

I'm not sure of the rest of the criteria, probably that the project isn't so hard that it could qualify as university work (Is it called College in the US?)

How about a 555 timer with or without a relay? Something easy, no programming required and something you can easily show off some of your theory.

**broken link removed**

really amuzing project

I built the 555 section for my cub scout pack and they really enjoy it.
going to add the "Knight Rider" section later.
very simple circuit and has lots of splash.
If you wanted to add more switches for more tones, even a rotary selector on the outputs of the first 4017 thus dividing by X
as pictured it divides by 10
lots of additional ideas can be added.
Even have PCBoard file if you want (express pcb)

for a 17-year old guy, he's good. At your age I tried so hard to learn electronics, and only got to it when I entered university. That was the time I got my internet access all the time to search for projects.

Wow thanks for the suggestions guys.


No, I'm not really that good at electronics. I know about about resistors/capacitors/potentionmeters.. that sort of stuff. The subject i'm doing at school is pretty basic electronics, nothing like what you would do at university.

Thanks for the suggestion MrDEB, however even that circuit might be at my limit of understanding, so I'm not sure if I can make it.

I have no idea what a 555 timer with or without a relay is, care to explain?

Maybe I should just stick to making tower speakers and a subwoofer... that's probably not much electronics but oh well

555 timers are self-explanatory. You can produce an output with a pulse, driving LEDs so that they blink, control the speed the motor using Pulse Width Modulation, and so on. These keywords should be good enough for you to do a bit of googling for projects related to it.

as a suggestion, get a bread board, a couple of 555 timers, some LEDs, a 1 meg potentiometer, several resistors (Radio Shack sells a variety pack of 1/4 watt), a 10 uf electrolytic capacitor and a .01 capacitor.
assemble a circuit as per **broken link removed** and learn what a 555 timer does. think of a light switch being turned off and on VERY fast or very slow depending on resistors (use the potentiometer to adjust) easy calculator **broken link removed**
this will be for an astable 555 timer.
LEARN BY DOING I found the best teacher.

LEARN BY DOING I found the best teacher.

Click to expand...

copy that.