🔧 Pinecil + Multimeter Learning Guide

Exercise 1: Test a Battery

1. Turn dial to DC V (voltage)
2. Select 20V range if manual ranging
3. Touch red probe to + end of AA battery
4. Touch black probe to - end
5. Should read ~1.5V (1.3-1.6V is normal)

Exercise 2: Test Continuity

1. Turn dial to continuity mode (looks like sound waves or diode symbol)
2. Touch probes together → should beep
3. Find any wire or metal object
4. Touch both ends with probes → beep means connected
5. Touch two unconnected points → no beep

Exercise 3: Measure Resistance

1. Turn dial to Ω (ohms)
2. Grab a resistor from your kit (try the 1K ohm)
3. Touch probes to each leg of the resistor
4. Should read ~1000 (or 1.0 if display shows kΩ)

Exercise 4: Test a Diode

1. Turn dial to diode mode (arrow with line)
2. Touch red to one leg, black to other
3. Note the reading
4. Swap probes
5. One direction shows ~0.5-0.7V, other shows OL (overload)
6. The direction that shows voltage = current flows that way

Exercise 1: Tin the Tip

Purpose: Protect the tip and improve heat transfer

1. Wait for iron to reach temperature
2. Touch solder to the tip
3. Solder should melt and coat the tip silver
4. Wipe excess on brass tip cleaner (preferred) or wet sponge

Note: Brass cleaner is gentler on tips than a wet sponge. The sponge causes thermal shock.

Exercise 2: Tin a Wire

Purpose: Pre-coating wires makes joining easier

Materials: 22 AWG stranded hookup wire

1. Strip ~5mm of insulation from wire end using wire strippers
2. Hold wire in helping hands or pliers
3. Touch iron to wire for 2 seconds (heat it up)
4. Touch solder to wire (not to iron)
5. Solder should flow onto wire and coat it

Common mistakes:

• Solder blobs and doesn't flow → wire not hot enough, heat longer
• Insulation melts back → too much heat, work faster
• Still won't flow after heating → apply flux pen to wire, try again

Exercise 3: Join Two Wires

Purpose: The fundamental soldering skill

1. Tin both wire ends (Exercise 2)
2. Hold them together, touching
3. Touch iron to the joint
4. Let heat transfer for 1-2 seconds
5. Touch solder to joint (not iron)
6. Solder flows and joins them
7. Remove solder, then remove iron
8. Hold still for 3 seconds while it cools

Good vs Bad Joints:

Exercise 4: Solder to a Breadboard Header

Purpose: Practice soldering components

Materials: Spare header pins from your kit, scrap board if available

1. Insert header pin into board
2. Touch iron to both pin AND pad simultaneously
3. Feed solder into joint
4. Remove solder, then iron
5. Should see small shiny volcano shape

Exercise 5: Desolder

Purpose: Fix mistakes, salvage components

1. Apply flux pen to the joint (flux burns off, so you need to add fresh)
2. Heat the joint until solder melts
3. While molten, pull the wire/component out
4. Or use solder wick: apply flux to wick, press wick onto joint, heat through wick with iron, wick absorbs solder
5. Trim the used portion of wick with flush cutters

Note: Desoldering almost always requires added flux. The original flux burned off when you made the joint. Lead-free is especially stubborn without fresh flux.