Electronics Merit Badge
Six requirements. The centre of the badge is 4(c): build ONE project (a control device, a digital circuit or an analog circuit), with a schematic you find or create, and explain how it operates. Soldering and desoldering in 3 and reading resistor bands in 5(c) are shown to your counselor. The rest is a schematic you draw, binary conversions, Ohm's law, test equipment and a career.
The plan behind this
What is shown or made, not only explained
| requirement | what you do |
|---|---|
| 2(a) | draw a simple schematic with resistors, capacitors, and transistors or integrated circuits, using the correct symbols and labelling all parts |
| 3(a) | show the right way to solder and desolder |
| 3(b) | show how to avoid heat damage to electronic components |
| 4(b) | change three decimal numbers into binary and three binary numbers into decimal |
| 4(c) | build ONE of three projects and explain how it operates |
| 5(a) | solve a simple current, voltage and resistance problem with Ohm's law |
| 5(c) | demonstrate reading the colored bands of a resistor to find its value |
Requirement 4(c): ONE of three projects
| route | what it is |
|---|---|
| 4(c)(1) | a control device |
| 4(c)(2) | a digital circuit |
| 4(c)(3) | an analog circuit |
Whichever you choose, find or create a schematic diagram for it, then explain to your counselor, to the best of your ability, how the circuit you built operates. Requirement 4(a) discusses all three kinds (control, digital logic and analog applications), which is a good place to decide.
The explanations
Safety precautions when using, building, altering or repairing electronic devices (1); the purpose of each part in your schematic (2(b)); what a printed circuit board does and the precautions when soldering one (3(c)); control, digital logic and three analog applications (4(a)); test equipment and three types of it (5(b)); through hole and surface mount assembly, with three advantages of each (5(d)); and three careers, one researched (6).
What this page is
The Electronics merit badge, drawn so the soldering, the demonstrations and the project build stand out, with the three projects of requirement 4(c) drawn as a question. It is not a copy of the requirements: each step is a short label with a link to the official requirements, which are what actually governs and which change from year to year. The free official pamphlet is the fuller guide.
Sources for this page
- Electronics Merit Badge Requirements, Merit Badge Hub, last modified 2025-09-19 · The requirements themselves, and the free official pamphlet linked from them.
- Guide to Advancement, 2025, Section 7.0.0.3 · The process every merit badge is earned through, which this page does not repeat.
- Guide to Advancement, 2025, Section 7.0.4.3 · Which version of a changed requirement applies to a Scout who has already started.
- Guide to Advancement, 2025, Section 4.0.0.1 · Why the requirements are not in the Guide to Advancement and are expected to change annually.
Last checked against its sources on .