HiLetgo 5pcs LM386 Mono Audio Amplifier Module 200 Times AMP Solo 5V-12V 10K Adjustable

I teach junior high science, and in one of my lessons, I connected an LED to the audio output of my laptop so students could observe that the current changes directions inside a speaker. (LEDs have positive and negative terminals, so they only light up when the current is connected in the correct direction. So regular LEDs flicker on and off as the current changes, and two-color LEDs change colors). But the directions provided in the curriculum didn't work. Upon further reflection, LEDs require more current than my computer's audio output provides, so I needed an amplifier. But the amplifier sent with the curriculum didn't work either.So I brushed off my electronics skills and began preparing to build an amplifier using my capacitors, resistors, etc. One of the components I was lacking was the LM386 audio amplifier (which is one component of this piece of hardware). But this device was less expensive than buying all the missing components and building my own amplifier. Plus, you get 5 of them. I connected this amplifier to my LED and the experiment worked. (I had to bend the input pins so that the alligator clips from my audio-to-alligator-cable clips and wires from the battery could all connect, but there are circuit diagrams for this device easily found online).The sound quality wasn't great, but it would probably be better if this device were used as intended, soldered into a larger electronic device, rather than connected to other components using a breadboard. Also, the low-quality speaker I attached in parallel with the LED might have been part of the problem.

This is a great little amplifier for anyplace you need to boost signal levels. One helpful hint: If the gain of 200 is too high (and it usually is for me) just remove C1 to drop the gain to 20.

Easy to connect and it works

There's no schematic diagram available for this item, and it had some strange performance issues. The volume control pot went from very low to extremely high in just a tweak. Looking at the application notes for the LM386 amplifier chip, I saw that most of the reference circuits had a small resistor in parallel with the loudspeaker. When I put a 10-ohm resistor in parallel with my speaker, the amplifier behaved normally.

Worked great. Used them to make a small guitar amp out of an old speaker. Added an input jack and ran it off a 9v battery. Sounds great at desktop volumes. Can even get a little breakup/distortion when cranked.

Great product. My Weak signal oscillator output was boosted greatly with this Amp to levels that could drive other loads. Very pleased with quality and performance. buy more.

Horribly manufactured circuit. The signal and power grounds mix at the input stage before anything else, which at the very least contribute to the main problem with this board design... completely unusable levels of distortion and, in most cases, no output other than a high pitched squeel (regardless of where I set the onboard potentiometer). So far, I was able to get SOME sound by adding a 100K ohm resistor before the signal input. They also do not appear to have followed any of the example best practice layouts from the LM386 datasheet, though I can not say that with 100% certainty due to the other issue... They provide NO USEFUL INFORMATION on the layout, such as a circuit diagram which could be used to determine if/where modifications could improve the performance to a usable level. So in other words, PLEASE PROVIDE A CIRCUIT DIAGRAM and I will adjust my rating accordingly.

The sound/signal coming from these are very dirty.