Like fuses, circuit breakers stop current flow once it reaches a certain amount. They have the advantage of being reusable (fuses must be replaced when "blown") but respond more slowly to current surges and are more expensive than fuses.

As their names indicate, a step-up transformer is used to step up or increase voltage and a step-down transformer is used to step down or decrease voltage. In a step-up transformer, the secondary voltage is higher than the primary voltage and it has more turns in the secondary winding than in the primary winding.

You can multiply the voltage or the current supplied by individual batteries by connecting them together either in series or in parallel. The characteristics of batteries connected in parallel are that total voltage equals the average of the individual battery voltages, total current equals the sum of the individual battery currents, the positive terminal of one battery is connected to the positive terminal of the next, the negative terminal of one battery is connected to the negative terminal of the next, and two connections are made between each adjacent battery.

A transformer utilizes an inductor to increase or decrease the voltage in a circuit. AC flowing in a coil wrapped around an iron core magnetizes the core causing it to produce a magnetic field. This magnetic field generates a voltage in a nearby coil of wire and, depending on the number of turns in the wire of the primary (source) and secondary coils and their proximity, voltage is induced in the secondary coil.

Resistors can be chosen in a wide variety of values to control the voltage in a circuit, limit the current, or moderate the heat produced by the components in the circuit.