17 soon and I want to get into electronics

[hlavac]

If by "we" you mean you, sure, haha, I have no idea about coding programs like that 

Well I can certainly program in Java, but I'm afraid the problem is more in the numerical methods used for the simlation, not a simple bug

Have you tried the app mentioned on the page? I've considered buying it before, but then wondered about the bugs

In fact yes I did, and it sucks. Keeps losing the designs. Not worth the money.

[David Aurora]

Good to know, cheers! Glad I didn't waste my money

I'll have to start noting down issues I get with that sim for future reference

[mikeselectricstuff]

Seek out old/dead/dying electronic things and take them apart. Try to figure out how they work, why things are done the way they are, try to fix things, modify in useful or stupid/fun ways, reuse parts. You will learn a lot.

[dcel]

^^As Mike said.

You mentioned that you had several non-functioning kits that you assembled, correct? Well, get your multmeter and startout by trying to fix them so they do work. Good troubleshooting practice, you have the schematics I'm sure, and you can ask for assistance on here. There is nothing better than trying to figure out your own mistakes.

Chris

[free_electron]

Where were you the last 11 years ? should have started at age 6 ...

[shane_95]

Funny you say that, I was about 6 and I had this toy truck that stopped working. I go and tell dad, he replaces the battery's in it and told me it would work. I then convince dad that I must pull it apart to see if something else was wrong.

At age 6 I had no clue if any thing would be wrong, I just undid all the screws and cut all the wires. After that any broken/old thing I pull apart. It's only just now I have heavily wanted to get into electronics

[T4P]

Hey shane, sorry for my ninja sudden appearance, my ban just got lifted...
The meter you showed isn't any good for 50AUD, in fact for 50USD you could do much better for a 59.70USD UT61E from DealExtreme, it's really good.

[caroper]

When I was 12 I made my dad a radio, I couldn't understand why he was so up set that I had dismantled his TV to get the parts I needed. I guess I never learn from my mistakes as 5 years later I dismantled my mothers car radio, headlights and indicators to build a disco lighting system for my sisters 16th birthday (it was the 70's).
It was a great way to learn electronics, but I never did learn to value expensive consumer items.
40 Plus years later I still pull things apart to make new things for fun, but now it is called recycling and I have a piece of paper to say I am qualified to do so.

However you learn electronics, do so and do it with a passion, just remember Personal Safety and respect other peoples property. both physical and intellectual, and use your new found talents to give back to the community and help others.

Cheers
Chris

[Pickers]

Another way you could power that regulator kit is with an old ATX power supply, can be scavenged easily from old crap computers free of charge. That way you'll have the adjustable voltage from the regulator and fixed 12V, 5v etc rails to play with... Bit of a crude solution but one that works and is fairly safe as the supplies normally have short circuit protection and whatnot.

Cheers,
Kris.

[Simon]

For 50 bucks you can get an amprobe AM220 which is a very decent begginer meter

[FenderBender]

Another way you could power that regulator kit is with an old ATX power supply, can be scavenged easily from old crap computers free of charge. That way you'll have the adjustable voltage from the regulator and fixed 12V, 5v etc rails to play with... Bit of a crude solution but one that works and is fairly safe as the supplies normally have short circuit protection and whatnot.

Cheers,
Kris.

Meh. I'd shy away from ATX "bench supplies". I don't know. They aren't terrible though.

[FenderBender]

For 50 bucks you can get an amprobe AM220 which is a very decent begginer meter

I own one. Yes, it is a simple meter, but it works well.

Amprobe has a few new meters that are also good. I would recommend the AM-250, AM-270, and AM-530.

I'm a big supporter of Amprobe. You might think I work for them by the stuff I say sometimes, but I'm serious, Amprobe makes some really good quality...and more importantly excellent value meters.

Thumbs up.

Here's my own teardown of an AM-270. $80-90 meter. Build quality and performance is of a meter in a much higher price bracket.

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/product-reviews-photos-and-discussion/teardown-amprobe-am-270-digital-multimeter/

[vk6zgo]

^^As Mike said.

You mentioned that you had several non-functioning kits that you assembled, correct? Well, get your multmeter and startout by trying to fix them so they do work. Good troubleshooting practice, you have the schematics I'm sure, and you can ask for assistance on here. There is nothing better than trying to figure out your own mistakes.

Chris

I agree with both this post & Mike's.

Making kits saying,"That doesn't work!",& chucking them in  the junk box is not the way to learn.
Learn how to read schematics ,if you don't already know how,become familiar with component colour codes,& approach the thing as an
Electronic circuit.not as a "kit" that you build "by numbers".

Pulling Commercially made stuff apart gives you an insight into how things are put together in the real world.
Reputable Manufacturers will often make components & PCB tracks larger than strictly necessary in power circuits,whereas others do stupid things like using undersized components & tracks---you'll recognise them by the burnt bits!!

I would advise against trying to design things until you have built  & understood a few examples of other people's designs.("Zombie" type construction doesn't make it!)
This is a common mistake by beginners on this forum.
They see other members designing things,who have either years of experience as Techs or EEs ,or are well into their Uni EE course  & think they should be able to do the same,although they have very little theoretical knowledge.

Breadboards!---- I hate 'em!
But that's just me,& I'm a grumpy old sod!

[Simon]

Oh I like breadboards, well when I start but it soon becomes a mess when I try changing stuff I think breadboarding itself is a skill

[dcel]

Oh I like breadboards, well when I start but it soon becomes a mess when I try changing stuff I think breadboarding itself is a skill

Yes, Breadboarding IS a skill that takes many years of "rip-out and re-do" to be proficient at. 

Another trick to breadboarding is to have multiple "buss bars", IE the power and ground rails that you never have enough of. I suggest having a minimum of two dual buss bars on each side. It makes having +- supplies easier as well as having like 3v3 5v 12v Gnd available. And label them accordingly to prevent mistakes.

@OP - As Dave says,  "I hope your project doesn't work the first time!"

Chris

[IanB]

Hey shane, sorry for my ninja sudden appearance, my ban just got lifted...
The meter you showed isn't any good for 50AUD, in fact for 50USD you could do much better for a 59.70USD UT61E from DealExtreme, it's really good.

Don't listen to the idiot. What matters is to consider why that meter might be good and why it might be bad. Then make an informed decision.

Why it might be good: it can measure inductance. Very few multimeters can do that. Doesn't matter for a beginner if it is only an "approximate" measurement. Normally you would have to pay $100's for an LCR meter to measure inductance.

Why it might be bad: it is not autoranging, meaning you have to choose the correct range for the value you are measuring. Does this matter? Not very much. Actually, it sometimes is preferable for the meter not to change scales in the middle of a measurement. You are learning, and you will learn how to use a meter to take measurements.

Maybe the accuracy is not brilliant. Does this matter? Not a jot. In much of industry a measurement to +/- 3% is as good as you can get. If you get 0.5% you are laughing.

That meter looks rather fun. Get it, play with it, learn from it, enjoy it. Don't pretend it is the best thing out there, but rather learn by experiment why it may not be. But don't for a moment think it is not useful.

[shane_95]

Don't listen to the idiot. What matters is to consider why that meter might be good and why it might be bad. Then make an informed decision.

Why it might be good: it can measure inductance. Very few multimeters can do that. Doesn't matter for a beginner if it is only an "approximate" measurement. Normally you would have to pay $100's for an LCR meter to measure inductance.

Why it might be bad: it is not autoranging, meaning you have to choose the correct range for the value you are measuring. Does this matter? Not very much. Actually, it sometimes is preferable for the meter not to change scales in the middle of a measurement. You are learning, and you will learn how to use a meter to take measurements.

Maybe the accuracy is not brilliant. Does this matter? Not a jot. In much of industry a measurement to +/- 3% is as good as you can get. If you get 0.5% you are laughing.

That meter looks rather fun. Get it, play with it, learn from it, enjoy it. Don't pretend it is the best thing out there, but rather learn by experiment why it may not be. But don't for a moment think it is not useful.

wow thanks, I now know what to look in a multimeter