Begginer Questions, and hello!

[aaron]

Hey guys, just joined.

I used to be into electronics like, say 10 years ago (I'm 18 now), and messed with plenty of kits from Dick Smith, which has gone down the drain, but somehow wandered off, now I consider myself more of a software developer, programming in several different languages, but considering going back to electronics and keeping programming as a hobby (Plus programming chips, I guess?)

The area which I'm kind of completely new to is, basically everything. A bunch of bulbs, or leds connected to a few switches and stuff is simple of course, but caps, resistors, diodes, mosfets, transistors, what everything is measured in, etc, is still pretty vague. I want to get into the logic of things.

I'm still mucking around on the internet with this sort of stuff, but what would you guys recommend me do? Any particular videos? Are there any programs available that can simulate these components on a virtual PCB? Jaycar is a ripoff and I don't have much to spent at the moment

Anyway, that's it for my first post! 

[LEECH666]

Read a book like this one: http://openbookproject.net/electricCircuits/
or this one: ANALOG SEEKrets, DC to Daylight

For simulating circuits you can use LTspice, it's free. http://ltspice.linear.com/software/LTspiceIV.exe

[Kremmen]

And pick a simple project with not too many moving parts, and build it.

Remember the old saying:
The difference between theory and practice is, that in theory, theory and practice are the same thing, but in practice they are not.
When actually building a simple circuit (followed by successively less simple circuits) you will encounter things that are so easy to skim over in the virtual world of simulation and cerebration, but which hit you in the knee in practice.

P.S. welcome.

[Szewczykm]

Hi and welcome,

I'm about a year ahead of you.  I found as many online electronics intros that I could find.  Both video and written.  There are so many ways of explaining the same thing and there were times that it took me two or three attempts to fully understand something.

I started with Pinball.  I love the game and the machines and I started by fixing solid state pinball machines.  There are a lot of resources that give you repair tips.  I went from just repairing them to wanting to know why certain things were built the way they were.  I picked the power supply schematics and started trying to understand each bit along the way.

Then I started trying to replicate the parts on a bread board.  And I got to fully understand what I've heard Dave say on the Amp Hour, "Just build shit."  You can start with Kits but really I think it's better to start by picking a project, sourcing your parts, and you'll be amazed at how much you learn.  Especially when you fail.  I've learned a lot about transistors and mosfets by constantly picking the wrong thing and having stuff not work.

Jeri Ellsworth has a video about this:

Her tip is to try things and fail, that's how you learn more about it.

Some of Ben Heck's videos have de-mystified things.  Check out his recent Arduino 101 video.  This is a great starting point for microcontrollers: http://revision3.com/tbhs/arduinio-tutorial

Take what I'm saying with a grain of salt, I'm still in the beginning stages of teaching myself electronics, but sometimes it's nice to hear from someone who is has gotten a foothold but is still squarely in the beginning stages.

You can see some of my pinball exploration at my blog: http://www.dkpinball.com/DKWP/?page_id=72  It starts in March 2010.  I log a lot of my early learning there.

[Markybhoy]

Im just starting out and bought the book Make Electronics which looks fun but if you are on a low budget it will be pricy to work through as you need to buy a fair amount of stuff.

[juanfermed]

I am a newbie too, I have been into electronics for 6 years or so, and probably, as many people here might recommend, you might want to add some theory and practice to your way.
In a few words I recommend you to get and read  "The Art of Electronics" by Paul Horowitz and Winfield Hill, I thing it is not tooooo heavy for a beginner. I also recommend you to start making shit as Dave says, this is : open and dig into any electronic device you have, your cellphone maybe, or old electronics that are more interesting.

Also, I really really recommend you to see this online tutorials from Digilent: http://digilentinc.com/Classroom/RealAnalog/     They are so good and take by your hand so kindly that you will probably fall in love with electronics and try to understand and put in practice all you see. The videos are very practical from my point of view, they cover a lot of projects and nice/serious stuff and you also cover the theory behind it, that will then let you design your own things.

I just bought one Analog Discovery from them http://digilentinc.com/Products/Detail.cfm?NavPath=2,842,1018&Prod=ANALOG-DISCOVERY     a type of tool that will probably help you in the way, because it will let you understand how your circuits and devices behave in reality, and see what they are doing. I thing that for a beginer it is a great tool (and if you live in USA it is only $99). I have seen reviews that say it is good, other that it is not. I needed something like it and spend half my semester money to buy it

I hope you find the videos and the book interesting and they help you overcome some frustrations that you might encounter. 

[IanB]

If it were back in 1979 (when I was 18), I might have recommended Everyday Electronics, a UK hobby electronics mag aimed at the beginner. Every year they did a "Teach In" series going through electronics by experiment from the basics upwards. I've no idea if that title ever made it over to Australia, but if you ever come across back issues going cheap on ebay or something it wouldn't hurt to pick them up. Sure, things have changed and some things are obsolete now (TTL logic, anyone?), but the basics are just the same and there are modern equivalents to many obsolete parts. One nice thing about that mag is that the projects tended to use ordinary, jelly bean parts so I'm sure you could build many things now even if the circuits are 30 years old! 

[aaron]

Thanks for all the responses. I'm thinking maybe one or two books and some videos, but I think I'll pick it up. I did just order a breadboard and stack of pinned wires, that'll help a lot.

And yep, "Just build shit".. I like that lol

Thanks