how to learn the art of electronics

[stoica adrian]

Hello,

Im 27 year old and i  am shameful to say that i work like an electronics technician since 2010 , but i know only how to make what other have design, or to repair some simple stuff. I know some of the basic in electronics, Voltage, Current, resistors, Capacitors, Inductors, Opamp, how a power supply and SMPS work, and a little bit forme digital electronics and programing arduino, but all of this at a simple level. Now, I have on my table the art of electronics 3, and i want to learn electronics design ( i dont have the possibility to follow an technical university) frome this magnificent book. I don't want to wait for student book which seems to appear very soon. The problem fore me  is that i dont know how i  should do, because i will like to combine theory with practice, and the book is full of theory, but i dont know how to take the practical stuff from her.
I attach a picture with mai lab, so you will know what are my testing capability fore making projects .

Big sorry for my english, and i accept every critic for the fact that i work from 5 years like electronics , and now i say this. 
If you have a different approach for me, please say

[Cliff Matthews]

It looks like you have enough equipment and with that breadboard you could start experimenting with all the superb "Basics" video's from W2AEW here: https://www.youtube.com/user/w2aew/search?query=basics BTW, What country are posting from?

[Smokey]

That's all the gear you need to get started for sure.

Build an audio amplifier.

http://www.amazon.com/Designing-Audio-Power-Amplifiers-Cordell/dp/007164024X

[rx8pilot]

Pick a project.

Research the project.

Design the project.

Build the project.

Watch the project catch on fire.

Research the project.

Design the project.

Build the project.

Watch it not work, but not on fire.


Research the project.

Design the project.

Build the project.

Watch it work as expected.

Sounds silly, but choosing a project that you are interested in and not stopping until it works is how you learn fast. In the beginning, you don't even know what questions to ask. As you progress, some challenges will seem insurmountable. Stop. Think. Research. Read. Guess. Experiment. Until you can see the answer.

When all else fails, post an intelligent question. Someone here has probably struggled with the same thing and will help you along. I learned very little until I created a project that I really wanted to work. I knew what I wanted in the end and had to learn the details as i went along. I broke my project down into little pieces and just started going until it worked. It wasn't pretty, but I learned by doing and had a ton of fun.

[VK5RC]

+1 with going with a project/s that you are interested in, if it doesn't work first time you will learn even more!

[JacquesBBB]

Try also to make less fuzzy pictures. This will help you to communicate on this forum.

[doobedoobedo]

rx8pilot hit the nail on the head.

[kg4arn]

+1 on all of the above.
My recommendation:  AOE 2E with the student guide. Not sure what 3E student guide will be like, but the first half of the 2E student guide is an excellent lab course in fundamental analog electronics.

[JacquesBBB]

I agree with kg4arn.

I also  thought of giving this advice. The 2nd edition student guide is very good  for lab practice. It can be found on very low price on Amazon (South asia edition). 

[TheUnnamedNewbie]

Another simple trick that can help you is try to study the things you build (the ones designed by others). Try and figure out why it works. After a while you can try and see what happens when you replace parts (Ie, the original designer used filter type A in the design, what happens when I replace it with a similarly speced filter of type B?).

Oh, and when building things and measuring, try to force yourself to first predict and write down what you expect to see before you measure it. It's easy to say "oh, this waveform, yeah, I was kinda expecting that". By thinking about it ahead of time you are forcing yourself to think about what does what and how it does it.

[tggzzz]

rxpilot's comments are correct.

You should try and understand the theory of what "ought" to happen, and what might prevent it happening. Theory without practice is mental masturbation, practice without theory is blind fumbling.

I would add Piet Hein's memorable grook:

The secret of success
Is easy to express:
Err
and err
and err again,
but less
and less
and less

There's a slightly different version at http://www.archimedes-lab.org/grooks.html which I ignore since it doesn't scan as well!