Love electronics... but lacking ideas

[jimjam]

Hi, I love electronics and the idea of it and all. However I can't think of what I can do / make.

I love soldering and used to be pretty good at it. I love designing digital circuits (although I need a refresher since it's been a long time ago). But in this day and age, everything can be bought for not a lot of money (smart phones, little gadgets etc)... what can possibly excite me to learn electronics again? I lack ideas. I don't want to just build flickering lights circuits... I'd like it to be something useful. For example, perhaps a home automation system. But such things are now already modularised, zigbee, insteon etc. All ready made just need to be hooked up. That's not "electronics" really.

Another example: I have a pool heating system, the one with black pipes running on the roof to be heated by the sun. It has a controller that activates the pump based on temperature sensors on the roof pipes and from the pool water. This controller blew up. So I thought hmmmm.... I could probably build one myself... but... simply replacing it would cost far less in money and time.

So what do you guys do with this thing called "electronics"? Do you design things? If so, what do you design? What things can I try to make that would be exciting / interesting / useful?

[Kjelt]

Well first I would advise you to get rid of the everything can be bought sentence in your head.
Yeah it might get bought but:
  - it does not do 100% what you need to be done, and 90% is that good enough for you?
  - most systems are closed, so adding some of your own stuff ain't going to happen or it needs so many frustrating workarounds
  - you did not create it, you miss the fun and inside glory of having created someting yourself 

Some projects from the past years:
- soft start for my subwoofers since they tripped the fusebox
- hometheater automation with triggers: amps start up, shutters go down, screen goes down etc.
- DUT box for the hobby (box that enables and disables big power relay for power of the device under test).

That said, some of my current projects where I lack the time to finish them so they keep on going and going 
- LED lighting system, simple DC Leddrivers controlled by easy RS485 based protocol. Led lamps are in place, drivers finished now I still need a wife friendly nice looking probably LCD touch color lcd control panels that can also function for future projects.
- simple garagae led lighting system, each lamp has a small pir sensor and works automatically with simple dimming time out and overrule. Also RTC to dim lights after 20.00 in house not to wake up the kid who is asleep. And dim very very low after 0.00 so you don;t wake up too much if you have to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. Perhaps replace/expand with red (night vision u boot idea) lighting instead not to wake up at all 

Future projects:
- home data sensing (doors, windows, shutters, light, humidity, temperature) still in the thought area, this will take so much time esp. the wiring etc. that it probably be stuck in the thought process but that's ok.
- Adding IP interface to existing projects

None project based hobby activities:
messing around with STM8 and ARM microcontrollers and reading the forum/literature and playing with new components etc. etc.

[VK5RC]

Ever thought about getting your Amateur radio licence?  Lots of different areas,  quite a big international community of like minded people,  quite a few willing to help if needed. E. G.   Build stuff then talk through a satellite,  bounce signals off the moon. 
Main thing is that it has to interest you. :-)

[vk3yedotcom]

Maybe browse the Talking Electronics website.

You'll find hundreds of circuits that could be built in an afternoon.

Some of them do useful stuff and are cheap.

That may give inspiration.

Also agree with vk5rc above. Videos on just a few aspects of radio below!

[abaxas]

Build a processor out of 74 logic.

Should keep you busy for a few days/weeks/months.

[jpb]

As you say, standard things like amplifiers and so on are available very cheaply and in neat cases so building your own one is worth it from an educational and satisfaction point of view but not from the point of view of the end product.

I'm doing electronics for practical self education so my projects are somewhat random, my latest is to a GPSDO but it would be easier and probably cheaper just to buy a Trimble off e-bay but I'm enjoying the learning process of doing my own approach.

Why not combine electronics with something like photography? One project in my future list is to try to design and build some detector and flash trigger system to photograph the bats that occasionally fly around near my house at dusk. I've seen pictures in the paper by an amateur who got some spectacular pictures of Owls using a home-made flash setup.

[peter.mcnair]

(Years ago) I really liked building oscilloscopes...an oscilloscope has a bit of everything, and can be simple or complex...the 3BP1 CRT remains one of the best Christmas presents I have ever had (in 1979)... You can learn a lot with a cathode ray tube  I guess for me it is the learning side of things which is satisfying...

[AG6QR]

Second the suggestion about amateur radio.  True, most hams buy their radios, but many others build them, or build accessories.  Some build from kits, but many others design and build from scratch.  There are many niches in amateur radio, including microwaves, television, various digital modulation schemes, ultra-low-power, satellites, etc.  Some hams are more interested in operating equipment than building it, but there are definitely builders out there to connect with.

It's true that there are tremendous economies of scale in electronics, so it's hard to make a one-off project cost-competitive with a mass produced item, particularly not if you value your development time.  So the solution is either to ignore the economics and build something for entertainment value, or else to find a niche where there IS no commercial offering.  If you find a niche that has appeal to a few hundred hobbyists, maybe you can market and sell your device, or put the design on-line and enjoy feedback from others who build it.

[jimjam]

I've never got into HAM / amateur radio, and I'm surprised that people are still doing it in this Internet age I think I'd like to tinker with some home automation / smart home stuff, but that's mainly using arduino / raspberry pi putting things together. Hardly "electronics", but it's a start I guess.

[true]

I've never got into HAM / amateur radio, and I'm surprised that people are still doing it in this Internet age

Have you ever had the internet go out?

That said, modern amateur radio is mostly about being old and talking to other old farts about what you did over and over, somewhat trying to find the next rig, and a little bit about the electronics. Of course, that's not all there is to it...

[jimjam]

Have you ever had the internet go out?

That's called apocalypse

[Dago]

I seem to have the exact opposite problem. I have about 9000 project ideas and I get excited about a new one before I finish the old ones! I think it was called polyprojectitis

[electrophiliate]

You mentioned you love soldering. Ebay has a lot of cheap kits these days which might offer some inspiration. It was actually high voltage stuff that got me back into electronics though after years of hiatus. Youtube and Dave's enthusiastic videos also helped a little in rekindling the love.

[Stonent]

I seem to have the exact opposite problem. I have about 9000 project ideas and I get excited about a new one before I finish the old ones! I think it was called polyprojectitis

Yeah or I tend to come up with ideas, get forum advice and then come up with another idea.

[jamesglanville]

If you like soldering and digital circuits, I would highly recommend the project I'm working on: http://zx80.netai.net/grant/cpm/index.html (not my page, but the instructions I'm following)

It's a Z80 based system that runs CP/M, and only needs 8 chips, which you can get on ebay/scrounge from very old systems if you got lucky. I've learnt more about digital logic and processors than I ever did at uni, and I'm sure I'll find some use for it, even if it is just as a controller for something simple.

[StrangeloveMD]

Reflow ovens are fun.

[FrankenPC]

I had the exact same problem.  Complete lack of ideas.  Then I realized something fundamental.  I love electronics for electronics sake. 

When I was very young, my dad would bring me to the UCSD physics lab where he worked.  I spent time around old Tektronix 7000 mainframes, Fluke multimeters, components, EXPERIMENTS.  I loved the smell and the feel of it all.  That's what attracts me to it.  The mystery and the majesty. 

In other words, I don't have to justify my hobby to anyone, myself included (I am my own harshest critic).  Whatever I do with electronics, I really enjoy. Even if it's something as simple as learning how to master a piece of test equipment.  The hands on feel, the visuals, even the smells are enough.  Just play! 

[Fred27]

I wish I had more time than ideas! I struggle to find the time to do stuff. I would recommend two things:

1. Take into account the fact that the goal of any hobby is to have fun. It doesn't need to be cheaper or better than what you could buy. You don't even need to end up with a completed item - although it's usually nice to. You're "result" is to enjoy the process, and hopefully learn something along the way.

2. Have kids. You'll never have enough free time again!

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[22swg]

I got that "polyprojectitis" seems no cure....  What electronic project ?  combine it with another interest... music, gardening , photography, art , robotics, security, motoring... 1000's of things.
Just do it...

[Hydrawerk]

Hi, I love electronics and the idea of it and all. However I can't think of what I can do / make.

Have you seen that wonderful component tester designed by Markus Frejek and Karl-Heinz Kubbeler? You could build one. 
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/transistor-testers/msg393536/#msg393536

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/$20-lcr-esr-transistor-checker-project/msg433960/#msg433960


http://www.ebastlirna.cz/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=56317&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=105

[Hydrawerk]

Official webpage:
http://www.mikrocontroller.net/svnbrowser/transistortester/

[jimjam]

If you like soldering and digital circuits, I would highly recommend the project I'm working on: http://zx80.netai.net/grant/cpm/index.html (not my page, but the instructions I'm following)

It's a Z80 based system that runs CP/M, and only needs 8 chips, which you can get on ebay/scrounge from very old systems if you got lucky. I've learnt more about digital logic and processors than I ever did at uni, and I'm sure I'll find some use for it, even if it is just as a controller for something simple.

Thanks! That does sound interesting, but I think I'd like to look at creating / soldering an arduino system or a raspberry pi. I haven't looked into those things yet. Google... here I come.

That component tester looks pretty cool too!!!

[22swg]

I don't want to dampen your enthusiasm ... start small-ish and work towards  MCU projects,  If you put together a complex  circuit and it fails to work ,  you wont have the experience to fix it , could halt your "love" in its tracks... this comes from 44 years experience.

[Rigby]

I've found that replicating the simple stuff that AfroTechMods describes on his YouTube channel has been excellent practice and has been very inspiring to me.  A function generator, scope, breadboard, and components has been very educational for me indeed.

[oldway]

I suggest you to buy: Encyclopedia of Electronic Circuits [Vol 1 to 6] - R. Graf (TAB, 1985)
TAB Books, Blue Ridge Summit , PA 17294-0840
Thousands of interesting schematics.

[Hydrawerk]

I found that wonderful book here. http://worldtracker.org/media/library/Reference/Encyclopedia's/Graf%20-%20Encyclopedia%20of%20Electronic%20Circuits%20-%20Vol%206.pdf
Please note that there might be a copyright violation. I am no an owner of that web www.worldtracker.org.

[Hydrawerk]

What about building a simple little vehicle?

[jimjam]

Thanks for the wonderful project ideas and book suggestions. I agree - start simple I wonder if I should start a new thread on books... but here it is for now:

I am currently planning on getting these books:

Practical Electronics for Inventors, Third Edition by Paul Scherz
Link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0071771336

I'm not sure about this book:
Digital Design and Verilog HDL Fundamentals by Joseph Cavanagh
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1420074156
 I am looking for a basic to intermediate digital design book as a refresher. I studied it at university a long time ago but back then I haven't heard of HDL / Verilog, so I am curious about it. I'm not sure if this is the best book to re-fresh on digital design basics.



Circuit Analysis: Theory and Practice by Allan H. Robbins
Link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1133281001
This is mainly theoretical stuff that I think I used to learn at uni too, but have forgotten most of.

Not sure if I'm on the wrong path here by picking these books.

I will also read that encyclopedia of electronics circuits, thanks for the PDF link! It sounds interesting

[corrado33]

My inspiration for my designs are my hobbies! When I was into fishtanks, I wanted to build a "Moonlight" circuit that would mimic the phases of the moon and have the "moonlight" "rise" on one side of the tank and "set" on the other. I actually did it, but I didn't know how to use real time clocks then, so my timing was always off. I even integrated "soft start/stop" lights so that when the timer for the main lights went off, smaller LEDs would kick in and slowly dim (like a sunset), then in the morning the small lights would come on first then the entire project would reset when the main lights came on (I used a photodiode). The main light timer was one that plugged into the wall, I didn't want to mess with 120V in my little project box.  Actually, I lied, I believe I used an LED as a photodiode. Interesting stuff.

Then, when I was into cars, I build an H-Bridge for a seatbelt motor (before I knew what an H-bridge was). And I did it with relays! It was much cheaper than buying the $100+ part. Then a few weeks later I found a wrecked car in the junkyard and got the part off of that for a few bucks! But my circuit worked like a treat! Wouldn't call it much of a circuit though.

Other times, inspiration comes directly from fun things. I got into robots for a while, but was quickly overwhelmed. I actually built a hexagonal 4 wheeled omnidirectional bot, ordered the electronics for it, then never built the board. I was having trouble with making PCBs (and I moved). (I refused to use arduino for the sake of "I should just learn the damn stuff myself."  )

My current project stems from necessity. I wanted a display that I could connect to any of my microcontroller projects and help me debug things, so that's what I'm building.

Anyway, take your hobbies and think of something you could improve. Or think of something you could improve in your daily life!

[lapm]

I sometimes get going from learning something new. Or atleast trying to learn something i havent done before... Even if my experiment fails, theres always something to learn from it that improves my skills in long run...

Sometimes i just out of curioisity take small challenges, do somethign simple just becouse you can. It docent matter if someone else mass produces it cheaper. I make it just becouse i can or i need some functionality that is not there on ready made item...

[jamesglanville]

One other thing I thought of - clocks are a nice project. Hundreds of ways to make them suit what you want to learn about, whether you want to control a weird display like a VFD (my favourite), do the whole thing in discrete logic, or with a microcontroller. Best of all though, you can't really have enough clocks and then you get to have your project sitting around and not just stuffed in a drawer somewhere when it's done.

[M0BSW]

How about buying broken electronics on ebay and fixing them , a lot can be gained by that, this is the road I've taken.

[vk3yedotcom]

Another thought is keep things simple. 

Look for circuits you can build with just one transistor. 

These include a surprising number of oscillators, amplifiers, test gear, radio receivers, transmitters etc. 

As one example, the video at shows how I spent a morning doing range tests on a milliwatt level 1 transistor VHF radio transmitter. 

You then go on a walk (with a receiver) to see how far the signal goes.   Even a 1 transistor transmitter can be heard several kilometres away if built right.

[jimjam]

Wow more great ideas! I'll also be writing ideas down. The simple one transistor circuits is an awesome idea for learning the basics. I can't wait to get my breadboard and other stuff.

[macboy]

Have you ever had the internet go out?

That's called apocalypse

*IPocalypse*