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Electronics => Beginners => Topic started by: BlueShadow on April 28, 2013, 05:12:55 pm

Title: Beginners Tutorial
Post by: BlueShadow on April 28, 2013, 05:12:55 pm
Hi,
I like to start with elektronics again (I had some basic electronics in school ages ago) Is there a good tutorial which a beginner can follow out there?
I did a couple kits and I did some µController programming(Arduino, ...) But what I would love to be able to do is to learn to make my own basic circuits.
(Stuff I would love to be able to do: Powersupplies (AC to DC with like 2-4 diffrent set constant voltages), Basic transistor and oppamp circuits, eliminating the µC for basic things like replacing it with a timer (555 I believe)
At least in my opinion thats pretty basic but everything I found so far is either use the kit and solder it. Or look in the datasheets of a gezillion parts get 2-4 College degrees and 20 years of experience. Both options are not for me since I only want to do it as a hobby option 2 is not good enough. and option one well there is no fun in that.
Title: Re: Beginners Tutorial
Post by: Alana on April 28, 2013, 05:25:06 pm
Simple answer is: google for basic electronics youtube videos - for example "op-amps 101" or "op-amps basics". This gives you understanding of basic building blocks of electronics and then you may try to put those blocks together to form a more complex devices.
And - don't forget about basics of basics - Ohm's Law, Voltage and Current Laws, voltage dividers, how inductors and capacitors works, resonant circuits, diodes, transistors. Everyone of those topics was covered many times in some youtube videos.
Treat those videos as if they were lectures at school and make notes. I think this is one of the best way for self-learning electronics.
Title: Re: Beginners Tutorial
Post by: BlueShadow on April 28, 2013, 06:21:20 pm
could you guys point me to a good series which has more than one lesson. One of the main problems is what to do next and where should I start so a vedeoseries would really help. Someone who speaks a proper english would be helpfull too. After all english is only my second language.
Title: Re: Beginners Tutorial
Post by: Bored@Work on April 28, 2013, 06:38:21 pm
Why not read a book?
Title: Re: Beginners Tutorial
Post by: BlueShadow on April 28, 2013, 07:21:06 pm
if you got a good one I would be happy to read it.
Title: Re: Beginners Tutorial
Post by: M0BSW on April 28, 2013, 07:27:09 pm
 The Art of Electronics , has been a bible for me.
Title: Re: Beginners Tutorial
Post by: kxenos on April 28, 2013, 07:38:39 pm
+1 for the art of electronics. There is a thread that all available resources are presented and discussed. About video lectures, watch MITx 6.002 videos.
Title: Re: Beginners Tutorial
Post by: MacAttak on April 28, 2013, 08:39:53 pm
www.allaboutcircuits.com (http://www.allaboutcircuits.com) is quite good. Not as good as some of the others (it has some unfinished chapters), but still pretty good and it is free. You can read it online, or you can download each of the six volumes as a PDF and read them that way. A lot of the core material on basic circuits (analog and digital) is fairly well-written and explained clearly. It is written by a group of people, not a single author, and sometimes it can be jarring to go from one chapter to another when they are written by different people with different teaching styles.

Anyhow, you want some decent learning material like that, and also if you follow the forum conversations for a while you will pick up additional little things here and there and it all starts coming together eventually if you stick with it.
Title: Re: Beginners Tutorial
Post by: johnboxall on April 28, 2013, 11:23:13 pm
if you got a good one I would be happy to read it.

"Make: Electronics" - http://shop.oreilly.com/product/9780596153755.do (http://shop.oreilly.com/product/9780596153755.do)
then
"Practical Electronics for Inventors, Third Edition" - by Simon Monk and Paul Scherz

Title: Re: Beginners Tutorial
Post by: Dave on April 29, 2013, 01:43:35 am
I recently invested my money in 3 books:
The amount of knowledge piled in these books is just amazing. These books combined cover everything from circuit design, board layout techniques, all the calculations,... They are a really great source of information, I reach for them whenever I'm designing a circuit.

The next book I'm getting is The Art of Electronics (I'm currently waiting for the 3rd edition - it hopefully comes out this year). :)
Title: Re: Beginners Tutorial
Post by: peter.mitchell on April 29, 2013, 02:38:39 pm
Why not read a book?

I tried reading a book once, it was horrible!
Title: Re: Beginners Tutorial
Post by: Bored@Work on April 29, 2013, 05:15:56 pm
Why not read a book?

I tried reading a book once, it was horrible!

Did you try holding it upright instead of upside down?
Title: Re: Beginners Tutorial
Post by: MrPlacid on April 29, 2013, 05:36:48 pm
...
get 2-4 College degrees and 20 years of experience.
...

Cheaper way to go is to google "pdf .edu electronics". You will find lab handouts for college courses. Sometimes class notes and tests are made available (hehehe to save $$ on papers.)  It will start costing money if you decided to buy the college textbook that goes with the materials.
Title: Re: Beginners Tutorial
Post by: Anson on April 29, 2013, 05:55:21 pm
I happen to really like Make's Collin Cunningham on You Tube. He is a bit geeky but in a good way. They are short videos with very simple explainations. 
Title: Re: Beginners Tutorial
Post by: midasgossye on April 29, 2013, 06:13:18 pm
I watched the tutorials of make and Afrotechmods

Link: https://www.youtube.com/user/Afrotechmods (https://www.youtube.com/user/Afrotechmods)
Title: Re: Beginners Tutorial
Post by: w2aew on April 29, 2013, 11:13:31 pm
You may also want to review some of the videos on my channel.  While most of them are a geared around test & measurement, there are several basic electronics tutorials as well.  For example, there are several that discuss capacitors and inductors, and bipolar transistor amplifiers, and op amps, and PLL circuits, etc.

https://www.youtube.com/w2aew (https://www.youtube.com/w2aew)
Title: Re: Beginners Tutorial
Post by: TerminalJack505 on April 30, 2013, 01:59:38 am
IIT has a ton of video (and web) lectures online (http://nptel.iitm.ac.in/).

The instructors speak English but they may be hard for some people to understand.
Title: Re: Beginners Tutorial
Post by: Lui on May 02, 2013, 11:38:53 am
try this

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Electronics-Dummies-Edition-Dickon-Ross/dp/0470681780/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1367494541&sr=8-1&keywords=for+dummies+electronics (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Electronics-Dummies-Edition-Dickon-Ross/dp/0470681780/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1367494541&sr=8-1&keywords=for+dummies+electronics)