A mouse explores a hawks nest

[csmaven]

I’m a professional software engineer who is interested in expanding my skill set in electronics. I’ve been exposed to digital circuits through the embedded computing class I took back in college, but that’s about the extent of it.
As the title suggests, I’m feeling a little bit apprehensive of a self-taught approach to electronics because the worst-case scenario for getting something wrong in this field is death. At the same time, picking up a second degree just for a hobby isn’t very practical. My work schedule just wouldn’t cooperate.

In addition, it has become a cultural thing for people to post nonsense. There are zillions of videos out there on electronics, but separating those who know what they are talking about from those who don’t isn’t as straight forward for a beginner. From what I’ve seen, most videos concentrate on a happy path circuit. For example, a video might show the barebones way of controlling an ac powered light bulb with a relay from a microcontroller. Great, but what about all the edge cases? Lighting strikes do happen for example.

I suppose my question is what is a structured way to learn this subject that’s also robust enough to provide an understanding of edge cases and how to handle them? Are there any books just on common edge cases and patterns to handle them?

[barshatriplee]

I believe you have already studied Digital electronics at the University. Try to study OPAMP, BJTs etc. If you already have studied them too, just brush up on what you know. Then move to microcontroller and Arduino.As you mentioned, there are many edge cases to consider when designing circuits. It's important to follow established best practices for safety and reliability, such as using appropriate fuses, avoiding high-voltage and high-current circuits without proper training and equipment, and using proper grounding techniques.As you begin to work with physical circuits, start with small-scale experiments and build up to more complex designs as you gain confidence. Always work in a well-ventilated area, wear appropriate safety equipment (such as safety glasses), and avoid touching live circuits with bare hands.

[Kim Christensen]

Personally I'd find learning via videos to be too tedious and slow.
The ARRL handbook, while focused on radio, is a good reference for the basics about resistors, capacitors, transistors, etc. You can find older PDF versions for free online.

[Doctorandus_P]

I recommend to just stay away from anything mains voltage related for quite some time (maybe one or two years).
I find it quite surprising that a lot of beginners in electronics want to start with things like:

For example, a video might show the barebones way of controlling an ac powered light bulb with a relay from a microcontroller.

Just start with some breadboards and some small uC module that fits on a breadboard (forget that horrible "arduino" form factor). And then either use a lab power supply, batteries or wall warts. A (simple) lab power supply with adjustable current limit is a great start for powering your DIY electronics. The current limit is quite often the difference between letting out the magic  smoke because of some faulty wiring, or just fixing the error and continuing.

For analog stuff. Start with the simple things. Get a NE555 to work, build a power supply with an LM317. Play around with some jelly bean opamps.

Also, do keep in mind that you will make mistakes and blow stuff up. From that perspective it's great to buy for example an assortment box with 600 transistors. (Which cost around EUR10). TO-92 transistors are great for breadboards, but when designing PCB's, I find SMT parts easier to work with.

There are also many beginners books for electronics, but I have not looked at them for many years. A simple approach is to just scrounge a bunch of them, start reading and throw it in the dump if you don't like that particular book and get on to the next. There is a lot of difference in quality of books, but there is also a lot of variation in people and the way they learn. Some prefer a hands on approach with examples, others prefer a more theoretical approach. Video's can be great for presenting a project and finding interesting stuff, but I usually find them a very bad source for learning. Video's are too passive for that. You have to do things yourself to learn and grow understanding.

Electronics is also a very diverse field. From power electronics to digital stuff. PCB design, soldering techniques, safety and reliability etc. Getting a DC motor to run with a battery and a switch is simple, but writing and debugging a FOC algorithm for a 3-phase BLDC motor from scratch can easily take up a few months of your (spare) time.

[Infraviolet]

Most of the interesting things to produce in electronics are low voltage stuff, the "death" which you pay if you get things wrong is the death of a £0.5 chip ( probably now £3 since the chip supply crisis) via the release of its "magic smoke". The only time you need high voltages is if you are trying to automate the control of an existing appliance which runs on high voltages, that isn't the sot of thing you'd need to do often. If you do thats a matter of careful planing and high quality components on the high voltage side of any relays or solid state switching devices.

You might find microcontrollers a good introduction to electronics, things like an arduino board (you can prototype with it then put the same programemd code on smaller chips for a finished project). That would let you be in the familiar land of software, whilst getting it to interact with more analogue circuitry.

Op amps and logic gates can be good things to look in to, mostly you're thinking about how to get from a physical quantity you want to measure to an electrical rading, how to process that electrical reading in to something strong enough for the arduino to interpret, and then how to get actions ot of your program via electrical means in to physical world actions (motors, lights...).

[wizard69]

Kf you have some sort of CS degree then you most likely have the required math and science knowledge, so you need to pursue the practical electronics.   While not a DIY program, if you get a copy of the US Navies old NEETS program you can learn a lot of the required knowledge following that program.   This is rather old material however the basics do not change and can get you started.

It has been way to long since I took any sort of electronics classes so I really can't suggest any other text to get you started.   I'm sure others will chime in.   Of course these days there is YouTube and other online sources.

As for death that is a real possibility and can sneak up on you if you are not careful.  Even audio systems, amplifiers and such, can kill.    Unfortunately I do not know of a comprehensive program explaining good safety practices.   Frankly this is something that is needed, a Youtube video or a few might be the modern approach.

[EPAIII]

Death or even severe injury is not a big possibility if you stick with Voltages under 48 or 24 Volts. And 99.99999999999% of electronics can be learned at those low Voltages. Buy a commercial power supply that has one or more outputs in the range under those levels and you will be OK. And don't play around with 115 or 230 Volt AC mains or higher AC or DC Voltages until you know what you are doing and can feel confident about it.

And before you graduate to those higher Voltage levels, LEARN THE SAFETY RULES. In a 45+ year career in electronics, I never heard of anyone being killed if they followed the safety rules.