Ressources to learn electronics with practice

[boudier.tho@gmail.com]

Hi,

I have the project for this year to learn about electronics. Mainly, I have some ideas of little projects I want to do, and I think that this is a very useful skill.
I am a beginner but only to some extent: as I followed scientific studies I already have the basics about electricity: what is a resistor, how to use the basic tools, etc. I already manipulate electronic boards but it was a very long time ago.

When I look up here what kind of things are recommended for begginers, I found either people saying "this book is great (1200 pages)" or "this youtube dude is great (4000 videos)". I think that what is really appealing to me is not spending a huge amount of time learning by reading or watching, but at the same time by doing it.
I remember that I learned Python with a website providing ideas of small project like "We have a .xls file, do this treatment", then providing links on what kind of libraries could do the job. Mainly, it was providing a problem, then pointing to useful directions to explore. I would like to do something similar for electronics as I feel like this approach fits what I want to do (small things). Have you heard of something similar for electronics?

Also I heard a lot about the arduino, what do you think about it? Would it fit what I'm looking for?

[pcprogrammer]

First of all welcome to the forum.

Second might I suggest requesting a change of your display name. It is your email address and can lead to unwanted emails. If you like this, you can contact Simon via a personal message to get it done. https://www.eevblog.com/forum/profile/?u=58

Third I would suggest to think of something you like to build, like an audio amplifier or an automated plant watering system and then search on google for some information about that. It is difficult to suggest some project to learn electronics without knowing what your interests are.

Arduino certainly can provide a lot of fun, but it is hardly electronics that is learned from it. Connecting a couple of modules and write code for it is more about learning to use microcontrollers.

There are lots of sites about Arduino, like for example this one: https://all3dp.com/2/most-useful-arduino-projects/

[PixieDust]

I have found that learning through practice, takes more time than learning through 1200 pages or watching those 4000 videos.

[Grandchuck]

https://www.circuitspecialists.com/blog/electronics-projects/#:~:text=Best%20Beginner%20Electronics%20Projects%201%20Rain%20Alarm%20This,8%20Portable%20Boombox%20from%20Scratch%20...%20More%20items

[armandine2]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Make-Electronics-Discovery-Charles-Platt/dp/0596153740

Make Electronics - may be worth checking out?

[rstofer]

Electronics is a vast field so it's fairly important to focus on some smaller aspect.  It seems that Arduino has captured a lot of attention over the past 17 years and it's a pretty good place to start.  Much of electronics these days revolves around microcontrollers and code. So, here's an Arduino Starter Kit.  It comes with all the code and really decent (but brief) tutorials.

https://www.amazon.com/ELEGOO-Project-Tutorial-Controller-Projects/dp/B01D8KOZF4

There's a lot of education in getting 7-segment displays to work.  Motor drivers are also important.  If you do the experiments presented with the kit, you will be a long way into electronics education.

https://medium.com/@shpigford/how-to-take-up-hobby-electronics-ae2a39fae765

Any of the Forrest Mims books such as:

https://www.amazon.com/Getting-Started-Electronics-Forrest-Mims/dp/0945053282

I don't know what community colleges might offer in the way of electronics but, whatever it is, it will be based on math.  It's not too bad for the first couple of semesters but it gets deeper the farther you go.  A good grounding (pun intended) in DC & AC circuits is always helpful.  Maybe, if theory is of any interest, focus on videos related to Kirchhoff's Laws along with Thevenin's Theorem and Norton's Theorem.  These are taught in the first semester DC Circuits class.  They are the backbone of electronics.

Digilent's Real Analog course comes with homework and quizzes:

https://learn.digilentinc.com/classroom/realanalog/

Khan Academy has a separate Electrical Engineering curriculum:

https://www.khanacademy.org/science/electrical-engineering

Of course, they also have the pre-eminent math program.

[bidrohini]

If you are interested in learning Arduino, you can start from here: https://www.theengineeringprojects.com/2021/01/introduction-to-arduino-uno-rev3.html
This is a good website for Arduino tutorials. You'll find lots of helpful posts in the Arduino section proceeding from easy to difficult. All experiments are quite well explained.

[jonpaul]

ARRL.org Ham Radio
lod.org Tesla and high voltage
maker magazine

enjoy

Jon

(EE since '68)