How to make a "mini home lab" so I can do experiments at home.

[matrixofdynamism]

I have majored in Electronics Engineering but feel that there is much I lack. I wish to do practical experiments on my own. I feel that what I have been taught at the University and how much I have been taught is not high level enough, my teachers told me that its about "setting the foundation" at the University. But this is what I am being told since I was in Kindergarten, that the foundation is being set. So, what should I get to make a sort of "mini home lab" to play around with some simple not too complex circuits?

What should I do? I am quite interested in Digital Analogue circuit design and embedded systems.
I wish to do more self study but the books look so much more complicated than what my teacher taught me. How do I motivate myself to read them?? I mean read more on my own.

[Simon]

well it will depend on what you want to do. by the sounds of it your are probably best starting to design stuff and then see what tools you need and what skills. I am bar far not the most knowledgeable of people and most of my know how was not learnt in school. set yourself a goal and get the gear to do it and learn the things you need to know to do it.

[Rerouter]

the basics to get you designing most circuits is,

a multimeter, able to do capacitance and inductance, (fault finding).
an oscilloscope, digital, analog doesnt really matter, just as long as it has atleast 20Mhz,
a power supply, more often than not this only involves an LM317 and a off the shelf plugpack to start off with,
and a frequency generator / counter, once again the frequency is up to what you are aiming to design,

for instance if your playing with micros, a 100Mhz one would be ideal to act as a clock signal for testing, and prototyping,

and a bread board if you play with dip stuff,

all that should get you up and running,

[alm]

What about a soldering iron and some related tools? Dave did a video about how to set up a home electronics lab, but don't go overboard, you don't need a fully equipped lab for everything. A 100 MHz signal gen is going to cost a pretty penny, for example.

a multimeter, able to do capacitance and inductance, (fault finding).

Is there any decent DMM out there that does inductance, not to mention doing it properly? I would rather buy a DMM that's good at the basics (DCV/ACV/DCI/ACI/R) than be forced to buy a crappy one with many bells and whistles.

Try to do some simple projects on topics that interest and excite you. This will help with practical skills and being able to apply knowledge may help with your motivation.

[IanB]

I have majored in Electronics Engineering but feel that there is much I lack. I wish to do practical experiments on my own. I feel that what I have been taught at the University and how much I have been taught is not high level enough, my teachers told me that its about "setting the foundation" at the University. But this is what I am being told since I was in Kindergarten, that the foundation is being set. So, what should I get to make a sort of "mini home lab" to play around with some simple not too complex circuits?

What should I do? I am quite interested in Digital Analogue circuit design and embedded systems.
I wish to do more self study but the books look so much more complicated than what my teacher taught me. How do I motivate myself to read them?? I mean read more on my own.

A few points of puzzlement for me here.

"You have majored in" or "you have chosen to major in"? If you are just beginning, then setting the foundation is about right. If you are about to graduate, then the foundation is still being set, but that foundation should be at a much higher level.

You say you are interested in digital analogue circuit design--then which is it? Digital or analogue? They are quite different (if not entirely different).

Again, the question comes up, why on earth did you choose to study electrical engineering if you didn't already have an interest in the subject? An interest in the subject means that before you start your studies you already own a soldering iron, a multimeter, and have built various electronic projects. With electronics there is really no excuse. A child of 10 can do the basics:



I'm sorry to have to be the bearer of bad news, but if you are at university and asking this kind of question, there is no hope of getting a job in electronic design. Everyone else will be way ahead of you and will get the jobs first. Are you sure you are studying the right subject?

[vtl]

I would say most of the people in my uni degree didnt have electronics as a hobby. They may have found it interesting when exposed to it but didn't  really make the effort to pursue it more. At least this guy is taking the next step. Luckily, learning practical electronics will at least be faster having done all the electrical and electronic theory courses.

[IanB]

I would say most of the people in my uni degree didnt have electronics as a hobby. They may have found it interesting when exposed to it but didn't  really make the effort to pursue it more. At least this guy is taking the next step. Luckily, learning practical electronics will at least be faster having done all the electrical and electronic theory courses.

But how many of them actually got jobs in electronics design? If I were interviewing candidates, then any candidate who couldn't describe in considerable detail what projects they had designed and built and tested would be ruled out within the first few minutes of the interview.

[vtl]

I would say most of the people in my uni degree didnt have electronics as a hobby. They may have found it interesting when exposed to it but didn't  really make the effort to pursue it more. At least this guy is taking the next step. Luckily, learning practical electronics will at least be faster having done all the electrical and electronic theory courses.

But how many of them actually got jobs in electronics design? If I were interviewing candidates, then any candidate who couldn't describe in considerable detail what projects they had designed and built and tested would be ruled out within the first few minutes of the interview.

Probably none of them got jobs in electronics design. But like I said, at least this guy is taking the next step in learning more and aquiring stuff. It really doesn't take much time to build up some interesting project. Get it posted on a website like hackaday and you have some pretty good resume/interview material.

Regarding the OP here are the bare essentials:
Multimeter: I like the UT61E, best bang for buck, costs $60USD. Search for it on the forum, its not perfect but its very very good. You should probably have more than one multimeter
Soldering station: Get a soldering station, something that has interchangable tips and temperature control
Power supply: Get a power supply with constant voltage and constant current if you're the least bit serious. Those LM317 based power supplies work but IMO you'll get sick of it pretty quickly.
Breadboard: These cost peanuts on eBay. The ones with binding posts for power are convenient if you feel you use breadboards a lot.
Components: Get resistor kits, capacitor kits, and various common ICs like opamps, regulators. Also physical components such as headers, binding posts and connectors. Usually it takes quite a long time to aquire a good selection of components.
Salvaging components is also a good idea. Don't bother salvaging crap like common resistors, they aren't worth your time. But stuff like big capacitors, inductors, transformers and physical components are.
Microcontroller: If you want to get into micros get a board like the Arduino, MSP430 or PICkit

Don't rush out and buy an oscilloscope and think its the very first thing to get. Once you've got the bare essentials then you can start thinking about the more expensive stuff. A scope can be very, very useful but I beginners seem to think its a magical diagnostic tool that will instantly solves their circuit's problems.

Some of the stuff beyond bare essentials:
Oscilloscope
Hot air station
Bench multimeter
LCR meter
Signal Generator

[slateraptor]

I have majored in Electronics Engineering but feel that there is much I lack.

Forget electronics. Honesty and integrity will get you a lot further in life. =\

[vk6zgo]

I continuously see people doing Electronics Engineering saying they have to set up a lab at home,
If they are doing it for fun,or because they have a pet project they want to work on at home,then I can see that they might need one.

If,however,their University does not provide access to lab equipment as part of the course structure,then that is a profound indictment of the educational establishments involved.

OK,the days of Unis providing rooms full of large rotating machinery for people involved in the power side of Electrical Engineering may be gone,but surely Electronics students could be given a room with access to a few bits of basic test equipment.

After all,Chemistry students don't have to build labs at home!(Some may,but they are usually taken away by Police Officers,along with the ill-gotten gains,!)

[Mechatrommer]

if one has a very limited budget. i'll vote for oscilloscope and soldering iron as "a must first". without oscilloscope you cant do much more than battery and a light bulb project (dont be like me with years of idling having no clue of what the real ee is). if you run out of budget, you can do almost anything with the oscilloscope, ie volt/multimeter, resistance, capacitance, inductance meter, even impedance analyzer! but if you run out of budget buying fancy multimeter, lcr, esr etc gadgetry meter, but no oscilloscope, you can cross your finger while building 555 circuit. about soldering iron, you should know whats that for

[IanB]

I disagree that an oscilloscope is a "must first". You absolutely need a multimeter or two before that, and practically speaking you can do an enormous amount without an oscilloscope at all. It is a tool with specialized purposes, not a necessity.

[EEVblog]

How much are you willing to spend?
As other have said, a multimeter, an oscilloscope, a power supply, and a soldering iron are the basics.
How much you can pay for those rages from <$100 for the lot, to thousands...
Plus of course components and stuff to build things, and likely a breadboard.

Dave.

[Neganur]

Not sure what you're looking for since you say you majored in EE (so you're an engineer now right?) and want to do experiments on your own.

I don't think you need any equipment if you just want to 'experiment' but it really depends on what you wish to accomplish. When I was just a kid, I started with an 'experimenter system' - one of those toy boxes with lots of components and most importantly, an instruction manual with tons of guided projects that explained how the circuit worked. Those systems would start off explaining basics, and later take off and have you build simple to complex circuits. I don't mean to insult your intelligence, since those systems are made for children, I think those kits are awesome in the way that you may choose any circuit you want or just follow the guide. You'll learn and remember basic analogue circuits in no time - they also have digital systems but I never had one of those.

This is the very basic thing of course and today I would rather recommend to use a bread board. I never actually used bread boards back then since as an apprentice, I was supposed to use perf boards (the proper way with wires everywhere, not just pure solder bridges). It served a different purpose though and I clearly see the advantage of bread boards. Get a good quality one. Sooner or later you may want a solder iron but you don't need one if you only want to experiment on a bread board.

That was the kiddy version and you're an EE. I guess the next step is a multimeter to be able to troubleshoot when a circuit doesn't do what it's supposed to do. Any will do the trick since it's all low voltage. Once you get tired of buying batteries (or rechargeable batteries) start using a 9 V DC wall wart or a small AC one to play with bridge rectifier stuff etc. Maybe some fuse wire too, since you will blow stuff up.

If money isn't an issue, you may want to acquire the gear the others suggested. You can get cheap used gear (power supply, multimeter, frequency generator, counter, Tek scope) and also better platforms to experiment (Arduino, Teensy++, PIC, CPLD et al.) or buy fancy stuff like a Rigol scope and others. Just be aware that the lab won't do those experiments on it's own. If your main concern is to do experiments then pick something and start blowing up transistors and make annoying 1 kHz astable multivibrators with a tiny speaker. Get the gear as you advance and really need it.

[FenderBender]

Now now...don't show off. 

[Mechatrommer]

Now now...don't show off. 

no his not showing off. thats not his "DSLR" shooting yet

[Blofeld]

I have majored in Electronics Engineering but feel that there is much I lack. I wish to do practical experiments on my own. I feel that what I have been taught at the University and how much I have been taught is not high level enough, my teachers told me that its about "setting the foundation" at the University ... So, what should I get to make a sort of "mini home lab" to play around with some simple not too complex circuits? ...

I think your teachers are right, the University is setting the (theoretical) foundations. To advance to a higher level there is no substitute for doing a project on your own (but your teachers should have suggested such a project to you).

Don't play around with some simple circuits, after you have finished them you will still be at the "foundation" level. Think about a more ambitious project that can be finished within a few months. Start with the project, screw it up, learn from your mistakes, try again.