Hobby Electronics begginer

[Pelop17]

Hello guys ,

I would like to start with electronics learn the basics and some day be able to make my own circuit boards and electronic devices. So basicly I have bought an Arduino and done almost all the exercises includes inside the box and thaths all , i dont know where to go now , what to by what to learn. So if you are kind enough you can explain me how you guys got started with electronics and your learning curve if possible

 

Thanks

[Enderman]

You kinda have to use your imagination to come up with something you want to build, then research how other people have done same/similar things and then build it yourself.

[Pelop17]

Just now, Enderman said:

You kinda have to use your imagination to come up with something you want to build, then research how other people have done same/similar things and then build it yourself.

But to build something you need to have a basic overall image of electronics which i dont

I am a complete newbie at most

 

[Enderman]

Just now, Pelop17 said:

But to build something you need to have a basic overall image of electronics which i dont

I am a complete newbie at most

 

First you come up with the idea, then you find out ways to do it.

You can't learn without actually working on something hands-on.

 

For example, you want to make a touch screen LCD display which can control the brightness of the lights in your room.

Then you do research on how to program a touchscreen TFT for arduino, how to use the arduino to dim a light, etc...

This is how you learn about electronics.

[Pelop17]

1 minute ago, Enderman said:

First you come up with the idea, then you find out ways to do it.

You can't learn without actually working on something hands-on.

 

For example, you want to make a touch screen LCD display which can control the brightness of the lights in your room.

Then you do research on how to program a touchscreen TFT for arduino, how to use the arduino to dim a light, etc...

This is how you learn about electronics.

Now I have completly understand so there isnt any other way but to do hands on , and practical things on a idea you want to develop,

 thanks

[You_are_a_cunt]

EEVBlog, AvE, big clive are pretty good starting points.

 

EEVBlog focuses on more advanced things, but older videos do cover basics

AvE is electronics for basically everyone

big clive mostly focuses on LED stuff

[Huntsman]

If you want to cover the basics of electronics in one project, build a bench PSU. Preferably digitally controlled ones. If you really dive in and learn each components, you could print yourself an engineering diploma certificate.

 

After that you'll realize that everything else is just a derivative of some part of that PSU you built.

 

Plus, you're going to need a PSU of some capability to do most electronics project safely anyway.

[Silverwolf_7]

The final project for my college electronics class was to build a bench power supply from a kit. However to get 100 or better you also had to add parts to it sutch as a voltage meter or power indicator led. Try building a kit like that then see if you can add something to it that it was missing or that you want it to have. A good book for starting out is Make:Electronics by Charles Platt. I think it even has some arduino stuff in it too. Get a breadboard and some assorted components and make some simple circuts like an led flasher. Start simple and once you have a basic understanding of what parts are and what they do designing your own circuits and building from other's schematics will become much easier.

[DragonTamer1]

You should take some classes on it. The fastest way to learn the trade.

[Lolucoca]

I would start up doing some analog projects, I don't think it's a good way to start with digital stuff like arduino...

[Omon_Ra]

10 minutes ago, Lolucoca said:

I would start up doing some analog projects, I don't think it's a good way to start with digital stuff like arduino...

There were catalogs when I was in my high school electronics class where you could buy basic kit projects. I built a small amplifier and a little annoying piezo speaker with a light sensor that would make a noise when there was no light, but when there was light, it would turn off. They were all ~$10 *batteries sold separately* and came with everything you needed; schematic, breadboard, transistors, resistors, etc. If you can't read a schematic yet, start there.

 

 

Seems like there are some websites that have similar kit projects:

https://www.electronickits.com/electronic-kits/

http://www.parts-express.com/cat/electronic-project-kits/1441

[Riley-NZL]

You could start by buying some of the small build it yourself electronics kits that come with everything you need to solder it together. The thing is though, rather than just soldering it together and you're down, actually analyze the circuit and try work out what is going on, and what each component in the circuit it doing.

 

I learnt a lot with Arduino buy buying a book on xBee's along with an kit of parts for it. I think it was called "building wireless sensor circuits" or something along those lines. It seems like an really specific topic, but the book doesn't just say "build this circuit", it explains the components used in each circuit and what they are doing.

 

 

At the end of the day, you need to find a project that you want to make, start making it and learn as you go.

[Pyr0monk3y]

I was in your shoes a while ago.  I was watching LTT and just wondering, how the hell did someone figure out how to make that motherboard?  It's got like 7 layers, and thousands of components... how?  I still don't know the answer, but at this point I have laid out several boards for personal projects and I feel like I am much closer to understanding what goes into large scale PCB design.

 

I started out with arduino.  I built a few things with off the shelf components and wrote a lot of code to make them do stuff.  In hindsight, this was a mistake.  Stay away from Adafruit, Sparkfun, and sources that market to "Makers".  It's great to know how to program a microcontroller, and you absolutely will need to later on, but it's not electronics, it's closer to programming.  After that, I moved on to actual electronics projects.  I started building kits and doing repairs.  This is where I really started learning (and joined the EEVBlog forum).  To repair something, you sometimes have to spend a lot of time taking measurements and coming up with an idea about how the circuit is supposed to work.  It's semi reverse engineering.  If you are lucky, you can not only repair the device, but learn something from the engineer who designed it.  

 

As others have said, start watching the EEVBlog, AvE (for comic relief), and maybe PhotonicInduction.  You will learn a ton.

 

As a hobby or as a profession, it's expensive to get into.  I recommend spending some time watching videos and reading the EEVBlog forum before you really commit. But once you do, expect to spend some money on equipment.  If you are at all serious about actually designing something from scratch, you will need, for starters: a good multimeter, analog oscilloscope, power supply, and parts. Power supply and oscilloscope first. Without that, it's hard to really understand what's going on in your circuit.  The good multimeter can come later (a $50 Extech EX330 will do until you can afford a good one), and just buy parts as you need them.

[MrOud]

If you can find copies of any of the Forest Mimms books he provides a wealth of various circuits you can play around with. Getting past arduino is a definite plus since arduino is good for most projects but not all, especially in applications where precise timing is critical. I'd recommend playing around with some AVRs since you can use your arduino as a programmer that reduces the initial investment to the cost of the uC itself (which can be as low as $0.45 for an ATtiny)

 

I found playing around with LEDs and LCD displays to be pretty fun, I made a small LED cube (well, mine is a 3 layer hexagon because that's what I could do with the LEDs in my parts drawer... and I like hexagons). I made an time lapse controller for my camera (The LCD libary I had already made while playing came in handy for that) and I've also played around with building logic gates (ANDs, ORs, SR Latches. etc) from discrete components (transistors, resistors, LEDs, etc) that required no uC at all.

 

Start small and work your way up. Taking on a bigger project tends to get annoying when you're starting where as a few small but successful projects will be a great motivator. Just have fun with it and bigger and better projects will come to you over time as you see how this stuff can be applied to your other interests. If you wantto interface your AVR with the computer a serial to usb converter is a small investment that makes makes communication a breeze, it's truly satisfying to watch your circuit and your program play together)

 

The most important thing is to have fun (when you're not pulling at your hair, swearing at the circuit that *should* be working, only to discover one of the ports on your uC is fried)