I highly recommend checking out the Make: Electronics series. You can also buy kits for each book on Amazon if you don't feel like going out and finding all the parts yourself at RadioShack.
This is what I'm working through and I like it. I've read a ton but nothing clicked until I started actually "doing". And the components are all available in kits. (Make: Electronics Components Pack 1, etc). You can get the stuff cheaper, but this puts it all together in one place for you.
This is what I've started with, too. Make: Electronics, Make: More Electronics, and the 3-volume Encyclopedia of electronic components by Charles Platt are really great.
The 8-Bit Computer video series by Ben Eater (reshared on HN recently, https://eater.net/8bit/) was the first thing I saw which ignited a passion for understanding the hardware underpinnings of computing.
ElectroBoom, GreatScott, EEVBlog, Julian Ilett, and Adafruit YouTube channels are really great, too.
"Electronics" is a very wide field. The basics are resistors, capacitors, inductors and active components.
But that doesn't matter if all you want to do is low-speed digital electronics like Arduino and microcontrollers. I think the problem is that you don't know what you don't know.
So, practical basics. Understand the concepts of Voltage and Current. Learn what resistors and capacitors are: find a site that has basic linear circuit theory (Ohm's law, Kirchoff's voltage & current laws). Understanding those two components and wiring is basic to everything else. There's a lot of misinformation out there and knowing the basics will help you avoid being trapped by it. You don't need to know the depths of circuit theory: a good overview will get you on more solid footing than most of the "makers" out there.
Want to learn to build audio circuits, or RF or precision instrumentation? Move on to active circuits: transistors, diodes, op-amps. Read everything you can on proper grounding.
Want to blink LEDs and do more "real-world" interfacing & control stuff: find a site on microcontrollers (the Adafruit learning series for Arduino is pretty good), learn about interrupts, analog to digital conversion, digital to analog conversion, sensors, etc.
I really like the 3rd edition of The Art of Electronics. The text is a fun read, and the student manual is a great extension of the main text, with a bunch of practical insight and discussion that puts it beyond mere exercises.
Caveat: I'm a software guy. I burn myself when I solder. I make smoke come out of components. I might not be the right person to listen to :-)
With the exception of an oscilloscope, you can put together a simple bench for a few hundred dollars. I've had mixed luck stocking components (for instanced, either my circuits are clueless crap, or the 10Mhz crystals I bought off of eBay are just empty cans -- in any event, a circuit that should oscillate just sits there). I found a used Tektronix scope and couldn't be happier, it really makes a difference when you're debugging something.
On the topic of cheap oscilloscopes, I was looking for a cheap logic analyzer when I found the Saleae Logic. Not an oscilloscope, but if you put an input into analog mode you can visualize the waveform nicely. They have a discount for non-commercial use and startups.
Oscillators are supposed to oscillate but when you want them to, they don’t resulting in debugging.
Amplifiers can have a big phase shift and gain which fulfills barkhausen criteria which is the fundamental requirement for something to oscillate. Oscillating amplifiers are usually a very bad problem because it trashes the signal you are amplifying and tends to suck up a lot of power.
Fuses take a glacial amount of time to blow compared to an integrated circuit. When something goes wrong the IC blows up way before the fuse goes.
I'm a ham and built all my radio gear, it's perfectly normal to burn yourself when you learn soldering. It's really all a part of the learning curve. Though I still prefer an iron with a gun you're less likely to burn yourself.
I was maybe fifteen and had my dad help me as a third hand and I burned him. My late dad had the patience of Job. He didn't get angry or raise his voice.
He just told me that he'd never let me forget doing it. Sure enough for the rest of his life he'd tease me about the 'scar' I gave him.
I worked on small prototype electric formula cars for a while and occasionally had to fix something that would take ~6 hours to remove from a very tightly packed battery pack.
I’ve done this at least once .. soldered a 0805 resistor upside down through a 1-inch hole. It doesn’t wick like you’d expect! Quite hard to do
So I'm not really the right person to answer this question however.....
When I was younger I used to tinker with tiny electrical projects (from NZ so we had "Dick Smith" kits). I understood the very basics, but nothing complicated. As a fairly proficient software developer, real electronics has always felt alien to me.
Then recently I got an Arduino, and it's opened a whole new world. It's the perfect mix of feeling like you want to glue stuff to it, and feeling like you can glue stuff to it. That one device is already full of so much interesting circuitry (with the timers and the uart and little pins waiting to ground them to make stuff happen). But the docs and libraries will guide you through it. It's like training wheels for electrical circuits.
Another vote for Arduino, especially if you're coming from the world of software.
Your first project will be to make an LED blink, but to do that properly you need to use Ohm's Law (or else you'll forget the resistor and burn something up).
Then you'll make the LED change state based on a button press, which will teach you about pull-up resistors.
Eventually you'll add a modern version of a 7400 IC or two. You'll try powering too many components (likely more LEDs), and you'll discover why decoupling capacitors matter. You might even mess with a MOSFET.
By this point you're a competent novice in digital electronics, and you're likely ready to start learning some of the fundamentals of analog electronics. But along the way it felt like you were just doing a bit more with software, so it was a really easy learning curve.
I self-learned enough electronics a few years ago to get to 16.5K karma on the Electronics StackExchange.
I was motivated by doing some audio projects. Projects have real requirements, and so they force you to iterate on the design until you hit all your requirements: power supply logistics, signal purity, enclosure, ...
Get a good textbook like Horowitz The Art of Electronics.
Learn how to use a CAD-based circuit simulator program like LTSpice. Build the circuits you read about in the simulator, and run them: apply signals, and look at how the voltages behave at various nodes in the circuit, as a function of time.
Read schematics.
Read schematics for equipment that you know. If you're into vintage audio, that is not hard to come by.
Recently I was looking at the schematics for a "Furman PQ-3" parametric equalizer (Google for it). I blinked twice and did a "double take" and then immediately recognized that its filter bank consists of "state variable filters": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_variable_filter
Bam! Didn't even know what that was some four, five years ago.
Check out the power supply: the output of the transformer goes to a dual-voltage regulator. That feeds the chips. The unregulated voltage is also tapped and that is used for an emitter-follower output-stage on the upper left.
This is completely pointless. The op-amp IC's have such stages inside them too; why do they get regulated power and this one doesn't? On a dual supply, op-amp chips don't really need regulation.
If I built a clone of the device, I'd completely leave out this discrete component output stage; it is pointless. You're not going to drive speakers with this thing, but relatively high-impedance inputs (the next device in the chain, possibly a power amp).
So you can see what I'm doing here; critically looking at (the electronic aspect of) a complete product. Doing that requires some learning, but it also produces learning bit by bit.
You ask questions: why is that stage here? Why did they include this component? What is this transistor/resistor/diode doing here? Is there a pattern to this, and where have I seen it before? Is it really the same pattern and is it justified in this context? And so on.
Every time i've tried to use some combination of a Spice program and something like EagleCad I get really lost quickly. It's clearly software written for people who already know what they are doing.
Do you have any good resources on learning such conceptually?
I have a circuit simulator program called EveryCircuit on my ipad (it looks like it's available on Chrome) and it's very simple to use and develop intuitions about basic components.
You really don't need to use EagleCad to lay out your own PCBs for a very long time into the hobby. Perf board and jumper wires are sufficient for prototyping for a long time, most SMD/ball only chips/components have prototyping boards from sparkfun or adafruit or whatever.
It used to be a Java applet, now rewritten in JavaScript. Sadly, the Java version vastly outperforms the JS one, at least on my machine, but Java applets are annoying to run nowadays
The JS one is plenty performant on my machine. I love that simulator. Helps me intuitively understand the circuit when I can see the voltage and current on each connection.
I took a few stabs at eagle before trying KiCad which I found MUCH easier to learn. The “Getting to Blinky” series on youtube was what i used but there are probably other good tutorials too.
I'd recommend not linking to that series of posts. The author is a hothead and generally disliked by the entire electronics community.
Actually, there are some rumors about him that are quite unsavory, and I'm waiting until the cetacean equivalent of the #metoo movement to make an appearance on twitter to see the fallout from that.
Fair enough I guess, but I would also hate to deny people the same sort of easy path that allowed me to get interested in the subject and access a complicated topic.
That comment is from the series' author, just doing a bit of his signature trolling for which he is so beloved on Hackaday.
I know he (Brian) has expressed that those articles generated underwhelming metrics for the amount of work they take, but they really are a useful resource for people looking to get an overview of their options. And I'm sure the Whalebait fiasco will blow over soon enough.
Also check out http://librepcb.org/. Probably just a few months left until the first early release. Watch the FOSDEM talk recording for more information.
I use CircuitLab, which is very helpful from a testing standpoint. As a coder, one of the things that really stresses me about electronics engineering is how untestable everything else, and CircuitLab gives me the ability to mock up simple unit-test-like circuits and see what the expected values should be, including when a power source fluctuates.
(CircuitLab dev here) Thanks for the link. I've also been writing an online electronics textbook with simulations built in https://www.circuitlab.com/textbook/ which should be relevant.
Back in '77, op-amps weren't as good as they are now in terms of PSRR and output power. That push-pull output stage is quaint but given that they wrapped it in the feedback loop of the last op-amp, it may have been a necessity at the time.
For sure. The kind of thing that should get picked on is cheaping out and putting an analog section directly on a rippling rail.
Also, the discrete output section helps power dissipation in the regulator. Especially if the output gets shorted.
... And I was curious, so I just looked at the datasheet for RC4558. Maximum supply voltage is +/- 18V. So you'd probably have to bring that unregulated "20V" rail down to 12-14V actual to stay within that.
> The kind of thing that should get picked on is cheaping out and putting an analog section directly on a rippling rail.
Ah, but that section here is a feedback-stabilized amplifier stage; and the power rail is dual-voltage. The ripple in the positive rail swings opposite to the negative one.
Lots of power amplifiers use no voltage regulation for the rails. The amplifier is a kind of voltage regulator already anyway; if you add a regulator, you're basically adding another amplifier to the amplifier.
(Hey, I heard you like amplifiers, so I put an amplifier in your amplifier, ...)
I get the point about the noise being balanced, I just personally wouldn't default to trusting it.
But most of my experience is analog conditioning for microcontrollers - more sensitive, higher frequency noise, and admittedly single rail with today's op amp technology. An extra component doesn't necessarily add complexity like in software, but can actually simplify one's mental model of the circuit - nice stable supply rails.
If you look at that original circuit, how much did the regulator cost compared to say the transformer? Eliminating the regulator would have required changing the transformer, at least.
I'm just trying to get across that it's a bit of a red herring to prioritize cost-optimizing the circuit if you're setting out to build a one-off clone. Even hobbyist debugging time is worth more than a few ten cent parts.
I took a physics class using the Art of Electronics in my senior year of undergrad (my major was nuclear eng. and my lab partner was another nuclear eng. friend).
This class ranked right up there with my nuclear engineering labs in the following sense: 1) using an oscilloscope in a lab setting takes a lot of patience & hard work (similar to radiation detectors) 2) I wasn't prepared for how "fuzzy" (sorry, I know that is not the right word) electronic components behave when examined in a lab setting. I was used to resisters and capacitors, and in previous labs they behaved fairly well. This class showed me how complex it all is, and "Art" is not a bad word to describe it at all.
I learned a lot and strongly 2nd the Horowitz recommendation if you want to really get down into the nitty gritty. Maybe it isn't the first book you pick up depending on your background, I dont' know. AND, I hope oscilloscopes and their user manuals have gotten a lot more friendly in the intervening years since 1991 :-)
I spent quite a few years as an wide-band RF engineer and I still think it's black magic. If you're not being snobby, you can learn a lot from an experienced bench technician. If you want to get into RF electronics, you need specific features in your spectrum analyzer along with a very good return loss bridge at your target impedance.
I'm another fan of Horowitz and Hill's _The Art of Electronics_ - it's my go-to reference after 35 years in the business.
Some fun schematics to "read" are Fender's digital microcontroller adjustable tube amps; basically the modern incarnations of integration of tube technology with solid-state and modern microcontrollers. Last I knew (when I did web dev for them 5-6 years ago), you could download them from their site.
You can find similar circuits from the 1950s-60s Popular Science back-issues on Google Books; that's the time period when hobbyists were transitioning from tube-based stuff to more solid-state and transistor stuff (transistors came down in price enough, plus they were more reliable) - so occasionally, you can find an article on some project combining both technologies.
One reason it can be so frustrating (to me) to practice the “read a bunch of schematics” approach is that, unlike code that tends to be filled with inherent textual clues like filenames, function names, and variable names, electronic schematics tend to be very cryptic. Single letter names, only a subtle visual grouping of components to show functional units, no hint of the rationale behind component value choices. If this equalizer were digital, the filter would be a function called StateVariableFilter(), and you wouldn’t have had to intuit that from looking at it.
Basically, whenever I look at a schematic, I think “why do analog engineers like to work in the equivalent of assembly language?”
I do more digital than analog electronics, and based on Verilog and VHDL, those folks seem to be working with “stone knives and bear skins” too! At least they get to have real names for things.
Not being at all a professional electronic engineer, I’m sure this a misguided reaction, but I’m not sure exactly how.
I got a hand me down IBM PC jr in 1988, when I was in elementary school. 5.25" floppy, no hard disk, RAM measured in Kilobytes.
It came with a spiral bound manual that taught GW-Basic. I didn't learn a damn thing at the time, I just slowly typed the lines of code into the PC. I stuck at it long enough that I eventually drew a star on the monitor, as "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" beeped at me its 8 bit glory
In that singular moment, I hadn't "learned" anything, but I knew then, I needed to take apart every single piece of electronics I could get my hands on. I never "learned" anything about schematics or what all of these pieces of metal do, yet I remained endlessly fascinated.
30 years later, I do embedded development. There's not a day that goes by when I "learn" anything. But the sheer joy of my continued failures, along with the rare, occasional success, has made me a very happy person, who backed into somehow figuring out how to read schematics, prototype a proof of concept, layout PCBs, order the parts from digikey, order boards from Dirty PCBs, solder them on to the PCB, program Assembly, C, Python, JS.
But when it comes to the folks that can do devops, thats just plain magic.
I don't think there is a "fast path" to electronics. I didn't learn it overnight or in a year or even two years, I didn't learn it in a course or lecture, and neither did anybody I know who is a decent circuit designer.
I grew up with Electronics Magazine, Radio Shack (the Source).
Today, in addition to this there are monthly electronic subscription kits that can be pretty cool.
The way I'd do it today is find projects online that I can order the parts myself from AliExpress/eBay to come from China and have a project a month to do. Things take 4-6 weeks to arrive, and you can order the next project while working on the current one.
I got my ham license because I loved electronics. I went to a local meeting, got a transceiver, and joined a local net. Then I realized I didn't really have anything to say over the radio to these people.
But the ARRL handbook is definitely a masterpiece.
Agreed on the Handbook. The Operating Manual and Antenna (handbook?) are also really good.
If I'm at home I get on the air for traffic nets or QRP and there the topics are thankfully pre-defined because I'm a lousy conversationalist. I found clubs to be a hit and miss kind of thing. Some of them have active homebrewing groups where you can exercise your love of electronics but they're not as common as smaller clubs that tend more towards operating (emergency comms, repeater installations, stuff like that) rather than building things. 73
Good one. I've tried studying electronics for years. But 4 months after completing my amateur radio exams I am actually building my first mobile transceiver rig. I have a 12V SLAB coming and my antenna, transceiver, and other little parts arrived today. I'm confident enough with the theory that I'm ready to dive in and build a little mobile station inside a toolbox. It also helps to be a part of a community where this is just normal stuff, and people will check in on me to ask how things went. Good pressure.
Agree with the sentiment, but amateur radio isn't the only game in town. I think the key is to pick something that appeals. These days robotics is a good way to get going. Also audio gear is a good choice for the serious listener, or effects/performance electronics for the musician.
What all these have in common is an engaging purpose that focuses learning, and endless challenge that always leads to new learning.
Amateur radio did it for me, and I still maintain a large radiosport station, but for my kid it was robotics that really lit up their eyes.
Are we talking about digital or analog electronics? AC or DC power? For me, a DC powered circuit with a clock and chips made sense but I never understood how analog circuits worked until I was introduced to the concept of the LRC circuit. It has a resistor, a capacitor and a inductor. As a software guy I am trained to think in terms of discreet components. Then I realized that when you put those 3 discrete components together that things really start to happen.
Depending on where you are (Europe or the United States) Velleman in Europe or Heathkit in the United States will sell you all kinds of electronics in kit form. Get some practice with that, try to figure out how what you have just built works (and in debugging you will learn a lot) and then later move on to your own designs or modifications of existing designs.
One issue I have with Velleman kits is that most of them that do something useful are built around some magic Velleman chip (ie. preprogrammed microcontroller) and examining the construction will not teach you much.
Hm, that doesn't help. I guess that's their way of trying to avoid knock-offs of their kits but it definitely takes the fun out of trying to figure out how things work if that part is pushed into some kind of black box.
But it is also a sign of the times, rather than having a bunch of logic the quickest way to get some project off the ground is to tie the i/o to a microcontroller and solve the remainder of the problem in software.
How in depth are you wanting to learn, and how do you like to learn?
You can build some cool stuff without having much in depth knowledge (there are tons of step-by-step projects for Arduino/RaspberryPi just a Google away).
If you're the type that doesn't mind hunkering down and reading textbooks, I'd suggest Electric Circuits (Nilsson and Riedel) paired with Fundamentals of Microelectronics (Razavi).
Electronics is hard - esp building good quality electronics is hard - but its disappearing as software eats the world. If you're on HN you can probably code already, rpi is a great way to start with software and gradually add more eletronics for robots or sensors etc.
There are a few recommendations for The Art of Electronics. It's a great reference, but probably hard to approach as a beginner unless you're very motivated and comfortable being confused at points.
Electronics covers a huge field and many people specialize in just one area. Here are some of the main areas that are accessible to hobbyists (roughly in increasing order of difficulty):
- Digital electronics. Using microcontrollers to do things in the physical environment.
- Audio electronics. This is a fun area of electronics because the quality of what you build is directly reflected in how it sounds.
- Amateur radio electronics. Lets you talk to other people around the world. Harder than basic audio circuits because you need to know about antennas and radio operates at higher frequencies. Also requires passing an exam to get licensed, but studying for the exam helps with learning some of the theory.
- FPGAs. These are sexy, but not many applications that are that compelling for a hobbyist unless you have something very specific in mind. Plus you have to learn Verilog or another HDL and the way of thinking is very different than normal programming (since you're effectively describing the hardware you want rather than an algorithm).
My advice is to first figure out which field you're interested in, then find a project to work on related to that field. Having something practical to refer to makes understanding the theory (like what you'd learn in The Art of Electronics) easier.
I've tried 3 times to teach myself electronics to the point where I can reliably make simple stuff work, and finally got it to start to click about 9 months ago. I'm still very much a newbie, but I am just slightly ahead of where it sounds like you are.
Not all of the videos are useful, but if you browse through the "Most popular", you might find some interesting stuff. I did. There's also a long tail of other channels that post the odd interesting beginner-electronics video. Type in search terms for things you're confused by, and you'll find tens of people trying their best to explain it to you in a way you can understand. Don't understand one? Try the next person.
I bought an "Arduino starter kit" off eBay for about £35. It came with an Arduino Uno, a breadboard, some bits of jumper wire, resistors, a few capacitors, a relay, a servo, some LEDs, an LCD display, etc. Just a basic bunch of stuff to start playing with. (I think I paid more than the constituent parts were actually worth, but if they weren't all bundled together for me I wouldn't have known what to get at all, so I got plenty of value from it anyway.)
Then just start playing with it. In the process of trying to make stuff work you'll accidentally learn about pull-up and pull-down resistors, switch debouncing, filtering capacitors, using transistors to switch larger loads, SPI, I2C, and it'll all start fitting together in your mind. Every time you learn a new thing it opens up a bunch more avenues of stuff to research.
The resources available on YouTube are so much better than they were even 3 years ago. I think that's what has helped me "succeed" this time.
The biggest issue I've found is finding projects to work on that are actually useful. Of course you have to start with the basics, but not many people have a use for a simple blinking LED in their life.
Finding projects that you can make that can actually do something that interests you makes a world of difference.
It's like learning programming/OOP through the typical animal examples versus making an app that is something you would actually use or fills a need that you have.
My advice for both Electronics and Programming is to flip it around: find something you'd really like to build and then figure out the tools, skills and a version you can make. Example: My 5-yr-old wanted to build a pinball machine, so we started with using a micro controller to light up an LED and make a noise when a the ball contacted a target. It was a pretty easy intro to the programming, electronics, debouncing a switch (and woodworking!)
My 10-yr old wanted to make a computer game about ancient Egypt and twine was a great way for her to get introduced to programming.
Like the "learn scrum by cleaning your apartment" example? Give me a real world example of this working please. If it's worthwhile there must be a case study to build from.
Not sure _useful_ is a good metric, most useful things can be had more easily by buying it. And if its something you really need, then its better to avoid the stress of having to build it right and on time.
But go for something _interesting_, something _you want_.
A music instrument maybe? Automate the blinds in your apartment? Track the motion of earth for long-exposure photography? A multicopter for flying FPV?
I think musical instruments are a good way to get into DIY electronics, for those interested in both of those things.
Examples include fixing or completely re-wiring the electronics in an electric guitar, fixing or building guitar effects pedals, building midi-actuated devices, building a strobe tuner, adding pickups to acoustic instruments like guitars, cellos, and violins, modding a 3-head tape recorder into a tape delay unit, building pickup pre-amps, winding guitar pickups, fixing or modding old synthesizers or divide-down organs, building new midi interfaces, getting into modular synthesis, building oscillators, filters, sequencers, etc...
Music seems to be the sort of domain where there's always some electronic device you wish you had that would make your life a little bit better in some way, and it often happens that the thing you want is something that no one currently sells, or not for a price you're willing to pay.
And it's definitely worth just dipping in and out of -- and eventually reading all the way through -- "The Art of Electronics." It's a terrific book, and manages to be both readable and super in-depth about every topic you could possibly want to know about when you're trying to figure out what's what.
There are also a number of inspiring blogs by electrical engineers who are also great writers. Which ones to follow sort of depend on what specialties you are most interested in, but Bunnie Huang's is a great one to start with: https://www.bunniestudios.com/
I have a related question, so I'll piggyback: does anyone know a book or some materials on electronics for people with mathematics background? Where not only methods of computations and formulas are given, but also explanations/derivations of these.
Your guess may be as good as anybody else's; I haven't seen anything so far, but as an Electrical Engineer by training the amount of times I've said "Wow, that's where that comes from" in my graduate Mathematics classes is a bit staggering.
I don't know of such a reference. It sounds like you're looking for an electromagnetism textbook. In practice most circuit designers don't use very much math, since it is easier to design using common circuit blocks and heuristics.
But still there are parts where mathematics is in use, as analogue filter design. I'd love to see something focused on that parts, but I'm afraid that there might be nothing like that.
YouTube University. Seriously: watch 30, 50, or a 100 videos. You will develop an intuition for what is happening. THEN read books (some good ones already suggested in other comments) and you will learn the concrete theory.
I want to emphasize the importance of developing the intuition behind the theory. It's vital, and the lack of intuition is why so many people find a complex, theoretical topic difficult. If they had spent time developing their intuition, then they would not struggle so much to understand and remember the theory.
Last, you have to build stuff (this also helps with the intuition). Decide that you are going to spend $300, and start buying parts. Don't go to Radio Shack, because you will (in my experience) pay an order of magnitude more for the same part. Shop on Aliexpress (or sometimes Amazon or Ebay). Who cares if you have to wait 6 weeks for the part to come in... do it today and it will be here about the time that you are ready for it. Never buy just one of anything. You can usually buy 10 or 20 for the same price that you can buy 2 or 3.
Most importantly: DO SOMETHING! Anything. Watch videos. Buy parts. Put things together, and then try to figure out why it's not working! Whatever you do, just don't stop. You will learn if you keep at it. At this stage for you, though, the most important thing is that you actually start.
+1 for EEVBlog, he's an ex-EE who brings a ton of experience to a bunch of interesting areas.
As someone who's self-taught I found that the Art of Electronics was fantastic once I had enough basics. It may require a couple reads as it's quite dense but everything in there is solid gold.
If you want to learn how to design circuits in a structured, analytical way (i.e., without heuristics and black magic), I can recommend this course: [1]. Note that this is really a more advanced course.
Mr. Carlson's Lab is one of my favorites. Long form videos of custom devices, repairs and restorations of old, simple instruments are really interesting. On Patreon he details his designs and provides complete schematics and parts lists.
Ben Krasnow's Applied Science - Teaches a lot more than electronics, but will also help you get some ideas (don't underestimate watching people do cool stuff to inspire you)
Thanks to this comment, I've now spent this past weekend binging the entire Ben Eater 8-bit computer series this far. Very entertaining, and I certainly learned a few things about computer architecture. I'm very tempted to do the project myself.
There is a very, very base level of electronics understanding for a couple things that are below the scope of what he covers. You're expected to understand what a pull-up resistor is, for example, and he briefly touches on RC circuits but I don't think his explanation would be sufficient for grokking the concept from scratch. Overall though, he is an excellent teacher and I think he makes concepts quite clear.
I personally ran a few parts at 2x speed, and skipped the Turing machine discussion entirely, but I'm sure the info is quite necessary to some people, so I'm glad he included it all.
Personally I've been using Video Speed Controller, which seems more popular. One of the things that revolutionizes your viewing experience - learn the default keybindings (s -slower, d - faster, g - toggle fast (1.8x speed)) and never be bored again.
Always nice to know of other options. (The keyboard shortcuts for the extension I linked are + and -, with * being reset to default speed.)
Does the extension you linked do pitch correction as well? I wish I could find one that does for Firefox, too, if you happen to know of one. The only playback speed control extension I've found for FF doesn't.
Try setting the property manually using the JavaScript console and see if you get pitch correction. If not, maybe make sure you're on the latest version of Firefox?
The Signal Path - https://www.youtube.com/user/TheSignalPathBlog
A mix of relatively advanced and relatively simple videos, no rambling all content with great demos. If you have a test gear fetish this is your channel.
low signal to noise ratio. The video log has 400 hour long parts in the series now, it's hard to pull valuable information quickly. It's not structured at all. "all over the shop", to use Dave's words.
> Afrotechmods
Nice introductions, but not very deep. "It's not the Volts that kill you, it's the Amps".
His YouTube videos are incredibly accessible despite their technical depth. Once you get your feet wet with the basics, I highly recommend his videos. They are a treasure trove of information while simultaneously being easy to understand & follow. I wish my professors could teach like him.
Get a good, name brand soldering station. Yes it will cost a few hundred dollars, but it will make a huge difference in your work. The cheap-o $15 soldering irons all produce horrible results and will shatter your confidence...
Get good, very thin solder. It will be expensive ($40) but will last forever and if paired with a legit soldering iron, will make a huge impact in your abilities.
I've looked around for a good soldering station and the best thing that I could find for the price/performance is the TS100. All the other budget (sub $100) didn't have a direct heating element. In total, I probably spent about $100 to get a stand and other things needed for soldering.
I'd second the TS100. It's ~$40 (given you can find a power supply for free, laptop bricks work fine. I'm using mini photo printer power supply which I found on the street + $1 plug + $3 worth of heat resistant silicone cable).
Warms up in seconds, open source and customizable firmware, takes very little space (kind of important to me since I don't have a dedicated shed/garage for the hobby). What's not to love about it for a beginner?
Apart from reading the buttons that control the device and writing the display, a digital iron needs firmware to control the feedback loop that maintains the temperature. Digital irons generally have PID based temperature regulation, unlike the crappy analog ones that have open loop systems (some analog irons have temperature regulation, e.g. Weller's old magnetic tips, but the crappy $5 irons do not). This requires a controller to supervise, but also means the iron heats up much faster and maintains that temperature while soldering.
Other features like a temperature graph or adjusting calibration and control parameters are handy additions when you have a nice display like in the TS100. Realistically though, people aren't really writing their own TS100 firmware with the exception of a few tinkerers. What it comes with is good enough.
Can you say where you can find a TS100 for ~$40? The cheapest I'm seeing is $50-55.
Also, are there different versions you need to worry about or are they all the same? I assume you only want a "MINI TS100" vs. some of the other knock off brands.
I could not recommend the DSO203 in good conscience, it has almost no isolation of the input channels which makes it downright dangerous.
It's nice if you only do audio or low voltage stuff but the first time you're going to point your probe at something a bit more beefy and you will let the magic smoke out (good case) or worse.
I use a Weller W61C (80-90€), which is a soldering iron (not station) that regulates its temparature using magnetic tips. Bit of an oddball, but it works fine even for soldering most SMD stuff, and it's just delightfully simple. Just plug it in and start soldering. Takes up basically no space too, since it's just a soldering iron with no station.
For really fiddly SMD items I have a cheap hot air rework station, but I don't need it very often - mostly when I have to desolder something SMD or solder on an IC with a thermal pad on the bottom.
Get either a Hakko FX888D or a Weller WES51. I personally prefer the Hakko, but both are excellent stations that cost under $150 which will serve you for years if you take care of them.
A note - soldering stations usually come with a cheap conical tip as a starter tip. Pay an extra $20 or so to buy two chisel tips: a tiny one for fine work, and a big one for larger work. The flat surface allows you to apply more heat to the joint. Take care of your tips (ie: keep them tinned, don't leave the iron on too hot, and don't scrub too hard with the brass sponge) and the tips should last a few years without trouble.
The WES51 as a solid soldering iron. You can get ones with a display readout but it's less useful than you might think. Most of the time you just set the temp and then switch tips if you need more or less heat transfer. Need to solder something large or stubborn? Using a phat chisel tip is better than upping the temp. Too hot and the rosin quickly oxidizes and turns to varnish, which prevents the solder from wetting.
Also tips, get a hooked tip, about 80% of the time it'll do the job.
A thing to say in Weller's favour: They stock parts forever. My Weller station is somthing like 35 years old, now, still works perfectly. But someone damaged the sleeve that holds the tips in place. No problem, for a modest cost I could still buy a replacement, even though that particular part no longer fits any contemporary model of iron Weller sells. Kudos to them!
Hakko and Weller are a solid choice, but I purchased a programmable TS100 last year and haven't looked back since. I solder a lot on drones and it's just delightful to work with: so light, quick to heat, it has an OLED screen built in, changeable tips and it's programmable. All that for under $50 there's nothing that I would recommend more.
If you're soldering for a living there are probably better suited soldering stations, but if you're just starting out: get this one.
Also: don't skimp on tin. Good quality soldering tin makes a huge difference!
YiHUA (or other genetic Chinese brand) 936B clones are plenty cheap (less than $30 shipped IIRC) and are actually quite good.
Yes, the Hakko's are really nice and quality, but the Chinese clones are honestly 'good enough' for many people. They're workhorse machines that see tons of use in their native market.
I recommend the TS100 (<$100 budget) and JBC ($300-$500 budget). After getting a decent soldering iron I never looked back. Yes its expensive, but so are the parts you destroy with the crappy $30 irons, or the frustration of soldering big copper pads and the tip cooling down in the middle of the process.
Regarding the JBC, after the initial investment, various the tips (chinese clones ~$5 or even originals ~$25) add so much incremental value to the soldering iron base for such a little extra cost.
buy a weller and use appropriately sized solder for the application (very thin solder sucks really bad if you are doing something like throughhole or larger parts...you will have to apply the heat longer to apply enough solder)
> The cheap-o $15 soldering irons all produce horrible results and will shatter your confidence...
I would make the opposite argument that if you can get great results from a cheap-o soldering iron, your confidence and ability will soar thereafter.
Recall that, back in the really early days, soldering irons were large affairs, consisting of a large block of copper heated via a gasoline or kerosene torch, with a large wood handle and a steel shaft:
Now granted, connections were mostly "free-air" and not PCB based or similar. Also, some of those irons were meant for soldering sheet metal, not really electronics or electrical work - but that's what people had at the time...
When I learned to solder thru-hole electronics, I learned with what could be called a "cheap-o" soldering iron; something like this (maybe not as nice looking):
I still have it, and still use it occasionally. It takes "forever" to heat up (about 10-15 minutes), and the tip looks like hell. But for thru-hole construction, it works great. Once you know how to use it, you can solder like a champ.
Would I use it for SMT rework? No. Basically it's virtually worthless for anything with less than 0.1" pitch, unless you're removing parts and just need to dump a lot of heat in a small area.
The key to successful soldering is knowing how to control and place the heat where you need it, and flowing the solder into the joint properly. Most make the mistake of not tinning their iron or the part leads, then trying to flow the solder using the tip of the iron, where all it does is stick the iron tip. Instead, you have to heat the component's lead(s), and flow the solder using the heat on the lead(s). Tinning both the iron and the leads helps with this as well. Flux can also help, but if you use a decent flux-core solder (preferably 63/37 ratio tin-lead), flux should rarely be needed. A paste flux is useful though for cleaning the tip of the iron, especially when shutting down for the day.
It's kinda like arc welding. Sure, MIG can be easy to learn. But if you really want to understand, start with rod (stick) first. Yeah, you'll stick the rod continuously, cussing a storm up at first. But after a while, you'll develop the knack of keeping that weld pool just right and moving the rod while feeding it in, without sticking. Once you've done that, MIG is nothing...
> I would make the opposite argument that if you can get great results from a cheap-o soldering iron, your confidence and ability will soar thereafter.
I tend to disagree, when you're learning is not the time to be fighting your tools.
I have a $99 100w Duratech one and it's perfectly adequate, no different from the $400+ Weller ones I've used in the past.
If you're just doing a bit of soldering as a hobby, though, get leaded solder. It works so much better than the modern unleaded stuff. Just don't breathe the smoke.
>If you're just doing a bit of soldering as a hobby, though, get leaded solder. It works so much better than the modern unleaded stuff. Just don't breathe the smoke.
That is personally not the tradeoff I'd make.
Lead is a special kind of poison in that it makes you stupid before it kills you: This is especially true of children, but I don't want any of it on my adult self, either.
Note, you can also buy lead-free 'low temperature' solder, which has a lot of the same properties of lead solder, though it's more expensive.
As far as I know, many lead free solders produce more toxic smoke than leaded solder because they contain different types of flux. When soldering the leaded stuff, the lead in it doesn't get evaporated anyways. The smoke produced during soldering is mostly evaporated flux.
"don't breathe the smoke" is just generally good advice, and it definitely doesn't become less applicable if you use lead free solder.
I mean, I ain't saying you should lick either one... and yeah, I don't know how much if any lead is released into the air during normal operation, but lead is pretty seriously toxic to humans, and avoiding touching the lead as I'm using it sounds kinda difficult. The flux? yeah, that isn't any good for you either, but I don't think it's in the same category as lead when it comes to toxicity.
Agreed on not licking either! I haven't been able to find anything conclusive saying how much lead you would get in the air when soldering, but the MSDS you linked says:
> Soft soldering temperatures (<450 °C) are generally too low to generate significant amounts of metal vapors, however, metal oxide fumes/dust or flux decomposition fumes can occur.
> RECOMMENDATION:
> For frequent or prolonged soldering processes, use of a local exhaust system to avoid exposure to thermal decomposition products. For example, use fume cabinet, a hood on a flexible arm, or tip-mounted fume extraction system on the soldering iron.
So if you're only occasionally soldering up a circuit board, you stay well ventilated, and you keep the solder temperature below 450°C (my soldering iron is usually set around 280°C - 300°C) then the risk seems pretty negligible. If you take up circuit board fabrication as a career then obviously you'd take it much more seriously. I should still give unleaded solder another shot, though - maybe it's improved since last time I tried it.
>So if you're only occasionally soldering up a circuit board, you stay well ventilated, and you keep the solder temperature below 450°C (my soldering iron is usually set around 280°C - 300°C) then the risk seems pretty negligible.
I think the danger is in touching the lead directly; it's a soft metal and comes off on your hands to a certain extent, and my understanding is that some of the dross can end up as lead dust.
According to the NIOSH, just washing with soap is often not effective for removing lead from your hands,
>I should still give unleaded solder another shot, though - maybe it's improved since last time I tried it.
I'm starting to look into different formulations; I'd start with the SAC305 formulation. It's like 3.5% silver and slightly more expensive, but still cheap. and widely available.
I would add a logic analyzer before oscilloscope. You can get good ones for pretty cheap now. https://www.saleae.com/ It is so nice to be able to see what is actually going on when debugging interfaces.
for learning electronics? why? I'd say an oscilloscope way before a logic analyzer as it allows you to see what circuits are doing. Learning what analog circuits are doing is much more useful for learning than seeing digital signalling.
I think most people getting into electronics won't be doing analog designs. They'll probably be messing around with various sensor devkits (sparkfun, adafruit, etc.) and Arduinos/RaspberryPis/ESP8266. With these you'll be messing around with primarily I2C and SPI which is why a cheap logic analyzer is cool also they are much cheaper than an oscilloscope and some have some analog functionality.
maybe, but even with those, unless it's because you really want to look at I2C / SPI, mostly that just works.
I'm not sure what people mean when they say they want to learn electronics, whether they are talking about getting a micro based kit and hooking things up to it and programming it or whether they want to understand circuits and components and how they work. If it's the latter, then go with a scope.
> With these you'll be messing around with primarily I2C and SPI
On the other hand, if you get the right cheap oscilloscope, such as a Rigol 1054z, which goes for $350 [1] and add the $180 "serial bus analysis" option, the 'scope will know how to trigger on and decode I2C, SPI, RS232 protocols.
If you don't mind using cracks, you can enable the serial bus analysis option for free, and also double the memory and the bandwidth.
Rigol's response to the crack is interesting. The cracks work because they used a key length for a cryptographic key in their firmware that is short enough to fairly easily brute force. It's hard to see how this could be accidental. Further suggesting that it is not accidental is the fact that they could have easily fixed this once people figured it out, but they have not.
That has led to speculation that they purposefully did this, so that hobbyists could easily crack the thing and get all the features.
Professional users could also crack it, but they would be reluctant to do so, because of potential liability issues. If you are a pro, and you design something the ends up used in a system that causes harm, and it comes out you were using hacked test equipment, the plaintiff's lawyers will be all over that.
If that is the case, it was an excellent strategy. Over on /r/electronics or /r/AskElectronics, you ask for a 'scope recommendation as a hobbyist or student, and almost all the responses will say get the DS1054z and crack it.
True, it's good to see the scope while poking around. Also scopes can do higher voltages than salaes' analyzers. But to their defense, the newer analog + digital analysers are really decent for $200.
Annnd they doubled their prices, oscilloscope it is.
Why not both? I somewhat recently purchased the EspoTek Labrador. It's both and a lot more for roughly $30. Of course it's nowhere near as good as single purpose/professional grade equipment, but for learning it's a great device.
Depends what you're doing, but maybe yeah if it's just digital stuff. 10x faster to trace issues using a logic analyzer than looking at 1 or 2 signals at a time.
For those low on cash, or who want to dive in a little before seeing what soldering station, multimeter, power supply, oscilloscope etc. they want...
First buy a breadboard (or more than one). Buy the resistors and wires you need in the near future. You'll need a crimper pretty soon to cut the wires.
A good power supply is nice, but you can make due with a battery holder and battery at first, say, a 9 volt.
Look at some simple projects you can build, and get the capacitors, LEDs, inductors etc. necessary to build them.
When you want to start soldering things together, get a soldering station, solder and stripboards. Also get solder flux . Soldering is much less of a pain when you have flux, depending on what you are doing.
As the comment section here attests - a soldering gun is hot. Solder is hot. You have to be careful.
Digikey.com and Mouser.com have many, many electronic parts. Adafruit.com has a lot of cool projects and guides. In fact, I would recommend you watch some Adafruit videos, read some of their guides etc.
After you learn some of the basics, you can take a step up and get an Arduino and muck with that.
Digikey can be intimidating. The interface is kind of clunky, and for a beginner (like me!) it's overkill when you just want a couple of 10uF capacitors but get 60,000 hits for every variation of exotic capacitor ever made, and pricing for units of 1000s.
I find jameco.com very friendly for a beginner. Prices are about the same as elsewhere, shipping is fine, selection is fine for a beginner, and usually it's usually pretty easy to narrow the search results to just a few parts that have fairly clear differences. They have a pretty nice email newsletter too, essentially the only newsletter I allow through my spam filters, and the only one I've ever clicked on non-accidentally. The regularly feature hobby projects on their front page, from premade kits to more advanced stuff.
I found my set of Engineer PA-09 crimp pliers does a better job than one of the cheap ratcheting crimping tools. Got them to do the smaller JST crimps, but they do Dupont pretty well too.
The last time I looked into power supplies they were somewhat cost prohibitive for my twice a year hardware project habit. Have things changed? Are there some good bang for your buck supplies that can be had for a couple hundred bucks or so?
I was referring to a bench supply, although maybe I should have looked before asking. The number of DC bench supplies available in the $100 range is huge. This seems like a big price shift over the past couple years.
i suggest (as someone who still knows nothing about electronics) that oscilloscopes are a "must have." cathode-ray-tube style from ebay are more affordable.
also, Horowitz and Hill, to echo what i suppose is mentioned elsewhere.
This way of learning resonates a lot with how I learnt to properly cook. I could cook some simple enough dishes fine, but then I got really into watching a few cooking channels on YouTube and (with a bit of practice) noticeably improved.
It’s actually mad the amount of stuff you pick up through watching someone who’s good at what they do doing it and explaining it well, prodding at your understanding while they do it.
Binging with Babish/Basics with Babish
This guys shtick is that he recreates dishes from film/tv. He used to be a video editor iirc so the production quality is great and it’s very focused on the food itself (as you can tell by you very rarely seeing his face). As he got more popular he made the Basics series. Can’t recommend them both enough
Binging: https://youtu.be/bJUiWdM__Qw
Basics: https://youtu.be/Upqp21Dm5vg
Food Wishes
This is done by a guy called Chef John. Similarly to Babish he’s very focused on the food/process, and is very good at explaining some principles and encouraging you to think for yourself (he’ll often not give precise amounts and encourage you to add some, taste, add more if needed). His voice/inflections can be grating when you first watch his videos but you grow to love it. He’s got an endless supply of all sorts of dishes so he’s a great resource
https://youtu.be/ifWWRZSWS18
It’s Alive with Brad/Bon Appetit
This is a series from a channel about making pickled/fermented food. A lot more specific but it’s hilarious and I’ve made some of the stuff from the series and really enjoyed it. Even if you’re not gonna make any of this stuff I’d still recommend these for pure entertainment value.
There’s also a bunch of content on Bon Appetit (the channel), some of Claire’s vids are very good, mostly baking-related.
Brad: https://youtu.be/UGjCeAbWKPo
Claire: https://youtu.be/yxGczEE3NSw
Other channels I’ll look at include Alex French Guy Cooking and J Kenji Lopez Alt. Alex does a lot of cool stuff on Ramen, and is quite experimental, exploring different techniques for doing things etc. Kenji is very scientific with how he cooks things and explains the reasoning behind, say, why you should shake your boiled potatoes before you put them in the oven to roast them.
Alex: https://youtu.be/HzIdk8UHHUU
Kenji: https://youtu.be/argKpeiKFfo
Fantastic recommendations! This hits my favorites out of my wife's cooking viewing and they've both entertained and improved our cooking and the enjoyment of creating memorable dishes.
My wife likes watching cooking shows but it is more about the competition and elimination/personalities than the technical side of the cooking etc.
I like to cook, she doesn't really - she bakes so it works out okay as a team - and I kind of watch along but these links are way more relevant to me personally.
+1 for Alex French Guy Cooking (mentioned in sibling comment). I like his method of chopping onions; most of the onions I chop don't need to look particularly pretty, so it's great.
Also, You Suck At Cooking https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCekQr9znsk2vWxBo3YiLq2w is one of my guilty pleasures. I think he's hilarious and figured it was purely a spoof channel, but then I actually watched a couple and if you don't mind and/or enjoy his fooling around (and have a moderately well-tuned BS detector to tell when he's fooling around) the recipes are pretty good. I particularly like how he doesn't spend a whole lot of time measuring things out. It's a great counter to the precision generally present in recipe books, which used to be a big hangup for me (pipettes broth into Pyrex measuring cup "gotta get EXACTLY 1 C broth in this soup!" => dumps broth into drinking glass "Eh, close enough!") I'm still adjusting to that style but it has already saved me both time and unnecessary tension. (Seriously. The error margins in most cooking seem ridiculously large to me!)
I essentially started electronics because of Big Clive. I found him entertaining, and his curiosity rubbed off. It's nice to have a simple, practical context for learning the basics, and his channel provides that in spades.
As for gearing up, I think $300 is way on the high end. A cheap $10 temp-controlled soldering iron, solder, flux, and flush-cut snips are most of what you need. I'd add in some assorted parts bags; you can get like 20 each of dozens of different resistors in a big sack for $15 on eBay. Do that for common stuff like LEDs, capacitors, transistors, and some arduinos and such, and you're good to go. Could be well under $100 for a good start.
>Do you think the same intuition can be developed watching videos for things like woodworking?
Absolutely, whether it's electronics, woodworking, cooking, mechanics, or whatever skill you choose, you can develop an intuition for a particular craft by watching others perform it. Even if it's not something inherently educational you'll still pick up bits and pieces of information, and things like technique and methods to approach a problem become evident the more you watch.
If you're looking for some suggestions on woodworking channels, I wholeheartedly recommend Matthias Wandel[0], as well as John Heisz[1], as these channels are both very approachable and are often presented in a 'how to' fashion, providing plans for their work in the descriptions. There's no shortage to channels dedicated to teaching woodworking or home improvement if you just look for them, although some are less approachable than others, an example of this would be mtmwood[2] which is presented in Russian although knowing Russian is not necessary to understand the videos. He tends to make some pretty neat and complicated cutting boards[3].
Although I must stress, don't skip the book learning with something like woodworking or home improvement, knowing how to operate power tools safely as well as taking personal protection seriously is absolutely essential.
Thanks for the suggestions. The thing I like about youtube is unlike other things like books, articles, that I always bookmark to look at later, I can immediately immerse myself into youtube.
Any recommendations for home improvement? Or maybe other hobbies you find interesting like watch making?
No, no and no. If I watch even 10 Youtube videos without building anything, I give up.
I'd love to learn electronics. You know what I need? ONE Youtube video, and a single kit I can buy on Amazon.com to build what's shown on the video. Then a second video, and an exercise (either with the same kit, or something else).
That's how I would stick to it.
Too often, people like you think that the issue of learning is about finding information. It's not! In the age of internet and being one or two click away from everything, the issue is simply to keep the motivation high.
This is true. I think the key is to find something that you really want to build. This is easier to do as a kid, because a lot more of simple things are exciting.
"Shop on Aliexpress (or sometimes Amazon or Ebay)."
Buying from potential(probability:good on listed sites) 2nd & rejected lots will torpedo any initial enthusiasm.
Go to mouser.com.
Not an advert, nor affiliated, just happy with their products & service.
Thank you for your comment on the "How to Self-Learn Electronics?" Hacker News thread.
"YouTube University. Seriously: watch 30, 50, or a 100 videos. You will develop an intuition for what is happening. THEN read books (some good ones already suggested in other comments) and you will learn the concrete theory."
I have been thinking a lot about it in the past few days, and it makes a lot of sense, and may be very helpful in helping me increase my learning speed. I am not referring to electronics just yet but learning in general. Whenever I want to learn how to make a new dish in the kitchen such as fried tofu, kettle corn, carmel corn, etc. I will simply watch 5-10 YouTube videos and just absorb what makes sense, and I think this may be called intuition and it is nice to realize what is happening.
In regards to learning software engineering though, I don't do that as often, although I did with HTTP/2 and it was fantastic. I do watch a lot of videos but I also slog through a lot of technical books at a slow-reading style pace. It is very helpful BUT I see that I will be limited in my learning throughout my life to just a few subjects at this rate.
I am going to now follow your advice and watch 5-10 hours of videos on new topics before doing the deep dives into the books and still deep dive, but now I will have that intuition.
Thanks for sharing that, it has had an effect on my future!
I keep coming back to it, though I only tinker. I've recently gotten into modular synths, and that's neat becasue there are plenty of kits to build wihtout having to know a lot about hot the stuff works.
In the last month I've built a pretty complicated VCO and an Oscilloscope.
The stuff is cheap.
I've had a pretty good informal education as a nerdy musician and computer guy over the last 2 decades.
IMO the good thing is to keep in mind that a) for low voltage stuff you can mess around a lot and not hurt yourself (the devices can be another matter) and b) a lot of this stuff is just within 10% tolerance... like you can do a lot with minimal knowledge.
I got a lot out of a series of youtube videos that were tied to a company selling kits of resistors, breadboards, etc:
And then it's like learning to code (if you know how to do that): find a project that seems like you more or less understand the broad strokes and try to implement it.
For the practical side of things buy a protoboard, a multimeter and some components (resistors, capacitors, etc) and start mounting simple circuits. Learn how to solder and start fixing stuff and doing fun projects. You'll eventually need more stuff to learn, having an oscilloscope to see the signals is needed to understand what is going on with AC circuits, but you could probably simulate it instead with software like Multisim https://www.multisim.com/create/
Learn about Microcontrollers too, they give you the ability to do the really cool stuff, like robotic projects.
I honestly don’t know much about electronics, but there is a bundle on humble bundle right now about hardware and electronics [1]. It might be worth checking out. If anyone has read any of these feel free to comment which ones are worth a read.
I learned electronics outside of school, but as part of a job (which has turned into a 20 year career of hardware design). I remember learning by needing to decipher schematics and repair broken circuits, which is what I was first asked to do, before I knew electronics. I would read the datasheets of the devices and try to understand. I would research what I didnt understand until I did to get to the next step.
For me this worked very well - I need a goal, a purpose. Designing things is good, but I think repairing things is perhaps even better for learning and getting started. Particularly if you have one working example and one broken example, and you can compare circuits.
So my advice - if you have one of something that works and has a circuit board, and you can find a schematic for it...go buy a broken one, and fix it. Then you can sell the newly working one, and do it again with something else. You'll learn a lot, and it will be very practical stuff to have learned. The art of hardware troubleshooting is its own wonderful talent to have.
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[ 4.1 ms ] story [ 335 ms ] threadAnd this https://www.digikey.com/en/resources/edu/harvard-lab-kit (BOM's with all the components needed by the book)
Buy a PCB board some components and start putting things together. Supplement with youtube, blogs.
The 8-Bit Computer video series by Ben Eater (reshared on HN recently, https://eater.net/8bit/) was the first thing I saw which ignited a passion for understanding the hardware underpinnings of computing.
ElectroBoom, GreatScott, EEVBlog, Julian Ilett, and Adafruit YouTube channels are really great, too.
But that doesn't matter if all you want to do is low-speed digital electronics like Arduino and microcontrollers. I think the problem is that you don't know what you don't know.
So, practical basics. Understand the concepts of Voltage and Current. Learn what resistors and capacitors are: find a site that has basic linear circuit theory (Ohm's law, Kirchoff's voltage & current laws). Understanding those two components and wiring is basic to everything else. There's a lot of misinformation out there and knowing the basics will help you avoid being trapped by it. You don't need to know the depths of circuit theory: a good overview will get you on more solid footing than most of the "makers" out there.
Want to learn to build audio circuits, or RF or precision instrumentation? Move on to active circuits: transistors, diodes, op-amps. Read everything you can on proper grounding.
Want to blink LEDs and do more "real-world" interfacing & control stuff: find a site on microcontrollers (the Adafruit learning series for Arduino is pretty good), learn about interrupts, analog to digital conversion, digital to analog conversion, sensors, etc.
Caveat: I'm a software guy. I burn myself when I solder. I make smoke come out of components. I might not be the right person to listen to :-)
With the exception of an oscilloscope, you can put together a simple bench for a few hundred dollars. I've had mixed luck stocking components (for instanced, either my circuits are clueless crap, or the 10Mhz crystals I bought off of eBay are just empty cans -- in any event, a circuit that should oscillate just sits there). I found a used Tektronix scope and couldn't be happier, it really makes a difference when you're debugging something.
There are excellent stock images out there to make your soldering experience even more memorable:
https://petapixel.com/assets/uploads/2016/03/stockphotowoman...
https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/b/man-soldering-repairing-prin...
https://www.saleae.com/
The Saleae hardware doubles as a license for the software. Using a "knock off" with open source free software is perfectly fine.
https://sigrok.org/ Is a great tool that works with a great selection of hardware. Including most of the knockoffs.
I actually own a genuine Saleae for ref. Although I blew it up :(
With respect to oscillators, the old saying of “amplifiers oscillate; oscillators don’t” comes to mind. Electronics is a cruel and unforgiving field.
Also burn myself and let the magic smoke out and I’m apparently qualified in this field. Go figure :)
A broken Tektronix scope will teach you more about electronics than a textbook too. I think I’ve had about 20 of the things over the years.
Indeed. Also, the purpose of expensive integrated circuits is to protect the delicate fuses in your design.
Amplifiers can have a big phase shift and gain which fulfills barkhausen criteria which is the fundamental requirement for something to oscillate. Oscillating amplifiers are usually a very bad problem because it trashes the signal you are amplifying and tends to suck up a lot of power.
Fuses take a glacial amount of time to blow compared to an integrated circuit. When something goes wrong the IC blows up way before the fuse goes.
I was maybe fifteen and had my dad help me as a third hand and I burned him. My late dad had the patience of Job. He didn't get angry or raise his voice.
He just told me that he'd never let me forget doing it. Sure enough for the rest of his life he'd tease me about the 'scar' I gave him.
I’ve done this at least once .. soldered a 0805 resistor upside down through a 1-inch hole. It doesn’t wick like you’d expect! Quite hard to do
When I was younger I used to tinker with tiny electrical projects (from NZ so we had "Dick Smith" kits). I understood the very basics, but nothing complicated. As a fairly proficient software developer, real electronics has always felt alien to me.
Then recently I got an Arduino, and it's opened a whole new world. It's the perfect mix of feeling like you want to glue stuff to it, and feeling like you can glue stuff to it. That one device is already full of so much interesting circuitry (with the timers and the uart and little pins waiting to ground them to make stuff happen). But the docs and libraries will guide you through it. It's like training wheels for electrical circuits.
Your first project will be to make an LED blink, but to do that properly you need to use Ohm's Law (or else you'll forget the resistor and burn something up).
Then you'll make the LED change state based on a button press, which will teach you about pull-up resistors.
Eventually you'll add a modern version of a 7400 IC or two. You'll try powering too many components (likely more LEDs), and you'll discover why decoupling capacitors matter. You might even mess with a MOSFET.
By this point you're a competent novice in digital electronics, and you're likely ready to start learning some of the fundamentals of analog electronics. But along the way it felt like you were just doing a bit more with software, so it was a really easy learning curve.
I was motivated by doing some audio projects. Projects have real requirements, and so they force you to iterate on the design until you hit all your requirements: power supply logistics, signal purity, enclosure, ...
Get a good textbook like Horowitz The Art of Electronics.
Learn how to use a CAD-based circuit simulator program like LTSpice. Build the circuits you read about in the simulator, and run them: apply signals, and look at how the voltages behave at various nodes in the circuit, as a function of time.
Read schematics.
Read schematics for equipment that you know. If you're into vintage audio, that is not hard to come by.
Recently I was looking at the schematics for a "Furman PQ-3" parametric equalizer (Google for it). I blinked twice and did a "double take" and then immediately recognized that its filter bank consists of "state variable filters": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_variable_filter
Bam! Didn't even know what that was some four, five years ago.
Here is one copy of the schem: https://www.gearslutz.com/board/attachments/so-much-gear-so-...
Check out the power supply: the output of the transformer goes to a dual-voltage regulator. That feeds the chips. The unregulated voltage is also tapped and that is used for an emitter-follower output-stage on the upper left.
This is completely pointless. The op-amp IC's have such stages inside them too; why do they get regulated power and this one doesn't? On a dual supply, op-amp chips don't really need regulation.
If I built a clone of the device, I'd completely leave out this discrete component output stage; it is pointless. You're not going to drive speakers with this thing, but relatively high-impedance inputs (the next device in the chain, possibly a power amp).
So you can see what I'm doing here; critically looking at (the electronic aspect of) a complete product. Doing that requires some learning, but it also produces learning bit by bit.
You ask questions: why is that stage here? Why did they include this component? What is this transistor/resistor/diode doing here? Is there a pattern to this, and where have I seen it before? Is it really the same pattern and is it justified in this context? And so on.
Do you have any good resources on learning such conceptually?
You really don't need to use EagleCad to lay out your own PCBs for a very long time into the hobby. Perf board and jumper wires are sufficient for prototyping for a long time, most SMD/ball only chips/components have prototyping boards from sparkfun or adafruit or whatever.
It used to be a Java applet, now rewritten in JavaScript. Sadly, the Java version vastly outperforms the JS one, at least on my machine, but Java applets are annoying to run nowadays
https://github.com/Immortalin/Simulacra
Honestly, after a few designs, making a circuit board feels as easy and fun as playing a puzzle game.
Hackaday has a good series of blog posts for familiarizing yourself with the basic commands:
https://hackaday.com/2016/11/17/creating-a-pcb-in-everything...
Actually, there are some rumors about him that are quite unsavory, and I'm waiting until the cetacean equivalent of the #metoo movement to make an appearance on twitter to see the fallout from that.
Do you have any alternatives to recommend?
I know he (Brian) has expressed that those articles generated underwhelming metrics for the amount of work they take, but they really are a useful resource for people looking to get an overview of their options. And I'm sure the Whalebait fiasco will blow over soon enough.
It costs a little, if that's a concern.
https://circuitlab.com
https://contextualelectronics.com/courses/shine-on-you-crazy...
https://contextualelectronics.com/courses/getting-to-blinky/
I'd recommend doing them quick, as Kicad is on the verge of a new major release(5.0) and these series might become outdated.
Also, the discrete output section helps power dissipation in the regulator. Especially if the output gets shorted.
... And I was curious, so I just looked at the datasheet for RC4558. Maximum supply voltage is +/- 18V. So you'd probably have to bring that unregulated "20V" rail down to 12-14V actual to stay within that.
Ah, but that section here is a feedback-stabilized amplifier stage; and the power rail is dual-voltage. The ripple in the positive rail swings opposite to the negative one.
Lots of power amplifiers use no voltage regulation for the rails. The amplifier is a kind of voltage regulator already anyway; if you add a regulator, you're basically adding another amplifier to the amplifier.
(Hey, I heard you like amplifiers, so I put an amplifier in your amplifier, ...)
But most of my experience is analog conditioning for microcontrollers - more sensitive, higher frequency noise, and admittedly single rail with today's op amp technology. An extra component doesn't necessarily add complexity like in software, but can actually simplify one's mental model of the circuit - nice stable supply rails.
If you look at that original circuit, how much did the regulator cost compared to say the transformer? Eliminating the regulator would have required changing the transformer, at least.
I'm just trying to get across that it's a bit of a red herring to prioritize cost-optimizing the circuit if you're setting out to build a one-off clone. Even hobbyist debugging time is worth more than a few ten cent parts.
This class ranked right up there with my nuclear engineering labs in the following sense: 1) using an oscilloscope in a lab setting takes a lot of patience & hard work (similar to radiation detectors) 2) I wasn't prepared for how "fuzzy" (sorry, I know that is not the right word) electronic components behave when examined in a lab setting. I was used to resisters and capacitors, and in previous labs they behaved fairly well. This class showed me how complex it all is, and "Art" is not a bad word to describe it at all.
I learned a lot and strongly 2nd the Horowitz recommendation if you want to really get down into the nitty gritty. Maybe it isn't the first book you pick up depending on your background, I dont' know. AND, I hope oscilloscopes and their user manuals have gotten a lot more friendly in the intervening years since 1991 :-)
I consider analog electronics to be more akin to "dark magic" than anything else...
I'm another fan of Horowitz and Hill's _The Art of Electronics_ - it's my go-to reference after 35 years in the business.
And it's really not that hard.
You can find similar circuits from the 1950s-60s Popular Science back-issues on Google Books; that's the time period when hobbyists were transitioning from tube-based stuff to more solid-state and transistor stuff (transistors came down in price enough, plus they were more reliable) - so occasionally, you can find an article on some project combining both technologies.
Basically, whenever I look at a schematic, I think “why do analog engineers like to work in the equivalent of assembly language?”
I do more digital than analog electronics, and based on Verilog and VHDL, those folks seem to be working with “stone knives and bear skins” too! At least they get to have real names for things.
Not being at all a professional electronic engineer, I’m sure this a misguided reaction, but I’m not sure exactly how.
It came with a spiral bound manual that taught GW-Basic. I didn't learn a damn thing at the time, I just slowly typed the lines of code into the PC. I stuck at it long enough that I eventually drew a star on the monitor, as "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" beeped at me its 8 bit glory
In that singular moment, I hadn't "learned" anything, but I knew then, I needed to take apart every single piece of electronics I could get my hands on. I never "learned" anything about schematics or what all of these pieces of metal do, yet I remained endlessly fascinated.
30 years later, I do embedded development. There's not a day that goes by when I "learn" anything. But the sheer joy of my continued failures, along with the rare, occasional success, has made me a very happy person, who backed into somehow figuring out how to read schematics, prototype a proof of concept, layout PCBs, order the parts from digikey, order boards from Dirty PCBs, solder them on to the PCB, program Assembly, C, Python, JS.
But when it comes to the folks that can do devops, thats just plain magic.
Today, in addition to this there are monthly electronic subscription kits that can be pretty cool.
The way I'd do it today is find projects online that I can order the parts myself from AliExpress/eBay to come from China and have a project a month to do. Things take 4-6 weeks to arrive, and you can order the next project while working on the current one.
http://www.arrl.org/what-is-ham-radio
https://www.qrz.com/i/ham-radio-howto.html
http://www.ncarc.net/?q=node/57
edit for form
But the ARRL handbook is definitely a masterpiece.
If I'm at home I get on the air for traffic nets or QRP and there the topics are thankfully pre-defined because I'm a lousy conversationalist. I found clubs to be a hit and miss kind of thing. Some of them have active homebrewing groups where you can exercise your love of electronics but they're not as common as smaller clubs that tend more towards operating (emergency comms, repeater installations, stuff like that) rather than building things. 73
What all these have in common is an engaging purpose that focuses learning, and endless challenge that always leads to new learning.
Amateur radio did it for me, and I still maintain a large radiosport station, but for my kid it was robotics that really lit up their eyes.
https://www.amazon.com/Bebop-Boolean-Boogie-Third-Unconventi...
But it is also a sign of the times, rather than having a bunch of logic the quickest way to get some project off the ground is to tie the i/o to a microcontroller and solve the remainder of the problem in software.
You can build some cool stuff without having much in depth knowledge (there are tons of step-by-step projects for Arduino/RaspberryPi just a Google away).
If you're the type that doesn't mind hunkering down and reading textbooks, I'd suggest Electric Circuits (Nilsson and Riedel) paired with Fundamentals of Microelectronics (Razavi).
Electronics is hard - esp building good quality electronics is hard - but its disappearing as software eats the world. If you're on HN you can probably code already, rpi is a great way to start with software and gradually add more eletronics for robots or sensors etc.
For example, here are the labs for Berkeley's EE105: http://inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/~ee105/fa15/labs.html
I believe MIT OCW has several electronics courses with lab materials.
Electronics covers a huge field and many people specialize in just one area. Here are some of the main areas that are accessible to hobbyists (roughly in increasing order of difficulty):
- Digital electronics. Using microcontrollers to do things in the physical environment.
- Audio electronics. This is a fun area of electronics because the quality of what you build is directly reflected in how it sounds.
- Amateur radio electronics. Lets you talk to other people around the world. Harder than basic audio circuits because you need to know about antennas and radio operates at higher frequencies. Also requires passing an exam to get licensed, but studying for the exam helps with learning some of the theory.
- FPGAs. These are sexy, but not many applications that are that compelling for a hobbyist unless you have something very specific in mind. Plus you have to learn Verilog or another HDL and the way of thinking is very different than normal programming (since you're effectively describing the hardware you want rather than an algorithm).
My advice is to first figure out which field you're interested in, then find a project to work on related to that field. Having something practical to refer to makes understanding the theory (like what you'd learn in The Art of Electronics) easier.
I recommend these YouTube channels:
https://www.youtube.com/user/greatscottlab
https://www.youtube.com/user/EEVblog
Not all of the videos are useful, but if you browse through the "Most popular", you might find some interesting stuff. I did. There's also a long tail of other channels that post the odd interesting beginner-electronics video. Type in search terms for things you're confused by, and you'll find tens of people trying their best to explain it to you in a way you can understand. Don't understand one? Try the next person.
I bought an "Arduino starter kit" off eBay for about £35. It came with an Arduino Uno, a breadboard, some bits of jumper wire, resistors, a few capacitors, a relay, a servo, some LEDs, an LCD display, etc. Just a basic bunch of stuff to start playing with. (I think I paid more than the constituent parts were actually worth, but if they weren't all bundled together for me I wouldn't have known what to get at all, so I got plenty of value from it anyway.)
Then just start playing with it. In the process of trying to make stuff work you'll accidentally learn about pull-up and pull-down resistors, switch debouncing, filtering capacitors, using transistors to switch larger loads, SPI, I2C, and it'll all start fitting together in your mind. Every time you learn a new thing it opens up a bunch more avenues of stuff to research.
The resources available on YouTube are so much better than they were even 3 years ago. I think that's what has helped me "succeed" this time.
Good luck!
Finding projects that you can make that can actually do something that interests you makes a world of difference.
It's like learning programming/OOP through the typical animal examples versus making an app that is something you would actually use or fills a need that you have.
A music instrument maybe? Automate the blinds in your apartment? Track the motion of earth for long-exposure photography? A multicopter for flying FPV?
Examples include fixing or completely re-wiring the electronics in an electric guitar, fixing or building guitar effects pedals, building midi-actuated devices, building a strobe tuner, adding pickups to acoustic instruments like guitars, cellos, and violins, modding a 3-head tape recorder into a tape delay unit, building pickup pre-amps, winding guitar pickups, fixing or modding old synthesizers or divide-down organs, building new midi interfaces, getting into modular synthesis, building oscillators, filters, sequencers, etc...
Music seems to be the sort of domain where there's always some electronic device you wish you had that would make your life a little bit better in some way, and it often happens that the thing you want is something that no one currently sells, or not for a price you're willing to pay.
I haven't done an electronics project in years and I'm still stuck with all the extra parts in my toolkit and shelf.
Here's the "learn" page on the Adafruit web site: https://learn.adafruit.com/
And the Adafruit Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/adafruit
And it's definitely worth just dipping in and out of -- and eventually reading all the way through -- "The Art of Electronics." It's a terrific book, and manages to be both readable and super in-depth about every topic you could possibly want to know about when you're trying to figure out what's what.
There are also a number of inspiring blogs by electrical engineers who are also great writers. Which ones to follow sort of depend on what specialties you are most interested in, but Bunnie Huang's is a great one to start with: https://www.bunniestudios.com/
It's a good read if you're trying to learn the fundamentals.
https://archive.org/stream/RadioDesignersHandbook/LangfordSm...
Wouldn't have been possible without a slide rule.
Then after basic magnetic circuit theory & transformers, there's a whole chapter of math reference, ends up where they wish they had computers:
https://archive.org/stream/RadioDesignersHandbook/LangfordSm...
Which you are expected to be fluent in before you go forward from there.
Through the remainder of this handy little 1540-page guide, enjoy 'em all.
I want to emphasize the importance of developing the intuition behind the theory. It's vital, and the lack of intuition is why so many people find a complex, theoretical topic difficult. If they had spent time developing their intuition, then they would not struggle so much to understand and remember the theory.
Last, you have to build stuff (this also helps with the intuition). Decide that you are going to spend $300, and start buying parts. Don't go to Radio Shack, because you will (in my experience) pay an order of magnitude more for the same part. Shop on Aliexpress (or sometimes Amazon or Ebay). Who cares if you have to wait 6 weeks for the part to come in... do it today and it will be here about the time that you are ready for it. Never buy just one of anything. You can usually buy 10 or 20 for the same price that you can buy 2 or 3.
Most importantly: DO SOMETHING! Anything. Watch videos. Buy parts. Put things together, and then try to figure out why it's not working! Whatever you do, just don't stop. You will learn if you keep at it. At this stage for you, though, the most important thing is that you actually start.
Electricity videos. Audio can be annoying, but the visualizations (although corny at times) are outstanding for developing intuition.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiHVe8U5PhU&list=PLkyBCj4JhH...
GreatScott! - building projects
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6mIxFTvXkWQVEHPsEdflzQ
bigclivedotcom - does A LOT of teardowns, and you learn A LOT by seeing what designers have done wrong.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtM5z2gkrGRuWd0JQMx76qA
EEVblog - Dave talks (sometimes a bit long-winded, but I like him anyway) about various electronics topics. His explanations are outstanding.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2DjFE7Xf11URZqWBigcVOQ
Afrotechmods - Both good for explanations as well as building stuff
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCosnWgi3eorc1klEQ8pIgJQ
Not sure you learn a lot, but he's a knowledgeable guy having fun ripping shit apart in his garage with an adorable Canadian accent.
https://www.youtube.com/user/arduinoversusevil
I like his channel because it involves scales that don't play in. Like testing very high torque motors (over bolts bigger than my thumbs).
vice: check
As someone who's self-taught I found that the Art of Electronics was fantastic once I had enough basics. It may require a couple reads as it's quite dense but everything in there is solid gold.
[1] https://ocw.tudelft.nl/course-lectures/sed-l1-intro/?course_...
https://www.youtube.com/user/MrCarlsonsLab/videos
I would also recommend 8-Bit Guy who dives into electronics in some videos.
Ben Eater - Builds his own 8 bit computer and walks you through all the steps
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCS0N5baNlQWJCUrhCEo8WlA
Ben Krasnow's Applied Science - Teaches a lot more than electronics, but will also help you get some ideas (don't underestimate watching people do cool stuff to inspire you)
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCivA7_KLKWo43tFcCkFvydw
Jeri Ellsworth - Lots of random electronics stuff
https://www.youtube.com/user/jeriellsworth
AND DO NOT FORGET TO BUY THE BIBLE
https://smile.amazon.com/Art-Electronics-Paul-Horowitz/dp/05...
There is a very, very base level of electronics understanding for a couple things that are below the scope of what he covers. You're expected to understand what a pull-up resistor is, for example, and he briefly touches on RC circuits but I don't think his explanation would be sufficient for grokking the concept from scratch. Overall though, he is an excellent teacher and I think he makes concepts quite clear.
I personally ran a few parts at 2x speed, and skipped the Turing machine discussion entirely, but I'm sure the info is quite necessary to some people, so I'm glad he included it all.
Julian Ilett - especially if you want to learn about solar https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmHvGf00GDuPYG9DZqQKd9A
Andreas Spiess https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCu7_D0o48KbfhpEohoP7YSQ
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/youtube-playback-s...
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/video-speed-contro...
Does the extension you linked do pitch correction as well? I wish I could find one that does for Firefox, too, if you happen to know of one. The only playback speed control extension I've found for FF doesn't.
Try setting the property manually using the JavaScript console and see if you get pitch correction. If not, maybe make sure you're on the latest version of Firefox?
low signal to noise ratio. The video log has 400 hour long parts in the series now, it's hard to pull valuable information quickly. It's not structured at all. "all over the shop", to use Dave's words.
> Afrotechmods
Nice introductions, but not very deep. "It's not the Volts that kill you, it's the Amps".
His YouTube videos are incredibly accessible despite their technical depth. Once you get your feet wet with the basics, I highly recommend his videos. They are a treasure trove of information while simultaneously being easy to understand & follow. I wish my professors could teach like him.
[1]: https://www.youtube.com/user/eaterbc
Crucial Items.
- A real soldering station.
- Solder
- ALL THE RESISTORS
- ALL THE WIRES (Solid core is really handy for mocking with breadboards
- A good multimeter
- A good power supply
- Breadboards
- Shrink tube
I think that covers the main things. Also nice to have are
- Heat gun
- fume hood (this is overkill for a hobbyist probably)
- Oscilloscope (I hear they are getting nearly affordable)
- Crimps (molex)
- A real crimping tool (Not pliers. One of the ratcheting ones.)
- All the other stuff I forgot about.
> A real soldering station > Solder
Get a good, name brand soldering station. Yes it will cost a few hundred dollars, but it will make a huge difference in your work. The cheap-o $15 soldering irons all produce horrible results and will shatter your confidence...
Get good, very thin solder. It will be expensive ($40) but will last forever and if paired with a legit soldering iron, will make a huge impact in your abilities.
Warms up in seconds, open source and customizable firmware, takes very little space (kind of important to me since I don't have a dedicated shed/garage for the hobby). What's not to love about it for a beginner?
Other features like a temperature graph or adjusting calibration and control parameters are handy additions when you have a nice display like in the TS100. Realistically though, people aren't really writing their own TS100 firmware with the exception of a few tinkerers. What it comes with is good enough.
Also they have other great products.
The MINI Nano DSO203 is a great 4 Channel Digital Oscilloscope for around 100 USD... Also the Mini ES 121 is a piece of art screw driver :)
So yehh... I say it is a name brand ! And the Brand is "Mini"
It's nice if you only do audio or low voltage stuff but the first time you're going to point your probe at something a bit more beefy and you will let the magic smoke out (good case) or worse.
For really fiddly SMD items I have a cheap hot air rework station, but I don't need it very often - mostly when I have to desolder something SMD or solder on an IC with a thermal pad on the bottom.
What's a good name brand for soldering irons?
A note - soldering stations usually come with a cheap conical tip as a starter tip. Pay an extra $20 or so to buy two chisel tips: a tiny one for fine work, and a big one for larger work. The flat surface allows you to apply more heat to the joint. Take care of your tips (ie: keep them tinned, don't leave the iron on too hot, and don't scrub too hard with the brass sponge) and the tips should last a few years without trouble.
Also tips, get a hooked tip, about 80% of the time it'll do the job.
Get a small airfilter/fan if you're going to solder a lot.
If you're soldering for a living there are probably better suited soldering stations, but if you're just starting out: get this one.
Also: don't skimp on tin. Good quality soldering tin makes a huge difference!
Yes, the Hakko's are really nice and quality, but the Chinese clones are honestly 'good enough' for many people. They're workhorse machines that see tons of use in their native market.
Regarding the JBC, after the initial investment, various the tips (chinese clones ~$5 or even originals ~$25) add so much incremental value to the soldering iron base for such a little extra cost.
It doesn't have to be super thin but thinner is 100% better than thicker.
I would make the opposite argument that if you can get great results from a cheap-o soldering iron, your confidence and ability will soar thereafter.
Recall that, back in the really early days, soldering irons were large affairs, consisting of a large block of copper heated via a gasoline or kerosene torch, with a large wood handle and a steel shaft:
https://www.stevenjohnson.com/soldering/pics/old-reliable.jp...
Electrical ones weren't much better:
https://www.stevenjohnson.com/soldering/pics/ge-1911.jpg
Now granted, connections were mostly "free-air" and not PCB based or similar. Also, some of those irons were meant for soldering sheet metal, not really electronics or electrical work - but that's what people had at the time...
When I learned to solder thru-hole electronics, I learned with what could be called a "cheap-o" soldering iron; something like this (maybe not as nice looking):
https://www.circuitspecialists.com/content/image/104526/600/...
I still have it, and still use it occasionally. It takes "forever" to heat up (about 10-15 minutes), and the tip looks like hell. But for thru-hole construction, it works great. Once you know how to use it, you can solder like a champ.
Would I use it for SMT rework? No. Basically it's virtually worthless for anything with less than 0.1" pitch, unless you're removing parts and just need to dump a lot of heat in a small area.
The key to successful soldering is knowing how to control and place the heat where you need it, and flowing the solder into the joint properly. Most make the mistake of not tinning their iron or the part leads, then trying to flow the solder using the tip of the iron, where all it does is stick the iron tip. Instead, you have to heat the component's lead(s), and flow the solder using the heat on the lead(s). Tinning both the iron and the leads helps with this as well. Flux can also help, but if you use a decent flux-core solder (preferably 63/37 ratio tin-lead), flux should rarely be needed. A paste flux is useful though for cleaning the tip of the iron, especially when shutting down for the day.
It's kinda like arc welding. Sure, MIG can be easy to learn. But if you really want to understand, start with rod (stick) first. Yeah, you'll stick the rod continuously, cussing a storm up at first. But after a while, you'll develop the knack of keeping that weld pool just right and moving the rod while feeding it in, without sticking. Once you've done that, MIG is nothing...
I tend to disagree, when you're learning is not the time to be fighting your tools.
If you're just doing a bit of soldering as a hobby, though, get leaded solder. It works so much better than the modern unleaded stuff. Just don't breathe the smoke.
That is personally not the tradeoff I'd make.
Lead is a special kind of poison in that it makes you stupid before it kills you: This is especially true of children, but I don't want any of it on my adult self, either.
Note, you can also buy lead-free 'low temperature' solder, which has a lot of the same properties of lead solder, though it's more expensive.
"don't breathe the smoke" is just generally good advice, and it definitely doesn't become less applicable if you use lead free solder.
Being a technician, I read the MSDS:
https://www.mgchemicals.com/downloads/msds/01%20English%20Ca...
vs:
https://www.mgchemicals.com/downloads/msds/01%20English%20Ca...
I mean, I ain't saying you should lick either one... and yeah, I don't know how much if any lead is released into the air during normal operation, but lead is pretty seriously toxic to humans, and avoiding touching the lead as I'm using it sounds kinda difficult. The flux? yeah, that isn't any good for you either, but I don't think it's in the same category as lead when it comes to toxicity.
> Soft soldering temperatures (<450 °C) are generally too low to generate significant amounts of metal vapors, however, metal oxide fumes/dust or flux decomposition fumes can occur.
> RECOMMENDATION:
> For frequent or prolonged soldering processes, use of a local exhaust system to avoid exposure to thermal decomposition products. For example, use fume cabinet, a hood on a flexible arm, or tip-mounted fume extraction system on the soldering iron.
So if you're only occasionally soldering up a circuit board, you stay well ventilated, and you keep the solder temperature below 450°C (my soldering iron is usually set around 280°C - 300°C) then the risk seems pretty negligible. If you take up circuit board fabrication as a career then obviously you'd take it much more seriously. I should still give unleaded solder another shot, though - maybe it's improved since last time I tried it.
I think the danger is in touching the lead directly; it's a soft metal and comes off on your hands to a certain extent, and my understanding is that some of the dross can end up as lead dust.
According to the NIOSH, just washing with soap is often not effective for removing lead from your hands,
https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/lead/safe.html
>I should still give unleaded solder another shot, though - maybe it's improved since last time I tried it.
I'm starting to look into different formulations; I'd start with the SAC305 formulation. It's like 3.5% silver and slightly more expensive, but still cheap. and widely available.
Not that I'm any good at soldering myself.
I'm not sure what people mean when they say they want to learn electronics, whether they are talking about getting a micro based kit and hooking things up to it and programming it or whether they want to understand circuits and components and how they work. If it's the latter, then go with a scope.
On the other hand, if you get the right cheap oscilloscope, such as a Rigol 1054z, which goes for $350 [1] and add the $180 "serial bus analysis" option, the 'scope will know how to trigger on and decode I2C, SPI, RS232 protocols.
If you don't mind using cracks, you can enable the serial bus analysis option for free, and also double the memory and the bandwidth.
Rigol's response to the crack is interesting. The cracks work because they used a key length for a cryptographic key in their firmware that is short enough to fairly easily brute force. It's hard to see how this could be accidental. Further suggesting that it is not accidental is the fact that they could have easily fixed this once people figured it out, but they have not.
That has led to speculation that they purposefully did this, so that hobbyists could easily crack the thing and get all the features.
Professional users could also crack it, but they would be reluctant to do so, because of potential liability issues. If you are a pro, and you design something the ends up used in a system that causes harm, and it comes out you were using hacked test equipment, the plaintiff's lawyers will be all over that.
If that is the case, it was an excellent strategy. Over on /r/electronics or /r/AskElectronics, you ask for a 'scope recommendation as a hobbyist or student, and almost all the responses will say get the DS1054z and crack it.
[1] https://www.tequipment.net/Rigol/DS1054Z/Digital-Oscilloscop...
[2] https://www.tequipment.net/Rigol/SA-DS1000Z/Options/
Annnd they doubled their prices, oscilloscope it is.
First buy a breadboard (or more than one). Buy the resistors and wires you need in the near future. You'll need a crimper pretty soon to cut the wires.
A good power supply is nice, but you can make due with a battery holder and battery at first, say, a 9 volt.
Look at some simple projects you can build, and get the capacitors, LEDs, inductors etc. necessary to build them.
When you want to start soldering things together, get a soldering station, solder and stripboards. Also get solder flux . Soldering is much less of a pain when you have flux, depending on what you are doing.
As the comment section here attests - a soldering gun is hot. Solder is hot. You have to be careful.
Digikey.com and Mouser.com have many, many electronic parts. Adafruit.com has a lot of cool projects and guides. In fact, I would recommend you watch some Adafruit videos, read some of their guides etc.
After you learn some of the basics, you can take a step up and get an Arduino and muck with that.
I find jameco.com very friendly for a beginner. Prices are about the same as elsewhere, shipping is fine, selection is fine for a beginner, and usually it's usually pretty easy to narrow the search results to just a few parts that have fairly clear differences. They have a pretty nice email newsletter too, essentially the only newsletter I allow through my spam filters, and the only one I've ever clicked on non-accidentally. The regularly feature hobby projects on their front page, from premade kits to more advanced stuff.
PPE is never overkill, and flux from soldering is really nasty stuff to inhale over time.
also, Horowitz and Hill, to echo what i suppose is mentioned elsewhere.
It’s actually mad the amount of stuff you pick up through watching someone who’s good at what they do doing it and explaining it well, prodding at your understanding while they do it.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxnR4FnZUGyUogykxh_AlgA?app...
You sure thats the channel you meant?
Binging with Babish/Basics with Babish This guys shtick is that he recreates dishes from film/tv. He used to be a video editor iirc so the production quality is great and it’s very focused on the food itself (as you can tell by you very rarely seeing his face). As he got more popular he made the Basics series. Can’t recommend them both enough Binging: https://youtu.be/bJUiWdM__Qw Basics: https://youtu.be/Upqp21Dm5vg
Food Wishes This is done by a guy called Chef John. Similarly to Babish he’s very focused on the food/process, and is very good at explaining some principles and encouraging you to think for yourself (he’ll often not give precise amounts and encourage you to add some, taste, add more if needed). His voice/inflections can be grating when you first watch his videos but you grow to love it. He’s got an endless supply of all sorts of dishes so he’s a great resource https://youtu.be/ifWWRZSWS18
It’s Alive with Brad/Bon Appetit This is a series from a channel about making pickled/fermented food. A lot more specific but it’s hilarious and I’ve made some of the stuff from the series and really enjoyed it. Even if you’re not gonna make any of this stuff I’d still recommend these for pure entertainment value. There’s also a bunch of content on Bon Appetit (the channel), some of Claire’s vids are very good, mostly baking-related. Brad: https://youtu.be/UGjCeAbWKPo Claire: https://youtu.be/yxGczEE3NSw
Other channels I’ll look at include Alex French Guy Cooking and J Kenji Lopez Alt. Alex does a lot of cool stuff on Ramen, and is quite experimental, exploring different techniques for doing things etc. Kenji is very scientific with how he cooks things and explains the reasoning behind, say, why you should shake your boiled potatoes before you put them in the oven to roast them. Alex: https://youtu.be/HzIdk8UHHUU Kenji: https://youtu.be/argKpeiKFfo
If I think of any others I’ll comment again!
My wife likes watching cooking shows but it is more about the competition and elimination/personalities than the technical side of the cooking etc.
I like to cook, she doesn't really - she bakes so it works out okay as a team - and I kind of watch along but these links are way more relevant to me personally.
Appreciate it!
Also, You Suck At Cooking https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCekQr9znsk2vWxBo3YiLq2w is one of my guilty pleasures. I think he's hilarious and figured it was purely a spoof channel, but then I actually watched a couple and if you don't mind and/or enjoy his fooling around (and have a moderately well-tuned BS detector to tell when he's fooling around) the recipes are pretty good. I particularly like how he doesn't spend a whole lot of time measuring things out. It's a great counter to the precision generally present in recipe books, which used to be a big hangup for me (pipettes broth into Pyrex measuring cup "gotta get EXACTLY 1 C broth in this soup!" => dumps broth into drinking glass "Eh, close enough!") I'm still adjusting to that style but it has already saved me both time and unnecessary tension. (Seriously. The error margins in most cooking seem ridiculously large to me!)
As for gearing up, I think $300 is way on the high end. A cheap $10 temp-controlled soldering iron, solder, flux, and flush-cut snips are most of what you need. I'd add in some assorted parts bags; you can get like 20 each of dozens of different resistors in a big sack for $15 on eBay. Do that for common stuff like LEDs, capacitors, transistors, and some arduinos and such, and you're good to go. Could be well under $100 for a good start.
Eg ask component manufacturers to send you samples, recycle electronics from things you or others throw away, etc.
Circuit Jam helps a bit for practice: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.circuitjam
Also, stack exchange: https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions?sort=votes
What about home improvement/construction?
Thoughts/opinions anyone?
Absolutely, whether it's electronics, woodworking, cooking, mechanics, or whatever skill you choose, you can develop an intuition for a particular craft by watching others perform it. Even if it's not something inherently educational you'll still pick up bits and pieces of information, and things like technique and methods to approach a problem become evident the more you watch.
If you're looking for some suggestions on woodworking channels, I wholeheartedly recommend Matthias Wandel[0], as well as John Heisz[1], as these channels are both very approachable and are often presented in a 'how to' fashion, providing plans for their work in the descriptions. There's no shortage to channels dedicated to teaching woodworking or home improvement if you just look for them, although some are less approachable than others, an example of this would be mtmwood[2] which is presented in Russian although knowing Russian is not necessary to understand the videos. He tends to make some pretty neat and complicated cutting boards[3].
Although I must stress, don't skip the book learning with something like woodworking or home improvement, knowing how to operate power tools safely as well as taking personal protection seriously is absolutely essential.
[0] https://www.youtube.com/user/Matthiaswandel
[1] https://www.youtube.com/user/jpheisz
[2] https://www.youtube.com/user/mtmwood
[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVB5zjTraLk
Thanks for the suggestions. The thing I like about youtube is unlike other things like books, articles, that I always bookmark to look at later, I can immediately immerse myself into youtube.
Any recommendations for home improvement? Or maybe other hobbies you find interesting like watch making?
Thanks again!
I'd love to learn electronics. You know what I need? ONE Youtube video, and a single kit I can buy on Amazon.com to build what's shown on the video. Then a second video, and an exercise (either with the same kit, or something else).
That's how I would stick to it.
Too often, people like you think that the issue of learning is about finding information. It's not! In the age of internet and being one or two click away from everything, the issue is simply to keep the motivation high.
Not an advert, nor affiliated, just happy with their products & service.
"YouTube University. Seriously: watch 30, 50, or a 100 videos. You will develop an intuition for what is happening. THEN read books (some good ones already suggested in other comments) and you will learn the concrete theory."
I have been thinking a lot about it in the past few days, and it makes a lot of sense, and may be very helpful in helping me increase my learning speed. I am not referring to electronics just yet but learning in general. Whenever I want to learn how to make a new dish in the kitchen such as fried tofu, kettle corn, carmel corn, etc. I will simply watch 5-10 YouTube videos and just absorb what makes sense, and I think this may be called intuition and it is nice to realize what is happening.
In regards to learning software engineering though, I don't do that as often, although I did with HTTP/2 and it was fantastic. I do watch a lot of videos but I also slog through a lot of technical books at a slow-reading style pace. It is very helpful BUT I see that I will be limited in my learning throughout my life to just a few subjects at this rate.
I am going to now follow your advice and watch 5-10 hours of videos on new topics before doing the deep dives into the books and still deep dive, but now I will have that intuition.
Thanks for sharing that, it has had an effect on my future!
I keep coming back to it, though I only tinker. I've recently gotten into modular synths, and that's neat becasue there are plenty of kits to build wihtout having to know a lot about hot the stuff works.
In the last month I've built a pretty complicated VCO and an Oscilloscope.
The stuff is cheap.
I've had a pretty good informal education as a nerdy musician and computer guy over the last 2 decades.
IMO the good thing is to keep in mind that a) for low voltage stuff you can mess around a lot and not hurt yourself (the devices can be another matter) and b) a lot of this stuff is just within 10% tolerance... like you can do a lot with minimal knowledge.
I got a lot out of a series of youtube videos that were tied to a company selling kits of resistors, breadboards, etc:
http://www.pyroelectro.com/edu/
And then it's like learning to code (if you know how to do that): find a project that seems like you more or less understand the broad strokes and try to implement it.
For the practical side of things buy a protoboard, a multimeter and some components (resistors, capacitors, etc) and start mounting simple circuits. Learn how to solder and start fixing stuff and doing fun projects. You'll eventually need more stuff to learn, having an oscilloscope to see the signals is needed to understand what is going on with AC circuits, but you could probably simulate it instead with software like Multisim https://www.multisim.com/create/
Learn about Microcontrollers too, they give you the ability to do the really cool stuff, like robotic projects.
[1]: https://www.humblebundle.com/books/makerspace-books
https://www.amazon.com/Teach-Yourself-Electricity-Electronic...
For me this worked very well - I need a goal, a purpose. Designing things is good, but I think repairing things is perhaps even better for learning and getting started. Particularly if you have one working example and one broken example, and you can compare circuits.
So my advice - if you have one of something that works and has a circuit board, and you can find a schematic for it...go buy a broken one, and fix it. Then you can sell the newly working one, and do it again with something else. You'll learn a lot, and it will be very practical stuff to have learned. The art of hardware troubleshooting is its own wonderful talent to have.