

Ask HN: What's the *second* Arduino book? - mfringel

A bit of context: I was playing with Arduino for a while (got the SparkFun starter kit), and it was all good until I hit the third tutorial circuit, which involved a diode and a transistor and a few other things.<p>The point is...  I couldn't make the circuit work. AFAICT, everything was plugged in correctly, and as I decomposed the circuit to understand more of what was going on, incremental pieces worked, but the whole thing just didn't work at all.<p>What I <i>think</i> I need is the <i>second</i> Arduino book.   Some kind of "Debugging Circuits for Dummies" course/lecture/video/book/thingie that doesn't start out with "First, take two years of basic circuits and do all the exercises in Horowitz and Hill."<p>How have other people solved the "I'm playing with Arduino, starting from the vague rudiments of electronics knowledge, and I'm stuck." problem?
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teeja
If a simple circuit doesn't work (happens) it could be a faulty part
(happens). Or something is installed with the wrong polarity (diode for
example). Or a wire that should be conducting isn't.

If you have spare parts, try them. If you don't, start building a junkbox. If
you don't have an exact replacement, swapping in something reasonably similar
will show you if that might be the bad part. Learn to test simple components
for functionality with a multimeter (it's your BEST FRIEND).

The book of experiments you did yourself is the best book to own. Expect some
smoke (learning by fusion), and try adding stuff to see what happens. No book
can replace the fun you'll have.

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orangethirty
May you send me an email? I would like to talk to you about your current
experience learning about prototyping and the arduino. Just a quick chat. Will
also show you something I'm working on to help begineers like you. Email in
profile.

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compumike
We've got some sample circuits built around our simulator at
<https://www.circuitlab.com/> . Also a growing active community on our forums
-- draw up your schematic and post your question. Debugging electronics is
tough and heavily experience/intuition driven, possibly more so than in
software, so I can't think of a good book that speaks exclusively to that.
Good luck!

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IgorP
This one: [http://www.amazon.com/Programming-Arduino-Getting-Started-
Sk...](http://www.amazon.com/Programming-Arduino-Getting-Started-
Sketches/dp/0071784225/?_encoding=UTF8&s=books&keywords=Arduino&tag=produc05-20&linkCode=ur2&qid=1357084977&camp=1789&sr=1-1&creative=9325)

