

Ask HN: Resources for someone who wants to learn electronics? - LukeB_UK

I&#x27;m interested in learning electronics, but don&#x27;t know where to start. I know some basic principles and a little bit of electronics knowledge from when I was in school, but beyond that I don&#x27;t know a whole lot.<p>I&#x27;m a programmer for my job, so I can deal with that side of stuff, but would love to be able to have a hardware side to my projects and be able to use my programming skills to interact with stuff I make.<p>So HN, any ideas?<p>Edit: To clarify, I&#x27;d like to begin with simple circuits, getting to know the components and such. Eventually I&#x27;d like to move on to work with Arduinos and the Raspberry Pi.
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doubt_me
[http://www.lulu.com/shop/brian-evans/arduino-programming-
not...](http://www.lulu.com/shop/brian-evans/arduino-programming-
notebook/ebook/product-18598708.html)

[http://playground.arduino.cc/Main/ManualsAndCurriculum](http://playground.arduino.cc/Main/ManualsAndCurriculum)

[http://www.neuroproductions.be/logic-
lab/](http://www.neuroproductions.be/logic-lab/)

[http://shop.evilmadscientist.com/directory](http://shop.evilmadscientist.com/directory)

[http://www.seeedstudio.com/depot/](http://www.seeedstudio.com/depot/)

[http://forefront.io/a/beginners-guide-to-
arduino](http://forefront.io/a/beginners-guide-to-arduino)

[http://www.learnerstv.com/Free-Engineering-video-lecture-
cou...](http://www.learnerstv.com/Free-Engineering-video-lecture-courses.htm)

[http://www.electronics-tutorials.ws/](http://www.electronics-tutorials.ws/)

[http://www.ibiblio.org/kuphaldt/socratic/](http://www.ibiblio.org/kuphaldt/socratic/)

[https://upverter.com/](https://upverter.com/)

[http://www.afrotechmods.com/tutorials/](http://www.afrotechmods.com/tutorials/)

[http://www.eevblog.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page](http://www.eevblog.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page)

[https://www.circuitlab.com/](https://www.circuitlab.com/)

[http://jacquesricher.com/NEETS/](http://jacquesricher.com/NEETS/)

get yourself a nice soldering iron and read read read

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LukeB_UK
Wow, that's quite a list! Thank you very much!

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danelectro
Some excellent advice has been posted already.

to simplify, I would first concentrate on Ohm's law & Kirchoff's laws.

explore the properties & differences between AC & DC.

start becoming very acquainted with schematic drawings, especially the
variation that is found among different schools, localities, decades, and
plain drawings vs. interactive software schematics. Handle the schematics and
spend time studying them. You need to learn the conventions among different
industries, especially the way they handle Ground and whether or not all the
wiring is even shown on the drawing. Ground is one of the things that is most
often assumed to be wired symbolically, which can greatly reduce the drawing's
clutter, but you need to be sure you know how to interpret these traditional
shortcuts.

Start practically focusing on the difference between a schematic, wiring
diagram, assembly drawing, and repair documentation.

start learning about electronic components themselves, you need to recognize
what you see on circuit boards, how to cross-reference devices among
manufacturers, and understand technical specifications of each part which will
end up contributing to the overall performance specification of a complete
circuit assembly. Handle the components and spend time studying them. You need
to understand the markings & color codes, plus tips & tricks for each type of
component. Experiment with them. to the maximum extent possible.

Think about how much you want to be able to assemble circuits (or prototypes)
yourself, and what kind of circuits you might want to experiment with most. If
you are going to have significant interest in traditional through-hole
components, then you will benefit quite a bit from HIGHLY superior hand
soldering skills. If you are going to concentrate on through-hole designs then
you will need to work on the hand-soldering that much more, you really do
benefit from hundreds of hours of refined technique. Use Kester No. 44 solder,
it's the last remaining top-performer. You would be wasting your time using
any other solder until you are a technical expert at knowing why a different
formulation or quality might be occasionally needed for a particular project.
Until then develop a baseline using No. 44 so you will be better able to
detect the deficiencies resulting from lesser formulations, such as lead-free,
in case you do have to go there. Wear your safety glasses and have adequate
ventilation, but not enough breeze to affect the cooldown profile of your
soldering. To really get good you need to do it every day. You can go really
far in analog with only hand-soldering. Pay attention to what you are doing,
don't grab the hot end of the stick. Sure is a lot faster and more effective
than solderless breadboarding.

For surface-mount assemblies, you will need oven-based soldering. For this it
is probably best to join with a makerspace if you can, where they already have
a bit of a PCB lab set up. Your're really going to need to work with surface-
mount parts to get very far with digital.

Among so many different branches of electrical study & experimentation, one
thing that may be most in common is Power Supplies. Knowing about power
supplies can not hurt you, the more you know the better, plus add experience
to that knowledge. But consider whether you want to concentrate on Power when
realistically you may be buying so many kinds of inexpensive power modules
(especially surplus) rather than designing your own for most projects.

A scrap CRT monitor or old TV to unsolder parts & wire from, a $10 30W radio
shack iron + some special-ordered Kester 44, and you should be able experiment
until you have some simple analog circuits under your belt. You can probably
best start out powering little projects with a 9v battery.

hope this helps, dano

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matttheatheist
Sounds to me like you want the knowledge of a Technician, and NOT the
knowledge of an Engineer. For a technician's knowledge, pick up a robotics
book for hobbyists, and that will get you started.

[Please note that I REALLY want to encourage you to follow an engineering
path. The rewards will be amazing. See my list at the bottom on how to do
that.]

Also, you need to ask yourself what you'll be using the Arduino and RasPi for.
In particular, what types of applications? Power electronics/motor drives?
Communications electronics? Audio amplifiers? Active filters? You want to use
op-amps? Are you doing analog signal processing? Digital signal processing?
Feedback control systems? Are you interfacing to an FPGA or PLD? etc.

The moral of the story is: Electronics is a HUGE area.

If you really want to fully understand electronics, please take the following
courses IN ORDER:

1\. Differential Calculus

2\. Integral Calculus

3\. Multivariable Calculus

4\. Differential Equations

5\. Circuits I (1st and 2nd-order circuits, and higher)

6\. Electromagnetics (from Physics II is enough)

7\. Analog Electronics (Active filters, etc.)

8\. Digital Electronics (VLSI, etc.)

9\. Digital Logic (Boolean algebra, computer architecture, etc.)

10\. Power Electronics (Rectifiers, inverters, etc.)

Before you know it, you'll be an expert.

Good luck!

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markb139
I'd look at the discrete stuff before looking at arduino and raspberry pi.
Start slowly and build some kits. You need to learn to solder and you need to
learn how to "debug" hardware. You also need to get some tools. If you start
small then it should be cheap(ish). Once you get a hang of the practicals you
should look at the theory as mentioned in another comment. Back in the day 25
years ago I was amazed at my first job after graduation, several of my co-
graduates had never used a soldering iron let alone built real things. Have
fun

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valarauca1
Electronics is a massive field. From just simple wiring all the way to
electrical engineering, and even beyond to eletromagnetic optics.

Where do you want to start and what do you want to learn?

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LukeB_UK
Well really I'd like to start with simple circuits, eventually moving on to
working with arduinos and the raspberry pi.

