Getting started with electronics? :)

W

Woei Shyang

Guest
Hi,

I'm completely new to electronics, but I'd like to get started.

Perhaps it is just me getting tired of this wasteful culture where
devices are disposable, or just me being a tightwad, but I'd really
love to learn how to repair my own stuff, and know how various little
DIY projects actually work as opposed to putting them blindly together.

Are there any books that you guys might recommend to help me get started?

I've always been a software person by training and trade, so you can
say I have absolutely no background in this, except for being a geek.

Thanks for any tips and recommendations :)
 
"Woei Shyang" <nntp-terranews@w.woeishyang.com> wrote in message
news:2012012010200729084-nntpterranews@wwoeishyangcom...
Hi,

I'm completely new to electronics, but I'd like to get started.

Perhaps it is just me getting tired of this wasteful culture where devices
are disposable, or just me being a tightwad, but I'd really love to learn
how to repair my own stuff, and know how various little DIY projects
actually work as opposed to putting them blindly together.

Are there any books that you guys might recommend to help me get started?

I've always been a software person by training and trade, so you can say I
have absolutely no background in this, except for being a geek.

Thanks for any tips and recommendations :)
Click to expand...

http://www.repairfaq.org/REPAIR/

http://library.thinkquest.org/16497/intro/index.html

Here's a couple links to get you started...

Mark Z.
 
Woei Shyang wrote:
Hi,

I'm completely new to electronics, but I'd like to get started.

Perhaps it is just me getting tired of this wasteful culture where devices are disposable, or just me being a tightwad,
but I'd really love to learn how to repair my own stuff, and know how various little DIY projects actually work as
opposed to putting them blindly together.

Are there any books that you guys might recommend to help me get started?

I've always been a software person by training and trade, so you can say I have absolutely no background in this, except
for being a geek.

Thanks for any tips and recommendations :)
Click to expand...
http://jricher.com/NEETS/

This will give you a solid foundation if you read through the
modules, answer the quiz questions and ask the folks in
sci.electronics.basics to get you unstuck.

It is a fascinating hobby.

--Winston
 
On Jan 19, 6:20 pm, Woei Shyang <nntp-terran...@w.woeishyang.com>
wrote:
Hi,

I'm completely new to electronics, but I'd like to get started.

Perhaps it is just me getting tired of this wasteful culture where
devices are disposable, or just me being a tightwad, but I'd really
love to learn how to repair my own stuff, and know how various little
DIY projects actually work as opposed to putting them blindly together.

Are there any books that you guys might recommend to help me get started?

I've always been a software person by training and trade, so you can
say I have absolutely no background in this, except for being a geek.

Thanks for any tips and recommendations :)
Click to expand...
For me, seeing how things work >> reading about how things work. Radio
Shack no longer makes experimenters' kits, so I would check out Make
Magazine's introduction to electronics:

http://www.makershed.com/category_s/49.htm
 
Experimenter's kits are still available. You really need one of these,
especially as Heath, Allied, EICO, etc, have long been out the kit business.

Allied had a wonderful kit, which cost $30 50 years ago. It was a small
console, with a pegboard for the circuits on the back. Someone should revive
it, but it would be pretty pricey. (Still have the manual. Don't know why I
didn't save the unit itself.)
 
On Sat, 21 Jan 2012 04:39:46 -0500, William Sommerwerck wrote
(in article <jfe4mt$l0d$1@dont-email.me>):

Experimenter's kits are still available. You really need one of these,
especially as Heath, Allied, EICO, etc, have long been out the kit business.

Allied had a wonderful kit, which cost $30 50 years ago. It was a small
console, with a pegboard for the circuits on the back. Someone should revive
it, but it would be pretty pricey. (Still have the manual. Don't know why I
didn't save the unit itself.)
Click to expand...
Radio Shack has a couple of nice ones. I bought this one for my kid:

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3814337

--
Nelson
 
"Mark Zacharias" <mark_zacharias@labolgcbs.net> wrote in message
news:4f18d6d4$0$15864$4c5efa9e@fastusenet.net...
"Woei Shyang" <nntp-terranews@w.woeishyang.com> wrote in message
news:2012012010200729084-nntpterranews@wwoeishyangcom...
Hi,

I'm completely new to electronics, but I'd like to get started.

Perhaps it is just me getting tired of this wasteful culture where
devices are disposable, or just me being a tightwad, but I'd really love
to learn how to repair my own stuff, and know how various little DIY
projects actually work as opposed to putting them blindly together.

Are there any books that you guys might recommend to help me get started?

I've always been a software person by training and trade, so you can say
I have absolutely no background in this, except for being a geek.

Thanks for any tips and recommendations :)



http://www.repairfaq.org/REPAIR/

http://library.thinkquest.org/16497/intro/index.html

Here's a couple links to get you started...

Mark Z.
Click to expand...
There's a few beginner books occasionally get reposted on
alt.binaries.e-book.technical, not to mention magazines like Everyday
Practical Electronics, Nuts&Volts, Circuit cellar, Elektor etc.

Beware though, there's a couple of wankers posting pages of virus's! - Avoid
RARs and other archive files untill you know which posters you can trust.
 
On Jan 21, 1:02 pm, Nelson <nel...@nowhere.com> wrote:
On Sat, 21 Jan 2012 04:39:46 -0500, William Sommerwerck wrote
(in article <jfe4mt$l0...@dont-email.me>):

Experimenter's kits are still available. You really need one of these,
especially as Heath, Allied, EICO, etc, have long been out the kit business.

Allied had a wonderful kit, which cost $30 50 years ago. It was a small
console, with a pegboard for the circuits on the back. Someone should revive
it, but it would be pretty pricey. (Still have the manual. Don't know why I
didn't save the unit itself.)

Radio Shack has a couple of nice ones.  I bought this one for my kid:

 http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3814337
Click to expand...
Wow, I missed that one. Aside from a few small Radio Shack branded
items, everything in the hobby kit selection on their website was
either Make or Velleman.
 
Poor man's fireworks: Always connect electrolytic caps the
wrong-way-round before applying power! :)
Click to expand...
Would that it /were/ fireworks. The caps usually explode and emit a
foul-smelling gas.
 
On 1/19/2012 9:20 PM, Woei Shyang wrote:
Hi,

I'm completely new to electronics, but I'd like to get started.

Perhaps it is just me getting tired of this wasteful culture where
devices are disposable, or just me being a tightwad, but I'd really love
to learn how to repair my own stuff, and know how various little DIY
projects actually work as opposed to putting them blindly together.

Are there any books that you guys might recommend to help me get started?

I've always been a software person by training and trade, so you can say
I have absolutely no background in this, except for being a geek.

Thanks for any tips and recommendations :)

Poor man's fireworks: Always connect electrolytic caps the
Click to expand...
wrong-way-round before applying power! :)
 
"Ian Field" <gangprobing.alien@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
news:kYVSq.3145$vm5.2236@newsfe03.ams2...
"William Sommerwerck" <grizzledgeezer@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:jfh6p2$3bm$1@dont-email.me...

Poor man's fireworks: Always connect electrolytic caps
the wrong-way-round before applying power! :)

Would that it /were/ fireworks. The caps usually explode
and emit a foul-smelling gas.

Tantalum caps can be a bit more entertaining.
Click to expand...
They give a tantalizing performance, no doubt.
 
"William Sommerwerck" <grizzledgeezer@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:jfh6p2$3bm$1@dont-email.me...
Poor man's fireworks: Always connect electrolytic caps the
wrong-way-round before applying power! :)

Would that it /were/ fireworks. The caps usually explode and emit a
foul-smelling gas.
Click to expand...

Tantalum caps can be a bit more entertaining.
 
"William Sommerwerck" <grizzledgeezer@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:jfhc5o$2o9$1@dont-email.me...
"Ian Field" <gangprobing.alien@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
news:kYVSq.3145$vm5.2236@newsfe03.ams2...
"William Sommerwerck" <grizzledgeezer@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:jfh6p2$3bm$1@dont-email.me...

Poor man's fireworks: Always connect electrolytic caps
the wrong-way-round before applying power! :)

Would that it /were/ fireworks. The caps usually explode
and emit a foul-smelling gas.

Tantalum caps can be a bit more entertaining.

They give a tantalizing performance, no doubt.
Click to expand...
And just as smelly as alu caps too.
 
Mark Zacharias wrote:
http://library.thinkquest.org/16497/intro/index.html
Click to expand...
I don't like this much. Defining voltage in terms of resistance. It should
be in terms of coulombs and joules.


"Voltage is represented by the letter E. The basic unit of measure is volts
or the letter V. One volt will push 1 amp of current through 1 ohm of
resistance. Resistance will be discussed in a later section."


--

Reply in group, but if emailing add one more
zero, and remove the last word.
 
Winston wrote:
http://jricher.com/NEETS/
Click to expand...
Yeah, I wish they had labs to go with that. Guided experiments are what's
missing from almost all good electronic courseware. The lab manual for The
Art of Electronics is available and costs about half the price of the main
text, so that might be helpful.


--

Reply in group, but if emailing add one more
zero, and remove the last word.
 
On Sun, 22 Jan 2012 20:33:26 -0500, Tom Del Rosso wrote
(in article <jfidnf$7kn$1@dont-email.me>):

Mark Zacharias wrote:

http://library.thinkquest.org/16497/intro/index.html

I don't like this much. Defining voltage in terms of resistance. It should
be in terms of coulombs and joules.


"Voltage is represented by the letter E. The basic unit of measure is volts
or the letter V. One volt will push 1 amp of current through 1 ohm of
resistance. Resistance will be discussed in a later section."
Click to expand...
Do you really think it's necessary for someone trying to get started in
electronics as a hobby to to worry about such niceties? Defining
voltage in terms of resistance or "pressure" is much more intuitive to
a neophyte.

--
Nelson
 
Edit: Radio Shack also has a nice set of experiments/manuals called
"Engineer's Mini Notebooks" written by Forrest Mims which are very
economical and geared to the beginning hobbiest.

On Sat, 21 Jan 2012 04:39:46 -0500, William Sommerwerck wrote
(in article <jfe4mt$l0d$1@dont-email.me>):

Experimenter's kits are still available. You really need one of these,
especially as Heath, Allied, EICO, etc, have long been out the kit business.

Allied had a wonderful kit, which cost $30 50 years ago. It was a small
console, with a pegboard for the circuits on the back. Someone should revive
it, but it would be pretty pricey. (Still have the manual. Don't know why I
didn't save the unit itself.)
Click to expand...
Radio Shack has a couple of nice ones. I bought this one for my kid:

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3814337

--
Nelson
 
Nelson wrote:
On Sun, 22 Jan 2012 20:33:26 -0500, Tom Del Rosso wrote
(in article <jfidnf$7kn$1@dont-email.me>):


Mark Zacharias wrote:

http://library.thinkquest.org/16497/intro/index.html

I don't like this much. Defining voltage in terms of resistance.
It should be in terms of coulombs and joules.


"Voltage is represented by the letter E. The basic unit of measure
is volts or the letter V. One volt will push 1 amp of current
through 1 ohm of resistance. Resistance will be discussed in a
later section."

Do you really think it's necessary for someone trying to get started
in electronics as a hobby to to worry about such niceties? Defining
voltage in terms of resistance or "pressure" is much more intuitive to
a neophyte.
Click to expand...
Yes, I can say that it is harder to learn when you start by learning it
wrong.

If they want to talk about pressure then at least they can do it
conceptually instead of quantitatively, and it doesn't take a great effort
for them to make clear that they are using analogy. When they take the
ass-backwards approach of defining voltage quantitatively in terms of
resistance then they are only making it necessary to unlearn all that and
start over from scratch some day.

Defining things backwards is not a mere detail.


--

Reply in group, but if emailing add one more
zero, and remove the last word.
 
On Jan 23, 11:13 am, "Tom Del Rosso" <td...@verizon.net.invalid>
wrote:
Nelson wrote:
On Sun, 22 Jan 2012 20:33:26 -0500, Tom Del Rosso wrote
(in article <jfidnf$7k...@dont-email.me>):

Mark Zacharias wrote:

http://library.thinkquest.org/16497/intro/index.html

I don't like this much.  Defining voltage in terms of resistance.
It should be in terms of coulombs and joules.

"Voltage is represented by the letter E. The basic unit of measure
is volts or the letter V. One volt will push 1 amp of current
through 1 ohm of resistance. Resistance will be discussed in a
later section."

Do you really think it's necessary for someone trying to get started
in electronics as a hobby to to worry about such niceties?  Defining
voltage in terms of resistance or "pressure" is much more intuitive to
a neophyte.

Yes, I can say that it is harder to learn when you start by learning it
wrong.

If they want to talk about pressure then at least they can do it
conceptually instead of quantitatively, and it doesn't take a great effort
for them to make clear that they are using analogy.  When they take the
ass-backwards approach of defining voltage quantitatively in terms of
resistance then they are only making it necessary to unlearn all that and
start over from scratch some day.

Defining things backwards is not a mere detail.
Click to expand...
Let people get a good working understanding of things before you drown
them with abstractions. Thank goodness when I first became interested
in electronics, no one sat me down and emphasized the difference
between the abvolt and the statvolt.
 
spamtrap1888 wrote:
Let people get a good working understanding of things before you drown
them with abstractions. Thank goodness when I first became interested
in electronics, no one sat me down and emphasized the difference
between the abvolt and the statvolt.
Click to expand...
I didn't say anything like that at all. I said resistance is defined in
terms of voltage and current, not the other way around, and if you aren't
ready to define voltage then just don't do it.

You can omit lots of things without being compelled to teach something that
isn't so, but most "science" teachers think the resistor color code is the
root of everything.

And lots of abstrations are taught to 5-year-olds, like the concept of time.
You don't have to teach them SR. You just teach them how things are
affected by time. But you don't teach them that the clock makes time
happen, do you?

Kids are more capable of learning abstractions than adults. Adults assume
incorrectly that kids need an explanation for abstractions, so they provide
one that is wrong and make learning harder rather than easier.


--

Reply in group, but if emailing add one more
zero, and remove the last word.
 
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