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William Monk

Mon Mar 29 2010, 03:08AM

Registered Member #2470 Joined: Tue Nov 17 2009, 05:47AM
Location: Simi Valley, CA
Posts: 43

Hey guys,
I'm not completely electrically retarded, I understand the basics of how electricity works, and i have basic knowledge of some components. Unfortunately, my school doesn't offer any classes on electronics. I can follow schematics just fine, but i really don't know how to make anything myself. If there's any place (site or book) that you know of that would be a good source of knowledge, let me know.
Thanks,
William

teravolt

Mon Mar 29 2010, 03:30AM

Registered Member #195 Joined: Fri Feb 17 2006, 08:27PM
Location: Berkeley, ca.
Posts: 1111

maby some sort of online corses in electronics are availible. have you taken any algebra or trig.?

Turkey9

Mon Mar 29 2010, 03:46AM

Registered Member #1451 Joined: Wed Apr 23 2008, 03:48AM
Location: Boulder, Co
Posts: 661

I learned by trying out simple circuits and working up. I started with 555 LED flashers. There are a few good books put out by radio shack that helped my a lot. They're by Forrest M. Mimms but I don't know if they're still around.

William Monk

Mon Mar 29 2010, 03:57AM

Registered Member #2470 Joined: Tue Nov 17 2009, 05:47AM
Location: Simi Valley, CA
Posts: 43

teravolt wrote ...

maby some sort of online corses in electronics are availible. have you taken any algebra or trig.?

Yeah, I'm done with calculus too.

Myke

Mon Mar 29 2010, 05:32AM

Registered Member #540 Joined: Mon Feb 19 2007, 07:49PM
Location: MIT
Posts: 969

I would recommend "The art of Electronics" because it goes into a lot of depth of the basics and covers a lot of material. It even has good and bad circuit idea sections at the end of chapters.

radiotech

Mon Mar 29 2010, 05:33AM

Registered Member #2463 Joined: Wed Nov 11 2009, 03:49AM
Location:
Posts: 1546

Find a copy of The Art of Electronics by Horowitz and Hill. If you need to get up to snuff with components and soldering buy an educational kit and build an AM/FM transistor radio. About $40.

hboy007

Mon Mar 29 2010, 06:37AM

Registered Member #1667 Joined: Sat Aug 30 2008, 09:57PM
Location:
Posts: 374

I once had Horowitz' book from the library, it is really great.

William Monk wrote ...
i really don't know how to make anything myself

that is where almost all of us started. I grew up with "Kosmos" kits consisting of an assortment of parts, a simple breadboard and a book. I'd suggest you get a 2.54mm grid size breadboard and some parts (if you haven't already done so) and have fun.

As to your question: it might sound obvious but just search the web for circuits, look for topics of your interest and use image search. Several results will lead you to radio amateurs' pages that give profound explanations about their projects.

Mads Barnkob

Mon Mar 29 2010, 07:10AM

Registered Member #1403 Joined: Tue Mar 18 2008, 06:05PM
Location: Denmark, Odense C
Posts: 1968

this book helped me a lot:

Just that I have the 2nd edition

IntraWinding

Mon Mar 29 2010, 11:44AM

Registered Member #2261 Joined: Mon Aug 03 2009, 01:19AM
Location: London, UK
Posts: 581

Another vote here for 'The Art of Electronics' by Horowitz and Hill. My all time favourite tech book. There are rumours of a third edition out this year. Get a second hand second edition now and save up for the new third when it appears.

Wikipedia

Art of Electronics homepage

Mattski

Mon Mar 29 2010, 08:11PM

Registered Member #1792 Joined: Fri Oct 31 2008, 08:12PM
Location: University of California
Posts: 527

All About Circuits is a pretty good free resource on basic electronics concepts. There is an oddity in that it uses the electron flow current convention, where current is specified in the direction that electrons are traveling, i.e. current flows from negative to positive voltages. Most circuit engineers use the opposite convention. It's not a problem as long as you recognize that the two conventions exist.

Art of Electronics is a good starting book, since it gives a broad overview of many subject areas and the basic tools of how to analyze circuits.

Often times on Amazon or similar sites you can pick up used textbooks that are an edition or two out of date, but still only 5 or 10 years old. The basics don't change quickly, and these books have 95% of the material that the latest edition has, but you can often pick them up for super cheap. If you are still interested after Art of Electronics I'd pick up a linear circuits book like this one. Only $4.11 for the cheapest used copy. I own it and it's a decent book. I've gone through many similar books and they're all about the same, so you may as well get the cheapest one.

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