I remembered the books that have the clause "for dummies". I'm not looking for a book about electronics for dummies, like me. I'm thinking more about learning how to tinker with our electronic gadgets by experience. Do you think this is a good idea?
I did a bit of Physics in college and the hardest unit for me, was Electronics. I kind of found it hard to grasp the theory, even though the practical bit was fun so I agree with you that learning through experience could be the best way.
Home supply stores have electronic basics books in the electronic section. They are not how-to manuals per se, but more along the line of telling you how electrical currents and such work. There's more to the book than just that, but I have one in my shop and it's great for reminding me of the basics.
These types of skills are hard to learn through reading only. You probably need to get some hands-on experience. I used to tinker with things that were already broken. If I fixed them, then that was great. If I didn't, well, they couldn't get any more broken than they already were.
For sure it'll be an experience experimenting with old gadgets. Lots of sources to learn from nowadays with the internet. Aside from books, there are also video tutorials available so it's all fun learning as long as you're careful.
gofar99 Messages: 2060 Registered: May 2010 Location: Southern Arizona
Illuminati (5th Degree)
Hi, this is a difficult problem.. Like which came first the chicken or the egg? To be successful in diy electronics you really need both knowledge and experience. There are a number of rather basic tutorials on the web that are not too technical. You ought to search them out. Often at college sites. With some basic knowledge as to what various components do you can start to fiddle with some simple circuits. I would not start with any project that was powered directly from the AC mains (wall wart is OK) or that used much over about 30 volts internally. If your project doesn't work it probably won't start a fire or hurt anyone. All this is good....but I figure it takes time and patience to get to even a reasonable level of ability in diy electronics. I have been designing and building stuff for about 60 years now and constantly see or hear of someone that wants to build a complicated project for a first try. Having such a thing work on the first power up is so unlikely that it gets close to zero. If it is AC powered the most likely thing is a blown fuse (if they used one). No fuse, then sparks and smoke. I try to assist folks with their projects, but I have the impression that some don't know which end of a soldering iron gets hot let alone how to effectively use one. After monitoring and participating in several forums I have come to a conclusion that it appears to take between 2 and 3 years for someone to get fairly good at diy electronics (expert level probably about 10). It is not for folks that like immediate gratification. Sorry.
I would start small. Small enough to where if something goes wrong, you just get a "buzz" and not a shock.
Nothing wrong with learning by doing, just don't get hurt.
Yeah. I agree that it is very important to start small before growing big in DIY experiments. If anything goes wrong, it is better the loss is smaller and one which I can learn from instead of losing heavily.
Rusty Messages: 1475 Registered: May 2018 Location: Kansas City Missouri
Illuminati (4th Degree)
Why don't you try kits? A place called Jameco has various electronic kits. Reasonably priced for some of the beginner kits. One is a theremin sound kit. Right out of old sci-fi movies. Anyway, I started audio kits without much electronic knowledge. One, my first, is a Hafler 220 amplifier I built back in the later part of the 80's. Still in use. From that I ventured later into building a scratch built from a schematic tube line preamp. I made many mistakes but persevered and got it to work. Still in use.
Good luck, you'll be surprised what you can do. Just be careful too. Lots of info on the internet too.
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