I enjoy my day job as a software engineer, because I get a chance to build programs from the ground up, as well as to take apart existing software and see "what's under the hood." Unfortunately, the gaping hole in my knowledge is what's actually going on at the hardware level. This keeps me from being able to do a lot of DIY projects that I'd like to do, because while I can handle the software end of things, when it comes to building or hacking hardware, my knowledge is nonexistent.

Now, I know this isn't the type of thing one learns overnight, but I'm wondering where the various smart folks here who do their own electronics projects have managed to amass their knowledge. Do most of you have an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering? Did you just pick up a book? Take a few classes? Just start taking things apart? I think I would learn best with the hands-on learning format, but I'd probably also need to review some of the foundation stuff (basic freshman physics class stuff that I've forgotten by now) just to make sure I can comprehend the higher-level stuff.

So, can anyone recommend some good books to start with, some online resources, or just share your experience and how you climbed the learning curve?

I spent 4 years in college (I guess you call that University in the US). Usually, it takes 3 years to graduate: The first two years are general electronics (from surface mount devices to power electronics) and the last one is specialized in 1 of 8 areas (A/V, telecom, industrial electronics, computers). I got out with 2 specializations: electrodynamics (motor and power electronics) and instrumentation & control (industrial process measurement & control).

So I guess you'll first want to learn the basics: what do each type of "low level" component (resistors, transistors, diodes, cap and such) and master the basic concepts of electronics (voltage, current, power, frequency, capacitance). Then, you can go higher and begin to look for basics circuits and their behaviour and for more complicated components (ICs like TTL, op-amps)

From that point, you'll get the basic idea: the rest is a variation on a theme. Every large circuit is understandable, if you look it by small chunks.

Sorry, I can't really point you to books or reference, as I mainly read French... (unless you need another challenge :-)

I understand what you mean. It's really what I enjoy in electronics: being able to make "mechanical", "physical" devices really do something. There's nothing like starting a fan here or logging wind speed in a computer with stuff you made yourself, at twice the price it would have cost if you had bought it :-) and 100 times the time. :-)

Though as a warning, I tried two electronic/electrical engineering degrees. I failed at both of them and ended up as an unqualified (but sucessful) software developer/architect...

Okay, to derail the topic early on and get it out of the way (sorry, Tony, especially as I want to know the answer to this one myself) ...

Quote:
college (I guess you call that University in the US)

They're generally used to mean the same thing in the US, but there's actually a minor difference that I knew existed but didn't know the specifics of until you gave me the impetus to look it up.

A university is a learning institution that comprises a large number of studies. A college is generally one that specializes in one specific study. But both provide degrees that are recognized as equally valid. Also, sometimes divisions of universities are called colleges, so that there might be a mathematics college and an engineering college and an art college within one university. In this case, it's still the university that adminsters the degree, though.

In England it's a little different, though, as I gather, although the general idea remains the same.

I think that's more than enough detour for tonight.

Again, Tony, sorry, and let's get some good answers on this, as I don't really want to go back to engineering college.

Dammit. I knew this would happen.

Everyone ignore my stupid tangent and respond about electronics. I want to know, too.

I was lucky enough to be able to take 3 years of basic - mid electronics in high school.

When I went to college, I went for Pre-med (2 years) Computer Science (1 year) Business (1 year) and finally didn't graduate in Management information systems (1 more year).

While at college (Auburn - OK, University ) my two closest friends were both EE majors, and so I spent a LOT of time in the labs working on projects that weren't mine. In fact, I was the only business major (at the time) that was credited in contributing to the robotics competition.

Happy Birthday Tony!

<Elvis>Thank you, thankyouverymuch.</Elvis>

I went down the route of fixing TVs, videos, fridges etc from about the age of 12, which led straight to a degree in Electronic and Electrical Engineering. The cool thing about it was it included VLSI design, Power electronics (heh heh) and my optional extra was opto electronics.

The main practice I get is in designing audio electronics for my studio (mostly guitar effects etc) and fixing hardware for my mates. I acquire a lot of kit free that way

I started at around the age of five with a screwdriver and a wall socket. Once I had built up an immunity to mains shocks, I moved on to old TVs. By the time I was 12 I could (a) fix most old TVs, and (b) take 20kv through the fingers without flinching

Actually, I can't really remember when I started seriously working with this sort of thing. I certainly made pocket-money from 11 or 12 onwards by recovering old electronics from the town dump, repairing them, and selling them on to friends. I read a lot of books on the subject of electronics, but during my school years there was no formal education in it. I actually trained to be a chemical engineer, but ended up in electronics and mechanical engineering by default. Runs in the blood, I guess, based on several past generations on both sides.

For someone starting out now, I can recommend the Art of Electronics book mentioned in another reply, with the caveat that it's pretty heavy in math. If, like me, you have some difficulty with abstract maths, it can be heavy going in some chapters. That said, it's the definitive reference in the field, and full of very good information, starting from the basics and going up to some fairly advanced if slightly out of date stuff.

I could also suggest finding some of the better electronics hobby magazine with diy project in. These are, at least in the UK, harder and harder to find, but the majority of them seem to still be going although usually only via subscription. Titles such as Electronics Today International, Practical Electronics, and the best one of the lot Elektor. They have loads of constructional projects from simple to very complex going back decades in the archives, and an awful lot of good practical information.

One of the problems nowadays compared to when I began in the late 60s, early 70s is that the costs and entry requirements to home electronics design have risen substantially. This is almost entirely down to the advent of surface-mount techniques and vastly higher integration of modern parts. When I started, you could do most things with a reasonably soldering iron, a bench power supply, a good multimeter and lots of patience. Parts were available from numerous shops, and everything was of a size that made it easy to work with.

Now, of course, it's difficult to design and build anything beyond the most basic stuff without a fairly large amount of equipment. Parts are more difficult to source, usually only available via mail-order from specialist suppliers, and most of the more interesting things are surface mount. This isn't really a major problem, but does require more investment and skill to work with. The majority of the electronics hobby shops have either vanished or become consumer electronics outlets.

It's certainly not impossible to just pick things up by yourself now, but it is considerably more difficult than it used to be. A beginner can't, for example, take most old consumer devices and take them apart for practice, as the amount of experience, skill, and equipment required is significant.

I mean, looking around my workshop at the moment, I have three oscilloscopes, two of them digital storage ones, a logic analyser, a spectrum analyser, a very good temperature controlled soldering station, a frequency counter, at least three multimeters, several drawers full of specialist tools, and the gods alone know how many components and other detritus. Not to mention three computers, a pic programmer, a universal device programmer/emulator, lots of expensive specialist software, and so on. At a conservative estimate it's about 20kiloquid worth of kit, and probably at least as much in parts. A lot of it was actually second hand or samples, but you get the idea. It takes time and effort to acquire the equipment, and without it you're limited to pretty simple projects. Not to say that those can't be very rewarding and teach you a lot.

While this may have drifted a little from what I set out to say, hopefully you can get some useful info from my ramblings

pca

Aside from H&H AoE ( which is _nowhere_ near as mathematical as my first year of university electronics was), I'd also highly recommend Forrest Mims' books. He has a couple of introductory books and also some 'engineers notebooks' which are excellent for learning some basic circuits. Radio Shack have carried some of them for many years. I pretty much got started with a Radio Shack '50 in 1' electronics experimenters kit and a couple of Forrest Mims books when I was about 10.

In fact, get yourself down to Radio Shack and buy the Electronic Learning Lab. For $50 you can't go wrong - the (Forrest Mims) documented experiments will be designed around the kit so you won't have to worry about sourcing any components immediately, Once you get beyond those experiments the kit can still serve as a basis for further experimentation or prototyping as it includes a breadboard.

After looking at some sample pages of the Art of Electronics, I'm pretty sure the emphasis on heavy math is going to keep me out of that one for awhile. I guess that electronics learning kit at Radio Shack looks like the way to go, to start anyway.

It's funny, I did actually get one of those learning kits as a kid, and completed a whole bunch of the experiments, but I was approaching them from more of a "do cool stuff" mentality than a "learn why all this stuff is working the way it is" mentality.

Anyway, thanks for all of the advice, everybody.

I just noticed this All About Circuits web site. It looks just kinda okay, but it is free.

edit : Fixed link
--_l0ser

i also took 2 yrs of electronics in high school. it was fun and a good learning experience.

we had these breadboard trainer modules. and they had a 5v output. one kid took a wire from a nearby 120v outlet and plugged the wire into the 5v output of the trainer.he wasn't very bright.

Can you say SMOKE?