Author Topic: Electronics for beginners  (Read 4100 times)

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kitestrings

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Electronics for beginners
« on: September 20, 2018, 09:05:21 AM »
Folks,

My son, 8th grade, has expressed some interest in learning more about..., well pretty much everything, but lately electronics.  He has a small radio shack breadboard/learners kit that we found at a yard sale.  I think he needs more.  He's been working a lot with 3D printing, robotics (took a Lego Robotics class last summer)...and mentioned a friend now using Arduino - I think they've been collaborating on a remote controlled toy car.  I've seen a few things in Digikey; but no direct experience.

I'm trying to help where I can, but my electronics experience is baseline and has been generally focused on a particular application.  I was hoping to gather ideas here for things that you may have used, either learners kits, or learning simulation software.  Thanks for any help.  ~ks

DamonHD

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Re: Electronics for beginners
« Reply #1 on: September 20, 2018, 11:18:54 AM »
I really really got into the Tandy 150-in-1 type kits and such things still exist (my daughter has one).

There may even be variants including Arduino, or maybe a few carefully chosen shields/kits might do it.

Rgds

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OperaHouse

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Re: Electronics for beginners
« Reply #2 on: September 20, 2018, 04:38:13 PM »
Get him a USB scope like the Hantek 6022BE for $50. You need some visual action to keep them interested. A lot of electronics has nothing visual. It has capabilities beyond what I ever dreamed of as a kid. It also has a built in 1KHZ source that can act as a signal generator. Buy a X100 scope probe. It is very easy to overload and/or damage the inputs without it. An old TV or stereo has plenty of parts for experimenting.  You can tell the wife the scope is for your son.

Mary B

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Re: Electronics for beginners
« Reply #3 on: September 20, 2018, 07:34:09 PM »
Good Arduino starter kit https://www.superdroidrobots.com/shop/item.aspx/arduino-kit-workshop-base-with-arduino-uno/1431/ plus they have some fun robotics kits https://www.superdroidrobots.com/shop/category.aspx/tamiya-educational-series/19/

For learning electronics the Amateur Radio Handbook is a good resource but might be to old for him reading wise... it does cover basic electronics though and could help both of you... and ham radio is a great hobby if he is into electronics and computers. Tons of digital keyboard to keyboard modes now that are like a cellphone text but no cell plan cost! And he could talk to people around the world! I was 14 when I got my ham license so about his age... Handbook is not cheap but is a great reference book https://www.dxengineering.com/search/department/books-publications-and-videos/product-line/the-arrl-handbook-for-radio-communications-2019-softcover-edition?autoview=SKU&N=department%3Abooks-publications-and-videos%2Bbrand%3Aarrl&sortby=Default&sortorder=Ascending

MagnetJuice

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Re: Electronics for beginners
« Reply #4 on: September 21, 2018, 10:23:27 PM »
When it comes to learning anything new, the first thing I try is to see if I can find something FREE on the Internet. A few years ago, while searching for electronics know-how, I found some very good information. And it happened to be free also.

Tony Kuphaldt spent many years compiling lessons on AC, DC Digital electronics and more, and gave it all for free.

It is called ‘Lessons In Electric Circuits'. Over 2,500 pages in 6 volumes of simple and easy to learn information that is available to download in HTML or PDF for free. It is here:

(Sorry, I can't post external links yet, so this is what I can post for now,) Maybe a moderator can fix the links?

www.ibiblio.org/kuphaldt/electricCircuits/index.htm

And it is also here:

www.allaboutcircuits.com/textbook

Another website that has TONS of free information is here:

www.talkingelectronics.com

talkingelectronics has some stuff for sale, but there's no need to buy anything. You can download PDF's of almost anything on the website. Or for $10 he put the complete website on a DVD and mail it to you.

Another great website that is free is here:

www.electronics-tutorials.ws

I have found a lot of good information about electricity and electronics on those websites.

Ed
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Fixed that for ya.  Thanks! (Sparweb)


[Typo fix on request by DamonHD]
« Last Edit: March 13, 2019, 08:33:12 PM by DamonHD »
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JW

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Re: Electronics for beginners
« Reply #5 on: September 21, 2018, 11:17:49 PM »
Quote
(Sorry, I can't post external links yet, so this is what I can post for now,) Maybe a moderator can fix the links?

This threshold is 20 posts, and it is set automatically MOD's cant undo it. its not to much to ask...

MagnetJuice

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Re: Electronics for beginners
« Reply #6 on: September 22, 2018, 12:28:36 AM »
Thanks for clarifying. I wonder if the links can be fixed by me or someone else after 20 posts.

Those links could be useful to users.

Ed
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SparWeb

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Re: Electronics for beginners
« Reply #7 on: September 22, 2018, 01:21:31 AM »
Hi KS,

There's a plethora of stuff on this site:  https://solarbotics.com/catalog/kits/

I could suggest Herbie: https://solarbotics.com/product/k_hm2/
The instructions are very good and the kit is hard for a beginner to screw up.
No one believes the theory except the one who developed it. Everyone believes the experiment except the one who ran it.
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MagnetJuice

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Re: Electronics for beginners
« Reply #8 on: September 22, 2018, 02:08:51 AM »
My links are fixed!!! WOW! Thanks Sparweb  ;)
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SparWeb

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Re: Electronics for beginners
« Reply #9 on: September 22, 2018, 03:32:28 PM »
You're welcome!

In the category of "happy coincidence", Fieldlines has been trying out some new features, and one seems ready for prime-time:

https://www.fieldlines.com/index.php?action=calculator

You can always find a link to the Calculator at the top of your screen, where you normally see "Home - Help - Search - Calculator - Members - Logout"

Try it out.  See if you find it handy.  It should be readily apparent that it's a frame looking at a calculator page on the All About Circuits webpage, but this is what AAC put it out there for, and of course AAC is such a profound resource that if you want more than the calculators here, there's so much more to be found on their site.

PS. I think one is broken (twisted wire pair capacitance) but I don't know if I'm filling it in correctly.
No one believes the theory except the one who developed it. Everyone believes the experiment except the one who ran it.
System spec: 135w BP multicrystalline panels, Xantrex C40, DIY 10ft (3m) diameter wind turbine, Tri-Star TS60, 800AH x 24V AGM Battery, Xantrex SW4024
www.sparweb.ca

Mary B

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Re: Electronics for beginners
« Reply #10 on: September 22, 2018, 05:35:09 PM »
None of the calculators work for me, the calculate button doesn't do anything...

MagnetJuice

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Re: Electronics for beginners
« Reply #11 on: September 22, 2018, 06:00:36 PM »
I tried a few calculators using Internet Explorer AND Firefox. They don't work for me either.

Seems like there is more tweaking that needs to be done.

Ed
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dnix71

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Re: Electronics for beginners
« Reply #12 on: September 22, 2018, 10:02:37 PM »
I tried the twisted pair calculator and found that you must hit enter/return after choosing inputs or outputs to get the Calculate button active. After that, it's fine.

The parallel resistor calculator allows a negative number of resistors. That may have a use in theory (the square root of -1 has mathematical uses). Maybe someone should check to be sure. I don't get valid answers when trying to use a negative number of resistors. With real resistors it works correctly.

The RMS voltage calculator seems to work correctly.

MagnetJuice

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Re: Electronics for beginners
« Reply #13 on: September 22, 2018, 11:46:19 PM »
The Calculator is working OK for me now. The problem I had was on my side. I have a hosts file that blocks ad servers and trackers. I disabled my hosts file, tried a few of the Calculators and they function properly.

Ed
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SparWeb

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Re: Electronics for beginners
« Reply #14 on: September 23, 2018, 01:23:09 AM »
Yup, I got it to accept some negative input values, too.  I don't know what -6 ohms is, exactly, but apparently two in parallel gives -3 ohms.  ;)

Mary, I got it working in FF and in Chrome.  I just happened recently to have reinstalled my browsers and haven't yet put the adblockers back in place, so if Dnix71 is correct, and you do have adblockers, you might try allowing the page through temporarily.

Wow, I just discovered that AAC has added a price comparison page.  You can look up components on AAC and see prices from Digikey, Mouser, Allied, and more.
https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/electronic-components/
« Last Edit: September 23, 2018, 01:30:13 AM by SparWeb »
No one believes the theory except the one who developed it. Everyone believes the experiment except the one who ran it.
System spec: 135w BP multicrystalline panels, Xantrex C40, DIY 10ft (3m) diameter wind turbine, Tri-Star TS60, 800AH x 24V AGM Battery, Xantrex SW4024
www.sparweb.ca

Mary B

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Re: Electronics for beginners
« Reply #15 on: September 23, 2018, 05:12:52 PM »
By the tim I account for shipping Digi Key is usually cheapest for me. And fastest since they are only 200 miles from me.

kitestrings

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Re: Electronics for beginners
« Reply #16 on: September 24, 2018, 02:08:34 PM »
Thank you all for the great information, and helpful links and suggestions.  He's already daily asking me question that I can't answer...but that's a good thing, right.  ~ks

Mary B

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Re: Electronics for beginners
« Reply #17 on: September 24, 2018, 07:11:45 PM »
He can ask here and we will help! I repaired electronics for 30 years so I know a wee bit LOL

kitestrings

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Re: Electronics for beginners
« Reply #18 on: September 28, 2018, 09:37:27 AM »
Thanks Mary.  I've shared this with him.