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    Default newb help! Getting started

    Hi All,

    I've been wanting to get into electronics and i require some help from you all in regards to the best direction to get started in.

    The main purpose is to learn electronics is mainly to dymistify electronics so that i can be able to troubleshoot and repair electronic devices. The second purpose is to eventually be able to use electronics with my comp sci degree to make devices that interact with the computer via USB or Serial etc.

    At first i thought i'd do a short course to get primed into learning the general basics again. (i've done basic soldering, built a PIC programmer (for Jerrrold modding :P) But i was surprised how little electronic courses are around anymore, it seems to be have taken over by computer courses.

    Can someone point me in the right direction in regards to self learning to achieve my goals? good websites? even good books. Does anyone one know any maybe electronic groups around melbourne or even some nice short courses that they can recommend?

    Also what type of soldering iron is best to get started on? i've got a cheapy soldering iron, but i feel they are not that good, as when soldering my pic programmer, i felt that it was really too hot and cheap solder didn't help! ;p causing me to have to resolder alot of joints to get a nice connectivity.



    Many thanks
    ralph.



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    sonsivri dot com is my fav electronics forum.

    Best way to learn is t give yourself a project to do and learn everything you need to do to complete that project, bit like your PIC programmer experience. Google has all the answers and all the answers are not all in the same place. Search, Read, Search, Read, repeat...

    As for a soldering iron get yourself a decent temperature controlled iron. Some cheap clones are sold on eBay and are almost as good as the real namebrand thing. No need for a LCD screen, just a knob with temperature settings on it. You can also get some very cheap second hand ones. But why bother at the price of the cheap ones from china...
    By reading this, you have already given me control over a tiny slice of your mind

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    Well, the usual I recomend is DSE Funway 1 & 2, though you might be past funway 1. Funway 2 packs come with a simple soldering iron and some kits to destroy.

    Second to that I would say look at and consider getting a "Foundation Licence". There is no electronics required, but it's a foot in the door, and you will learn a LOT about electronics just from being exposed to the hobby.

    ARRL Handbook is the best hobbiest reference book you can have. Dick Smith sell it, or they used to. The WIA probably also stock it.
    They will also probably have other good educational books.

    Mastering Electronics was on that I used to recomend for newbies, but I loaned my copy to somebody who never returned it, so I don't have an ISBN.

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    great, thanks for the tips. I i found with the pic programmer project and other kit excercises that i was more putting a puzzle together and really just fitting things in the right square and solding them, without truely understanding what each component did , or the real design behind it. But i think i need to keep that in the back of my head and actually read a bit more when doing the kit/project about what i am doing rather then blindly following instructions :P

    I will have a look at the WIA, and also the Mastering Electronics Book.

    I borrowed a few books of my friend, but they seemed to be very specific on "atoms and electrons" which seems a bit too low level for me, i understand that its important to know the concepts on electricity, but is all that detail really important? or is it ok just knowing the simple calculations of voltage etc?

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    sonsivri is a great site, thanks for that covert

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    I've had time to think about some other sources too.
    Talking electronics have a good range of cheap books.
    Jaycar have some books, but not a lot of stuff that is real basic electronics education.

    The Funway 1 may actually be good for you Ralph.
    It's designed for kids, much like those 100 in 1 electronic kits.
    Dick Smith wrote the funway series and all his circuits are very simple and basic. He's got some good descriptions of how components work.
    You will also find that we're a helpful bunch here. You can ask even the most basic question like "What do resistors do and why and how do we use them ?"

    There were some good tutorials on the forum but they were lost at the begining of this year. We've all been keen to upload replacements, but..... we're still waiting for the forum admin to fix the tutorials lock out >hint<.

    In the mean time.... we can push you in the right direction.

    Ohms Law is the basics of electronics theory. The cornerstone.
    It deals with Volts, Amps, Ohms and Watts.
    You will also hear these four values refered to as
    EMF or Electro Motive Force (E=Volts)
    Current (I = Amps)
    Resistance (R = Ohms)
    Power (P = Watts)

    Volts / Current = Resistance
    Volts / Resistance = Curent
    Current x Resistance = Volts
    Volts x Current = Power

    and then you can derive some short cuts like...
    (Current^2) x Resistance = Power

    These may all seem like varibles, but usually only one is variable and the others just fall into place.

    An example, you have a 9V battery and it is connected to a light bulb with a resistance of 18 ohms. The current will be 0.5 amps and the power it uses will be ....
    (0.5^2) x 18 = 4.5 Watts
    9 x 0.5 = 4.5 Watts
    (9^2)/18 = 4.5 Watts

    You can't change one value without changing one of the others, they're all interelated.

    Any of the books that you purchase will explain ohms law at the basic level like this.


    I find that people understand electronics easier if you explain it in terms that use some other common world example of physics.
    Electricity is a lot like water in a pipe.
    The water pressure is the voltage
    The amount of water is the current
    The thickness of the pipe is the resistance ... thin or long pipes offer more resistance than short or fat pipes.

    Power is a little harder to understand in terms of water, so I find it is easiest to explain in terms of Kinetics (Motion).

    Mass = Current
    Speed = Voltage

    A 10 tonne Bus traveling at 1kph is a large mass moving slowly.
    It is a low voltage with a high current

    A Bullet traveling at 5000kph is a small mass moving fast.
    It is a high voltage with a low current.

    Both may posses the same amount of power and both with take the same amount of energy to stop.

    (Just for humour, the bullet would weigh 2kg to have the same energy in this case)


    If you study each component individually before trying to understand whole circuits, you'll find it much easier.
    Capacitors for example are open circuit, there is no physical connection between the two wires, but they still obey ohms law, in slightly more complex ways. And I can still think of examples of real world objects that behave the same way as any electronic component.

    Even 555 timers

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