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Ask HN: DIY Electronic Resources

29 points by __all__ 3y ago

I studied ECE but since the beginning I've been working as a Software engineer, as almost everybody from my promotion. Lately, I've been thinking about starting some hardware side projects. Despite my background I don't remember a thing about those years and would be great to start playing with smaller projects before jumping into something more complex. Are there any good resources on electronics? I have been looking around and everything I've found is either too simple or too complex.

DamonHD 3y ago
You could do a lot worse than play around with Arduino, Raspberry Pi, and similar! Lots of levels of entry from beginner to ... well ... I have a 100kloc open source 'arduino' consumer product that I can point you at!
- bjacobt 3y ago
  Not op, but I would be interested in seeing it.
- __all__ 3y ago
  Sounds interesting, mind sharing?
brudgers 3y ago
everything I've found is either too simple or too complex. Neither matters. Starting matters. If it is simple, you will complete it. Completing electronics projects is a useful habit. If it is too complex, you will fail. Failing is a useful habit. Failing is what learning looks like when there isn’t a curriculum with lowered hurdles. Shopping for a Goldilocks’ porridge is easier than failing. It is easier than easy projects. Shopping feels like work, but it’s not. Just work. It is the simplest thing that might work. Good luck.
- brendev 3y ago
  This is a great perspective, and honestly one that extends to many (if not most) practical skills that one can learn.
genter 3y ago
I know this is annoying, but you learn electronics by doing. First, you need to know the basics. Ohms law (V=IR), the power law (P=VI) the two Kirchoffs laws, voltage divider, what a capcitor, inductor, mosfet, and diode do. Most IC companies (Texas Instruments in particular) have very good technical documents that give you practical tips on how to use their products. Find similar projects that you can base your own project on. It doesn't matter what the license is, you probably won't be releasing it, and copyright doesn't apply to electrical circuits anyways (but they do apply to the drawings of circuits). If anyone recommends "The Art of Electronics", instantly stop listening to anything they have to say.
- chromoblob 3y ago
  > If anyone recommends "The Art of Electronics", instantly stop listening to anything they have to say. Why? I tried it and liked it (at least some initial part).
  - OJFord 3y ago
    Yeah that definitely needs some justification! Not saying there can't be one or that it's amazing or anything, I haven't read it, but it's so often recommended (and it's the first time I can remember seeing a recommendation actively against) that it really doesn't go without saying why.
- roland35 3y ago
  The art of electronics is a great resource. It is probably better as a reference though!
20after4 3y ago
https://lcamtuf.coredump.cx/electronics/ https://lcamtuf.coredump.cx/electronics/ and Leo's bag of tricks on youtube: 1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGvOmwZvhVk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGvOmwZvhVk 2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWRbSn4uDow https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWRbSn4uDow 3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F_O1RPyrC8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F_O1RPyrC8 A Raspberry Pi Pico running micro-python is a nice way to play with electronics without completely leaving the land of software.
OJFord 3y ago
I'm in an extremely similar position, so it's a bit rich me giving advice, but I would suggest just trying to make something, something that seems perhaps slightly too complex. Then look for the specific resources you need when you run into issues; not something general purpose that just happens to be at your level. (Not least because it frankly probably doesn't exist? We'd need something graduate level but with a refresher of basics, who's writing that? And we're not necessarily interested in graduate level in the sense of the mathematical theory of it any more, depending what we're building, if the goal is just to make stuff. E.g. I can use a USB PD chip in a design without learning more about transmission line power loss.)
gdprrrr 3y ago
Ben Eaters' building an 8-bit breadboard computer is very well done. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLowKtXNTBypGqImE405J2565dvjafglHU https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLowKtXNTBypGqImE405J2...
eternityforest 3y ago
A lot of stuff in electronics at the beginner hobby level is highly project specific. Post some project ideas, we can give you some resources on where to start, if you want to learn the basics just by jumping in.
sircastor 3y ago
I really enjoy Charles Platts’s Make:Electronics. It’s written as a series of experiments runs that give you a good “through-experience” knowledge of electronics. Also worth reading are the US Navy’s “Basic Electronics” book. It is thorough, and really straight forward, written for any recruit. Also worth noting that the basic prototyping tools (Arduino type stuff) enable a lot without a lot of electronics understanding.
RecycledEle 3y ago
The ARRL Radio Handbook is available on Amazon for $63, as a 6-volume-set. It covers a lot more than electronics, but it definitely covers electronics in the context of amateur radio. It is updated yearly, so get the newest version. Older versions do not go down in price much, which is an indicator of how good it is. TOC: https://home.arrl.org/PRODUCTFILES/2003373106/Handbook%20100%20Table%20of%20Contents.pdf https://home.arrl.org/PRODUCTFILES/2003373106/Handbook%20100...
mikewarot 3y ago
Get an Arduino starter kit, and dig in. The nice thing about the Arduino is that it's 5 volt I/O, so enough to drive a light, an FET, etc. They're not super fast, but for stuff you want to see... good enough. Most of the things you'll build these days are just jelly beans you connect together.
leros 3y ago
Electronics is really broad. What are you looking to get into and at what complexity level? Controlling an LED strip with an Arduino library is very different from designing a custom RF solution.
JoeCortopassi 3y ago
Practical Electronics for Inventors[0] is the go-to book for what you're looking for. Has the right balance of practical application without dumbing things down too much. That being said, if you need help getting familiar again, Adafruit's tutorials[1] are a fantastic resource to have a 'recipe' type project with an associated parts list [0] https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Electronics-Inventors-Fourth-Scherz/dp/1259587541/ https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Electronics-Inventors-Fourt... [1] https://learn.adafruit.com https://learn.adafruit.com

29 points by __all__ 3y ago

DamonHD 3y ago

You could do a lot worse than play around with Arduino, Raspberry Pi, and similar! Lots of levels of entry from beginner to ... well ... I have a 100kloc open source 'arduino' consumer product that I can point you at!

bjacobt 3y ago
Not op, but I would be interested in seeing it.
__all__ 3y ago
Sounds interesting, mind sharing?

brudgers 3y ago

everything I've found is either too simple or too complex. Neither matters. Starting matters. If it is simple, you will complete it. Completing electronics projects is a useful habit. If it is too complex, you will fail. Failing is a useful habit. Failing is what learning looks like when there isn’t a curriculum with lowered hurdles. Shopping for a Goldilocks’ porridge is easier than failing. It is easier than easy projects. Shopping feels like work, but it’s not. Just work. It is the simplest thing that might work. Good luck.

brendev 3y ago
This is a great perspective, and honestly one that extends to many (if not most) practical skills that one can learn.

genter 3y ago

I know this is annoying, but you learn electronics by doing. First, you need to know the basics. Ohms law (V=IR), the power law (P=VI) the two Kirchoffs laws, voltage divider, what a capcitor, inductor, mosfet, and diode do. Most IC companies (Texas Instruments in particular) have very good technical documents that give you practical tips on how to use their products. Find similar projects that you can base your own project on. It doesn't matter what the license is, you probably won't be releasing it, and copyright doesn't apply to electrical circuits anyways (but they do apply to the drawings of circuits). If anyone recommends "The Art of Electronics", instantly stop listening to anything they have to say.

chromoblob 3y ago
> If anyone recommends "The Art of Electronics", instantly stop listening to anything they have to say. Why? I tried it and liked it (at least some initial part).
- OJFord 3y ago
  Yeah that definitely needs some justification! Not saying there can't be one or that it's amazing or anything, I haven't read it, but it's so often recommended (and it's the first time I can remember seeing a recommendation actively against) that it really doesn't go without saying why.
roland35 3y ago
The art of electronics is a great resource. It is probably better as a reference though!

20after4 3y ago

https://lcamtuf.coredump.cx/electronics/ https://lcamtuf.coredump.cx/electronics/ and Leo's bag of tricks on youtube: 1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGvOmwZvhVk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGvOmwZvhVk 2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWRbSn4uDow https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWRbSn4uDow 3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F_O1RPyrC8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F_O1RPyrC8 A Raspberry Pi Pico running micro-python is a nice way to play with electronics without completely leaving the land of software.

OJFord 3y ago

I'm in an extremely similar position, so it's a bit rich me giving advice, but I would suggest just trying to make something, something that seems perhaps slightly too complex. Then look for the specific resources you need when you run into issues; not something general purpose that just happens to be at your level. (Not least because it frankly probably doesn't exist? We'd need something graduate level but with a refresher of basics, who's writing that? And we're not necessarily interested in graduate level in the sense of the mathematical theory of it any more, depending what we're building, if the goal is just to make stuff. E.g. I can use a USB PD chip in a design without learning more about transmission line power loss.)

gdprrrr 3y ago

Ben Eaters' building an 8-bit breadboard computer is very well done. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLowKtXNTBypGqImE405J2565dvjafglHU https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLowKtXNTBypGqImE405J2...

eternityforest 3y ago

A lot of stuff in electronics at the beginner hobby level is highly project specific. Post some project ideas, we can give you some resources on where to start, if you want to learn the basics just by jumping in.

sircastor 3y ago

I really enjoy Charles Platts’s Make:Electronics. It’s written as a series of experiments runs that give you a good “through-experience” knowledge of electronics. Also worth reading are the US Navy’s “Basic Electronics” book. It is thorough, and really straight forward, written for any recruit. Also worth noting that the basic prototyping tools (Arduino type stuff) enable a lot without a lot of electronics understanding.

RecycledEle 3y ago

The ARRL Radio Handbook is available on Amazon for $63, as a 6-volume-set. It covers a lot more than electronics, but it definitely covers electronics in the context of amateur radio. It is updated yearly, so get the newest version. Older versions do not go down in price much, which is an indicator of how good it is. TOC: https://home.arrl.org/PRODUCTFILES/2003373106/Handbook%20100%20Table%20of%20Contents.pdf https://home.arrl.org/PRODUCTFILES/2003373106/Handbook%20100...

mikewarot 3y ago

Get an Arduino starter kit, and dig in. The nice thing about the Arduino is that it's 5 volt I/O, so enough to drive a light, an FET, etc. They're not super fast, but for stuff you want to see... good enough. Most of the things you'll build these days are just jelly beans you connect together.

leros 3y ago

Electronics is really broad. What are you looking to get into and at what complexity level? Controlling an LED strip with an Arduino library is very different from designing a custom RF solution.

JoeCortopassi 3y ago

Practical Electronics for Inventors[0] is the go-to book for what you're looking for. Has the right balance of practical application without dumbing things down too much. That being said, if you need help getting familiar again, Adafruit's tutorials[1] are a fantastic resource to have a 'recipe' type project with an associated parts list [0] https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Electronics-Inventors-Fourth-Scherz/dp/1259587541/ https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Electronics-Inventors-Fourt... [1] https://learn.adafruit.com https://learn.adafruit.com