Learning Electronics need Basic Test Equipment.

Hi William,

Everyone is different in the way they pick up things, but I think for learning electronics it would be good to augment looking at fixing equipment with also trying to build your own circuits too, and reading up some theory as well.

Trying to learn by repairing is satisfying, but there is a high risk of frustration leading to giving up. (Also, avoid mains operated equipment).

You'd be surprised but from reading some basic theory you can go very far knowing just a couple of the main formulas that crop up in electronics.

jw0752 has compiled a list of beginners books here (paper books have more information than many websites!), and it is fairly essential to spend time with at least a few books.

For first projects, there are hundreds on the element14 site, or alternatively you could pick up a kit such as the Velleman ones for any topics you fancy.

Also the talkingelectronics site is very good, if you wish to get some bits and a plastic breadboard or stripboard and soldering iron to try out some beginners circuits.

For test equipment, you'll likely want a multimeter as a first primary test tool. Since you'll likely end up with a few multimeters over time (and they are all useful) there is no harm in spending very little for your first one and using it with your beginner projects testing.

You might want to do a bit of  electronics experimentation/construct some projects and read some theory books first before an oscilloscope purchase, so that you can get a good idea of how much you

then want to spend.

Oscilloscopes are lower cost now than they used to be, so you have the options to spend very little (and end up with something not very usable like some $50 USB oscilloscopes)

or spend a bit more and end up with something that will provide many years of good service for a few hundred $, which is still extremely cost-effective.

But better to put off that oscilloscope decision for a bit until you've built a few electronic circuits and seen what the benefits and limitations of the multimeter are, and seen where you might want to apply an oscilloscope.

When I first experimented with electronics, 'scopes were more expensive, so test tools included things like earphones (ideal for probing around and listening to electronic signals), LEDs (an LED and resistor is perfect for checking logic levels on some older circuits), and so on.

Nowadays you don't need to wait so long to buy a 'scope if you're serious about electronics due to the lower cost, but still better to wait a bit I think, and get good theory in with some books, and practice with circuits and a multimeter.

These are just some personal suggestions, others may have alternate methods to learn about electronics with minimal frustration.

Very good advice, Shabaz. Here is the link that you mentioned.

https://www.element14.com/community/people/jw0752/blog/2015/11/04/i-want-to-do-electronics-where-do-i-start

John

Hi John,

Thanks! That's the one, I thought I'd inserted the URL, but accidentally missed it!

Good advice there from Shabaz, it was the same with me with the price of test equipment 'way back when . . ' now you can get a reasonable digital multimeter for less than £3 ($4 USD).

Don't completely discount a 'moving coil' (or analogue) multimeter, they can often give a good indication of what a measured output is doing if it fluctuates. A digital meter will just seem to show random and ever changing numbers, the analogue needle will show it pulsing or sweeping.

Oscilloscopes are something i've used many times although rarely whilst fixing TVs - if you are going to get one, save up, see how much you really need it and then get a nice digital one would be my choice.

Something you do need to consider with a 'scope - the frequency range - that will be determined by what you want to measure. From around 20Mhz to 200Mhz is a very common range, price usually goes up with frequency.

Soldering irons were mentioned too - my personal choice is Weller, they ain't cheap but they are good. My gas one set me back about £90-£100 when I bought it, it's a bit more now but you don't need to spend a fortune immediately - Antex mains ones will only plug you for about £30 for a 25 Watt one - cheaper options are available initially (under £10). You can spend more later if you find you're limited by what it can do.

As Shabaz suggested, a good way to supplement your learning with electronics is constructing kits. You can build stuff that interests you but you can also build test gear! You get the added bonus of cheaper stuff (usually), the sense of achievement that comes with building something useful and it helps you learn.

Some suggestions:

A nice bench power supply - invaluable, you can add current limiting, variable voltage, a digital display - all relatively easily, there are even plans out there for constructing one from an unused ATX PC power supply.

Frequency/Signal generators, again, rather easy to build and can be very useful. You can either start with a dedicated frequency generator IC (I used to use the now defunct ICL8086 - the XR2206CP seems to be a replacement) or build one from scratch - there are decent plans out there.

Thats just some suggestions to get the ball rolling, the only personal advice I can offer is the old adage, learn to walk before you try and run! If you try and dive in to the really cool stuff right away without any understanding of the basics it is really easy to lose interest as soon as things don't go quite how you expected - and that would be a great shame.

A final note, here are a couple of websites I use - to supplement the theory from the books Shabaz and John mentioned. Learn how electronics works and you can figure out how the circuits work too - plus build some great stuff.

Electronic Circuit Schematics

Free Electronic Circuit Collection of 30,000 + electronic schematics to solve design problems

Various projects

and a gimme - how to read Circuit Schematics - a bit of an introduction

https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/how-to-read-a-schematic

I'm off to do a bit of digging now - maybe get myself back in the saddle, regards!

one point growing up.

I have no personal experience with the Make: range of books, but they do seem to get decent reviews. A brief glance at them and they seem to cover a decent range of projects, if they lay it out well and explain things properly then go for it. (Plus they're quite a bit cheaper at the moment, $20 each down from $35 each).

You can also get the parts to make their kits - at a premium of course, but at least they should work!

As for the 9V battery on the tongue, how else are you supposed to tell if it has any 'kick' left to it?!

P.S. There have been reported deaths from 'battery licking' (not the fake reports of 'X' amount every year), but that's because the guy jerked back and fell off his ladder iirc (I may have dreamed this - I have strange dreams), my advice therefore is:-

             "Don't do it if you're standing in a precarious position - moments from toppling to your death!"

For the scope, there is some good news. Now that Rigol has a new range of affordable oscilloscopes, people are selling their original DS1052e ones on second hand markets.

Prices go a little over 100 €. For that money you have a 50 MHz basic digital 2 channel oscilloscope. But certainly a decent one.

That sounds like a pretty good deal. I don't know much about scopes (yet) but reading a few things and watching some videos,

I thought I wanted at least 100MHZ? What (if anything) is better about 100 vs 50? Are their some things you can't test with the 50 that you can with the 100?

There is always a next oscilloscpe with a higher frequency, whatever you buy

On a 50 MHz scope, all signals above 50 MHz will drop below the -3dB level. And with a digital one,  the sampling frequency will also be too low to get a correct view of the signals.

With a 100 MHz scope, this happens at 100 MHz, etc ...

I'm using a 50 MHz one. My previous one was 35 MHz.

Buying a toaster and kettle could cost more..! Great price..