A good place to learn electronics?

Hi Ernesto,

There are a couple of threads in the past few days on this:

Re: What books and tutorials would you recommend to a beginner in electronics?

New to circuits

I think the Mims book in the posts above is not bad - it assumes no maths knowledge. You'll very soon outgrow it, but it may at least answer your initial questions.

For projects, many components are cheap, but I quite liked this Arduino kit - mainly again for the book. It's a little expensive, so you may wish to try the Mims book first, and gradually get some parts to build things, or purchase a smaller kit. In general many people start off with a breadboard - which I think is described in the Mims book.

There are many websites with electronics information, but you will probably be better off with a couple of textbooks, and google for additional information.

Wow! I checked out that arduino kit and it just looks gorgeous. I guess I'll have to save a little bit to buy something like that but it seems like it's really worth it. As for the Mims book, I've actually seen it before, I just found the style to be annoying, not the text, but the pictures just overflow the book. I think the Make: Electronics book mentioned in one of the threads you gave me will work better for me. I'll definetly consider getting that kit though.

Also, do You know of a place where I can buy components for my projects once I really get started?

Thanks a lot!

Yes, the style is a bit "different" : ) I've not seen the Make book, so I'd be interested to know what you think of it.

The kit is really just for the book - you can get those components at lower cost. So I wouldn't worry too much - just means a bit more looking around at other textbooks, or online projects.

For components, you'll probably want a small kit of resistors and capacitors, and some popular bits and pieces. But rather than spend too much on components you may not use for a long while, look for some projects books or online projects, to get an idea of what types of components you need. Then buy just those, but at the same time look out for where it makes sense to buy an assortment or larger quantity (e.g. no point buying a single resistor - they cost a fraction of a pence - so buy 50, or a kit of mixed values).  You'll probably need to shop around, depending on which country you're in. Ebay has lots of miscellaneous stuff, the quality is hit-and-miss until you know what you're looking for, but reasonable enough to get started. They have low-cost resistor kits for example. When you're ready to do a bigger project (above £20 order in the UK) then you can order the bits in one go from distributors like Farnell. (It is called Newark in the US).

Alright! I'll get the Make: Electronics book and see what I can learn. Meanwhile, I'll try to find a small kit to get going.

Thank You again for your help, I needed to know wich way to go since everything I could find online assumes you've already made a microprocessor and created a supercomputer.

I'll also make sure to write a review on the Make: Electronics book to let You know how it went.

Thanks again!

Personally, I would recommend the sister site to element14 -- Newark (it might be called Farnell's where you live).

Here in North America, you get your order delivered the next day for $8. Can't possibly beat that.

The problem is, I've not seen small kits of resistors and capacitors sold by Farnell. Maybe Newark has them?

And that's the kind of thing a beginner will pretty soon want, once they want to start creating the projects they see in books/websites.

The all-in-one kits like the Arduino ones are good, but if you just want to start learning a bit for a new hobby, I think a cheaper initial kit is needed. So although I think the Arduino kit is great, it is still more like a gift/present.

I wasn't thinking of an Arduino kit, I was thinking of components. %99 of the time all you need is 100 ohm, 1k, 4.7k, 10k, and 100k resistors (maybe 470 ohm and 1meg for good measure). Instead of buying one of those cheapo kits off of Amazon, you can spend the same (or maybe a little more) money and get like 100 of each of those values. That's what I did when I started and it was a great choice. There's very few projects, especially beginner projects, where the resistors (and capacitors, for that matter) value is so critical it can't be replaced by a near value.

Just my two cents. I'd do the same for caps. Get 1uF, 10uF, 22uF, 100uF, 470uF and 1000uF electros, and then 100/220nF, 10nF and maybe 1.0nF ceramics. Buy a bunch of each, and get good name brands. Buying the ChongX (or similar) kits on eBay/whatever site is not going to be a good idea in the long run. You can set yourself up now and for the future by just investing in some decent components.

Also, pick yourself up a decent multimeter, no $20 specials. Get a nice $50-100 BK Precision or similar. Plus rolls of stranded and solid-core wire.

These are just the bare minimum. I could go on and on, but then you'd end up with a full lab like me and have spent a fortune

Hi Ernesto.

I found the Make Electronics book very useful. Charles Platt is working on a follow-up volume which I've already pre-ordered on Amazon. If it's Arduino you're interested in, check out Jeremy Blum's Exploring Arduino. Each chapter includes follow-along projects, and you can buy all the parts in one click from element14. I also keep a copy of Encyclopedia of Electronic Components handy as a desktop reference. A friend of mine recently asked for similar resources, and I advised her to check out the Raspberry Pi or BeagleBone Black if she was looking for tools to get her fluent in coding, but to look to the Arduino if her interest lies more in hardware development. Finally, check out EdX's free online class in embedded hardware development. I'm doing that one, myself, and it's amazing. element14 also provides all the parts you need to build all assigned class projects.

Good luck, and let us know how you get on!

Cheers,
Sagar