Intro to Electronics

Hey Everyone!

I was wondering if anyone would have any interest in teaching an Intro to Electronics class. Checked the schedule and didn’t seem to see anything.

I work in video production so I am using electronic devices every single moment of the day. But I am a total newbie in terms of understanding how these things operate internally and only have very basic knowledge on how it’s happening on the fundamental level.

I can guarantee my wife and I would attend if scheduling works out, so that’s 2 people for sure. I know the magic number is 3 for a class.

Any feedback would be appreciated.

Thanks!!

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@Corbimos We should have an electronics class for sure, but first let’s define “basics”. That could mean Ohms law, Kirchoff’s laws, etc., but I don’t think these require much instruction, and there are numerous, great resources for these online.

I recommend starting at a practical place most people are probably interested: parts of a circuit board (power supply, inputs, outputs), methods of circuit analysis (nodal, loop, etc.), then cover either power supply topologies, amplifier types/topologies, or maybe useful transistor/opamp circuits like common-* followers, unity gain opamp, etc.

Given how often questions arise which are solved/addressed by knowledge of Ohm’s law, Kirchoff’s laws, etc. in the Electronics Shop, I suggest that it does require instruction for our members. At the very least the ability to ask a live human questions. It seems that too much of the information already out there doesn’t
make sense to a large portion of the maker community.

Once you have the basics, much of the rest simple follow. You do some basic math and can determine before putting components or wire togther that it “will not work”.

To @Corbimos our classes are taught by volunteers and unless someone feels the drive to teach a class, it likely doesn’t happen. I would suggest starting with some good resources, such as Forest Mim’s Getting Started in Electronics and then asking questions of our knowledgeable members such as; @artg_dms @Haley_Moore @zmetzing @DanielHooper @Lampy or anyone else you can tie down you find hanging out in the electronics area. You are more likely to get the information you want then you would from a formalized class.

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I would love to support more basic electronics classes. Please Teach!

As Walter astutely points out, we have people that need help with electricity much less electronics. So we cover the gamut and that is ok, it’s why we are a community of makers.

I wanted to have a regular night of the week to cover very basic topics. The format I was going for was 15-20 minutes of lecture time and then the remainder of the hour was discussion or help on member projects. Kinda like lab assistant hours but paid.

Would love to have 1-3 people rotate through and teach this Lab Night.

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I’m thinking that it should be simpler. Teaching a bunch of theory gets boring and you’ll lose people.

Start with what the components do - switches, resistors, capacitors, coils, transformers, diodes, transistors, etc… Dive into what their symbols on a schematic looks like and how the schematic is a map to wiring all the components. Start wiring up simple circuits using breadboards or wire clips and introducing simple math for that like calculating the resistor required for an LED. Show how to properly solder circuits for a more permanent one.

There are different levels of basic. This is what I think of with that term.

Raymond

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I agree with @wandrson that Forest Mims is a great place to start. He starts with simple circuits and tells you what each component is and the symbol associated with it to, but the best part is as @Raymond says you start with a real circuit and breadboard it. He also suggests modifcation that you can make and what you should expect from them. I must own most if not all of Mim’s books. [quote=“wandrson, post:3, topic:9164”]
I would suggest starting with some good resources, such as Forest Mim’s Getting Started in Electronics
[/quote]
Raido Shack used to sell an electronics learning lab based upon Forest Mims’ books. http://www.amazon.com/RadioShack-28-280-Electronics-Learning-Lab/dp/B000W32P9Y

I agree with Raymond, theory is boring but I also believe that it is essential to understanding how the circuits work.

I recently took @Brandon_Dunson Mrs. Penny’s class and it was awesome, but there was no introduction to circuits or theory in it. It was all about getting a PCB designed in Eagle and demonstrating how to create a circuit and build it.

If you didn’t have some knowledge of the components and how circuits work you would have been lost in the class.

I’m still very much a Newbie but I’ve used the Mims’ books to help me learn the basics at home and I think they are easy to follow and very logical, especially the digital logic books :slight_smile:

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It is essential, but you can put it in the middle of building things so you keep the audience attention. Everyone should get to smoke an LED before learning about limiting current and how to calculate the resistor value needed. :smiley:

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From what little I have seen of the electronics room, people tend to smoke far more expensive components before they seem willing to spend the time learning a little theory! :grinning:

That’s all a part of learning! You remember all the stupid things you did and why it happened. Sometimes the hardest lessons are the best because they stick with you.

Cook Books by Don Lancaster and Walt Jung are still on my reference shelf
By Lancaster:
TTL CkBk
CMOS CkBk
Active Filter CkBk

By Walt Jung:
IC Timer CkBk
IC Op Amp CkBk

Yes there is math - some of it rather scary looking. Most of the time it is resolved down to algebra. Plug in component values and go build the first prototype.

Classes on the Magic Smoke??

An intro Physics textbook would be a good start cough Google cough

Maybe we should bring some cans of smoke so we can put it back in. :smile: Specially a can of start capacitor smoke since it smells the worst.

Doncha know that smoke doesn’t come in cans, only paper wrapped containers?

Nothing quite like the rotten fish smell of caps popping on power up!

Back i college I wanted larger speakers on my stereo. It was a Masterworks and it has some nice quality in the stereo, but it just couldn’t power the whole house loud enough. So I bought some regular twisted pair wire and wired it to reach the back of the house for some additional speakers. Resistance mismatched with the speakers in every way.

Turned the volume up to max and immediately smoked a couple of capacitors within. Not so nice smell, lots of smoke and no more Masterworks stereo. Still had some big speakers though.

ICs w/ fault line and/ or crater across the top are special too…

Respectfully disagree on the physics book. I’m not really concerned how the part works at that level versus how to design the part into a circuit. I don’t care whether holes or electrons are flowing across semi junctions versus how much current I can put through the part before it gets unhappy.

If you’re designing/building w/unfamiliar parts, get the data sheet. Print them out. Look for application notes. Print them out. Study. Make notes. Go build. Odds are your ckt is not that unique. The application may be. Research/find one that is close to what you need to do and adapt.

Stating the obvious here:
Get in a hurry
Don’t research
Build circuit
Apply power
Release Magic Smoke
Repeat entertainment

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Two very cheap books, which teach the fundamentals:

http://www.amazon.com/Basic-Electricity-Dover-Electrical-Engineering/dp/0486209733/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_2/189-4838299-7321538?ie=UTF8&refRID=17XWRF0H5XK44BWNREKN

http://www.amazon.com/Basic-Electronics-Dover-Books-Engineering/dp/0486210766/ref=pd_sim_14_2?ie=UTF8&dpID=518N9KlWVSL&dpSrc=sims&preST=AC_UL320_SR214%2C320&refRID=0TV07805GRXZ2VKHK59N

The latter book is a bit dated, referencing vacuum tubes, but the theory is applicable to Junction and MOS FETs.

Unfortunately, unless you want to sit a the “I can limit current through my LED with a resistor” level, you have to learn the basics. That means a lot (more than 5 minutes) of book work and working out problems.

Before you solder stuff together, use free LTSpice to try it out in simulation! It’s infinitely cheaper and much faster than trying it on the bench. Once you’ve gotten a handle on transistors, op amps, etc. you can skip this step and do a lot of it in your head with rules of thumb.

Best book on teaching electronics I have ever found (also one of the most comprehensive) is Art of Electronics. New copies are very pricy, but since they have just release the third edition you can find used copies of the first and second edition at quite reasonable prices. The older editions are still great until you start getting into the more advanced areas.

http://www.amazon.com/Art-Electronics-Paul-Horowitz/dp/0521370957/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1462224879&sr=8-3&keywords=art+of+electronics

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Any Tech Brief, App Note, Book by William Pease or Jim Williams.

University Physics by Young and Freedman Ch 21-32

Doesn’t go into transistors at all but has quite a bit about basic circuit analysis
Some people might find the string “University Physics pdf” useful…

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