Good Books / Websites To Learn More

Hi, I have recently got into electronics and have been playing around with various projects with picaxe controllers. To add things like motion sensing etc I have been using the ready built boards and just plugging them in. I have been having a look at different basic projects to get me started like the old plant moisture sensor etc.

I have a basic understanding of how things like resistors, transistors etc work, but when it comes to designing circuits im not sure where to put things or why they go there, I have tried using some of the online circuit creators but they don't seem to tell you if your doing something wrong, e.g they will happily let you connect 12v dc to a 3v led and it continues to work, it doesn't say anything like "your led would be cooked".

My biggest thing is trying to work out why something is where it is, for example I recently learned why you put the resistor on the leg of a transistor....to pull it low, so that it is not in a floating state, but when doing some of the little projects you read the list of parts and think....why does that go there, what is its purpose in the circuit ?.

So.......if anyone has any recommendations of any books, websites, videos, dvd's etc that can enlighten me that would be really helpful .

 

We can give you the answers to questions, but we can't give you knowledge. You have to earn knowledge to own it!

 

It sounds like he was asking for learning aids, not just answers...

 

Hi.

My suggestion is to have something to work towards - a little 'end goal' which is realistic. Chances are, someone will have already made a circuit similar to your requirements, so take a look at that, and try to figure out how it works - most people here are more than willing to help answer questions.

Then we you have a rough understanding of how it works, consider tweaking it a little - perhaps add a power on indicator led, or an automatic 'sleep mode' kind of thing. Then see what affect this has on the circuit.

You might also see something you like in several circuits, so why not try to stitch them together to create your own? Build it up and see what happens.

Over time, I found that I was making bigger and bigger changes to circuits, until I reached the point where I could come up with them on my own. I knew that, for example, I needed a capacitor here, and a resistor here, better figure out the best value, etc, etc...

My point is don't try to jump in at the very deep end. Start with little tweaks and understanding the circuits and then gradually tweak circuits so much that they are actually your own.

I'm sure we'd be glad to answer any questions about circuits you have, just post a schematic when you ask the question.

Sparky

 

I would also recommend trying out BBC Bitesize for some tutorials - it's quite basic, but it does cover things quite nicely.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/design/electronics/

 

Thanks for the info everyone, I have a lot of reading to do !. Im currently building things with a picaxe and using the ready built picaxe / arduino modules you can get on ebay for a couple of pounds, so am wanting to build some things from scratch instead of just buying bolt on modules for it to do things .