I've been sick so I'm not working. I decided to do this as a hobby and am learning mainly from allaboutcircuits.com. My problem is I can't find beginner projects easy enough for me. I've mad a simple circuit with an LED but the next simplest circuit I found is a flashing LED which uses a 555 timer. There's no explanation other than a schematic. Every other online project I see is more difficult. I'm looking for projects that walk you through holding your hand. Where Can I find the simplest projects with good guidance?

 

First start by educating yourself in electronics.

https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/education/

After that it becomes a lot easier to understand the projects.

 

Hello,

You could have a look at the experiments section of the forum:
https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/textbook/experiments/

Or you could have a look at some linkpages:
http://educypedia.karadimov.info/electronics/electronicaopening.htm
http://www.epanorama.net/

Bertus

 

All about circuits is a great resource but you could also try talkingelectronics.com with Colin Mitchell amd Spark Fun as well. There are lots of small projects on the Internet with explanations but to better understand it, as others have said, AAC has great resources. Cheers.

 

The problem is that there are so many ways to go. We have audio, radio, digital, and it goes on and on.

So pick one and then search for "basic audio circuits" or "basic radio circuits" or "basic LED lighting circuits".

And there is another aspect to explore. And that is a microprocessor. This is a different kind of electronics. And many are surprised at how satisfying programming can be.

So....pick your poison.

 

Do a Google search for
The Forrest Mims Engineers Notebook
and
Getting Started In Electronics - Forrest Mims
They are a great place to start.
It looks like they are in the public domain now.

 

Welcome to AAC! Sorry to hear that you're unable to work.

the next simplest circuit I found is a flashing LED which uses a 555 timer.

In astable mode, the voltage on the trigger input alternates between 1/3 and 2/3 of VCC. When the trigger input is at or below 1/3 VCC, the output will be HIGH. When it gets to 2/3 VCC by charging the timing cap, a flip flop will turn on a transistor to discharge the cap and cause the output to go LOW. When the cap discharges to 1/3 VCC, the cycle starts over.

EDIT: Of course trigger and threshold are connected.

 

I

Welcome to AAC! Sorry to hear that you're unable to work.
In astable mode, the voltage on the trigger input alternates between 1/3 and 2/3 of VCC. When the trigger input is at or below 1/3 VCC, the output will be HIGH. When it gets to 2/3 VCC by charging the timing cap, a flip flop will turn on a transistor to discharge the cap and cause the output to go LOW. When the cap discharges to 1/3 VCC, the cycle starts over.

EDIT: Of course trigger and threshold are connected.

Ha ha, I bet that just went straight over his head!! I know it would have when I first started, and thinking about it, it still does!!

I have found building something for a specific purpose is the best thing to do, else if you come across a problem you don’t bother trying to fix it.
Also don’t buy kits that have ‘surface mounted’ components, buy ones that have ‘through hole’ ones.

I am just building a circuit board for a nixie clock, I brought the board and bits from
Nixieclock.biz.
The guys called Ian and sends you the board, components and you need to buy the Nixie tubes and make a surround for it, so keeps you interested in may different ways and you have something that you can use afterwards.
He is very good at answering emails with any questions you may have, but you can download the complete build manual that takes you through the build step by step, with times to test what you have built so far, so fault finding is easier.

Let us know what you decide to build next.

 

I would recommend you build a variable power supply for a start.
There are many resources, like... https://www.electronics-tutorials.ws/blog/variable-voltage-power-supply.html

Look for an old laptop 19V power supply, or some other plug pack so you do not have to tough the mains side of things.
Just note that the pin on the LM317 and the 78xx regs are not the same. And you will need to electrically insulate the regulator tab from the heatsink.
For a lot of use, just marking the knob pointer with the voltage reading will be fine.
Do you have any tools?
These are very good value for money... https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/AN8002-...h=item3b10127a09:g:OQwAAOSwhHJbFk3t:rk:1:pf:0
And get into the habit of wearing safety specs when soldering, and wash hands well after. I know a lot of people poo hoo the safety aspects but it does not hurt to be careful.

 

And you may find you like playing with Arduinos. They are a great way to start learning to program.
The "ASK manual" is a pretty good starter book and I believe it is now freely downloadable as it is a little dated. But well worth while having a look. An Arduino Uno clone can be had on Ebay for well under $10 and that is all you need to start with. Then you can add other parts to build up your application.
This is one of my latest play things...
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3419529 The web page linked to this has a very detailed explanation and you may find it interesting.

 

By your first post I'm guessing you're more interested in hardware than software. One possible way to go is one of those "100 in 1" or "200 in 1" type kits like Radio Shack used to sell back in the 1980's. Basically a handful of components on a board with instructions on how to connect them up into one of many possible circuits. Blinking lights, radio receiver, beeper, etc.. I'm not recommending this specific kit (I'm not familiar with it), but this is the idea, there must be a number of these around:

https://www.robotshop.com/en/elenco...sRvV-IUYTTUFhTVERSgZxf5RMpszBx0kaApp3EALw_wcB

 

I have bought 3 kits already: the official Arduino kit, RFID kit, and a kit from electronics club. In total it cost me approximately £100. I begun the Arduino project book today which only teaches basic components and basics I already learnt from this site.

The website below has proper electronic projects that involve basic components and IC's. No microcontrollers are programming there. I think it's better if I do a combination of the two. Working my way up from basic components and analog to digital. While using microcontrollers, transducers and code for the Arduino projects.

Mods Note:
The commercial links was deleted.

My youtube

 

I write beginner projects all the time and publish them in the local Text book.
https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/textbook/
https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/textbook/experiments/
https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/textbook/experiments/chpt-8/555-ic/

 

It makes me feel a bit old.. but I grew up with "Tandy" in the UK and really enjoyed Archer's - "Engineer's Mini-Notebook" - a really great way to get started, with some fun and interesting projects. You can still find copies or PDFs out there on the net.
They even had a book for the 555 timer:
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/1a/35/d8/1a35d8c62f0a3e6614234328c4f960f5.jpg

 

Hello,

As said, the Forrest Mims booklets can easely be downloaded on the internet archive:
https://archive.org/search.php?quer...type:"texts"&and[]=loans__status__status:"-1"

Bertus

 

Thank you everyone. I finally did it.

 

Thank you everyone. I finally did it. I bought a new breadboard and it works on there. The first breadboard has the same setup but it doesn't work with the 555 timer. However I can light an LED. I'm not positive if the breadboards the problem or not. I really want to know what went wrong.

​

 

Follow your wires on each breadboard and draw out on paper what you see. It is 100x easier to compare circuits on paper than by looking at a pile of wires on the breadboard, especially when you're unsure of how things work.

 

Hello,

As said, the Forrest Mims booklets can easely be downloaded on the internet archive:
https://archive.org/search.php?query=electronics forrest mims&and[]=mediatype:"texts"&and[]=loans__status__status:"-1"

Bertus

Excellent link! Thanks Bertus!

 

I really want to know what went wrong.

Wire the circuit on the breadboard that didn't work and use a voltmeter to troubleshoot the problem. If you suspect bad breadboard contacts, you can use a continuity checker on the unpowered circuit.

You need to use an oscilloscope if the signals are changing too quickly to use a DVM.