How do I learn about DIY modern electronics?

Submitted ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨Chadsalot@lemmy.world⁩ to ⁨nostupidquestions@lemmy.world⁩

Not really sure where to ask this, as even the Google answers are very confusing for me.

I’m interested in DIY consumer(?) electronics. For e.g I saw a video of someone buying a used tablet screen, a display board, and made himself a little portable monitor. Or I have a retro handheld, and some people open theirs up, and replace the speaker in it. They buy the actual little tiny speaker from China and put it in themselves.

This stuff is cool as hell how do I learn how to do this?? I know I can look up project guides and recreate them, but I’d eventually like to be able to do my own things (like if I want to make some kind of soldering change?) And I assume that requires more in depth knowledge.

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solidgrue@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
YouTube teardown videos are a great resource to begin learning how things work. If you approach it as a sort of “theory in application” you will eventually pick up on what components tend to be used in what sorts of builds, and perhaps even why or how they do what they do.

Frequently these videos gloss over the finer points of electronics design, of throw around terms that.they don’t often explain. Still, once you have a feel for what you know you don’t know, you can delve a little deeper and look for tutorials on how THOSE concepts work in practice.

AvE’s BOLTR videos and Big Clive’s teardown-with-schematic and repair videos are high quality, if a bit saucy sometimes. Great Scott does some good videos on practical circuit design. There are so many other electronics and electrical edutainment creators on YouTube, it’s impossible to list them all, but some of the notable channels would also include Electroboom, PlasmaChannel, Andreas Speiss, Mark Furneaux, and to a lesser extent (for electronics projects) Jeff Geerling and Everything Smart Home

Outside of the YouTube sphere, older hobbyist guides in ham radio are a good resource for learning about RF transmission and antenna design. Likewise old textbooks from electrical & electronics school programs just about litter public libraries and used bookstores. Principles of Electrical Engineering is a classic, and any used edition would be valuable for learning the basic theory for circuit design.

The good thing about electronics projects.is, the materials are.cheap and there.are.plenty.of.tutorials out there. You can make a modest investment in a 1000 In One Projects kit and start building as you learn. Sometimes its.easiest to just dive and fail.a few.times,.popping.off a few caps.or.smoking so e resistors along the way. (Or, just watch Electroboom do it for free)

Remember to have fun with it!

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- algorithmae@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Bigclivedotcom is the GOAT. I also recommend Ben Heck and Voidstarlab for electronic project ideas/edutainment
  
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- DosDude@retrolemmy.com ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  I also want to give a shout out to “Borderline OCD” as someone who works in small electronics, he’s one of the few I don’t cringe at when he’s soldering. So if you want a good example for soldering, he should be high on anyone’s list.
  
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squid_slime@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Every project I do starts with opening thing up, salvaging bits I need, looking for product codes, researching and finding schematics and so on

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MajorHavoc@programming.dev ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
I found the Arduino to be a very accessible platform for learning various electronics principles.

arduinogetstarted.com/arduino-tutorials

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ShadowRam@kbin.social ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Start with SNAP CIRCUITS toys. Even if your an adult, these are a start.

Then upgrade to a ELEGOO UNO Electronics kit off Amazon.

It'll give you the basics of powering stuff, and then basics of signals.

Some kind of RC Car, Multicopter, Self built 3D Printer hobby will also help get you started.

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- Doombot1@lemmy.one ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Omg snap circuits were the BEST. Helped me learn so much as a kid
  
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Kite_height@eviltoast.org ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Textbooks baby! As dry and technical as they are, that’s where all the good stuff is.

Practical Electronics for Inventors by Paul Scherz and Simon Monk.

They start with Electronics 101 stuff and move all the way into building robots by the end of the 1000 pages. It’ll take a loooong while to get through it all, especially if you’re building real life stuff as you go, but I’d argue you could get a job as an Electrical Engineer if you master that textbook alone lol.

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- Bravebellows@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  You can locate a copy at the Internet Archives so you can browse before buying
  
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SwitchHiker@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
I don’t know much about electronics, but I’ve learned almost everything I know about cars from YouTube and forums, and now I’m a pretty decent at-home mechanic. You pick up a lot of basic knowledge and theory just from watching/reading about others diagnosing and fixing their issues online

YouTube is your friend; like you mentioned in your post you can learn how to do almost any project on there. Forums are another great resource. You could always pick up repair manuals or maybe even electrical engineering textbooks if you want more.

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agent_flounder@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Basic electronics: Adafruit or Sparkfun tutorials might be a good place to start?

I guess you might want to start with understanding not only Ohm’s Law and resistors, current, and voltage. Then learn Kirchoff’s Voltage and Current Laws because it helps with even rudimentary circuit analysis and design. Then learn about charge and current and what it is exactly. Because once you do, you can use that to understand how capacitors work at a basic level. Next learn about inductors and how magnetic and electrical fields work at a basic level. If you plan to mess with audio or any kind of signals you would want to get an idea of impedance and AC signals so you can understand filters. I suppose you can then learn about semiconductors starting with diodes, then LEDs. Then BJTs, followed by (maybe) JFETs and MOSFETs (all different types of common transistors). If all you’re doing is using these as switches that’s not too hard. I would save transistor amplification topics for later. You could learn about op amps next. They can be quite useful. If you get that far you probably know what you want to learn about from there.

I learned all this and more in college back before the web existed so I have no idea if there are any good video series out there or not. If there isn’t maybe I oughta put something together lol.

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Minotaur@lemm.ee ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Arduino is the best place to start imo. Get an LED to blink and youve got your intro to intro to electrical engineering done. Teaches you coding, basics of voltage and wiring, etc. You can scale it up and get pretty advanced and go from there.

As a general word of caution though, as someone who does enjoy hobby electronics, please understand that like 95% of what you can make is going to be something that could these days be bought from Amazon or whatever for $15 or less. It can be a fun hobby, but I think it can sometimes feel like you’re essentially just making Knick knacks and toys and overengineered whoozywhats.

This isn’t a bad thing per se, but something to keep in mind.

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Tolstoy@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
I haven’t read all the prior comments but I would suggest to learn the basic of electricity. Despite the biggest part of electronics is low voltage you may meet some parts with higher voltage. Learn the dangers what to look out for and what to avoid at any cost. Safety at first no matter what!!!

If you can get some technic beginner books or PDFs from middle schools your good to go. After that you can look for broken electronic at your local Craigslist or what ever it’s called in your area/country and start to dismantle them and source for parts.

And trust me about the security and dangers at this one. Working as a certified industrial electronic technician in Germany since 2011…

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Shawdow194@kbin.social ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Start by learning disassembling first!
Then learning replacement/upgrading of components next like your speaker idea. Then shift into assembly and constructing

Way easier to understand components and where they line up and their effects by taking apart and reverse engineering before trying to assemble or create/engineer anything yourself

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BigDanishGuy@sh.itjust.works ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Get a copy of Practical Electronics for Inventors by Scherz and Monk.

Best book I bought in university, and one of maybe 4 I still refer to +10years later.

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Crafter72@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
I recommend to start learning fundamental electronics first then move up to microcontrollers (if you’re interested for that) or straight to device. Make a habit of reading datasheet. Reading datasheet is necessity to understand the characteristic of components you’re after.

While learning Arduinos are good to learn how to handle microcontrollers are interfacing electrics modules. Learning electronics fundamental is good start to put more confident handling electronics (especially low voltage/current stuffs). You may want to tweak lower devices first as higher power devices such as SMPS, Inverter, old CRT TV, Higher power amplifier require more understanding power electronics.

Afterward steps up to analog electronics (op amp, transistors, mosfets) then digital electronics (digital ics, microcontrollers). At this stage reading datasheet is a must in order to not miss anything from components you are going to use.

For learning via youtubes, you can try visit eevblog, GreatScott (general purpose), bigclivedotcom (general device disassembly/tear down), afrotechmods (his old videos are still good for explanation). For books, try to check other commenters.

You can learn at any pace and most importantly have fun :D

source: Am recently graduated mechatronics students, currently working on automotive industry.

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Coskii@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
If you want to jump in head first and worry about everything else later, youtube’s DIYPerks has amazing builds with plenty of skills to back them up. It’s been great to watch him go from little led mushroom lights to literally recasing a ps5 into a portable gaming all-in-one.

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- mhredox@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Came here to recommend DIYPerks. Love his stuff.
  
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proctonaut@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
I had a lot of fun picking up cheap electronics from Goodwill or similar stores and Frankensteining shit together. If it didn’t work I’d use that as a point to start research. Was it efficient? Probably not. Do I have a pile of furby guts? Yes, yes I do. You might have to go through several tutorials on a subject until you find someone explains it in a way that makes sense to you, don’t let it frustrate you. Good luck!

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Cobrachicken@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
You could take some information and inspiration from https://hackaday.com/blog/.

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JudahBenHur@lemm.ee ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
I’d say buy that little speaker (try ebay) and replace it- find a step-by-step tutorial.

how did you learn to ride a bike? you got on the fucker

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HootinNHollerin@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
!ece@lemmy.world !askelectronics@discuss.tchncs.de !homeautomation@lemmy.world !raspberrypi@lemmy.ml !arduino@lemmy.ml

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nothacking@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Looking at other people’s schematics and messing around with making changes to them is a great way to pick up new tricks, but I recomend you also lean some of the basics. Experimentation is the best way to learn and internalize, so make sure do do plenty of that. I highly recomend you pick up a decent solderless breadboard, assortment of parts, an adjustable lab power suppy, multimeter, and osciloscope. For assembling projects in a more permenent way, I would recomend a perfboard, some thin insulated wire, solder and flux, and a good soldering iron.

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m_randall@sh.itjust.works ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
A little bit of a different tack but check out getting into ham radio. There are a lot of kits out there that are reasonably easy to assemble and provide some good documentation on what you’re assembling.

And when you’re done you can talk to people all over the world with what you made!

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