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No Stupid Questions @lemmy.world
Chadsalot @lemmy.world

How do I learn about DIY modern electronics?

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.

I should also add I have absolutely 0 prior knowledge about electronics.

24 comments

  • 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 some resistors along the way. (Or, just watch Electroboom do it for free)

    e: typos

    Remember to have fun with it!

  • Every project I do starts with opening thing up, salvaging bits I need, looking for product codes, researching and finding schematics and so on

    Get yourself a quality multimeter. << very important. Soldering iron. A camera with good macro/microscope or some way to Id small components

    May also want to learn stuff like ohms law, common components on a PCB >> diode, resistors and so on.

  • 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.

  • 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...

  • 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

  • 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

    My tip for faster learning is by doing a fun project, it can help to motivate learning. You can start with something simple but adds QoL like making room thermometer using modules and microntroller.

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

24 comments