How do I get a headstart when I'm so bad at electronics? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: superheromario
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: September 23, 2017, 05:24:49 pm
content: So it's my fourth year at university and we're about to finish our program in more than a year. I don't want to just take the diploma when my knowledge about electronics is the beautiful zero, or close to that IMO. So I come here to seek for help on what I could do, to really bump a big, a huge head start right now so I could save time doing many other stuff. Here's a few hints on what you guys can give me:- What books should I read, how should I read them, do I need to just finish every exercises provided?- Which circuit should I start assembling, providing I never did any before?Actually books for special purposes like this are not designed for nerds so I really need your honest help. Love you guys, so much <3

author: IanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 23, 2017, 06:06:56 pm
content: What subject are you studying at university?

author: rstofer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 23, 2017, 08:22:13 pm
content: For lab type exercises, "Learning The Art Of Electronics" may be useful. It may be necessary to adapt the experiments to account for parts on hand. A kit of parts is available to DigiKey but I'm not sure that helps you in Vietnam and it's somewhat expensive.https://www.digikey.com/en/resources/edu/harvard-lab-kitMost of the work these days seems to revolve around embedded systems - small computers that do some kind of useful work. So...Get an Arduino and search the Internet for projects that you can duplicate with parts you can source locally. It doesn't matter what the project does, it is the experience with both the electronics and the code that counts.Follow that up with one of the STM boards - get a copy of "Mastering the STM32" and follow along.It seems to me that EEs these days need a strong background in software. Similarly, CS majors need a strong background in hardware.Get an inexpensive FPGA board and learn VHDL or Verilog. Build a CPU core - search Google for "LC3" for an example that is easy to recreate. It's a complete project in that it has an assembler and a C compiler. It's a small RISC core that is fun to play with. Try to find a board with a chip that has 64k of 16 (18) bit BlockRam. The Artix-7 ARTY board may be a possibility. I didn't use it for the project because it doesn't have enough peripheral features like 7 segment displays and switches. I used the very pricey Nexys 4 DDR board and it works great!It's kind of a stretch to get to building a CPU core if you haven't studied FPGAs but the LC3 project practically hands you everything you need to model. You just build a state machine that implements the states as given. Still, not a simple task but worth the effort as a learning project.http://store.digilentinc.com/arty-a7-artix-7-fpga-development-board-for-makers-and-hobbyists/http://store.digilentinc.com/nexys-4-ddr-artix-7-fpga-trainer-board-recommended-for-ece-curriculum/https://classes.soe.ucsc.edu/cmpe012/Winter09/lectures/03_LC3_Architecture.pdfhttp://users.ece.utexas.edu/~patt/05f.360N/handouts/360n.appC.pdf

author: CatalinaWOW
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 23, 2017, 10:37:38 pm
content: I will double up on IanB's question. Being "bad at electronics" may not be a problem at all, depending on what you mean by electronics. Many engineers have long and fruitful careers without ever designing or building a circuit from discrete components.The engineer designing or maintaining a power plant or a power distribution system usually deals with large scale black boxes and how to interconnect them.The engineer responsible for defining measurement standards may or may not deal directly with circuits, but will buy instruments and spend a lot of time in mathematical analysis.Examples like this abound, and what you need to learn depends a great deal on where you are headed.

author: rstofer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 23, 2017, 10:56:40 pm
content: Quote from: CatalinaWOW on September 23, 2017, 10:37:38 pmOddly enough, this is exactly the way my career went. Even though I have an MSEE (electronics), I didn't spend any time working in that field - it was, and still is, a hobby. Instead, I spent my time building or modifying facilities. All kinds of facilities. It paid well, it was sort of specialized and there wasn't a lot of competition. It kept me fed all of my life and I'm well into retirement (almost 14 years).Most of the work was dealing with designers and contractors. Somebody has to tell the designers what to design and the contractors how to build it.I never wanted to work at a drafting board (back before CAD) and I have resisted learning CAD. In my drafting class the instructor said my arrowheads looked like squashed butterflies. I didn't figure I wanted to be a draftsman anyway. I wasn't in college to draw arrowheads; I hired draftsmen to draw arrowheads.

author: superheromario
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: September 24, 2017, 04:01:38 am
content: Quote from: IanB on September 23, 2017, 06:06:56 pmIn my class we learn massively about electricity and electronics, as I can list a few: fundamental of electric circuits, analog electronics and applications, digital signal processing and applications, control theory, sensors, digital electronics, digital measurement devices, transformers, power electronics...oh and we also learn a bit about basic programming, databases and algorithms and the way of programming...

author: superheromario
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: September 24, 2017, 04:02:44 am
content: Quote from: rstofer on September 23, 2017, 08:22:13 pmVery nice advice from you I will absolutely try them all. Big thanks bro (y)About the kits, is it okay if I could find substitutions in my region instead of having them shipping all those back here?Also, I'm about to buy a copy of the book from Amazon and have them shipped it back here. They say it takes about a month to complete it's all okay but is it safe to do so. I don't know about shipping fees but the book itself has already cost 50 bucks.

author: cdev
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 24, 2017, 01:27:58 pm
content: Tayda Electronicsare great, quite cheap and they are in Thailand, not so far away.http://www.taydaelectronics.comThey are fine with small orders. A very good source for the parts that they have, which is most commonly used parts.

author: rstofer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 24, 2017, 02:13:25 pm
content: Quote from: superheromario on September 24, 2017, 04:02:44 amAbsolutely! By substituting component values, the experiment will not match the given results. So what? It's the principles that matter and if you can show why your value is correct, you win! Some of the experiments can just as well be done as a "thought experiment". Figure out what is going to happen and let it go at that. There's some risk that you are "just guessing" so you'll have to be the judge of that.QuoteI have no idea how that will work out. Amazon is a reputable seller, I place a couple of orders per week with them and have for many years. They'll get it there. Considering the complexity of getting it there, I hope it helps with your goals.There is online tracking but I don't know how effective it is for overseas shipments.

author: b_force
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 24, 2017, 03:18:04 pm
content: Bad in electronics?That still doesn't say much.The field of electronics is so super wide, from programming to RF, analog, audio to just PCB design etc (the list goes on)The question you have to ask yourself, do you really enjoy doing it?If so, you will get there somehow.I personally was very demotivated by schools/universities.Just absolutely not my way of learning.So also ask yourself where your struggles are. Is it the math, or just the way of thinking, maybe you have the feel you can't be creative? (or the opposite)I know quite a few people who have a similar (bad) experience.You're still young, so I would recommend to start exploring, just try a lot of things.But also stay true to yourself. I have seen people quitting the whole field of electronics and are now super happy as a top chef.

author: superheromario
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: September 24, 2017, 04:46:03 pm
content: Quote from: rstofer on September 24, 2017, 02:13:25 pmNothing can beat awesome parts from Digikey but sometimes, you know, we've got to compromise, so I will take responsibility for my risks.Also maybe I will have the book shipped through a local service, which will be less painful for me as I will have to go through all the checking out processes. Anyway, thank you so much :3

author: superheromario
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: September 24, 2017, 04:49:24 pm
content: Quote from: b_force on September 24, 2017, 03:18:04 pmI guess top chef is something anyone seeks for, except when he or she possesses the soul and heart of Steve Wozniakso to say, maybe it's just about time I'd need to let myself dive into everything. Maybe one day when I see it's enough, then let's see whether I'd like to be a chef or not

author: JacobPilsen
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 24, 2017, 05:28:52 pm
content: I recommend:Richard P. Feynman (any book, all of them)Halliday, Resnick, Walker (Physics textbooks)

author: janoc
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 24, 2017, 08:27:21 pm
content: Quote from: JacobPilsen on September 24, 2017, 05:28:52 pmWell, that's not really on electronics, but Feynman's physics lectures are amazing, indeed! He was not only a brilliant scientist but also an excellent teacher - a fairly rare combination.

author: cdev
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 24, 2017, 08:40:54 pm
content: how do you get a headstart "if you're so bad at electronics"?Well, just the way you put it strikes me as a good sign..If you have the courage to make mistakesand learn from themthats very good.re: reading, see if you can find the PDF of the Challenger disaster investigation section of the "What do you care about what people think" book by Feynman, a PDF of just that portion is floating around on the net..its really a good read.

author: ez24
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 24, 2017, 08:46:34 pm
content: Before you go spending money on books, take a look at all the "stickys" here. There are some good ones for beginners.There are a lot of free books listed in them. Also google xxx filetype:pdf for more.

author: superheromario
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: October 06, 2017, 07:54:55 am
content: Thank you guys, a lotI will try them all, to see how far I can go

author: Galenbo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 06, 2017, 10:41:05 am
content: Quote from: superheromario on September 23, 2017, 05:24:49 pmLook at what a real-life electronician does everyday, and what tools he needs for this.Soldering, Scope(s), function gen, spectrum analyser, 5000parts.If you are serious about your huge jumpstart, buy all this at once, and start designing and making circuits.It will not work because you make errors, but you will never make it without first making the errors.The long road is sticking to books, just read, I guess you did enough of that already.It's like reading about Karate, fishing and motorcross.