On Tuesday 02 September 2014 12:30:58 Rob Gaddi did opine And Gene did reply: > On Sat, 30 Aug 2014 23:39:01 -0700 (PDT) > > Nicholas Cannon <nicholascann...@gmail.com> wrote: > > I really enjoy engineering at school and we make like fighting robots > > and stuff(simple stuff of course) and i really enjoy it. I have got > > a raspberry pi and a decent understanding of python and i want to do > > make stuff like RC cars and drones and stuff. Also I like > > electronics. Is there any good places to learn all this stuff like > > down to the basics of electronics because I have looked around and > > all the books I have seen just throw some electronics together and > > say yep thats done. I would like to work on my own projects after I > > get a grip on the basics. Where could I find some good recourses on > > this stuff. > > Learn electronics properly, then start thinking about interfacing one > to the other. I say this as a professional circuit designer who spends > a whole mess of time automating things in Python. If you don't have a > firm grasp of the underlying basics of electronics as its own thing, > trying to interface will eat you alive with problems that you don't > understand because you can't understand the circuitry. > > The best teaching electronics resource I know, hands down, is Horowitz > and Hill's "The Art of Electronics". The second edition is ancient now, > but still will teach you everything you need to know. Even used copies > are a bit expensive. That's because it's an excellent book. It's > worth the money. > > Next, to learn electronics you need to do electronics. Theory talks the > walk, molten lead walks the walk. That means copper boards, and a > soldering iron, and parts, and a DVM, and an oscilloscope. A function > generator is a great thing to have as well, but if desperately > necessary you can live without one. You're still in school, so you > hopefully have an EE lab there. Take advantage of it. If you don't, > find some local hackerspace with some gear, otherwise getting up and > running will cost you a solid $1200 just in gear. LTSpice is a great > free simulator, and the simulator can help you understand what you > should be seeing, but there's no substitute for getting your hands > dirty. > > Start by building the simple stuff: resistor dividers, RC low pass > filters, etc. They're trivial, they're boring, and you already > understand what they should do. Do them anyhow, you need to get lead > under your fingernails and a feel for how to make a decent solder joint > while you're still working the easy stuff because if your solder's crap > when you start trying to do the more complex stuff you'll never figure > it out. Work your way through AofE. Do the problems, build the > circuits. Plan on it taking a solid year before you become "good" at > it; you're young and have it to spend. > > Actually do all that and you'll understand as much about circuits as > anyone they're giving an EE degree to these days. Then you can start.
That is some of the best advice I have seen on an email list, and I am on a bunch of them. Generally I will 2nd that, or 3rd it as the case may be. It simply cannot be emphasized enough. I am a retired (I'll be 80 on 2 months) broadcast engineer who got his diploma from the School of Hard Knocks. And I am still getting my hands dirty, they do fit the tools. Cheers, Gene Heskett -- "There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order." -Ed Howdershelt (Author) Genes Web page <http://geneslinuxbox.net:6309/gene> US V Castleman, SCOTUS, Mar 2014 is grounds for Impeaching SCOTUS -- https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
