35 ms·

Ask HN: What are some good resources to learn how electricity works?

• pragueexpat 6y ago
  Take a look at these articles - they start with first principles: http://amasci.com/ele-edu.html http://amasci.com/ele-edu.html
  • kwiromeo 6y ago
    This is the best resource I found that really explain what this whole electricity stuff is. I spent years at in engineering programs and none explain as well as it is by William.
• yesenadam 6y ago
  I got a lot from the articles on amasci.com by Bill Beaty. He's done a lot of experimenting, reading, and thinking about this stuff and how to explain it. And is a gifted communicator. Articles on Electricity http://amasci.com/ele-edu.html http://amasci.com/ele-edu.html Great essays on understanding electricity, current, voltage, capacitors, transistors, batteries, static electricity etc etc, and popular misconceptions.
  • montroser 6y ago
    Yes, he is quite a wonderful teacher. One of my favorites: http://amasci.com/amateur/whygnd.html http://amasci.com/amateur/whygnd.html
  • boruto 6y ago
    Thanks thanks thanks, I read the article about why three prongs long ago. Every now and then I want to say the same article to someone else but did not remember where I read it. There is also one about different types of plugs in Europe and UK which I cannot find
  • divbzero 6y ago
    Bill’s “What Is Electricity?” essay [1] was discussed on HN two weeks ago [2]. [1]: http://amasci.com/miscon/whatis.html http://amasci.com/miscon/whatis.html [2]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23442181 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23442181
• boogersboogers 6y ago
  a kite and a key
• jussij 6y ago
  There's a ton of content on YouTube that covers this topic. For example I did a search for ohm's law class 11 and that search finds pages of introductory videos on that topic.
• steve_adams_86 6y ago
  I personally learned a lot from sparkfun's tutorials. The format is pretty digestible, there are some good videos, and it links out to a few other good resources as well. https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/where-do-i-start/all https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/where-do-i-start/all
  • bonzini 6y ago
    Sparkfun and Adafruit schematics are a great source for learning, too. I designed an I/O shield (with optoisolated inputs and relay outputs) with their open source hardware as the main learning material, and I was delighted that it passed the review of an experienced EE!
  • asd4 6y ago
    I second this. Hobby focused content might seem amateur but it has some advantages in my mind. Context: My biggest gripe with traditional education is lack of context for why a principle is important or useful. Not a problem when you are focused on a project. Practicality: The practical aspects of theory are usually limited to core principles and help you see through the fog of all the details. Narrative: Bringing many topics together in a project narrative give a linear path through the related principles which is less overwhelming. https://hackaday.com https://hackaday.com articles, in my experience, have been a good jumping off point and often have solid links for better understanding. A weakness of this approach is that it ignores the mathematical techniques to solving some of the problems. I doubt you will learn how to analyze circuits with differential equations or phasor analysis on a hobby site. That said, I rarely use these tools outside of an academic setting. I'm sure someone will recommend The Art of Electronics. Its a great resource once you have the basics under your belt, but hard to use as a learning tool without prior knowledge. It touches on a lot of details by presenting a circuit and summarizing key points about its operation. Once you have a handle on the basics I highly recommend playing with some circuits in a simulator. LTSpice is free and very high quality. There are other online options too. You can experiment on hardware relatively safely if you stay away from high voltages and currents (avoid mains power and car batteries, always use circuit protection such as fuses). You will be frustrated if you have no test equipment though, a multimeter is a must-have.
• british_india 6y ago
  https://www.udemy.com/join/login-popup/?next=/course/crash-course-electronics-and-pcb-design/ https://www.udemy.com/join/login-popup/?next=/course/crash-c...
• pjc50 6y ago
  Hmm. What level do you want to start from, and do you want to start from a practical/experimentalist viewpoint or go straight to the mathematical models? How comfortable are you with "lies for children" oversimplifications of things that are extremely complicated but mostly irrelevant except in edge cases? (This phrase sounds perjorative but isn't, most of the time you don't need the complicated version and it actively impairs understanding what's going on. But it can be the only way to properly answer some questions like "what is electricity?") I've occasionally considered writing my own, based on answering questions at electronics stackexchange, e.g. https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/245610/is-voltage-the-speed-of-electrons/245621#245621 https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/245610/is-vo... / https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/272694/how-did-scientists-deal-with-electronics-problems-before-kirchhoff-and-ohms-la/272697#272697 https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/272694/how-d... ; probably I would target explaining how the electron is a big source of "lies to children", and mostly an irrelevant distraction for beginner/intermediate work. If you want a large book, The Art Of Electronics is the undisputed classic.
  • henrikeh 6y ago
    I just want to weigh in and say that fantastic as _The Art of Electronics_ is, it is _not_ geared for learning about electricity and electric circuits. The first 13-ish pages (3rd edition) deals with electricity and then quickly moves on to signals, electronics and everything else needed to _develop_ electronic systems.
    • joeberon 6y ago
      I think you're wrong, mainly because learning how to develop electronic systems is, in my opinion (and also in the opinion of the authors of that book), the best way to learn how electricity actually works.
      • henrikeh 6y ago
        There is no reason to be so absolute about it. I'm not saying it is a bad book or that you should read "Field and Wave Electromagnetics" before you ever dare touch a multimeter. As an example of my reasoning. AoE and the Arduino starter kit cost roughly the same in my country. They are of course not comparable, but I'd would definitely recommend the latter to someone completely new to electronics, exactly because the latter gives the tools for experimenting.
• cpach 6y ago
  Øyvind Nydal Dahl has lots of good resources on his website and mailing list. https://www.build-electronic-circuits.com/category/basic-electronics/ https://www.build-electronic-circuits.com/category/basic-ele... His mailing list is high quality but also high volume
• deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
• Kim_Bruning 6y ago
  The Minecraft mod Electrical Age is surprisingly useful to (literally play around and) get a feel for things. It was originally designed to teach electrical engineers once upon a time. Currently it's been a bit gamified -sure-, but the core MNA solver is still there. Still somewhat surprising to me, this kind of simulation actually does help. It turns out that you actually do pick up a lot of intuitive feel that can serve well in an industrial context. I guess no matter how much theory you study on, it's still really insightful to just blow up some circuits. ;-) Note that Electrical age currently works with older versions of minecraft (1.7) , though a rewrite is in the works. https://electrical-age.net/ https://electrical-age.net/
  • samstave 6y ago
    Problem: there is a difference of velocity of understanding between guided experimentation vs study vs mentorship... (Many fail and are put off to learning the subject whenthere is no person they personally know to guide them through speed bumps)
    • p_l 6y ago
      That's where Electrical Age comes in, at least when it comes to power systems, generation etc. All the stuff you're learning is in a way directly useful, whereas try to get a steam turbine IRL for learning at home...
• VBprogrammer 6y ago
  Not sure if it's generally applicable but I've learned a lot from reading and trying to understand how the circuits here work. https://ludens.cl/Electron/Electron.html https://ludens.cl/Electron/Electron.html
• GlennS 6y ago
  I enjoyed MITx circuits and electronics. They've moved everything around since I did it, but I think this is the one: https://courses.edx.org/courses/course-v1:MITx+6.002x_6x+1T2015/course/ https://courses.edx.org/courses/course-v1:MITx+6.002x_6x+1T2...
• phasetransition 6y ago
  I originally learned electricity from Isaac Asimov's understanding physics, volume 2 when I was 13(?). I don't remember the details, but it clearly worked and helped me in all future education. If you want to try and learn some basics, and then try apply them, both AoE (mentioned already by pjc50) and "Practical Electronics for Inventors" are good choices. The latter is much more affordable than AoE.
• erikw 6y ago
  For the basics of how electricity works (as well as for an in depth understanding) my recommendation is Electricity 1-7. It's a textbook originally published in 1966, so it doesn't cover anything digital, just good old analog electricity. https://www.amazon.com/Electricity-One-Seven-Harry-Mileaf/dp/0810459523 https://www.amazon.com/Electricity-One-Seven-Harry-Mileaf/dp...
• cameronperot 6y ago
  I recommend MIT 8.02 - Electricity and Magnetism taught by Walter Lewin [1]. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtlJoXxlSFE&list=PLyQSN7X0ro2314mKyUiOILaOC2hk6Pc3j https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtlJoXxlSFE&list=PLyQSN7X0ro...
• dannypgh 6y ago
  I would suggest things that use the hydraulics analogy, like this: https://ece.uwaterloo.ca/~dwharder/Analogy/ https://ece.uwaterloo.ca/~dwharder/Analogy/
  • sunstone 6y ago
    I would probably recommend this. Thinking of electricity as analogous to water flow under gravity can get you a long way. I do recommend studying the mathematics of imaginary numbers (not hard, just takes a bit of time) since this is used for AC circuits and this is the tool that makes that stuff make sense. When you get to active (transistors, diodes etc) devices don't spend much time trying to figure out the physics of these things just use the equations and keep it simple. Just as when you're cooking eggs in the morning it doesn't help much to understand prospecting, mining and metallurgy to use the frying pan.
• elric 6y ago
  I enjoyed "There are No Electrons: Electronics for Earthlings" by Kenn Amdahl. It's a light hearted take in the form of a silly story, but it explains things surprisingly well. Guess I should add that it covers the basics of electricity and the basics of electronics.
• granitepail 6y ago
  The Art of Electronics is perhaps the best textbook (in any subject) that I have read. I’d highly recommend it. It’s exceedingly pragmatic and will discuss a mix of physical underpinnings as well as applications.
• blueatlas 6y ago
  Try "Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software." It provides a very simple introduction to electricity. Beyond that, it's just a great introductory book on computing. https://www.amazon.com/Code-Language-Computer-Hardware-Software/dp/0735611319 https://www.amazon.com/Code-Language-Computer-Hardware-Softw...
  • coldpie 6y ago
    I absolutely love this book, but I'd say it's more an intro to computing (like you said) than electricity. Electricity is in there, but IIRC it doesn't go much further than the "water analogy" style of thinking about electricity.
• mymythisisthis 6y ago
  Army manual on electricity https://archive.org/stream/FM55-506-1/#page/n1/mode/2up https://archive.org/stream/FM55-506-1/#page/n1/mode/2up
  • InnerGargoyle 6y ago
    this is something different, does army have any more such guides?
    • mymythisisthis 6y ago
      I looked on archive.org and found some other interesting ones Radio https://archive.org/details/TM11-666/page/n5/mode/2up https://archive.org/details/TM11-666/page/n5/mode/2up Map Reading https://archive.org/details/FM21-26_201211 https://archive.org/details/FM21-26_201211 Carpentry https://archive.org/details/FM5-426/page/n17/mode/2up https://archive.org/details/FM5-426/page/n17/mode/2up Welding https://archive.org/details/TM9-237/page/n5/mode/2up https://archive.org/details/TM9-237/page/n5/mode/2up
• take_a_breath 6y ago
  = Geared a little more towards mechanical engineering, but Jeremy Fielding on YouTube has helped me understand some of the concepts with examples rather than textbooks. https://m.youtube.com/channel/UC_SLthyNX_ivd-dmsFgmJVg https://m.youtube.com/channel/UC_SLthyNX_ivd-dmsFgmJVg = For straight up electric concepts, I’d look at the Georgia Institute of Technology stuff on Coursera. “Introduction to Engineering Mechanics” and “Linear Circuits 1” were helpful.
• DLarsen 6y ago
  I am going through this Udemy course with my kid and it's really enjoyable. The instructor is clear and really enjoys the topic: https://www.udemy.com/course/analog-electronics-robotics-learn-by-building/ https://www.udemy.com/course/analog-electronics-robotics-lea...
• aphextron 6y ago
  Walter Lewin's electromagnetism course from MIT [0]. These lectures completely transformed my understanding of physics. He mixes practical demonstration with a rigorous mathematical underpinning in a way that doesn't over simplify things. [0] https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyQSN7X0ro2314mKyUiOILaOC2hk6Pc3j https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyQSN7X0ro2314mKyUiOILa...
  • kenny87 6y ago
    +1 for Walter Lewin's explanations. I also can't say enough about the clarity of explanations and examples in Feynman's Lectures [1] and the HyperPhysics [2] tutorials. [1] https://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/II_toc.html https://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/II_toc.html [2] http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/hframe.html http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/hframe.html
    • acqq 6y ago
      I would add also the whole Feynman's Vol I https://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/I_toc.html https://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/I_toc.html I believe one can't appreciate the whole subject enough without knowing that the electromagnetic forces are how the atoms "work", also producing "chemistry" and everything we see. To paraphrase Feynman, the electromagnetic forces also keep you from falling down through the floor. For the start: "If, in some cataclysm, all of scientific knowledge were to be destroyed, and only one sentence passed on to the next generations of creatures, what statement would contain the most information in the fewest words? I believe it is the atomic hypothesis (or the atomic fact, or whatever you wish to call it) that all things are made of atoms—little particles that move around in perpetual motion, attracting each other when they are a little distance apart, but repelling upon being squeezed into one another. In that one sentence, you will see, there is an enormous amount of information about the world, if just a little imagination and thinking are applied."
• ar0b 6y ago
  I had an electronics learning lab from radio shack and loved the hands on aspects. https://www.amazon.com/RadioShack-28-280-Electronics-Learning-Lab/dp/B000W32P9Y https://www.amazon.com/RadioShack-28-280-Electronics-Learnin... You can still find them on ebay, or similar kits if you look around.
  • stx 6y ago
    I had these as a kid but in reality at the time I think I was too young to understand the details of what was going on. Many of the components I would accidentally attach a large battery to and let the magic smoke out. I do miss Radio Shack though.
• gallamine 6y ago
  Hyperphysics presents a organized tree-like view of concepts, terminology and examples. It's easy to click around and start building up a mental model of how things relate: http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/hframe.html http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/hframe.html
  • swiley 6y ago
    I love that site! They’ve got a lot of neat stuff on holograms too.
  • kiliantics 6y ago
    This page was a staple of mine during my physics degree, and also during my PhD when I was teaching these concepts
• soheilpro 6y ago
  Try ElectroBOOM channel on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/msadaghd https://www.youtube.com/user/msadaghd
  • teh_klev 6y ago
    I'm genuinely amazed he's not been found burned to a crisp in his workspace. The same goes for Photonic Induction, how he's not burned down his street, let alone his house is a miracle: https://www.youtube.com/user/Photonvids/videos https://www.youtube.com/user/Photonvids/videos
    • gburdell3 6y ago
      That's how you know he actually knows what he's doing: he knows precisely how to shock himself for comedic effect without causing any damage.
      • yreg 6y ago
        This, most of the dangerous mistakes are just gags. IIRC Mehdi admitted on reddit that the one time he really screwed up and was genuinely scared was when the Jacob's Ladder fell on him[0]. [0] - https://youtu.be/lT3vGaOLWqE?t=467 https://youtu.be/lT3vGaOLWqE?t=467
  • rsapkf 6y ago
    He also has a nice playlist[0] called 'ElectroBOOM101' where he teaches the basics. [0]: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLr_CZLgMkHeWFl1uf5yR2ouhIh00ycHn9 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLr_CZLgMkHeWFl1uf5yR2...
• swiley 6y ago
  Before you try to understand electricity try to understand work and energy. Know the definition for a watt and what that means mechanically for example. For really basic things: maxewels equations, ohms law, and the idea that in a closed system potential and kinetic energy are constant. Just grab a university level physics book. V=IR (ohms law) gives you most of what you need for DC circuits. Remember that power is volts x amps so you can exchange one for the other (for free in an ideal world.) Alternatively if you want a practical understanding here’s what I learned from as a kid: forest mim’s book (it’s wrong in some ways but it works) the art of electronics (this has anything you could want to know and is well organized and written, like an O’Reilly book for electronics in general) and this really old book I found in a used book store titled “introduction to pulse circuits.”
  • neutronicus 6y ago
    I would stay away from Maxwell's equations unless doing something to which they're truly relevant (designing an antenna or something I guess, maybe building a rail gun if you're into that). Maybe I'm blinded by the years I spent as a computational electrodynamics researcher but the model is a little heavyweight for your standard hobby project. That said I really like your suggestion of starting with basic mechanics and thermodynamics. "Resistors get hot, motors do work, and capaciductors are like springs" goes a long way to tie everything else together
    • caf 6y ago
      Sure capacitors are like springs, but I'd say inductors are more like flywheels.
• projektfu 6y ago
  I remember in high school I had trouble getting it because I thought ohms law had too many variables. Then I realized that a 5V supply will always be 5V in normal operation and ohms law means the current varies. All of the water analogies were unhelpful for me. I did better just doing the math and seeing the result. Someone else mentioned MITx. I did that and it was revolutionary. I also have a pretty good book called Practical Electronics for Inventors.
  • projektfu 6y ago
    Also, don’t get hung up on electrons moving opposite the current. It’s not a big deal for most applications.
  • samjohnson 6y ago
    > Then I realized that a 5V supply will always be 5V in normal operation and ohms law means the current varies. This is a great observation. I've often thought that teaching Ohms law as I=V/R would lead to less confusion. Similarly, in intro physics why is mass acceleration introduced as f=ma? Wouldn't a=f/m have a clearer meaning?
    • thehappypm 6y ago
      Division is hard!
      • aphextron 6y ago
        It becomes infinitely more clear and simple to understand when you stop thinking in terms of "A equals F divided by M" and think of it as "A equals the ratio of F to M".
        • tarlinian 6y ago
          It also is infinitely more clear and simple to understand when you correctly realize that "F equals M times A" instead. I assume this was just an accidental transposition and you're not actually a crackpot. :)
• joshvm 6y ago
  Have a look at https://lcamtuf.coredump.cx/electronics/ https://lcamtuf.coredump.cx/electronics/ It's from the developer of AFL and the Guerilla Guide to CNC. Check out the root domain for lots more interesting stuff.
• morganvachon 6y ago
  I'm showing my age here, but I got my start with the series of books by Forrest Mims that were available in Radio Shack stores since the 70s. They are written to be understood by complete novices, and they have hand-drawn circuits with everything explained. http://www.forrestmims.org/publications.html http://www.forrestmims.org/publications.html
  • coldpie 6y ago
    Holy moly, I had these too. My parents had them in their library, I read them growing up in the 90s. I haven't read them since then, but I do have fond memories of them. It's not like basic electronics has changed since they were written, and I imagine you can get them for real cheap today.
  • beamatronic 6y ago
    Did anyone else have a "rest of the fucking owl" experience in the first few pages of those books? It was like: Step 1. Here is a resistor. Now, Step 2 here is an AM radio circuit.
    • PascLeRasc 6y ago
      That's how I feel every time I try to learn how to use APIs. All the tutorials are like "Here's what REST means" and then "Ok so here's JSON, but we're not telling you what we typed in to get this or what to do with it".
  • lukas099 6y ago
    This book really helped me, as well.
• TheHideout 6y ago
  You might find the Navy Electricity and Electronics Training Series helpful: https://www.fcctests.com/neets/Neets.htm https://www.fcctests.com/neets/Neets.htm
• walrus01 6y ago
  I recommend the videos at this channel. Start with the basics. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCk0fGHsCEzGig-rSzkfCjMw https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCk0fGHsCEzGig-rSzkfCjMw
• patterns 6y ago
  I recommend having a look at "Practical Electronics for Inventors" by Paul Scherz and Simon Monk. The book offers a very good introduction about the basics of electricity with many helpful illustrations, written in a down-to-earth style. In case you are interested in electronics, you will find that the book covers many intermediate/advanced topics such as operational amplifiers with lots of practical examples.
  • VBprogrammer 6y ago
    I came here to recommend the same book. It's not an easy book though to read from cover to cover though. I found it useful to try to understand a completed circuit design (say for a solar controller or something else I was interested in) and when I ran into something I didn't understand I'd then open up that book and read areas that were relevant.
    • patterns 6y ago
      Yes, I had the same experience and I use it in the same way. It's a great book to have on your bookshelf as it covers a lot of topics and the chapters are, iirc, fairly self-contained; but I never read it from cover to cover.
  • jpm_sd 6y ago
    Yes, this is a good one! Wish I had it when I was an MIT undergrad.
• basjacobs 6y ago
  I highly recommend the All About Circuits textbook: https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/textbook/ https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/textbook/ It starts from the very basics and builds up to quite complex circuits and their workings. It's an all-round great website, too.
  • mjoin 6y ago
    this looks very good. do you know if there is a PDF version that contains the whole textbook? could not find it on the website
    • mjoin 6y ago
      actually found the PDFs
      • throw_electric 6y ago
        PDFs are here [0]. They are legally free. [0] https://www.ibiblio.org/kuphaldt/electricCircuits/ https://www.ibiblio.org/kuphaldt/electricCircuits/
  • creyes 6y ago
    This is an incredible resource. Learned everything I needed to know for an IoT side project and more from the AAC book
  • randylahey 6y ago
    Wow, I'm so happy to see this is the first result (the reason I came to comment.) I've tried and failed many times to pick up a fundamental, from the ground-up understanding of electronics and electrial theory. Forrest Mims' "Getting started in electronics" was good, but the All About Circuits text book had the depth and accessibility and I was looking for. And it's free!
  • etrautmann 6y ago
    The Art of Electronics is also fantastic
• tyingq 6y ago
  The training program offered by the US Navy is quite good. Because they can only have so many people on a ship, the Navy tries not to be as specialized as the other services. So, electronic techs are expected to have especially good foundational knowledge so they can work on a broad variety of equipment. https://www.fcctests.com/neets/Neets.htm https://www.fcctests.com/neets/Neets.htm
• Koshkin 6y ago
  The Demystified series of books is pretty good - lots of examples, with exercises and quizzes. On the topic, the series includes Electricity Demystified and Electronics Demystified by S.Gibilisco.
• ckmiller 6y ago
  There is a basic circuits course upcoming in HackadayU, which is targeted at newbies and is pay-as-you-wish. https://hackaday.com/2020/06/17/schools-in-session-with-hackadayu/ https://hackaday.com/2020/06/17/schools-in-session-with-hack... Just another resource that may help! You'll have no shortage of perspectives and approaches from the links here.
• _sbrk 6y ago
  The ARRL Handbook for Radio Amateurs explains electricity and electronics for the beginner, and you might also get an interesting introduction to radio, too.
  • mindcrime 6y ago
    Yep. And ham radio is both an interesting hobby in its own right, and one place where you can build, experiment with, and learn about all sorts of electrical and electronic concepts. I can't recommend highly enough getting a Technician class ham license (the test is super easy with a little bit of study and only costs something like $15.00), a cheap dual band transceiver (I use a Baofeng HT), an RTL-SDR "dongle", and starting to explore the world of radio.
  • mattbk1 6y ago
    Many of the older editions are free on archive.org.
    • _sbrk 6y ago
      Which is a copyright violation, no doubt...
• ivankolev 6y ago
  Not affiliated in any way, just found it enjoyable, an Android game called Circuit Jam was a really fun way to refresh some basics for me.
• i_don_t_know 6y ago
  I’ve enjoyed Make: Electronics from O‘Reilly. I think it’s a good mix of theory and experimentation. https://www.makershed.com/products/make-electronics-2ed https://www.makershed.com/products/make-electronics-2ed
• observer4 6y ago
  Nobody seems to have mentioned a book that appeared here 19 days ago. [Letters of a Radio-Engineer to His Son (1922)]((https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23358380) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23358380)). It explains electricity without any technical jargon. Pretty nice first read. His atomic model is outdated, but that doesn't seem to interfere with anything. After reading the first initial letters, you might have a greater motivation to dive into more complicated texts.
• Buttons840 6y ago
  Follow-up question: How do I safely experiment and play with my newfound amature electrical knowledge?
  • athenot 6y ago
    Stay with low power. (Low tension and low intensity.)
    • Buttons840 6y ago
      How? Use batteries only? Obviously I shouldn't plug my own creations directly into the wall. Is it safe to use a low voltage "power brick"? Will any do, or do I need an especially robust one just in case?
      • stx 6y ago
        As a kid I played with batteries and wall bricks or wall warts or whatever you call them(transformers). I would not say you need an especially robust one. They come in different sizes based on the amount of voltage they output and the potential current they can supply. Basically if you are playing with a 9 volt battery and want to replace it with a transformer just look for one that says 9v DC output on it.
        • stx 6y ago
          There are people who say things like its not the voltage that kills its the current but through the human body under normal conditions it takes a decent bit of voltage to induce enough current to really hurt you. Watch out for things with large capacitors and large voltages. If you want to take something like that a part let it sit for a long time for the capacitors to discharge. I worked at a TV repair shop in high school dismantling tube TVs for scrap components. The first step after opening was to use a large screwdriver to discharge the flyback transformer.
          • non-entity 6y ago
• spiralganglion 6y ago
  I'm the solo dev on an industrial training website. We have a short lesson about the basic electrical units (voltage, current, resistance) that might serve as an approachable introduction or handy reference: https://www.lunchboxsessions.com/materials/basic-electrical-concepts/basic-electrical-units-lesson https://www.lunchboxsessions.com/materials/basic-electrical-...
  • gorpomon 6y ago
    Your site is really amazing. Well done! I was a mechanical engineer for a bit and it's fun going through your lessons and reacquainting myself with that world.
• jonnypotty 6y ago
  Electroboom! YouTube guy. Funny and does electronics basics.
• z3ro 6y ago
  The Story of Electricity - BBC Documentary FullHD 1080p https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUUeGianTKM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUUeGianTKM Its sn excellent 3 hour documentary on how electricity was discovered.
  • InnerGargoyle 6y ago
    just watched it last week. hence increased curiosity about this thread..
• sxv 6y ago
  Old videos but they are clear, entertaining, and still my favorite: https://www.youtube.com/user/acmeschool/videos https://www.youtube.com/user/acmeschool/videos
• beamatronic 6y ago
  This is an anecdote but I hope it helps someone. I couldn't understand electronics for the longest time. I read all about the individual components and I understood them individually, but I still couldn't grasp what they did when put together. Digital circuits made perfect sense to me though. Finally I learned about the "LRC" circuit. When you put those 3 components together, you can understand their behavior with some equations. You can dial in some coefficients to get the behavior (the signal/wave) that you desire. I don't know how someone thought to put those components together into a unit originally though.
• gitgud 6y ago
  I highly recommended "Every Circuit" it's a fun little electronics simulator which helps you to understand different electrical components and their interactions https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.everycircuit.free https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.everycircu...
  • petermcneeley 6y ago
    I second this view with this old full circuit simulator: https://www.falstad.com/circuit/ https://www.falstad.com/circuit/ The default example here is the LCR-circuit which to understand mathematically requires a bit of work https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RLC_circuit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RLC_circuit
• deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
• beamatronic 6y ago
  I wanted to add one more thing. You mentioned volts and amps. Try to think of them as units of measure. This helped me: 1 watt = 1 volt times 1 amp. So a watt is a volt-amp. Similarly to how 1 joule is a newton-meter per second. When you work with units of measure symbolically in this way, you don't need to worry about not having an intuitive grasp of a joule or a newton.
• rootsudo 6y ago
  Manga guide to electricity is a cute read!
• compumike 6y ago
  I'm (early) in the process of writing Ultimate Electronics Book [1], which has interactive simulations built in. It was discussed extensively here on HN 4 months ago [2]. Take a look and let me know what you think. [1] https://ultimateelectronicsbook.com/ https://ultimateelectronicsbook.com/ [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22315899 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22315899
• HankB99 6y ago
  I'm on the opposite side of this question. I've offered to explain motorcycle charging systems in terms anyone can understand. My thought is to use the water flow analogy. Voltage => pressure. Current => flow volume. Resistance => constrictions in the system (or things where the water does work.) Flow at one point in the system must match flow in other parts except for places where water can accumulate (battery => pressure tank.) My biggest issue is how to depict this in a format that I can share over Skype without putting in 80 hours of work. I might go with a series of pencil drawings and scan them in. Are any of the suggested materials particularly suitable for this kind of presentation? This is intended to be a 20 minute or so presentation so I'm really just providing highlights. Points I want to get across include: - Resistance anywhere in the circuit will cause problems. (e.g. bad ground connection.) - Bad starting can be the result of a insufficient battery charge. - Bad starting can be the result of high battery internal resistance. - Bad starting can be the result of high resistance in the circuit. - Operating with loads (e.g auxiliary lights and heated vest) that draw slightly more power than the charging system delivers can work for hours until the battery is discharged and the charging system no longer supports the loads. (DAMHIK!) Thanks! edit:formatting
  • vulcan01 6y ago
    YouTube videos might work, if you want to reach a larger audience. Or you could try streaming on Twitch (so that people can ask you questions as you explain stuff).
  • jschwartzi 6y ago
    Bad starting can also be a result of physical resistance in the engine, especially as temperatures fall below the normal operating range. When engines get cold enough they put enormous load on the starter motor which has to draw more amperage to compensate. I think it's very important to teach people that moving electric charges, represented by current, result in magnetic forces, and that these magnetic forces are what cause motors to turn. And an alternator or generator reverses the relation by spinning a magnetic field to generate current, which is why it charges a battery.
    • 6y ago
• 0culus 6y ago
  Along with a book (lots of good recommendations to choose from here), I recommend getting yourself some basic tools for practical experimentation: breadboard, multimeter (even a cheap Chinesium model will be fine for low voltage DC work), an oscilloscope (entry level DSO models from Chinese OEMs such as Siglent and Rigol can be had very affordably), a bench power supply (Siglent and Rigol also offer these), and some components (Joe Knows kits that are sold on Amazon are a great way to stock up on decent quality resistors, capacitors, and semiconductors to help you get to building circuits). If you get to wanting to experiment with faster circuits, you can ditch breadboards and their parasitics for Manhattan style construction[1] and be able to build _much_ faster circuits with better success. Or you can fall down another rabbit hole, learning how to design your own PCBs. With PCB services becoming mainstream nowadays, you can learn a tool such as KiCad (free software) and send out your gerbers to be manufactured for cheap. [1]: http://www.sdmakersguild.org/the-art-of-manhattan-style-circuit-construction/ http://www.sdmakersguild.org/the-art-of-manhattan-style-circ...
• Nelkins 6y ago
  I found this tutorial to be extremely accessible http://developer.wildernesslabs.co/Hardware/Tutorials/Electronics/ http://developer.wildernesslabs.co/Hardware/Tutorials/Electr...
• jcims 6y ago
  The 'hydraulic analogy' can help with basic intuition about the terms - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydraulic_analogy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydraulic_analogy
• Causality1 6y ago
  I'm just going to put my two cents in and say if you start learning on "electron flow" materials instead of "conventional current" materials you'll have a much easier time understanding how just about every electronic component works.
• anm89 6y ago
  Eugene Khutoryansky's youtube channel is great for understanding electrical concepts as well as a bunch of other math and physics concepts https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukBFPrXiKWA&t=1s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukBFPrXiKWA&t=1s
• shriek 6y ago
  Although, not exactly what you're hoping for, there's a good documentary on the history of electricity called "Shock and Awe - The Story of Electricty". It sometimes helps me understand better if I get some context on things, how people were thinking before it was discovered, what kinds of hyptothesis and experiments led to another and such.
• winrid 6y ago
  What are you trying with self left study, and why do you want to learn? These are important questions.
• crks 6y ago
  If you want to begin with the basics then I highly recommend Khan Academy, starting with "Electric charge, field, and potential" [0], then "Circuits" [1], followed by "Electrical engineering" [2]. [0]: https://www.khanacademy.org/science/physics/electric-charge-electric-force-and-voltage https://www.khanacademy.org/science/physics/electric-charge-... [1]: https://www.khanacademy.org/science/physics/circuits-topic https://www.khanacademy.org/science/physics/circuits-topic [2]: https://www.khanacademy.org/science/electrical-engineering https://www.khanacademy.org/science/electrical-engineering
• agumonkey 6y ago
  I like Tony Khuphaldt books. Simple but effective. The letter to radio engineer's son were super nice IMO (https://www.gutenberg.org/files/30688/30688-h/30688-h.htm https://www.gutenberg.org/files/30688/30688-h/30688-h.htm) don't forget googles and gloves
• starpilot 6y ago
  I studied mechanical engineering in college, but we had to take a single EE course that made my head spin. What helped me a lot was the "hydraulic analogy": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydraulic_analogy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydraulic_analogy Still tricky to apply it to AC though.
• blendo 6y ago
  What worked for me was enrolling in Electronics 101 at my local community college.
• bass_case 6y ago
  I recommend the book "Make: Electronics 2nd Edition" I knew nothing before starting the book and knew enough by about halfway through to start pursuing my own projects.
  • asciimo 6y ago
    I like that his book is hands-on right from the start, and immediately defuses one's fear of electricity with exercises such as touching a battery to your tongue, blowing a fuse, and burning out an LED.
• cwkoss 6y ago
  Is there a good game where you build circuits and simulate them to accomplish various tasks? I'd love something like shenzhen io but with more emphasis on circuits than signals
• rjmunro 6y ago
  https://wiredthegame.com/ https://wiredthegame.com/ is a free video game that is designed to give an understanding of how electricity works. It's probably worth playing through.
• 21eleven 6y ago
  The Manga Guide to Electricity is great! Plenty of non trivial introductory textbook level material. https://www.amazon.com/Manga-Guide-Electricity-Kazuhiro-Fujitaki/dp/1593271972 https://www.amazon.com/Manga-Guide-Electricity-Kazuhiro-Fuji... The whole Manga Guide to X series is great.
• lmilcin 6y ago
  First, it is important to distinguish between electricity and electronics. The difference is like being physicist and mechanic. Do you want to be physicist and understand electricity as a phenomena or do you want to be an engineer and use it for something useful. Believe me, there is less overlap than you think. One good resource I have found is series of articles on http://amasci.com/ele-edu.html http://amasci.com/ele-edu.html which mixes a little bit of both worlds. Have fun!
  • p0llard 6y ago
    I'm not sure I completely agree with this: electronics refers specifically to (essentially) anything concerning the control/emission of electrons (so transistors, thermionic valves, etc.); it's not just "advanced electrical engineering". The divide you're talking about exists in both electrical and electronic engineering, if they are to be considered separate disciplines: in electronic engineering you have both the solid state physics required to understand semiconductor devices, and the layers of abstraction used to design analogue circuitry; in electrical engineering you have all the theory of electromagnetism, and the layers of abstraction used to design electrical machines. The divide you're referring to is real, but it definitely isn't the electrical/electronic divide.
    • lmilcin 6y ago
      Electronics is about building useful circuits. Do you really need to understand what precisely happens within any of the parts? No, not really. I can't imagine what happens to electrons in MOSFET nor do I care. For my purpose it represents some transfer function which is what I use to build the circuit. When I think about OpAmp, the physics is not one of things I am thinking. My mental model of OpAmp has no physics in it and it is about relation between input and output signals. Think this way: do you need to understand how a complex IC part works? No, you don't. You read the manual and learn that if you put something on particular inputs you will get something on outputs. You leave designing the internals to others. You take parts other people built and solder them to long pieces to copper glued to PCBs. That's really most of electronics. You need to know a little bit of physics. You need to appreciate some phenomena like losses, noises, you need to know what happens at high frequencies, maybe you want to understand how heat is conducted away from your parts, etc. You need to know couple extremely simple formulae and laws (laughably simple to any physicist interested in the matter). Other than that your parts function as tiny little lego bricks that are transfer functions to affect how your circuit works.
• tsumnia 6y ago
  Pirate Electronics[1] was a nice resource I backed on Kickstarter years ago. [1] https://pirateselectronics.teachable.com/ https://pirateselectronics.teachable.com/
• Mongoose 6y ago
  Outside of electricity fundamentals, this book is a great intro on how the grid works: https://www.amazon.com/Electric-System-Nonelectrical-Professional-Engineering-ebook/dp/B01N1IUI9O https://www.amazon.com/Electric-System-Nonelectrical-Profess... Or a shorter alternative: https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/how-electricity-grid-works https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/how-electricity-grid-works
  • brian_cloutier 6y ago
    I bought this book on this recommendation and I don't agree that it should be called great. It did a good job of enumerating (what I presume to be) every major component of power systems. However, it didn't to a great job of explaining how any of those components work. One example is capacitor banks, which it spent a few pages on. I'm told that they're more beneficial the closer to an inductive load they're installed, but I was never told why, or given any tools to figure it out why for myself. There's not even a citation. After reading this book I have a better understanding of how much of the grid I don't understand, but I don't feel like there's any part I understand particularly better.
• bkanber 6y ago
  I experienced the same issue when I was in college. I discovered that the way to learn for me was to find a niche category of projects and do them on my own. I actually wrote a blog post about it a while back: https://burakkanber.com/blog/how-i-taught-myself-electronics/ https://burakkanber.com/blog/how-i-taught-myself-electronics...
• halotrope 6y ago
  I found the „Hello world from scratch“[1] series from Ben Eater incredibly helpful in connecting the dots between electricity and modern computers. Strictly speaking it is about electronics, still it is superbly presented and incredibly enlightening when coming from „normal“ software engineering perspective of things. What actually got me there was the book „Code“ by Charles Petzold[2] which traces the development from early circuitry like light bulbs and telegraph wires to modern digital logic. I found that after being introduced to these concepts, learning about the fundamental physics was much more accessible since it was framed in the context of contemporary application. 1: https://youtu.be/LnzuMJLZRdU https://youtu.be/LnzuMJLZRdU 2: https://www.amazon.com/Code-Language-Computer-Hardware-Software/dp/0735611319 https://www.amazon.com/Code-Language-Computer-Hardware-Softw...
• MarcScott 6y ago
  I wrote this a long time ago, when I was a teacher, which might be a good starting point. https://www.bournetoinvent.com/projects/7-SC-Torch/pages/1_Lesson.html https://www.bournetoinvent.com/projects/7-SC-Torch/pages/1_L... (please excuse the crappy JS) On another note, I would avoid the water in pipes analogy, as it fails pretty quickly. Electricity is hard to understand because you can't see its effects clearly, but at the end of the day it is caused by an electromagnetic field. Other fields such as gravitational fields, we tend to have a much more intuitive understanding of. Look for explanations that draw parallels between gravitational fields and electromagnetic fields.
• noncoml 6y ago
  MIT 6.002 course, by Prof. Anant Agarwal. Videos are on youtube. Absolutely fantastic!
• tzs 6y ago
  MITx Circuits & Electronics [1][2][3] (it's in 3 parts) MOOC. They are just starting a new instance today, so your timing is perfect. This is a seriously good course. I've been interested in electronics on and off since I was a kid. I tried learning from various Radio Shack books, but never got very far. I tried some introductory classes at Caltech, and never got very far. Tried "The Art of Electronics" and it just didn't work. That MITx course worked. That said, it does get fairly mathematical...circuits involving inductance and capacitance are going to be analyzed using differential equations so if you have never had any exposure to such things it could be rough going. If you've been through college calculus you should be fine, even if (like me) you've forgotten most of it. They have some refresher material that should bring enough back to get through it. Here's what you learn in part 1: • How to design and analyze circuits using the node method, superposition, and the Thevenin method • How to employ lumped circuit models and abstraction to simplify circuit analysis • How to use intuition to solve circuits • Construction of simple digital gates using MOSFET transistors • Measurement of circuit variables using tools such as virtual oscilloscopes, virtual multimeters, and virtual signal generators Part 2 teaches: • How to build amplifiers using MOSFETs • How to use intuition to describe the approximate time and frequency behavior of first-order circuits containing energy storage elements like capacitors and inductors • The relationship between the mathematical representation of first-order circuit behavior and corresponding real-life effects • How to improve the speed of digital circuits • Measurement of circuit variables using tools such as virtual oscilloscopes, virtual multimeters, and virtual signal generators • How to compare the measurements with the behavior predicted by mathematical models and explain the discrepancies Part 3: • How to construct and analyze filters using capacitors and inductors • How to use intuition to describe the approximate time and frequency behavior of second-order circuits containing energy storage elements (capacitors and inductors) • The relationship between the mathematical representation of first-order circuit behavior and corresponding real-life effects • Circuits applications using op-amps • Measurement of circuit variables using tools such as virtual oscilloscopes, virtual multimeters, and virtual signal generators • How to compare the measurements with the behavior predicted by mathematical models and explain the discrepancies The first course is 4 weeks: Week 1: From physics to electrical engineering; lumped abstraction, KVL, KCL, intuitive simplification techniques, nodal analysis Week 2: Linearity, superposition, Thevenin & Norton methods, digital abstraction, digital logic, combinational gates Week 3: MOSFET switch, MOSFET switch models, nonlinear resistors, nonlinear networks Week 4: Small signal analysis, small signal circuit model, dependent sources The second course is also 4 weeks: Week 1: Amplifiers, MOSFET large signal analysis, MOSFET small signal analysis Week 2: Capacitors, first-order RC circuits Week 3: Inductors, first-order step response, first-order circuit analysis, impulses, digital circuit speed Week 4: Impulse, step, ramp superposition, digital memory, state, ZIR, ZSR The third is 6 weeks: Week 1: Second-order circuits, damping in second-order systems Week 2: Sinusoidal steady state analysis, frequency response, frequency response plots, impedance methods Week 3: Filters, quality factor, time and frequency domain responses Week 4: Op-amp abstraction, negative feedback, Op-amp amplifiers, Op-amp filters and other circuits Week 5: Stability, positive feedback, oscillators, energy and power Week 6: CMOS digital logic, breaking, the abstraction barrier [1] https://www.edx.org/course/circuits-and-electronics-1-basic-circuit-analysi-2 https://www.edx.org/course/circuits-and-electronics-1-basic-... [2] https://www.edx.org/course/circuits-and-electronics-2-amplification-speed-a-2 https://www.edx.org/course/circuits-and-electronics-2-amplif... [3] https://www.edx.org/course/circuits-and-electronics-3-applications-2 https://www.edx.org/course/circuits-and-electronics-3-applic...
• mdavis6890 6y ago
  http://amasci.com/ele-edu.html http://amasci.com/ele-edu.html Great resource, which dispels a lot of myths and misused terminology in many other traditional explanations. Fun read!
• dvtrn 6y ago
  Big fan of the No-Nonsense Technician-Class License Study Guide. In addition to vocabulary and terms, there's also sections about units and conversions and basic maths involved to understand the flow of electrical current as it passes through a system https://www.kb6nu.com/study-guides/ https://www.kb6nu.com/study-guides/
• abetusk 6y ago
  I found the book "Practical Electronics for Investors" by Paul Scherz [0] to be one of the better ones. My problem with learning electronics, and, to a lesser extent, electricity, was that most of the guides gave an 'ad-hoc' approach, giving "rules of thumb", recipes, etc. without really going into the reasons for it. They would start off with an (imo) overly technical explanation of quantum effects, then jump the more fundamental Ohm's law, etc., then jump into all the tips-n-tricks of circuit design. For me, the two major factors to learning electronics were getting enough math sophistication that I could do calculus and linear algebra and being able to program (microcontrollers). The calculus and linear algebra gives tools for the 'passive' analysis and once you realize that most 'practical' electronics nowadays are basically routing power and signal, being able to program is the "meat" of it. After understanding how to do passive steady-state circuit analysis, I briefly looked at how to do non-passive simulation (transistors, etc.) just to see how it was done (aka, learned how SPICE et. all do it). Anyway, I found the "Practical Electronics for Inventors" book to be one of the few books that was practical from the outset and actually went into the theory, even if only briefly, without assuming I would get frightened by complex numbers. There's obviously a path that doesn't involve calculus, linear algebra and programming, because people do it and have been doing it for many years, but these were the tools that helped me understand. I would also recommend not doing this in the abstract. Arduino's [1] are, in my opinion, one of the better places to start. You can get an LED blinking within 5 minutes of onboxing. Adafruit [2] has many tutorial but they're more focused on using pre-built modules and I guess programming, to a lesser extent, than underlying theory. [0] https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Electronics-Inventors-Fourth-Scherz/dp/1259587541 https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Electronics-Inventors-Fourt... [1] https://store.arduino.cc/usa/arduino-uno-rev3 https://store.arduino.cc/usa/arduino-uno-rev3 [2] https://learn.adafruit.com/ https://learn.adafruit.com/
• ponker 6y ago
  Best way to understand volts vs amps is a gravity analogy. Pulling electrons away from protons takes energy, and stores it, the same way that taking basketballs to the top of a cliff does. The voltage is the height of the cliff. The amps is how many basketballs per second you're dropping.
• mrtransient 6y ago
  I am a researcher working in the the field of charge transport, electric current, material conductivity etc. I am happy to help you understand concepts and answer any of your questions as much as I can. Please don't hesitate to contact me.
• haf8 6y ago
  The Engineering Mindset has lots of good videos with nice examples - https://theengineeringmindset.com https://theengineeringmindset.com
• sitkack 6y ago
  You should get a breadboard, some components and a 5v power supply. Work through some problems in Practical Electronics for Inventors 3rd Edition. A scope would be nice, but a DMM would suffice.
• untangle 6y ago
  Many folks have successfully used the US Navy training modules for electrical systems: http://www.compatt.com/Tutorials/NEETS/NEETS.html http://www.compatt.com/Tutorials/NEETS/NEETS.html
• bitxbitxbitcoin 6y ago
  Watching Youtube videos of real people trying electrical builds (wiring a shed, van, new house, etc), then reading the comments by real electricians telling them all the places they've messed up and aren't to code has actually been a very good learning experience for me.
• ketanmaheshwari 6y ago
  Electric Power Systems; A Conceptual Introduction by Alexandra Von Meier is a very informative book.