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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 resource

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.

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.