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> By my time in the 1970s, home electronics projects aimed at teenagers had devolved to "Stick this here, and that there, and connect the battery, and gee whiz

by Aunche 4y ago

> By my time in the 1970s, home electronics projects aimed at teenagers had devolved to "Stick this here, and that there, and connect the battery, and gee whiz isn't that neat!" I'm much younger than you, but that wasn't my experience at all. My dad got me this kit [1] when I was in fifth grade, and it was great. I got completely lost when it talked about transistors, but the projects were still fun (considering my videogame time was limited) and in retrospect the instructions were very well written. [1] https://www.amazon.com/Elenco-EP-50-Electronic-Playground-50-in-One/dp/B00000IUD2/ref=pd_lpo_1?pd_rd_w=A4bIr&content-id=amzn1.sym.116f529c-aa4d-4763-b2b6-4d614ec7dc00&pf_rd_p=116f529c-aa4d-4763-b2b6-4d614ec7dc00&pf_rd_r=V5EBADM4NRH3Z40RJSSM&pd_rd_wg=c2dn1&pd_rd_r=2d2faa56-51ea-4692-81f1-f2c7fd00f904&pd_rd_i=B00000IUD2&psc=1 https://www.amazon.com/Elenco-EP-50-Electronic-Playground-50...

wrp 4y ago
Perhaps I was being overly dismissive, but that's the kind of thing I had in mind. You have a small set of components and a limited set of illustrative circuits to make by laying in wires. The older projects I referred to involved designing circuits for practically usable equipment. So it was a much higher order of difficulty. By the way, I had similar things as a kid and loved them. I don't mean to trample on anyone's fond memories.
MarkusWandel 4y ago
Is that the one with the good manual? Most of these spring clip electronics sets come with pretty crappy manuals, very light on theory and with uninspired circuits (i.e. in "130 in 1" there are maybe 10 good circuits and endless variations of those). Whereas an Elenco brand kit I found at the thrift store came with a fantastic manual, that taught electronics right from the basics, using the kit's components to illustrate as it went.
- ansible 4y ago
  Yeah, I faced that issue as well. I had three kits, IIRC: 1. Radio Shack crystal radio. That was relatively simple, but I don't think the manual explained how it worked too well. 2. Radio Shack 10-in-1 Jr Electronic Lab Kit. I don't recall how good the manual was, but I didn't really learn much from that. 3. Some unknown brand 150-in-1 kit. IIRC that basically just had circuit diagrams, and didn't really explain anything.
- Aunche 4y ago
  >an Elenco brand kit That's the one that I linked! I managed to find their manual online. https://www.manualslib.com/manual/235888/Elenco-Electronics-Ep-50.html#manual https://www.manualslib.com/manual/235888/Elenco-Electronics-...
  - MarkusWandel 4y ago
    Yep, that's how I remember it (I passed the kit on to nephews in another town). An earnest attempt to teach electronics. Night-and-day difference to the typial Radio Shack N-in-1 kits.

by Aunche 4y ago

wrp 4y ago

Perhaps I was being overly dismissive, but that's the kind of thing I had in mind. You have a small set of components and a limited set of illustrative circuits to make by laying in wires. The older projects I referred to involved designing circuits for practically usable equipment. So it was a much higher order of difficulty. By the way, I had similar things as a kid and loved them. I don't mean to trample on anyone's fond memories.

MarkusWandel 4y ago

Is that the one with the good manual? Most of these spring clip electronics sets come with pretty crappy manuals, very light on theory and with uninspired circuits (i.e. in "130 in 1" there are maybe 10 good circuits and endless variations of those). Whereas an Elenco brand kit I found at the thrift store came with a fantastic manual, that taught electronics right from the basics, using the kit's components to illustrate as it went.

ansible 4y ago
Yeah, I faced that issue as well. I had three kits, IIRC: 1. Radio Shack crystal radio. That was relatively simple, but I don't think the manual explained how it worked too well. 2. Radio Shack 10-in-1 Jr Electronic Lab Kit. I don't recall how good the manual was, but I didn't really learn much from that. 3. Some unknown brand 150-in-1 kit. IIRC that basically just had circuit diagrams, and didn't really explain anything.
Aunche 4y ago
>an Elenco brand kit That's the one that I linked! I managed to find their manual online. https://www.manualslib.com/manual/235888/Elenco-Electronics-Ep-50.html#manual https://www.manualslib.com/manual/235888/Elenco-Electronics-...
- MarkusWandel 4y ago
  Yep, that's how I remember it (I passed the kit on to nephews in another town). An earnest attempt to teach electronics. Night-and-day difference to the typial Radio Shack N-in-1 kits.