Electronics explained in a simple way
I went to Berlin with Elias Bakken. It’s such a cool city.
We met up with Helen Leigh and Drew Fustini to eat kebabs, see homemade instruments, play artsy video games and learn about sewable circuits:
I just brewed myself a cup of coffee.
It’s morning, and I’m ready to take on a significant confusion. One that many beginners in electronics have.
Have a look at the following circuit:
The first instinct of many (including me many years ago) when trying to understand it is:
[Read more…] about Current doesn’t start at the beginning of the circuitOne of the things that I love about being able to build electronics is that I can also REPAIR electronics =)
I often get the question:
“How can I learn to repair electronics?”
My response is:
[Read more…] about How can I learn to repair electronics?Below you can see the circuit we’re currently talking about.
The resistor and capacitor on the left of the inverter make up an RC delay element:
But how does the current flow in this circuit?
The RC delay element is a way to create a time delay in your circuit by connecting a resistor and a capacitor. It’s super simple. And very useful.
The ‘R’ is a resistor, and the ‘C’ is a capacitor. That’s where the ‘RC’ comes from. And here’s how you connect the two:
Can I comfortably fit the components for this project on my protoboard?
That was the question I asked myself in my early electronics-building days.
If I couldn’t, I regarded the project as “too hard”.
Often the most exciting projects are much larger than the simple ones.
It’s not that they are a lot harder.
But the big circuits have a lot more connections.
And more connections = more chances to make an error.
Which can be scary.
It wasn’t until I learned to design my own printed circuit boards that I stopped being afraid of the bigger projects.
A printed circuit board, or PCB, is a board that you first design on your computer. Then you get your board made, with the exact connections you drew on your computer.
The great thing about this is that you can draw out the connections on your computer. And you can peacefully check that they all seem good up front.
Then later, when you have your board, all you need to do is make sure you solder each component in the right position.
No need to worry about the connections between components, because you know they’re correct.
This skill will make your life a whole lot easier.
It’s what’s gonna take you from just building simple circuits – to be able to create advanced gadgets like LCD screens, Quadcopters, etc.
[Read more…] about What project is “too hard” for you? [VIDEO]