Well, first of all, I am sorry about creating a new topic, but I was unable to find any other place where I could post this, even if I allowed myself some necroposting…
As some of you probably already know, one of my hobbies other than tool-assisted speedrunning is making hand-made electronic devices. So, this topic is going to be dedicated to such kind of hobby. I am not actually very skilled at it, but I have some basic knowledge about soldering, making PCBs, and so on. I built a lot of simple analog circuits, like luminiscent lamp driver (for powering it from a battery), a lot of audio amplifiers (transistor and IC powered), and some other stuff.
Ages ago (like in 1970s, for example) learning about electronic DIY usually started with building a
crystal radio. It is very simple, but it’s just perfect to give imagination about many complex things such as amplitude modulation, diodes and capacitors, and lots other things… But, obviously, nowadays it doesn’t make any sense in absolutely most places on Earth. So, what circuit to chose for building it first? I’d suggest a very basic circuit with a LED, battery, a button and a resistor. It’s a lot simplier than even such simple thing as crystal radio, but it’s still enough to get imagination about:
— electricity basics (polarity, for example)
— soldering (if used)
— Ohm’s law, the most basic law in electronics
Experimenting with such a basic circuit could include varying the resistor’s resistance, measuring the voltages on the battery and on the LED, measuring the current.
Why am I talking about it? Because I got friends who want to learn about electronics, and they have to start from scratch. My problem is that I have absolutely no idea what to recommend them — I am way too busy to teach them myself, and I do not know any good (proved to be good by time) information sources which could help beginners to learn the basics of electronics step by step. I’d be glad if you could suggest such a source (preferrably online).
And, of course, you are welcome to join the discussion.