As an engineer who watches this engineer's channel I'll share that what drives someone to actually learn how electronics works (or anything else) is an inordinate amount of curiosity. As a kid I would drag home discarded tube-type TV chassis from the repair shop at the top of our street, plug them in and fiddle with them to see if I could make them work (I should be dead.) As a teen, I'd construct battery-powered transmitters and use my CB radio to confirm that they worked at the intended frequency. I acquired two WWII millitary receivers and swapped parts until one worked. I'll never forget the thrill I felt the moment that I adjusted its repaired BFO until the Donald Duck sounds I kept hearing rendered intelligible speech. As an adult, curiosity drives me to repair my gas-powered tools, my plumbing, finish my basement, learn investing and then teach myself OOP to write a program to help me track my portfolio. Be curious. Stay curious.
And the nice thing about electronics is that it's such a wide field nowadays that you will never be able to learn all there is to learn about it in one human lifetime. There will always be new stuff to learn 😄
As a chemist, I approve this message! Brew beer, fix circuits, learn Maple, relearn quantum chemistry, etc. I hate when people say "I'm bored!" The world is full of great and wonderful things to do!
Back in my day oscilloscopes we’re unobtainable. Same with computers. So what did we do? We went to the university and got in through some contacts we had. There is such a luxury today of being able to buy all these things so cheap and have them right at home. Like IMSAIGuy says, there is no excuse if you have the desire. If there’s a will, there’s a way. 🙂
Never stop learning. I'm 67 and have been learning electronics since I was 6 years old when my dad taught me Ohm's law. Yet I still follow at least 10 other people on YT with my text books on my desk because I don't know everything yet. Start learning and never stop.
Hello, I'm a little bit younger, but we're the same when it comes to learning, except for my father - I didn't have one, so I learned everything by myself, and apparently we both know that it will never end, on the one hand, there is rapid, well-functioning development, and most importantly significantly slower poorly functioning memory 😂 Nice day 🙂 Tom
I would love more videos like this that is geared toward beginners, and our quest to learn electronics the right way! Thank you for this opportunity. I appreciate the effort you put in to making your videos, and look forward to all your content.
@@willthecat3861 half of them are some sort of "free energy" scam, others assume you have a scope, a drawer of resistors, caps and inductors of every possible value. This one is actually very useful.
I got an EE degree and a Masters in telecommunications and I ONLY really learned electronics when I started actually building cool stuff on my spare time. Started with a radio transmitter and from there audio amplifiers and now I'm deep into digital circuits with discrete parts. Your advice is sound and simple, yet most people don't follow through. I'll add a bit of my own advice here. If you don;t have the money to buy some gear you need for a project, then buy as much as you afford and keep what you get somewhere where you can see it all the time. It will remind you to buy the rest when you get some extra money and keep you motivated. Sunken cost fallacy works marvelously :)
That is how I started in 1969 when I was 7 . I found a radio that looked like the smiling face that was in pieces !!! My grandfather gave me a soldier iron and soldier and I got a analog meter .. 😊
as roger-pw3zz said, I to should be dead. Age 12, concrete floor in my basement, bare foot putting up a long wire for an AM receiver. I didn't know the chassis was hot, wire touched it, to this day I think that's what made me a HAM.....never give up learn.
This is a really great lesson, pace the invective. The hard thing about getting started is actually engaging the mind and thinking through things. I personally have read explanations and been mystified, until actually doing something led me to understand what the explanation was really saying. The hardest thing is knowing what to do to start, and this video is fantastic because it shows a way to do something physically that explains or motivates the whole e=ir and reactance varying with frequency of the applied signal. A series of videos where someone starts with a 555 and makes the signal generator, etc would be really fantastic I think. The process of learning is hauling yourself up by your own bootstraps and the most important very first step is to learn where to pull... if you take my meaning. But I will say this in defense of invective: it was the irritation that motivated you to make this video, so it can't be all bad. 🙂
This is exactly my case, I can read tons and nothing, but once I build it, the reading starts to make sense. It's interesting that I also think like this at work - I never have to see the device, but when I figure out how the manufacturer intended it and how it should work, I fix it, sometimes even improve it.
That was great! It's true. My first piece of test equipment was a volt meter that my uncle brought over. That was back in the 1950's. I blew it up. Well, I wanted to measure the voltage at an outlet. Also wanted to hear what electricity sounded like so I plugged a speaker into the outlet. You know what happened. Many years later after getting out of the Air Force (they let me work on avionics stuff, and yes I did blow up some stuff) and college a Radio Shack VOM sat on my desk. I ended up working in the medical electronics field and no, I didn't blow up anything. Anyway, got married, had children, was poor, but there was always a way get more electronics test equipment - cheap. At a recent HAM radio convention I found a HP 3478A DVM for $30 and it works great. A friend of mine who works for a local telecom company acquired an old HP 8711B. He didn't kneed it and was going to throw it away. It's now on my workbench and has been modified to a 8712B as per the IMSAI Guy. Well I could keep rambling on but your right about just keeping at it. I'm in my late 70's and still find a great deal of pleasure in just learning and tinkering! I hardly blow up anything anymore.
I’m an Electronics engineer thats still learning despite being one since 1978 starting with a BBC apprenticeship and gaining a degree, in 1983, Ive never stopped learning, This subject is so wide and ever expanding, there is something new and interesting happening everyday. M7EJN.
As far as I can tell, IMASI guy doesn't respect engineers... of at least American educated engineers that worked for him at Hewlett Packard. But that's my opinion.
How did you get that vibe? I think IMASI Guy explains electronics in an interesting way and I quite often ask my apprentices to watch his videos as its good for them to see the way someone else explain certain theories sometimes. @@willthecat3861
@@IMSAIGuy Yes. I can only base my opinion on the criticisms you've posted about the skills of the engineers that worked for you. So, yes, as far as I can tell.
You're absolutely right saying that people can start from very basics and get their parts from scrap yard. I does so. But at the same time I can understand how it's frustrating to people, who can't afford some stuff like oscilloscope, to watch all that modern videos and read articles, where all that stuff just... supposed to be. For someone it can be very demotivating depending on mental nuances. Let's say, you just come to electronics because you're inspired by some fancy project or idea, but than you're facing the situation where you just can't make it because of lack of very basic stuff. So I definitely can understand those people.
Dude, you have absolutely outdone yourself! This is the best get started motivational video I've ever seen. I suspect we are very close in age. I had an analog meter and knew the resistance of everything I could find to test. It doesn't take much equipment to get started, but you do need to have a passion for it. I wish someone would have shown me this one example when I was 15. This was brilliant, good job.
Circuit simulators, as web pages or downloaded app, have also been very helpful for me to learn and experiment and get a good feeling for what's really happening in every component. Cost: $0
Hi Imsai, great example 👍A multimeter with a needle is the basis, I can't imagine it without it even today, for some measurements and adjustments it is better than a digital one. I personally started with a self-made comparator bulb voltmeter - that was my first measuring tool, then came a Russian multimeter, which changed the range and function by switching the measuring cords to other sockets, and then somehow it grew by itself, in my the family had no shortage of ideas for presents. Later it became more interesting as knowledge grew, the construction of logic probes, single-purpose measuring devices, sources (the first adjustable source was a transformer for trains and a capacitor) etc. In socialist Czechoslovakia, there was not much to buy, and if there was, it was at high prices. To this day, I don't have a frequency analyzer, I just don't do RF and for what I do, FFT has been enough for me and most importantly, it won't fit anywhere in my mini workplace 😂 Oh yes, bandpass filters - the basis of speaker crossovers Nice day 🙂 Tom
Well said. I often read those comments from viewers whining about not having a gazillion dollars' worth of equipment. As you have shown in this and other videos, a motivated person can learn a lot with basic tools, using materials salvaged from discarded devices. Low-cost test equipment--oscilloscopes, DMM's, function generators, etc.--can be had in kit form for little money. Old-timers with experience in circuit design and repair can be good sources for know-how and cheap (or even free) equipment, if approached respectfully. Almost anybody who watches a RUclips video probably owns a computer or smartphone with Internet connectivity, and thus has what it takes to access the online simulators and free electronics courseware that are mercifully abundant nowadays. And I've noticed a kind of sympathetic magic that happens once you dive into a topic. Somehow, the knowledge and materials you need just seem to appear out of nowhere....
"Page one" is a great metaphor for a lot of things in life. And building your own tools is irreplaceable experience. Another fantastic video. Many of your videos are "breakthroughs" themselves for your viewers, as you describe breakthrough experiences in the $25 oscilloscope video. Great stuff.
I would add the following also: to make progress, first do something, anything, then try to note the effect. Did the effect bring you closer to your goal? Did it make you realize your goal is perhaps in need of refinement? Did it maybe just show you that you need a goal? First, DO something. Then observe. Mens et Manus is not an empty slogan.
I've restarted in electronics at the age of 63, my meter cost 7 euros, the signal generator cost about the same as a kit from Amazon and my oscilloscope is one of these handheld DSO'sthat also tests components, it cost a whopping 80 euros from Amazon. It's not perfect but it serves a purpose and is super useful. To my mind if you really want to learn something you will find a way. Start small and be passionate.
I still recall that when I was in college, learning electronics, my best friend and classmate was from a poor family. My family was not much better, but I was working part time and had some money to spend. I was building low end Heathkit test equipment models to outfit my home laboratory. My friend was designing his own using junk box parts and so on. Both of us ended up with home electronics labs. I could describe to you how all the circuits worked, and he could describe them with an additional layer of understanding through his extra work and thought, born of his situation and necessity. I bought a Commodore PET computer, and he designed his own computer and its firmware from scratch. We both became professional engineers, but I always admired how he was able to get there on the most shoestring of budgets, and in many ways I still think he is the better educated one when it comes to circuit and software design.
I enjoy electronics as my winter hobby from Nov to March, and invariably I have to go back to basics at the start of each winter for a reminder. Using your channel and w2aew's is always a great refresher. Only recently did I buy a scope and signal generator. Granted, like anything, it's easier to do things with better tools, but you can do a ton with a couple of analog vmms
👍Great video! Sometimes people ask me what multimeter should i buy? My answer: Any multimeter is better than no multimeter. You can start with a cheap one to start learning.
One way to start learning electronics is to download a simulator like LtSpice and mockup simple circuits. I don't have much equipment at this point (a digital volt meter and a power supply). Eventually, would love to buy an oscilloscope. As hobbies go, electronics isn't "over the top" expensive compared to other hobbies (cars, woodworking, etc.).
In my experience, for simple useful dc electronics, a really cheap multimeter is often enough. Voltage and resistance measurements will for sure help you out. And you don't need extreme accuracy.
Hey Mr Imsai Guy, you are way smarter than me in frequency/RF stuff and I appreciate your encouragement :) to those who wish for expensive test equipment. Here’s my back story, apprenticeship in radio/electronics servicing in 1976 here in New Zealand with at the time obviously no digital multimeters so have always used an analogue one in conjunction with a digital multimeter when they finally arrived. Analogue meters on their ohm ranges are the best I find when measuring transistors and diodes for internal faults. I have an oscilloscope but hardly ever used it as there is always street smarts to use when servicing electronics for a living plus I have never had to do RF transmission servicing. Back in the late 1980s I purchased that oscilloscope for 1400 NZD which was a waste of money as per above reason. Retiring next year hopefully from the grind but will still play. Thanks for your advice to the newbies about keeping it simple to start with.
I started learning electronics when I was pretty young. Pre-teen for sure, although I couldn't tell you an exact year. Let's say I was about, aaaaaaaah... let's go with 11 years old. Fast forward... I'm 51 now. And I only got my first oscilloscope when I was around 40. And only got my first "$1,000+ oscilloscope" about 2 years ago. Actually, most of my higher-end test gear came about 2 years ago. I got a decent bonus at work and spent most of it building the "lab I'd always wanted." The more salient point though, is that I still managed to learn (some) electronics, built various hobby projects, and - most importantly - had fun with this stuff BEFORE I got an oscilloscope and definitely before I got a "nice" oscilloscope. Like another posted mentioned: I used to source components by scavenging them from old abandoned electronic items - old television sets, old radios, toys, appliances, whatever I could get my hands on. I'd get wire by scavenging it from the instrument consoles of old junked cars, etc. My multimeter and soldering iron were low-end Radio Shack items that "serious" electronics hobbyists might have laughed at, but they worked for me. The point? You *can* - as IMSAI guy says - get started in electronics without all that "stuff" that you might think you need. And you can do it without spending a lot of money. If anything, things are better now than when I was young, as "ok enough" quality test equipment, tools, etc. are available for pretty cheap from AliExpress from variety of Chinese manufacturers. I mean, is a sub $100 Fnirsi oscilloscope the best in the world? You betcha it is, if it's the only oscilloscope you have! Don't worry about what you don't have, focus on what you can have. As the old saying goes: "Wish in one hand, spit in the other one, and see which one fills up first." Don't worry about wishing for the perfect setup, just get what you can get your hands on, and get started.
One deadly trap is, "This is hard for me! I must not be good at it." My answer to my daughter when she tried to pull that in high school was, "Of course it's hard for you! It's hard for everybody! The people you know who are good at it put in a lot of work _getting_ good at it."
You’re correct to encourage; but English, walking, strong smells were ‘hard’ for me. I eventually got diagnosed as an adult for things that shouldn’t have been ignored. Good parents make such a difference. I have such a lack of imagination that I’d need to be shown how to teach myself, how to find the information. It never occurred to me once to take things apart as a young person. I believed academic high school grades mattered - everyone said it - so that’s all I did; that’s all I had.
I don't speak three languages either. I find it helps to keep chipping away until suddenly someone comes up with an explanation that you get, and you watch a video in inductors for the umpteenth time and suddenly you realise 'wow.. that's what aband pass filter is....now I understand. Great video..
Ignore the Whiners! I love your videos and get a lot out of them, even though some of them are over my head. The fact that anyone can "make do" with what they have is endemic to learning, or at least it should be to anyone serious about gaining an understanding of something. Kee doing what you are doing. Thanks!
Teaching my wife some basic electronics. She is studying for her General but wants to understand what is going on and NOT just memorize the answers. Your videos are great for this! Started in electronics 60 years ago and dumpsters were my electronic stores (plus a little bit of Radio Shack when I could afford it. )
I wish I had your channel to watch back when I first began learning electronics. Sadly, RUclips didn’t exist back then and neither did the internet. Your content is always inspiring, even to a crusty old dude.
Learning the basics and applying them is how you make cool stuff. "Stuff" is nothing but a pile of small circuits connected and working together to make a system, tool or product. The multi-meter is almost the only tool that is a MUST HAVE for Electronics. I keep telling a friend/sort of student of mine. Use your damn meter, ... you can't see electrons!!!!!!
That's a good video and a good lesson. I started in 1955 but recently started going through the experiments in Ward Silver's 'Hands on Radio'. There are a few things I missed since 1955! Thats a Triplett 635 VOM, right? I have one. But last year I bought a modern equivalent: "Tekpower TP8250 Analog Multimeter with Null Middle Position 0 for Variation Measurement ". I love the center-zero scale. I'll leave it to you to explain how useful that can be.
I've been learning tinkering and repairing things like powered speakers and power amps, most of the time the problem is obvious (you can see where the magic smoke came out :) ) and it's an easy fix but for me that's only the start, I want/need to know 'why' the something failed. I can get an overall understanding of a circuit/schematic but I struggle with what all the passive components in the discrete topologies are actually doing, breaking things right down like this video really helps! Your reading schematic video was awesome (more please :) ) and along with videos like this I'm learning a lot, looking at cap's and inductors in this context (as resistor equivalents) was enlightening, thank you!
The best way of starting with electronics is to start at a young age. In this way you are really able to get a "good feeling" for electronics because you are still not able to understand all the math behind the scene. I have started at an age of 11 to 12. At 14 I was allready able to understand the behaviour of the devices that I use and I was able to design my own working circuit. At around 18 to 20 I understood the mathematics of the circuits and I was able to design really good application circuits for certain purposes.
I have to say, that I'm pretty much exactly like you, I learned electronics without a oscilloscope (but I'm still learning, and always will be! I'm 16 currently lol) , and I only had a multimeter (all tho you said you only had a volt meter at that time... lol) anyways, I also got my parts from taking other electronics apart... and a little time later, from the trash :P its nice to see others that learned the same way as I am learning. but now ofc, I do have a more expensive oscilloscope, but thats this year, when I was 15 and all the way down too I think 13 years old, I had one of those $20 oscilloscopes, and I thought that was good at that time! and when I was younger than that, I didn't even have an oscilloscope! and I learned a ton from that time all the way to now :)
Damn right! That's how you do it. Learn with what you can, do with what you have, look out for opportunities to get stuff. It will take time, it will take some cash, it will take determination - and it will bring knowledge, skill and lots of frustration... but also satisfaction. I started out pretty much the same way you did, using desoldered components, hands-me-down iron and meters, no scope. Access to information was crucial, that's why libraries were so important. I was quite a bookworm back then. As for tech, I used discrete transistors, stayed away from integrated circuits, then experimented with CMOS chips... I haven't gotten into making my own test gear until I was in university though.
When I was a kid, my dad brought an oscilloscope in from work. We used it to build and check Heathkits. I thought it was the most magical instrument I had ever seen. I have kept an oscilloscope of one kind or another since those days, sometimes old discarded ones that I brought back to life, like one old Dumont that I found had a rat electrocuted across its power supply. I still keep one, a 4 channel Rigol that is the most useful scope I have ever had.
I know some people look down on analogue meters - they do have some advantages over digital. Any change is instantly visible like a peak or a dip. With digital the numbers are always jiggling and there is sometimes a delay displaying the value when things change. After more than 40 years I have gone back to having fun electronics. 90% of my stuff comes from good old AliExpress. Most of us are not designing satellites or missile guidance systems so we don't need expensive stuff. You can get it very cheap and its more than enough to move you forward. The 555 timer oscillator project which was just talked about is a great start to making your own test equipment. Get an oscilloscope much later when you have saved up for it and reached a point where it becomes valuable, not just eye candy on your bench.
So much true. Seems you are talking to me 20 years ago. "Oh I can not make a switch variable power supply because I have no way to measure inductance." That was pure and simple ignorance from my part back in the day. A small circuit with a 555, a resistor, and a volt meter can measure inductance. A timer, a resistor a voltmeter can measure capacitance, and so on. Now that I have most of the tools needed for my hobby, I almost do not need any of it lol. My two cents in this topic: Start by books, always. The Art of Electronics should be your holy book. Why learn from books ? When we are still a neophyte we do not have the discernment to know who are who, who are teaching the stuff right. Also one option when ppl do not have the money or do not want to put money on a hobby they do not even know if they are going to like is go to circuit simulation. For the software part there is free versions as free in freedom, and free as in free bear, and "free" out there on the preferred pirate sites. The book can also be got for "free". I do not endorse get this master piece for "free" at all, but the truth is that books are expensive to many people. Also there is the N.E.E.T.S training course that is indeed for free, and gives a really strong base of electronics. It is not a practical course, you are not going to project or fix too much after study it, but almost all the basic/intermediary knowledge are in there. I consider it the most boring thing I ever come across. Still I wish to have read it sooner.
I see a complaint that "trash" isn't useful anymore because there just aren't discrete components anymore very often. I'd argue Arduinos and China have kinda solve that though. You'll overpay on Amazon but I just found: - A $6 "basics" kit with jumper wires, LEDs, buttons, resistors, caps, a few transistors, buzzers, diodes, thermisters, photocells, and a PISO shift register for Arduino use. - A $10 pack of 3-4 cheap breadboards. (The above kit didn't have one, but you'll want the 3-4 anyway.) - A $16 pack of basic DIP ICs: 555, basic op amps, etc. - A $9-15 pack of breadboard-friendly trim pots (more than you'll need) The major thing I left out you still need is a power supply. There's a brick on a leash power supply for $19-20 with a dial to set the output voltage and it comes with tip adapters. One adapter is a 5.5/2.1mm jack with screw terminals. That plus two of your jumper wires straight into the breadboard. When you need a regulated 5v or 3.3v supply, your variable PSU will give you 7.5-9V to power a super cheap breadboard power supply of you can steal power from the arduino clone you'll likely have on hand by then. You need some tools. Multimeter, get what you can-the $7/free Harbor Freight special has NO safety features, so low voltage DC only! The other tools you need … micro side cutters, tweezer-nose pliers, and a wire stripper for 20AWG and up … budget $30 for those, but you can spend less if you're careful. Soldering iron … you don't need one yet! Oh you will need a soldering iron, but if you hold off maybe you can make your first iron a Pine64 Pinecil (TS-100 compatible) instead of an Elenco kit 15-25W special. What else? Inductors, relays, DC motors, microcontrollers, more switches, and some digital ICs? You might need some of those things, but probably not JUST to get started. When you do, buy them. They come in kits just like resistors and capacitors. Yeah, digital stuff's a little harder to get in the quantity you'd need to play with stuff like the various Z80/6502 breadboard computer projects, but as fun as those are you don't need them yet to learn basic electronics. When you do, get what you need. You can go far with just a little, though.
A guy I used to work with came to Canada from formerly communist Roumania, where nothing was available. He was interested in electronics as a kid, and would repair things for friends and neighbours. He even unwound transformers to fit the break in the wire that prevented it working, and joined the ends back together, insulated it (nail polish, perhaps?) and wound the thing back together. He wound up with a deep understanding of electronics.
2:34 To be fair, I feel like the main issue is that it's a bit demoralizing sometimes, I live in a 3rd world country, and even with the pay I have it's often incredibly hard to get instruments due to costs, imports, restrictions, etc. And that applies to many components as well. That actually hasn't stopped me from learning electronics of course, but ive had to make a lot of sacrifices to get there. I often get a bit jealous of the free shipping non import costs that people in the US can take advantage of, since electronics are cheaper relative to their wage. If I had that wage I'd starve if it meant I could get even more instruments and components. I mean, I already do that, haha.
Sir/ma'am, Same case with me. I could either buy tools or components, I couldn't buy both. So I usually use old components from old circuit boards. You don't have to be jealous because in my country I can get components and I'm ready to not waste my money on things that doesn't matters ( the things on which any teenage kid would waste money ) but still my parents doesn't let me buy anything on the time when I want that thing the most. Sir/ma'am don't be jealous because that comes in human nature including anger, greed, etc. and we ( the engineers ) are the persons who are trying to get out of this things. So don't be jealous because if you are jealous than I'll be sad 😢.
Hello, I'll put it this way, I live in Europe, I have a pretty decent salary, but thanks to the exchange rate of the Czech crown to the dollar or euro, I would have to sell off my body parts to be able to afford to buy some of the better measuring equipment I need, I'm not desperate, so what can be made by hand I will make it myself many times cheaper I'm just not good at English, so I hope that sentence makes sense 🙂 Nice day 🙂 Tom
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@@Edisson.I try to buy broken equipment and try to fix it. There are good sites in eBay Europe Surplus vendors - that will sell when they get a offer - often 50% off the asking price - just have to take a chance. For example:I got 4 Tektronix 576 for 350 euro a piece - needed some cleaning only …. I was lucky
😢 You sound like my old instructor back in the days Ya try to learn a language.... maybe one day you can speak, i try and go for my third one and badly struggle. Yes, but don't make excuses, find a way to get it work
I'm using my phone as a frequency generator with the 3.5mm jack and a coupling capacitor on a breadboard. Of course it only does 20kHz and below but it allows me to mess around with homebrew audio circuits and works like a charm.
You can actually get an online sim and curcuit design freeware. The core problem is approaches to time. Most people want dramatic change without the considered amount of time required to master anything. Our day and age rewards outward manifestion quickly and we negate incremental improvements to the fault of peolle actually doing something. Good work sir. Like your content.
A suggestion would be to show a 555 circuit feeding the filters and seeing the output on one of the low-cost dvms and scopes you show on your channel. I suspect you have a gazillion videos showing the various individual items but maybe not working together. You could then compare the results of 555 and the cheap scope with your need-a-second-mortgage, lottery-win kit and show (in many cases) that you indeed don't need the flashy kit to start out.
I have literally a pile of old beat up ARRL Handbooks that I just absolutely love !! They are held together with a lot of scotch tape. I've had these books for many years. The only thing I can suggest is adding a book to the collection on mathematics for electronics. I found one years ago at a used book store, it is " Mathematics For Electronics by Clyde N. Herrick " . Believe it or not, it was published in 1967, and has been useful to me for years. And I do believe, copies of it are still available on the internet for not a lot of money.
Great video - so true. I bought my first scope 30 years ago - BWD with 1mhz bandwidth….. for 50 cents….. non working of course. I fixed it. I had a crappy soldering iron, and a metex dmm Now I have so many toys (not like though 😂). 2 Top of the line RS scope , 4 x 576, SR715, all kinds of weller irons, ….. and more toys on the. I just wish I could repair like you😊
I'm writing this because it seems that you pay attention to the comments. I genuinely enjoy your channel, but I'd like to share what would make me absolutely love it. I came across your channel while searching for a straightforward explanation of how switching power supplies work. In my opinion, your explanation was the best among the many videos I watched. You have a remarkable talent for breaking down complex concepts, and it's evident that you have a passion for teaching. However, I can't help but notice that your channel feels a bit scattered. Like many others, I learn best when I have a clear goal and can work towards completing a project. Even if I start with very little knowledge, a focused and passionate learning path keeps me engaged, helps me achieve my objectives, and allows me to gain extensive knowledge along the way. For instance, I followed Ben Eater's 8-bit programmable computer course, starting from scratch, and now I proudly have a CPU constructed from logic gates displayed on my wall. In my view, your teaching abilities are on par with Ben's, but you bring even more experience to the table. I would absolutely love to see your channel transition to a project-based format. You can choose topics that interest you-whether it's building an amplifier or creating an RF modulator or whatever, I'm in. I'm willing to commit to projects that might take a long time to complete because I believe it's fun and it would be the best way to learn and be proud of what I would produce with your guidance.
I share your interest in deeper learning, but some perspective: This video is the 1607th CONSECUTIVE daily video he has posted. He groups his playlists by the 100's! He has done many, many multipart projects. Go through them from the beginning(!) and you'll find plenty to learn. I feel he is doing what he likes, which is right because this is free, not his job, and he's retired. :-) I'm always hoping he will latch onto another project he enjoys enough to bring back the depth and continuity of learning. In the meantime, I enjoy the many other channels with many, many projects and avenues for learning.
I have done projects 1. 8 bit TTL CPU, more complex than Ben 2. Transistor Curve Tracer 3. Music Synthesizer 4. High Speed High Current Amplifier 5. Zeta CP/M computer and others, there are lots of videos you will be interested in
At a ham convention flea market I bought a dual trace oscilloscope for $10. it had an intermittent problem so I tried to fix it. Instead I blew it up. I was out a reasonably decent oscilloscope, and $10. But I kept going, and learning . Look for flea markets and garage sales for items. You can find deals for equipment, or electronic parts. Be careful of old TVs with cathode ray tubes. They store deadly voltages for years.
I just had s thought. My crappy little scope can only go up to 100 khz but I need to messure a s 200khz signal. What I can do is feed the square wave into a 4024 divider and bring the signal down to readable range. To find the actual freqency I can just multiply the signal from what it was divided by.
I started when I was about 9 or 10. I would take stuff apart. I use to assemble the Radio Shack Science Fair kits. These were great they were able to teach point to point soldering. Attended a electronics classes in my junior and senior years in high school. To this day I’m designing and build circuits. So in retrospect you can start at any age. No excuses keep on learning. Piece.
This should be the hey day for electronic hobbyist because computers and quality test equipment is so darn cheap. The internet provides tons of information for anyone who wants it. And by and large software is free to download. What's stopping people is you actually have to make an effort and you have to work through a bunch of what I call 'roadblocks' which is tough counter-intuitive concepts in electronic. For me they include: voltage-current relationship, the concept of a negative voltage, and the nature impedance. Not exactly earth shattering stuff but all it takes is a few roadblocks and people will give up.
Love this video, and the message about Stop Making Excuses! Maybe already said by someone in the comments. I disagree that in the RC or LC circuit, half a voltage is when the impedance of the C (or the L) is around the same as the resistor. In the RC circuit, the voltage of the capacitor is Vc = Vgen*(1/jwC)/(R + 1/jwC)= Vgen/(1 + jwCR). In order that this voltage was Vgen/2, |1 + jwCR| = 2. Taking the squared module, 1 + (wRC)^2 = 4. Isolating wC: wC = (4 - 1)^0.5 / R The impedance of the capacitor is |Xc| = 1/wC = R/(3)^0.5 = 1000 ohm/1.732 = 577 ohm. With the values you have: C = 10 nF, w = 2·pi·f, f = 30 kHz, |Xc| = 1/(2 * 3.14 * 30e3 * 10e-9) = 530 ohm, similar to the 577 ohm from the theory, but not 1 kohm as the resistor. The same happens with the inductor: |XL| = wL = 2 * 3.14 * 10e3 * 9e-3 = 565 ohm. R/(3)^0.5 ~= XL ~= XC.
@@IMSAIGuy It doesn't matter that your multimeter measures RMS because when you measure the generator, you use the same multimeter, so the ratio of VC/Vgen = 0.5. When the voltage divides by two, the power reduces -6 dB (one fourth). When you do ratiometric measurements, it doesn't matter if you do it in peak or RMS. But in a series RC or RL circuit, when R = |XC|, the ratio of the voltage reduces to 0.707, that is -3 dB in power. If you do the math, |XC| is not R at 30 kHz (or |XL| is not R at 10 kHz) but |XC|~=530 ohm (and |XL|~=565 ohm). On the other hand, this kind of multimeters doesn't measure true RMS (I have mine since 1979 and I still use it), it measure RMS only for sinusoidal signals, because the relationship is a constant; good to do this experiment as long as the frequency was not too high due to the frequency response of the multimeter (and the loading effect if C is too low).
There are also many sites with a FREE ELECTRONIC SIMULATOR which allow you to "build" a (basic) circuit and "see" what the oscilloscope should show. For free.
interesting video. But times have changed.. I am 58 years old and when I got into electronics - it was necessary to improve my tape recorder or my amplifier. To get high quality from low quality with a minimum of costs. Now you can buy almost anything for a penny for home use in everyday life. It is already more expensive to make or improve than to buy ready-made. One very great man once said a brilliant phrase "If someone REALLY needs a power supply - they buy it from the Chinese. If you just want to spend a lot of time and money - make it yourself!" Your tutorials for beginners are very interesting. But they are not very specific. For example: There is an output from a digital microcircuit (0 or 1), but the supply voltage of the microcircuit can be from +3 to +18 volts. It is necessary to calculate the key to control the relay. It becomes a question. Which key is better .. on a field-effect transistor or bipolar. what conductivity n-p-n or p-n-p. Is it necessary to shift the base or gate and the simplest calculation of such a circuit. I think that if you give such concretizing lessons, it will help many. Thank you.
When I started learning electronics I didn't even have a multimeter. I could borrow a multimiter from my older brother when he let me borrow it, but I did bunch of experiments without even having a meter.
Your advice re: "stop making excuses", is so right. If you have an internet connection, you can learn just about anything. You don't even need to buy any books, if you don't want to. I can remember trying to find technical books about electronics, at school when I was about 9 years old, but there was nothing. In later years, even trying to get hold of a particular data sheet required access to specialized (well I thought they were) libraries etc. where I had to pay 20c per photo copy page. I wasn't allowed to get any books out because I wasn't a student there. Times were tough in the pre Internet age. I turn 70 tomorrow, by the way. There are NO Excuses at all these days, as long as you have an internet connection, of course.
Now the problems are related to sifting through the terabytes of information on the internet, and having the knowledge of what to focus on. Many people may give you false or shoddy information, with no way to differentiate from accurate information, unless you pay the same amount of money for expensive books. Also keep in mind that for people who grew up with the internet, such as myself, we may have different difficulties than you had, although of a very different variety than monetary or convenience-wise.
To be fair, it depends on what you mean by "learn electronics." Can you learn some basic principles, fix through hole stuff and setup a lab for cheap. Sure. I did. It took a while but I made a lab for about $100. Can you learn theory without spending a lot of dedicated & structured time in books? Thats still a must. Can you troubleshoot modern digital circuits with thousands of components, complex feedback loops and proprietary chips and programming? Will you be able to reverse engineer and make schematics, make circuits or just look at a board and know whats going on? Probably not. Its the difference between a hobby and a profession.
I started when I was 5-7 years old. I soldered an analog multimeter kit from Radio Shack. Shockingly, it still worked after I connected the current meter to a 12v car battery. Oops. Later, my dad brought home a surplus vacuum tube transceiver from the National Guard. It didn't work, but I tested all of the tubes and replaced them until it worked fine. I was lucky to know not to use more than one hand inside when it was turned on. I had no idea how high the voltages were. Lucky I didn't zap myself dead. After having used an analog meter, I found the first used digital meter I bought a bit puzzling. Around the house, I was able to fix all kinds of things by taking them apart and putting them back together. Sometimes I knew what I fixed, sometimes not. I agree, for what you are doing, an analog meter is so much more revealing about what is going on. Who cares what the true numbers are, it's the changes that matter. And for those of you watching videos with Calculus in them, you don't need to be able to DO Calculus, just understand what it means. That isn't all that hard if you can stumble upon good explanations. Don't learn to do differential or integral equations, just understand what they mean. That opens up a deeper understanding of how things work. You don't have to study any math techniques to get there.
Merci for this video! Indeed, there is no reason not to learn. Guy, I must say that I don't always understand because of the language (what a great idea not to speak French too! :-)) but I generally understand the meaning. Many thanks for all your videos.
All one really needs to get into electronics is to be curious. I started playing with magnets when I was 3 years old. Then I worked my way up to an old flashlight when I was 6. At 10 I got a cheap soldering iron, then a broken radio, then another to scrounge parts from. 70 years later I have a lab full of HP, Tek, Agilent, Wavetek, Metcal etc equipment, and piles of ham gear and lasers, not to mention 10's of thousands of parts and hundreds of tech books. But mostly I just use a couple of free Harbor Freight multimeters, a Tiny SA, a NanoVNA, and an $80 handheld 'scope. I've worked at HP, TRW, IBM, SONY, etc. I've had a long career in electronics, even though I could never afford to go to college. I started out poor, and for years never had more than a thousand dollars to my name. But I've always had curiosity, and I've always learned new things every day. You can start with a coupe of magnets and work your way up to an old flashlight, then a cheap soldering iron, then a broken radio. After that, the sky's the limit. PS, Ohm's Law, and all the other electronics equations are absolutely free! And the Internet!!!!
I can think of one instance where there is an excuse. There is a gap in the teachings between arduino and atmel programming. There are some lectures on youtube from MIT on an atmega, but the basics are not there, so I had to learn the language there and extrapolate the basics from the documentation. -Arduinos are bulky and expensive, it should be in humanity's interest that as many as possible learn to use discrete microcontrollers.
Ya, the 30 volt battery is a big drawback to this meter. Some places are charging $30 for a replacement. Ther are hacks to use 3 9V batteries, kinda "how ya doin". Search RUclips for "Triplett VOM 30v battery upgrade to 9v batteries".
i cope with buying a 60 dollar handheld chinese oscilocope(dso 152 from ur vids),it is enough for studying electronics at bachelor level when i was in university the professor always let me use the instrument,just ask them and ask for a time slot
When I was an apprentice learning to repair Radio's TV's fault-finding it was with a analogue voltmeter later a analogue multimeter, in the 70's, they weren't as advanced as todays cheap multimeters. my pet hate is people saying" I'm not very good at this" probably their second circuit build Grrrrrr , then say they couldn't fault find like me, I've been fault finding for 51 Years and this is their 2nd project, I've bitten my tongue so many time,👍😊
My first volt meter was an analog movement I got from "something". It was pretty big with a mirrored scale. I glued blank paper over the meter scale. I used a pencil to mark a bunch of equal spaced marks. The meter movement went through a variable resistor setup as a voltage divider. I made another box that had a resistor and battery in series with a diode to give me an approximate 0.6v drop. I took this resistor+diode+battery with me wherever I went. Whenever I had a chance to use a "real" volt meter I would use it to measure the resistor+diode+battery thing I made and write down the measured voltage. When I got home I would use the resistor+diode+battery thing on my volt meter and calibrated it to my thing by adjusting the variable resistor on the volt meter to set the needle on a line and wrote in the value on the scale. Repeat a few times and I had a full scale. A rotary switch allowed different ranges. I even included one variable range setting to measure "odd" values that only needed a comparison to something else measured. I also would put paper tape on the plastic protective cover where I could write in temporary random values I might need for a specific project.
When i started some time ago, i had no scope, somewhat blindly i did manage to make working devices. Then i got a Philips 3110 witch needed a coal fire to make it go and i was be able to see (something).
The rise of cheap modules from China has made things even worse. Electronics has now become the Buy It Now crowd substituting easy for knowledge. Everything has become a black box with no understanding of what is inside.
As an engineer who watches this engineer's channel I'll share that what drives someone to actually learn how electronics works (or anything else) is an inordinate amount of curiosity. As a kid I would drag home discarded tube-type TV chassis from the repair shop at the top of our street, plug them in and fiddle with them to see if I could make them work (I should be dead.) As a teen, I'd construct battery-powered transmitters and use my CB radio to confirm that they worked at the intended frequency. I acquired two WWII millitary receivers and swapped parts until one worked. I'll never forget the thrill I felt the moment that I adjusted its repaired BFO until the Donald Duck sounds I kept hearing rendered intelligible speech. As an adult, curiosity drives me to repair my gas-powered tools, my plumbing, finish my basement, learn investing and then teach myself OOP to write a program to help me track my portfolio. Be curious. Stay curious.
And the nice thing about electronics is that it's such a wide field nowadays that you will never be able to learn all there is to learn about it in one human lifetime. There will always be new stuff to learn 😄
@@DiaconescuAlexandru2024 For sure!
'as a...' comments are stupid and posted by sheep
As a chemist, I approve this message! Brew beer, fix circuits, learn Maple, relearn quantum chemistry, etc. I hate when people say "I'm bored!" The world is full of great and wonderful things to do!
i didnt do that , it was too hard for me so i went into software at a young age instead!!!!
Back in my day oscilloscopes we’re unobtainable. Same with computers. So what did we do? We went to the university and got in through some contacts we had. There is such a luxury today of being able to buy all these things so cheap and have them right at home. Like IMSAIGuy says, there is no excuse if you have the desire. If there’s a will, there’s a way. 🙂
Never stop learning. I'm 67 and have been learning electronics since I was 6 years old when my dad taught me Ohm's law. Yet I still follow at least 10 other people on YT with my text books on my desk because I don't know everything yet. Start learning and never stop.
Hello, I'm a little bit younger, but we're the same when it comes to learning, except for my father - I didn't have one, so I learned everything by myself, and apparently we both know that it will never end, on the one hand, there is rapid, well-functioning development, and most importantly significantly slower poorly functioning memory 😂
Nice day 🙂 Tom
that sounds like a sneaky sentence to me!!!! u mean DIDNT. not DONT. :)
@@magnuswootton6181 It is possible, I have a better command of electronics than the English language
I would love more videos like this that is geared toward beginners, and our quest to learn electronics the right way! Thank you for this opportunity. I appreciate the effort you put in to making your videos, and look forward to all your content.
yeah it was a good video.
If one can count up to 1000, and multiply by 10... then that's about the number of beginner electronics vids on RUclips.
Even if you're not a beginner, sometimes there are gaps in your knowledge and videos help to fill in those gaps.
@@willthecat3861 half of them are some sort of "free energy" scam, others assume you have a scope, a drawer of resistors, caps and inductors of every possible value. This one is actually very useful.
If one can be an ass, and then put a hole in it, then one could be an asshole!@@willthecat3861
Your enthusiasm is contagious! Thank you for all the time and effort you spend on these videos. Just one little spark can start a bonfire 😊
I got an EE degree and a Masters in telecommunications and I ONLY really learned electronics when I started actually building cool stuff on my spare time. Started with a radio transmitter and from there audio amplifiers and now I'm deep into digital circuits with discrete parts.
Your advice is sound and simple, yet most people don't follow through. I'll add a bit of my own advice here. If you don;t have the money to buy some gear you need for a project, then buy as much as you afford and keep what you get somewhere where you can see it all the time. It will remind you to buy the rest when you get some extra money and keep you motivated. Sunken cost fallacy works marvelously :)
That is how I started in 1969 when I was 7 . I found a radio that looked like the smiling face that was in pieces !!! My grandfather gave me a soldier iron and soldier and I got a analog meter .. 😊
as roger-pw3zz said, I to should be dead. Age 12, concrete floor in my basement, bare foot putting up a long wire for an AM receiver. I didn't know the chassis was hot, wire touched it, to this day I think that's what made me a HAM.....never give up learn.
Wow!! Love the way you explained filters.
This is a really great lesson, pace the invective. The hard thing about getting started is actually engaging the mind and thinking through things. I personally have read explanations and been mystified, until actually doing something led me to understand what the explanation was really saying. The hardest thing is knowing what to do to start, and this video is fantastic because it shows a way to do something physically that explains or motivates the whole e=ir and reactance varying with frequency of the applied signal. A series of videos where someone starts with a 555 and makes the signal generator, etc would be really fantastic I think. The process of learning is hauling yourself up by your own bootstraps and the most important very first step is to learn where to pull... if you take my meaning. But I will say this in defense of invective: it was the irritation that motivated you to make this video, so it can't be all bad. 🙂
The more you fuck around the more you find out
This is exactly my case, I can read tons and nothing, but once I build it, the reading starts to make sense. It's interesting that I also think like this at work - I never have to see the device, but when I figure out how the manufacturer intended it and how it should work, I fix it, sometimes even improve it.
That was great! It's true. My first piece of test equipment was a volt meter that my uncle brought over. That was back in the 1950's. I blew it up. Well, I wanted to measure the voltage at an outlet. Also wanted to hear what electricity sounded like so I plugged a speaker into the outlet. You know what happened. Many years later after getting out of the Air Force (they let me work on avionics stuff, and yes I did blow up some stuff) and college a Radio Shack VOM sat on my desk. I ended up working in the medical electronics field and no, I didn't blow up anything. Anyway, got married, had children, was poor, but there was always a way get more electronics test equipment - cheap. At a recent HAM radio convention I found a HP 3478A DVM for $30 and it works great. A friend of mine who works for a local telecom company acquired an old HP 8711B. He didn't kneed it and was going to throw it away. It's now on my workbench and has been modified to a 8712B as per the IMSAI Guy. Well I could keep rambling on but your right about just keeping at it. I'm in my late 70's and still find a great deal of pleasure in just learning and tinkering! I hardly blow up anything anymore.
I’m an Electronics engineer thats still learning despite being one since 1978 starting with a BBC apprenticeship and gaining a degree, in 1983, Ive never stopped learning, This subject is so wide and ever expanding, there is something new and interesting happening everyday. M7EJN.
Free Signal gen and oscilloscope programs on smart phones, so defiantly no excuse!
As far as I can tell, IMASI guy doesn't respect engineers... of at least American educated engineers that worked for him at Hewlett Packard. But that's my opinion.
Will, your opinion is quite ignorant
How did you get that vibe? I think IMASI Guy explains electronics in an interesting way and I quite often ask my apprentices to watch his videos as its good for them to see the way someone else explain certain theories sometimes. @@willthecat3861
@@IMSAIGuy Yes. I can only base my opinion on the criticisms you've posted about the skills of the engineers that worked for you. So, yes, as far as I can tell.
You're absolutely right saying that people can start from very basics and get their parts from scrap yard. I does so. But at the same time I can understand how it's frustrating to people, who can't afford some stuff like oscilloscope, to watch all that modern videos and read articles, where all that stuff just... supposed to be. For someone it can be very demotivating depending on mental nuances. Let's say, you just come to electronics because you're inspired by some fancy project or idea, but than you're facing the situation where you just can't make it because of lack of very basic stuff. So I definitely can understand those people.
Dude, you have absolutely outdone yourself! This is the best get started motivational video I've ever seen. I suspect we are very close in age. I had an analog meter and knew the resistance of everything I could find to test. It doesn't take much equipment to get started, but you do need to have a passion for it. I wish someone would have shown me this one example when I was 15. This was brilliant, good job.
Circuit simulators, as web pages or downloaded app, have also been very helpful for me to learn and experiment and get a good feeling for what's really happening in every component. Cost: $0
Thank you. Nothing like doing things yourself to learn. Start simple and build from that. When you can predict you understand.
Hi Imsai, great example 👍A multimeter with a needle is the basis, I can't imagine it without it even today, for some measurements and adjustments it is better than a digital one. I personally started with a self-made comparator bulb voltmeter - that was my first measuring tool, then came a Russian multimeter, which changed the range and function by switching the measuring cords to other sockets, and then somehow it grew by itself, in my the family had no shortage of ideas for presents. Later it became more interesting as knowledge grew, the construction of logic probes, single-purpose measuring devices, sources (the first adjustable source was a transformer for trains and a capacitor) etc. In socialist Czechoslovakia, there was not much to buy, and if there was, it was at high prices.
To this day, I don't have a frequency analyzer, I just don't do RF and for what I do, FFT has been enough for me and most importantly, it won't fit anywhere in my mini workplace 😂
Oh yes, bandpass filters - the basis of speaker crossovers
Nice day 🙂 Tom
Well said. I often read those comments from viewers whining about not having a gazillion dollars' worth of equipment. As you have shown in this and other videos, a motivated person can learn a lot with basic tools, using materials salvaged from discarded devices. Low-cost test equipment--oscilloscopes, DMM's, function generators, etc.--can be had in kit form for little money. Old-timers with experience in circuit design and repair can be good sources for know-how and cheap (or even free) equipment, if approached respectfully. Almost anybody who watches a RUclips video probably owns a computer or smartphone with Internet connectivity, and thus has what it takes to access the online simulators and free electronics courseware that are mercifully abundant nowadays. And I've noticed a kind of sympathetic magic that happens once you dive into a topic. Somehow, the knowledge and materials you need just seem to appear out of nowhere....
"Page one" is a great metaphor for a lot of things in life. And building your own tools is irreplaceable experience. Another fantastic video. Many of your videos are "breakthroughs" themselves for your viewers, as you describe breakthrough experiences in the $25 oscilloscope video. Great stuff.
I would add the following also: to make progress, first do something, anything, then try to note the effect. Did the effect bring you closer to your goal? Did it make you realize your goal is perhaps in need of refinement? Did it maybe just show you that you need a goal? First, DO something. Then observe. Mens et Manus is not an empty slogan.
I've restarted in electronics at the age of 63, my meter cost 7 euros, the signal generator cost about the same as a kit from Amazon and my oscilloscope is one of these handheld DSO'sthat also tests components, it cost a whopping 80 euros from Amazon. It's not perfect but it serves a purpose and is super useful. To my mind if you really want to learn something you will find a way. Start small and be passionate.
I still recall that when I was in college, learning electronics, my best friend and classmate was from a poor family. My family was not much better, but I was working part time and had some money to spend. I was building low end Heathkit test equipment models to outfit my home laboratory. My friend was designing his own using junk box parts and so on. Both of us ended up with home electronics labs. I could describe to you how all the circuits worked, and he could describe them with an additional layer of understanding through his extra work and thought, born of his situation and necessity. I bought a Commodore PET computer, and he designed his own computer and its firmware from scratch. We both became professional engineers, but I always admired how he was able to get there on the most shoestring of budgets, and in many ways I still think he is the better educated one when it comes to circuit and software design.
Good stuff! You can learn something new every day!
As I get older, sometimes I relearn. I wish I had this guy in college as an instructor, he has the ability to make things simple to learn.
I enjoy electronics as my winter hobby from Nov to March, and invariably I have to go back to basics at the start of each winter for a reminder. Using your channel and w2aew's is always a great refresher. Only recently did I buy a scope and signal generator. Granted, like anything, it's easier to do things with better tools, but you can do a ton with a couple of analog vmms
👍Great video!
Sometimes people ask me what multimeter should i buy?
My answer: Any multimeter is better than no multimeter. You can start with a cheap one to start learning.
One way to start learning electronics is to download a simulator like LtSpice and mockup simple circuits. I don't have much equipment at this point (a digital volt meter and a power supply). Eventually, would love to buy an oscilloscope. As hobbies go, electronics isn't "over the top" expensive compared to other hobbies (cars, woodworking, etc.).
In my experience, for simple useful dc electronics, a really cheap multimeter is often enough. Voltage and resistance measurements will for sure help you out. And you don't need extreme accuracy.
Hey Mr Imsai Guy, you are way smarter than me in frequency/RF stuff and I appreciate your encouragement :) to those who wish for expensive test equipment.
Here’s my back story, apprenticeship in radio/electronics servicing in 1976 here in New Zealand with at the time obviously no digital multimeters so have always used an analogue one in conjunction with a digital multimeter when they finally arrived.
Analogue meters on their ohm ranges are the best I find when measuring transistors and diodes for internal faults.
I have an oscilloscope but hardly ever used it as there is always street smarts to use when servicing electronics for a living plus I have never had to do RF transmission servicing.
Back in the late 1980s I purchased that oscilloscope for 1400 NZD which was a waste of money as per above reason.
Retiring next year hopefully from the grind but will still play.
Thanks for your advice to the newbies about keeping it simple to start with.
I started learning electronics when I was pretty young. Pre-teen for sure, although I couldn't tell you an exact year. Let's say I was about, aaaaaaaah... let's go with 11 years old. Fast forward... I'm 51 now. And I only got my first oscilloscope when I was around 40. And only got my first "$1,000+ oscilloscope" about 2 years ago. Actually, most of my higher-end test gear came about 2 years ago. I got a decent bonus at work and spent most of it building the "lab I'd always wanted." The more salient point though, is that I still managed to learn (some) electronics, built various hobby projects, and - most importantly - had fun with this stuff BEFORE I got an oscilloscope and definitely before I got a "nice" oscilloscope.
Like another posted mentioned: I used to source components by scavenging them from old abandoned electronic items - old television sets, old radios, toys, appliances, whatever I could get my hands on. I'd get wire by scavenging it from the instrument consoles of old junked cars, etc. My multimeter and soldering iron were low-end Radio Shack items that "serious" electronics hobbyists might have laughed at, but they worked for me.
The point? You *can* - as IMSAI guy says - get started in electronics without all that "stuff" that you might think you need. And you can do it without spending a lot of money. If anything, things are better now than when I was young, as "ok enough" quality test equipment, tools, etc. are available for pretty cheap from AliExpress from variety of Chinese manufacturers. I mean, is a sub $100 Fnirsi oscilloscope the best in the world? You betcha it is, if it's the only oscilloscope you have! Don't worry about what you don't have, focus on what you can have.
As the old saying goes: "Wish in one hand, spit in the other one, and see which one fills up first." Don't worry about wishing for the perfect setup, just get what you can get your hands on, and get started.
One deadly trap is, "This is hard for me! I must not be good at it." My answer to my daughter when she tried to pull that in high school was, "Of course it's hard for you! It's hard for everybody! The people you know who are good at it put in a lot of work _getting_ good at it."
You’re correct to encourage; but English, walking, strong smells were ‘hard’ for me. I eventually got diagnosed as an adult for things that shouldn’t have been ignored.
Good parents make such a difference. I have such a lack of imagination that I’d need to be shown how to teach myself, how to find the information. It never occurred to me once to take things apart as a young person. I believed academic high school grades mattered - everyone said it - so that’s all I did; that’s all I had.
I don't speak three languages either. I find it helps to keep chipping away until suddenly someone comes up with an explanation that you get, and you watch a video in inductors for the umpteenth time and suddenly you realise 'wow.. that's what aband pass filter is....now I understand.
Great video..
Ignore the Whiners! I love your videos and get a lot out of them, even though some of them are over my head. The fact that anyone can "make do" with what they have is endemic to learning, or at least it should be to anyone serious about gaining an understanding of something. Kee doing what you are doing. Thanks!
Teaching my wife some basic electronics. She is studying for her General but wants to understand what is going on and NOT just memorize the answers. Your videos are great for this! Started in electronics 60 years ago and dumpsters were my electronic stores (plus a little bit of Radio Shack when I could afford it. )
I wish I had your channel to watch back when I first began learning electronics. Sadly, RUclips didn’t exist back then and neither did the internet. Your content is always inspiring, even to a crusty old dude.
Good inspiration to learn. Channels like yours are a wonderful resource
Excellent! Excellent! Excellent! My first piece of test equipment was a VOM that I assembled from a kit. Regards, David
My first parts I messed with were old DVD players that no longer worked with a 5$ meter.
Learning the basics and applying them is how you make cool stuff. "Stuff" is nothing but a pile of small circuits connected and working together to make a system, tool or product. The multi-meter is almost the only tool that is a MUST HAVE for Electronics. I keep telling a friend/sort of student of mine. Use your damn meter, ... you can't see electrons!!!!!!
That's a good video and a good lesson. I started in 1955 but recently started going through the experiments in Ward Silver's 'Hands on Radio'. There are a few things I missed since 1955!
Thats a Triplett 635 VOM, right? I have one. But last year I bought a modern equivalent: "Tekpower TP8250 Analog Multimeter with Null Middle Position 0 for Variation Measurement ". I love the center-zero scale. I'll leave it to you to explain how useful that can be.
I've been learning tinkering and repairing things like powered speakers and power amps, most of the time the problem is obvious (you can see where the magic smoke came out :) ) and it's an easy fix but for me that's only the start, I want/need to know 'why' the something failed. I can get an overall understanding of a circuit/schematic but I struggle with what all the passive components in the discrete topologies are actually doing, breaking things right down like this video really helps!
Your reading schematic video was awesome (more please :) ) and along with videos like this I'm learning a lot, looking at cap's and inductors in this context (as resistor equivalents) was enlightening, thank you!
The best way of starting with electronics is to start at a young age. In this way you are really able to get a "good feeling" for electronics because you are still not able to understand all the math behind the scene. I have started at an age of 11 to 12. At 14 I was allready able to understand the behaviour of the devices that I use and I was able to design my own working circuit. At around 18 to 20 I understood the mathematics of the circuits and I was able to design really good application circuits for certain purposes.
I have to say, that I'm pretty much exactly like you, I learned electronics without a oscilloscope (but I'm still learning, and always will be! I'm 16 currently lol) , and I only had a multimeter (all tho you said you only had a volt meter at that time... lol)
anyways, I also got my parts from taking other electronics apart... and a little time later, from the trash :P
its nice to see others that learned the same way as I am learning.
but now ofc, I do have a more expensive oscilloscope, but thats this year, when I was 15 and all the way down too I think 13 years old, I had one of those $20 oscilloscopes, and I thought that was good at that time! and when I was younger than that, I didn't even have an oscilloscope! and I learned a ton from that time all the way to now :)
Damn right! That's how you do it. Learn with what you can, do with what you have, look out for opportunities to get stuff. It will take time, it will take some cash, it will take determination - and it will bring knowledge, skill and lots of frustration... but also satisfaction.
I started out pretty much the same way you did, using desoldered components, hands-me-down iron and meters, no scope. Access to information was crucial, that's why libraries were so important. I was quite a bookworm back then. As for tech, I used discrete transistors, stayed away from integrated circuits, then experimented with CMOS chips... I haven't gotten into making my own test gear until I was in university though.
When I was a kid, my dad brought an oscilloscope in from work. We used it to build and check Heathkits. I thought it was the most magical instrument I had ever seen. I have kept an oscilloscope of one kind or another since those days, sometimes old discarded ones that I brought back to life, like one old Dumont that I found had a rat electrocuted across its power supply. I still keep one, a 4 channel Rigol that is the most useful scope I have ever had.
I know some people look down on analogue meters - they do have some advantages over digital. Any change is instantly visible like a peak or a dip. With digital the numbers are always jiggling and there is sometimes a delay displaying the value when things change.
After more than 40 years I have gone back to having fun electronics. 90% of my stuff comes from good old AliExpress. Most of us are not designing satellites or missile guidance systems so we don't need expensive stuff. You can get it very cheap and its more than enough to move you forward. The 555 timer oscillator project which was just talked about is a great start to making your own test equipment. Get an oscilloscope much later when you have saved up for it and reached a point where it becomes valuable, not just eye candy on your bench.
So much true. Seems you are talking to me 20 years ago. "Oh I can not make a switch variable power supply because I have no way to measure inductance." That was pure and simple ignorance from my part back in the day. A small circuit with a 555, a resistor, and a volt meter can measure inductance. A timer, a resistor a voltmeter can measure capacitance, and so on.
Now that I have most of the tools needed for my hobby, I almost do not need any of it lol.
My two cents in this topic: Start by books, always. The Art of Electronics should be your holy book. Why learn from books ? When we are still a neophyte we do not have the discernment to know who are who, who are teaching the stuff right. Also one option when ppl do not have the money or do not want to put money on a hobby they do not even know if they are going to like is go to circuit simulation. For the software part there is free versions as free in freedom, and free as in free bear, and "free" out there on the preferred pirate sites. The book can also be got for "free". I do not endorse get this master piece for "free" at all, but the truth is that books are expensive to many people.
Also there is the N.E.E.T.S training course that is indeed for free, and gives a really strong base of electronics. It is not a practical course, you are not going to project or fix too much after study it, but almost all the basic/intermediary knowledge are in there. I consider it the most boring thing I ever come across. Still I wish to have read it sooner.
I see a complaint that "trash" isn't useful anymore because there just aren't discrete components anymore very often. I'd argue Arduinos and China have kinda solve that though. You'll overpay on Amazon but I just found:
- A $6 "basics" kit with jumper wires, LEDs, buttons, resistors, caps, a few transistors, buzzers, diodes, thermisters, photocells, and a PISO shift register for Arduino use.
- A $10 pack of 3-4 cheap breadboards. (The above kit didn't have one, but you'll want the 3-4 anyway.)
- A $16 pack of basic DIP ICs: 555, basic op amps, etc.
- A $9-15 pack of breadboard-friendly trim pots (more than you'll need)
The major thing I left out you still need is a power supply. There's a brick on a leash power supply for $19-20 with a dial to set the output voltage and it comes with tip adapters. One adapter is a 5.5/2.1mm jack with screw terminals. That plus two of your jumper wires straight into the breadboard. When you need a regulated 5v or 3.3v supply, your variable PSU will give you 7.5-9V to power a super cheap breadboard power supply of you can steal power from the arduino clone you'll likely have on hand by then.
You need some tools. Multimeter, get what you can-the $7/free Harbor Freight special has NO safety features, so low voltage DC only! The other tools you need … micro side cutters, tweezer-nose pliers, and a wire stripper for 20AWG and up … budget $30 for those, but you can spend less if you're careful. Soldering iron … you don't need one yet!
Oh you will need a soldering iron, but if you hold off maybe you can make your first iron a Pine64 Pinecil (TS-100 compatible) instead of an Elenco kit 15-25W special.
What else? Inductors, relays, DC motors, microcontrollers, more switches, and some digital ICs? You might need some of those things, but probably not JUST to get started. When you do, buy them. They come in kits just like resistors and capacitors. Yeah, digital stuff's a little harder to get in the quantity you'd need to play with stuff like the various Z80/6502 breadboard computer projects, but as fun as those are you don't need them yet to learn basic electronics. When you do, get what you need.
You can go far with just a little, though.
A guy I used to work with came to Canada from formerly communist Roumania, where nothing was available. He was interested in electronics as a kid, and would repair things for friends and neighbours. He even unwound transformers to fit the break in the wire that prevented it working, and joined the ends back together, insulated it (nail polish, perhaps?) and wound the thing back together. He wound up with a deep understanding of electronics.
2:34 To be fair, I feel like the main issue is that it's a bit demoralizing sometimes, I live in a 3rd world country, and even with the pay I have it's often incredibly hard to get instruments due to costs, imports, restrictions, etc. And that applies to many components as well. That actually hasn't stopped me from learning electronics of course, but ive had to make a lot of sacrifices to get there.
I often get a bit jealous of the free shipping non import costs that people in the US can take advantage of, since electronics are cheaper relative to their wage. If I had that wage I'd starve if it meant I could get even more instruments and components. I mean, I already do that, haha.
Sir/ma'am, Same case with me. I could either buy tools or components, I couldn't buy both. So I usually use old components from old circuit boards. You don't have to be jealous because in my country I can get components and I'm ready to not waste my money on things that doesn't matters ( the things on which any teenage kid would waste money ) but still my parents doesn't let me buy anything on the time when I want that thing the most. Sir/ma'am don't be jealous because that comes in human nature including anger, greed, etc. and we ( the engineers ) are the persons who are trying to get out of this things. So don't be jealous because if you are jealous than I'll be sad 😢.
Hello, I'll put it this way, I live in Europe, I have a pretty decent salary, but thanks to the exchange rate of the Czech crown to the dollar or euro, I would have to sell off my body parts to be able to afford to buy some of the better measuring equipment I need, I'm not desperate, so what can be made by hand I will make it myself many times cheaper
I'm just not good at English, so I hope that sentence makes sense 🙂
Nice day 🙂 Tom
You should invest in Crypto! Mr. Samir Bubbarabistinkpantskumar invested 100$ of my money last week and now im a millionaire. Bless Mr. Samir BABBARABINSTINKPANTSKUMAR!
Oh yes! I've heard of Mr. Samir Babbarabistinkpantskumar on the interwebs! How do i get in touch with him?
@@Edisson.I try to buy broken equipment and try to fix it.
There are good sites in eBay Europe Surplus vendors - that will sell when they get a offer - often 50% off the asking price - just have to take a chance. For example:I got 4 Tektronix 576 for 350 euro a piece - needed some cleaning only …. I was lucky
😢
You sound like my old instructor back in the days
Ya try to learn a language.... maybe one day you can speak, i try and go for my third one and badly struggle.
Yes, but don't make excuses, find a way to get it work
I'm using my phone as a frequency generator with the 3.5mm jack and a coupling capacitor on a breadboard. Of course it only does 20kHz and below but it allows me to mess around with homebrew audio circuits and works like a charm.
I love this! Thanks for the video! STOP MAKING EXCUSES!
You can actually get an online sim and curcuit design freeware.
The core problem is approaches to time. Most people want dramatic change without the considered amount of time required to master anything. Our day and age rewards outward manifestion quickly and we negate incremental improvements to the fault of peolle actually doing something.
Good work sir. Like your content.
What a great message! That is one gorgeous Triplett.
A suggestion would be to show a 555 circuit feeding the filters and seeing the output on one of the low-cost dvms and scopes you show on your channel. I suspect you have a gazillion videos showing the various individual items but maybe not working together. You could then compare the results of 555 and the cheap scope with your need-a-second-mortgage, lottery-win kit and show (in many cases) that you indeed don't need the flashy kit to start out.
It's my analogy that, "everyone is right where they want to be"
I have literally a pile of old beat up ARRL Handbooks that I just absolutely love !! They are held together with a lot of scotch tape. I've had these books for many years. The only thing I can suggest is adding a book to the collection on mathematics for electronics. I found one years ago at a used book store, it is " Mathematics For Electronics by Clyde N. Herrick " . Believe it or not, it was published in 1967, and has been useful to me for years. And I do believe, copies of it are still available on the internet for not a lot of money.
Old school Friday. :-)
Great video - so true. I bought my first scope 30 years ago - BWD with 1mhz bandwidth….. for 50 cents….. non working of course. I fixed it.
I had a crappy soldering iron, and a metex dmm
Now I have so many toys (not like though 😂). 2 Top of the line RS scope , 4 x 576, SR715, all kinds of weller irons, ….. and more toys on the. I just wish I could repair like you😊
I'm writing this because it seems that you pay attention to the comments.
I genuinely enjoy your channel, but I'd like to share what would make me absolutely love it.
I came across your channel while searching for a straightforward explanation of how switching power supplies work. In my opinion, your explanation was the best among the many videos I watched. You have a remarkable talent for breaking down complex concepts, and it's evident that you have a passion for teaching.
However, I can't help but notice that your channel feels a bit scattered. Like many others, I learn best when I have a clear goal and can work towards completing a project. Even if I start with very little knowledge, a focused and passionate learning path keeps me engaged, helps me achieve my objectives, and allows me to gain extensive knowledge along the way.
For instance, I followed Ben Eater's 8-bit programmable computer course, starting from scratch, and now I proudly have a CPU constructed from logic gates displayed on my wall. In my view, your teaching abilities are on par with Ben's, but you bring even more experience to the table.
I would absolutely love to see your channel transition to a project-based format. You can choose topics that interest you-whether it's building an amplifier or creating an RF modulator or whatever, I'm in. I'm willing to commit to projects that might take a long time to complete because I believe it's fun and it would be the best way to learn and be proud of what I would produce with your guidance.
I share your interest in deeper learning, but some perspective: This video is the 1607th CONSECUTIVE daily video he has posted. He groups his playlists by the 100's! He has done many, many multipart projects. Go through them from the beginning(!) and you'll find plenty to learn. I feel he is doing what he likes, which is right because this is free, not his job, and he's retired. :-)
I'm always hoping he will latch onto another project he enjoys enough to bring back the depth and continuity of learning. In the meantime, I enjoy the many other channels with many, many projects and avenues for learning.
I have done projects
1. 8 bit TTL CPU, more complex than Ben
2. Transistor Curve Tracer
3. Music Synthesizer
4. High Speed High Current Amplifier
5. Zeta CP/M computer
and others, there are lots of videos you will be interested in
At a ham convention flea market I bought a dual trace oscilloscope for $10. it had an intermittent problem so I tried to fix it. Instead I blew it up. I was out a reasonably decent oscilloscope, and $10. But I kept going, and learning . Look for flea markets and garage sales for items. You can find deals for equipment, or electronic parts. Be careful of old TVs with cathode ray tubes. They store deadly voltages for years.
I just had s thought. My crappy little scope can only go up to 100 khz but I need to messure a s 200khz signal. What I can do is feed the square wave into a 4024 divider and bring the signal down to readable range. To find the actual freqency I can just multiply the signal from what it was divided by.
This video reminded me of my first week of USAF Electronics Fundamentals nearly 50 years ago. Components and a volt meter at first.
I started when I was about 9 or 10. I would take stuff apart. I use to assemble the Radio Shack Science Fair kits. These were great they were able to teach point to point soldering. Attended a electronics classes in my junior and senior years in high school. To this day I’m designing and build circuits. So in retrospect you can start at any age. No excuses keep on learning. Piece.
This should be the hey day for electronic hobbyist because computers and quality test equipment is so darn cheap. The internet provides tons of information for anyone who wants it. And by and large software is free to download. What's stopping people is you actually have to make an effort and you have to work through a bunch of what I call 'roadblocks' which is tough counter-intuitive concepts in electronic. For me they include: voltage-current relationship, the concept of a negative voltage, and the nature impedance. Not exactly earth shattering stuff but all it takes is a few roadblocks and people will give up.
Love this video, and the message about Stop Making Excuses!
Maybe already said by someone in the comments.
I disagree that in the RC or LC circuit, half a voltage is when the impedance of the C (or the L) is around the same as the resistor.
In the RC circuit, the voltage of the capacitor is Vc = Vgen*(1/jwC)/(R + 1/jwC)= Vgen/(1 + jwCR).
In order that this voltage was Vgen/2, |1 + jwCR| = 2.
Taking the squared module, 1 + (wRC)^2 = 4.
Isolating wC: wC = (4 - 1)^0.5 / R
The impedance of the capacitor is |Xc| = 1/wC = R/(3)^0.5 = 1000 ohm/1.732 = 577 ohm.
With the values you have: C = 10 nF, w = 2·pi·f, f = 30 kHz,
|Xc| = 1/(2 * 3.14 * 30e3 * 10e-9) = 530 ohm, similar to the 577 ohm from the theory, but not 1 kohm as the resistor.
The same happens with the inductor:
|XL| = wL = 2 * 3.14 * 10e3 * 9e-3 = 565 ohm.
R/(3)^0.5 ~= XL ~= XC.
When |XC| = R or ,|XL| = R is the power what reduces to half, but the voltage reduces to 1/(2)^0.5. ~70.7 %.
my meter measures Vrms
@@IMSAIGuy It doesn't matter that your multimeter measures RMS because when you measure the generator, you use the same multimeter, so the ratio of VC/Vgen = 0.5. When the voltage divides by two, the power reduces -6 dB (one fourth).
When you do ratiometric measurements, it doesn't matter if you do it in peak or RMS.
But in a series RC or RL circuit, when R = |XC|, the ratio of the voltage reduces to 0.707, that is -3 dB in power.
If you do the math, |XC| is not R at 30 kHz (or |XL| is not R at 10 kHz) but |XC|~=530 ohm (and |XL|~=565 ohm).
On the other hand, this kind of multimeters doesn't measure true RMS (I have mine since 1979 and I still use it), it measure RMS only for sinusoidal signals, because the relationship is a constant; good to do this experiment as long as the frequency was not too high due to the frequency response of the multimeter (and the loading effect if C is too low).
LOL every time he say to stop making excuses I feel personally attacked
There are also many sites with a FREE ELECTRONIC SIMULATOR which allow you to "build" a (basic) circuit and "see" what the oscilloscope should show. For free.
Very inspirational video!
Greatings!
interesting video. But times have changed.. I am 58 years old and when I got into electronics - it was necessary to improve my tape recorder or my amplifier. To get high quality from low quality with a minimum of costs.
Now you can buy almost anything for a penny for home use in everyday life. It is already more expensive to make or improve than to buy ready-made.
One very great man once said a brilliant phrase
"If someone REALLY needs a power supply - they buy it from the Chinese. If you just want to spend a lot of time and money - make it yourself!"
Your tutorials for beginners are very interesting. But they are not very specific.
For example: There is an output from a digital microcircuit (0 or 1), but the supply voltage of the microcircuit can be from +3 to +18 volts. It is necessary to calculate the key to control the relay. It becomes a question. Which key is better .. on a field-effect transistor or bipolar. what conductivity n-p-n or p-n-p. Is it necessary to shift the base or gate and the simplest calculation of such a circuit.
I think that if you give such concretizing lessons, it will help many. Thank you.
Yes, but if you were MacGyver, you could do all of that with a stick of gum, a piece of string, and a paper clip!
But, I've been making great excuses all my life... and now i'm really good at it. Am I supposed to give it all up now, for electronics!
No. Just go into politics instead.
We had classes for electronics when I was in high school.
sounds great, when and where
When I started learning electronics I didn't even have a multimeter. I could borrow a multimiter from my older brother when he let me borrow it, but I did bunch of experiments without even having a meter.
Your advice re: "stop making excuses", is so right. If you have an internet connection, you can learn just about anything. You don't even need to buy any books, if you don't want to.
I can remember trying to find technical books about electronics, at school when I was about 9 years old, but there was nothing.
In later years, even trying to get hold of a particular data sheet required access to specialized (well I thought they were) libraries etc. where I had to pay 20c per photo copy page. I wasn't allowed to get any books out because I wasn't a student there. Times were tough in the pre Internet age. I turn 70 tomorrow, by the way.
There are NO Excuses at all these days, as long as you have an internet connection, of course.
Now the problems are related to sifting through the terabytes of information on the internet, and having the knowledge of what to focus on. Many people may give you false or shoddy information, with no way to differentiate from accurate information, unless you pay the same amount of money for expensive books. Also keep in mind that for people who grew up with the internet, such as myself, we may have different difficulties than you had, although of a very different variety than monetary or convenience-wise.
Cool video shot, thanks for sharing it with us, well done :)
The best advice ever!
To be fair, it depends on what you mean by "learn electronics." Can you learn some basic principles, fix through hole stuff and setup a lab for cheap. Sure. I did. It took a while but I made a lab for about $100. Can you learn theory without spending a lot of dedicated & structured time in books? Thats still a must. Can you troubleshoot modern digital circuits with thousands of components, complex feedback loops and proprietary chips and programming? Will you be able to reverse engineer and make schematics, make circuits or just look at a board and know whats going on? Probably not. Its the difference between a hobby and a profession.
I was an engineer at HP and Wavetek and designed several products, so it is possible. It is a lot of work learning that most will not do.
I second this. However once you're at a certain level - you've built some stuff and it worked - then you may find a scope quite useful.
I started when I was 5-7 years old. I soldered an analog multimeter kit from Radio Shack. Shockingly, it still worked after I connected the current meter to a 12v car battery. Oops.
Later, my dad brought home a surplus vacuum tube transceiver from the National Guard. It didn't work, but I tested all of the tubes and replaced them until it worked fine. I was lucky to know not to use more than one hand inside when it was turned on. I had no idea how high the voltages were. Lucky I didn't zap myself dead. After having used an analog meter, I found the first used digital meter I bought a bit puzzling. Around the house, I was able to fix all kinds of things by taking them apart and putting them back together. Sometimes I knew what I fixed, sometimes not.
I agree, for what you are doing, an analog meter is so much more revealing about what is going on. Who cares what the true numbers are, it's the changes that matter.
And for those of you watching videos with Calculus in them, you don't need to be able to DO Calculus, just understand what it means. That isn't all that hard if you can stumble upon good explanations. Don't learn to do differential or integral equations, just understand what they mean. That opens up a deeper understanding of how things work. You don't have to study any math techniques to get there.
Merci for this video! Indeed, there is no reason not to learn. Guy, I must say that I don't always understand because of the language (what a great idea not to speak French too! :-)) but I generally understand the meaning. Many thanks for all your videos.
All one really needs to get into electronics is to be curious. I started playing with magnets when I was 3 years old. Then I worked my way up to an old flashlight when I was 6. At 10 I got a cheap soldering iron, then a broken radio, then another to scrounge parts from. 70 years later I have a lab full of HP, Tek, Agilent, Wavetek, Metcal etc equipment, and piles of ham gear and lasers, not to mention 10's of thousands of parts and hundreds of tech books. But mostly I just use a couple of free Harbor Freight multimeters, a Tiny SA, a NanoVNA, and an $80 handheld 'scope. I've worked at HP, TRW, IBM, SONY, etc. I've had a long career in electronics, even though I could never afford to go to college. I started out poor, and for years never had more than a thousand dollars to my name. But I've always had curiosity, and I've always learned new things every day. You can start with a coupe of magnets and work your way up to an old flashlight, then a cheap soldering iron, then a broken radio. After that, the sky's the limit. PS, Ohm's Law, and all the other electronics equations are absolutely free! And the Internet!!!!
I can think of one instance where there is an excuse. There is a gap in the teachings between arduino and atmel programming. There are some lectures on youtube from MIT on an atmega, but the basics are not there, so I had to learn the language there and extrapolate the basics from the documentation. -Arduinos are bulky and expensive, it should be in humanity's interest that as many as possible learn to use discrete microcontrollers.
Cool. I have the same multimiter. it use a 30v battery. Where did you get it?
I can't find them either (for a price I would pay). It can't measure resistance but that does not stop me from using it for everything else.
Ya, the 30 volt battery is a big drawback to this meter. Some places are charging $30 for a replacement. Ther are hacks to use 3 9V batteries, kinda "how ya doin". Search RUclips for "Triplett VOM 30v battery upgrade to 9v batteries".
The 30V battery is only needed for the highest ohms range. The 1.5V D cell is sufficient for all the other, lower ohms ranges.
Stack 10x lithium or 20x alkaline coin cells?
MY BEST ADVICE, THERE IS NO VOLTAGE, THERE IS ONLY CURRENT!!!!!
Thx for the vids. Can you please check you left channel mic? The audio is very right channel biased.
It will get fixed soon
i cope with buying a 60 dollar handheld chinese oscilocope(dso 152 from ur vids),it is enough for studying electronics at bachelor level
when i was in university the professor always let me use the instrument,just ask them and ask for a time slot
Page one of my favourite series of language courses is aways how to say "I don't understand"... ;)
分かりません
Great video! more like it (and chip of the day)
How about a fluorescent lamp when you are 13 and you can’t afford an SWR Meter to tune your vacuum tube FM transmitter?
When I was an apprentice learning to repair Radio's TV's fault-finding it was with a analogue voltmeter later a analogue multimeter, in the 70's, they weren't as advanced as todays cheap multimeters. my pet hate is people saying" I'm not very good at this" probably their second circuit build Grrrrrr , then say they couldn't fault find like me, I've been fault finding for 51 Years and this is their 2nd project, I've bitten my tongue so many time,👍😊
Banana plugs are expensive. Never bought any for home when I was a kid.
yes, good ones are stupid expensive and the cheap ones are terrible
That voltmeter has to have a lot of history. L.R.L-A.E.C contolled item. Does it make a Geiger-Müller counter respond?
That was the first thing I did! Lucky for me it is clean.
Great tutorial, thanks! :)
My first volt meter was an analog movement I got from "something". It was pretty big with a mirrored scale. I glued blank paper over the meter scale. I used a pencil to mark a bunch of equal spaced marks. The meter movement went through a variable resistor setup as a voltage divider. I made another box that had a resistor and battery in series with a diode to give me an approximate 0.6v drop. I took this resistor+diode+battery with me wherever I went. Whenever I had a chance to use a "real" volt meter I would use it to measure the resistor+diode+battery thing I made and write down the measured voltage. When I got home I would use the resistor+diode+battery thing on my volt meter and calibrated it to my thing by adjusting the variable resistor on the volt meter to set the needle on a line and wrote in the value on the scale. Repeat a few times and I had a full scale. A rotary switch allowed different ranges. I even included one variable range setting to measure "odd" values that only needed a comparison to something else measured. I also would put paper tape on the plastic protective cover where I could write in temporary random values I might need for a specific project.
When i started some time ago, i had no scope, somewhat blindly i did manage to make working devices.
Then i got a Philips 3110 witch needed a coal fire to make it go and i was be able to see (something).
The rise of cheap modules from China has made things even worse. Electronics has now become the Buy It Now crowd substituting easy for knowledge. Everything has become a black box with no understanding of what is inside.
Great. exactly. ❤
This was great!
excellent video today