Not really sure where to ask this, as even the Google answers are very confusing for me.

I’m interested in DIY consumer(?) electronics. For e.g I saw a video of someone buying a used tablet screen, a display board, and made himself a little portable monitor. Or I have a retro handheld, and some people open theirs up, and replace the speaker in it. They buy the actual little tiny speaker from China and put it in themselves.

This stuff is cool as hell how do I learn how to do this?? I know I can look up project guides and recreate them, but I’d eventually like to be able to do my own things (like if I want to make some kind of soldering change?) And I assume that requires more in depth knowledge.

I should also add I have absolutely 0 prior knowledge about electronics.

  • SolidGrue@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    9 months ago

    YouTube teardown videos are a great resource to begin learning how things work. If you approach it as a sort of “theory in application” you will eventually pick up on what components tend to be used in what sorts of builds, and perhaps even why or how they do what they do.

    Frequently these videos gloss over the finer points of electronics design, of throw around terms that.they don’t often explain. Still, once you have a feel for what you know you don’t know, you can delve a little deeper and look for tutorials on how THOSE concepts work in practice.

    AvE’s BOLTR videos and Big Clive’s teardown-with-schematic and repair videos are high quality, if a bit saucy sometimes. Great Scott does some good videos on practical circuit design. There are so many other electronics and electrical edutainment creators on YouTube, it’s impossible to list them all, but some of the notable channels would also include Electroboom, PlasmaChannel, Andreas Speiss, Mark Furneaux, and to a lesser extent (for electronics projects) Jeff Geerling and Everything Smart Home

    Outside of the YouTube sphere, older hobbyist guides in ham radio are a good resource for learning about RF transmission and antenna design. Likewise old textbooks from electrical & electronics school programs just about litter public libraries and used bookstores. Principles of Electrical Engineering is a classic, and any used edition would be valuable for learning the basic theory for circuit design.

    The good thing about electronics projects is the materials are cheap and there are plenty of tutorials out there. You can make a modest investment in a 1000 In One Projects kit and start building as you learn. Sometimes its easiest to just dive and fail a few times, popping off a few caps or smoking some resistors along the way. (Or, just watch Electroboom do it for free)

    e: typos

    Remember to have fun with it!

  • ShadowRam@kbin.social
    1·
    9 months ago

    Start with SNAP CIRCUITS toys. Even if your an adult, these are a start.

    Then upgrade to a ELEGOO UNO Electronics kit off Amazon.

    It’ll give you the basics of powering stuff, and then basics of signals.

    Some kind of RC Car, Multicopter, Self built 3D Printer hobby will also help get you started.

  • Kite_height@eviltoast.orgEnglish
    0·
    9 months ago

    Textbooks baby! As dry and technical as they are, that’s where all the good stuff is.

    Practical Electronics for Inventors by Paul Scherz and Simon Monk.

    They start with Electronics 101 stuff and move all the way into building robots by the end of the 1000 pages. It’ll take a loooong while to get through it all, especially if you’re building real life stuff as you go, but I’d argue you could get a job as an Electrical Engineer if you master that textbook alone lol.

    For a quicker route, get your hands on an Arduino Kit and start experimenting with those parts, they’ll usually come with project ideas and instructions. Then move up to a RPi or down to a PIC microcontroller depending on your project needs. That’ll give you more practical knowledge but you won’t have a strong fundamental knowledge base.