Spec me some books on electronics and coding

Tefal

Tefal

Tefal

Caporegime
Joined
30 Jun 2007
Posts
68,886
Location
Wales
Hey folks,

So I'm looking to get into electronics properly (finally :p been meaning to for ages) and I'm going away on holiday for a week so some good books (or pdf files) would be good as i'll have no internet and lots of time to read :p


Taking my old AS and A2 physics books and revision books to get the basics but some more advanced stuff would be nice.

for things i want to learn to do/experiment with are, want to play around with a load of transistors (on a breadboard) to see some logic gates after playing with red stone from mc i kinda want to see how they work in reality.

Make a few hobby bits and bobs (etching tank or a uv one), and the usual LED stle stuff.

Make a nixie clock, and also try and make a crt tube clock from some of those old cold war era 1-2" crt tubes, maybe try my hand at making an oscilloscope.

And a lot of the arduino stuff (his + the clocks are where coding comes in)
like making a few little robots out of old meccano etc.


Obviously some of this stuff is fairly easy some is a long way off.

So which language do i have to learn for the arduino and anyone got some good books to learn the basics?

And any books on learning how to design the circuits/ understand the circuits so i'm not just following a step by step guidne for the tube clocks etc.

Thanks guys :D
 
I think any language will work for arduino, I had a look at some code and it looks a bit like java but is apparently based of C++/C
I am going to learn arduino as well and I am going to buy a arduino Uno soon. I think an oscilloscope will be out of your league for quite a while though.
All you really need to know is Iteration/ Selection/ Condition. So just learn how to use while/repeat/for and if/case statements.

Anyhow on the topic of electronics, I would recommend getting a multi meter, a soldering iron and a breadboard. If you really wanted to you could do As electronics, it has transistors/logic gates/ Op amps/ Circuit design/ Mono stables/A stables/mosfets and some programming coursework on pic chips. You could get the et1 and et2 books as that has quite a lot of basic stuff in and is free.

Here is some et 1 and 2 sites
Here
Here 2
 
Last edited:
The arduino development language is based on c and is very straight forward. Have a look at the starter kits you get, these include breadboards LEDs and other components to start making arduino based circuits. They quite often include a starter project book too. I've used Earthshine Electronics, there kits seem pretty good.

My first project was a 3x3 led cube, which still sits on my desk at work.
 
Yeah I'll be getting stuff (iron board components etc) when i come back, atm just looking for some good books./pdf's to take to get some reading done while on holiday to brush up :p
 
groen said:
You should get one of those circuit testing board, where you don't need a solder or have your own pcb.

http://www.sump.org/projects/counter/images/counter_testboard.jpg
Click to expand...

yes that's a breadboard which I'll be getting when i comeback.

Atm though just looking for some good basic electronics books (inc text books) to read on holiday.


Also, watch Dave Jones on EEVblog http://www.eevblog.com
Click to expand...

yeah been watching that :p


got lots of plans just want to get a good bit of fundamental reading done while i have less distractions.
 
Tefal said:
Make a few hobby bits and bobs (etching tank or a uv one), and the usual LED stle stuff.
Click to expand...

Did you read my post is my thread? You still need to etch a UV board so it's not "etching tank or a uv one" it "etching tank and a uv one". Watch the YouTube vid i posted in my other thread.

As for books i might have this available in the MM soon? "Making Things Talk" Book i never really got on with it, i like to watch vids or follow online guides

J
 
I got this from oomlout. Its pretty good. Comes with a lot of simple components, the breadboard, a ton of wires and a project book to get you started, complete with code (the code is available online). I've worked my way through about half of it but really need to pick it up again. I just can't find time at the moment. For me its the electronics side I can't get my head around. I program in C/C++ on a daily basis so thats not a problem for me. I bought an "Electronics for dummies" book to go with it, which actually goes into some pretty advanced stuff. There is more than enough in that book to match the arduinos abilities I'd say.
 
bulb66 said:
Did you read my post is my thread? You still need to etch a UV board so it's not "etching tank or a uv one" it "etching tank and a uv one". Watch the YouTube vid i posted in my other thread.

As for books i might have this available in the MM soon? "Making Things Talk" Book i never really got on with it, i like to watch vids or follow online guides

J
Click to expand...

yeah :p

yeah read that after and a lot more on the subject so will probaly try tonner transfer etching first before trying the uv one.
 
Tefal said:
yeah :p

yeah read that after and a lot more on the subject so will probaly try tonner transfer etching first before trying the uv one.
Click to expand...

I have used the Press N Peel method before a while i have had some good results (The UV LED panel was made this way) it's a pain and expensive to use, but yeah a good place to start.

Might make myself a bubble tank at some point.

J
 
yeah i'm good at making non electric stuff so the tank shouldn't be too bad plus legitimate reason to own chemicals that make primary explosives is always a bonus.

How much more expensive are the pcb's for the uv one over just normal ones?
 
They are more expensive here's a link to some cheap ones and the normal ones to.

Then you have to add the cost of the Photoresist developer and Ferric chloride solution (etch, can be used for both) but if you do press n peel they cost £16 for 5 A4 sheets!!! and are 1 use only, where as once you have made a PCB artwork film you can reuse that as much as you want they are around £6 for 10 and are for laser printers but inkjet ones are available.

J
 
well for the "press an peel" style ones i was thinking the glossy paper/the backing paper from a sticker sheet + the laser printer in me mums work + an iron :p
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom