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What are the best resources for getting started with hands-on electronics and robotics? (self.asklemmy)

submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by overcast5348 to c/[email protected]

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Background: I took some 100 and 200-level courses on electronics in college over a decade ago. I still remember some stuff (Ohm's law, Kirchoff's law), and I can recognise the basic parts in a circuit diagram.

I am also happy to pick up a beginner friendly text book and go through the theory by myself, if there are any recommendations.

However, I've never even held a soldering gun. I am a blank slate when it comes to any practical applications. I get overwhelmed trying to figure out what kit to order on Amazon.

So, is there a course/tutorial you'd recommend for learning the hands on parts of it? I'd prefer as much handholding as possible. Ex -- if someone sells all the components to finish the projects in the course that would be the course I pick.

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[–] overcast5348 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

What you said makes sense. To provide context for why I am/was looking for the exact opposite --

I have a long string of failed hobbies and junk accumulated from all the stuff I've bought for them. I carry a ton of guilt because of this.

I guess I'm too hesitant to buy parts and have them lying around if I don't end up using them all if I abandon this too. That's the reason why I was hoping to buy a fixed set of parts for specific projects so that way I can at least convince myself that I used it all at least once.

[–] evasive_chimpanzee 2 points 2 months ago

Yeah, I definitely understand that. I certainly have things that I don't use as much as I hoped (I'm staring at a solar panel doing nothing leaned against my wall). For me, I really need the resulting "thing" to be something that I will use/be excited about.

That's why, for me, fixing stuff that's broken, upgrading stuff, or repurposing stuff you already own is good. Replacing a worn out jack is a relatively simple task that can turn an expensive brick back into a nice thing.

The tools you need are not a very long list. You can get a cheap, crappy soldering iron for $6, solder for $4, a crappy multimeter for $7, and one of those magnifying glass/alligator clip things for $6 from harbor freight. Despite being poor quality, a lot can be accomplished with just those tools.

I ended up buying a bench power supply for like $40, but you can just get DC power supplies from the bin of assorted cords at your nearest thrift store for basically free.