Monday, May 14, 2012
Make: electronics book plus electronics course
Back from watching about 9 electronics classes on youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8Dq8blTmSA
which was very informative. i dont regret pausing the experiments for this little deepening of my understanding.
Also, another very, very helpful link here
http://amasci.com/ele-edu.html
Give it a shot, read a bunch of the articles, even about the stuff you believe you already know because this really made a difference for me.
The author understanding is very clear and he speaks in a language that make things very easy to understand.
I suggest starting with the capacitor article, where he explain really what does a capacitor do and how to think of it when designing or reading circuits.
http://amasci.com/emotor/cap1.html
This stuff is pure gold!
I now have a much better understanding of many things such as the ohm's law, voltage splitting, how capacitors really work, diodes and some application of them such as turning ac into dc etc...
But at the same time, i wouldn't have understood alot of the subjects without having first finish a few of the experiments in the Make electronics book.
So i think doing both at the same time, the youtube course and the book is a great idea.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Pausing the book
Hi,
Okay so after going through experiment 15, i was trying to switch resistors values around to see if i understood properly.
Why use a 10k here, why a 15k there? etc...
My goal is to learn electronic so I can be able to build whatever i want, not only follow other people diagrams and circuits. I want to build my own stuff.
Obviously my knowledge is not up to par, i hate doing stuff from the experiments and not understanding why it work the way it does.
And i especially hate moving forward to the next experiments before having understood the previous one properly, not just on the surface but why it work, the formulas behind it which is just not in this book.
So i went on to google and try to find something that could help me bridge the gap.
And on youtube university, i finally found something.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqQ8wO-lNmI
This is excellent, a whole course on electronics going from the very beginning up until very advanced.
All free, very well explained and very organized.
I finished the first couple of talks and i decided that i will go through a whole bunch of them before resuming with the Make: electronics book.
I'm not giving up on this just yet.
Okay so after going through experiment 15, i was trying to switch resistors values around to see if i understood properly.
Why use a 10k here, why a 15k there? etc...
My goal is to learn electronic so I can be able to build whatever i want, not only follow other people diagrams and circuits. I want to build my own stuff.
Obviously my knowledge is not up to par, i hate doing stuff from the experiments and not understanding why it work the way it does.
And i especially hate moving forward to the next experiments before having understood the previous one properly, not just on the surface but why it work, the formulas behind it which is just not in this book.
So i went on to google and try to find something that could help me bridge the gap.
And on youtube university, i finally found something.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqQ8wO-lNmI
This is excellent, a whole course on electronics going from the very beginning up until very advanced.
All free, very well explained and very organized.
I finished the first couple of talks and i decided that i will go through a whole bunch of them before resuming with the Make: electronics book.
I'm not giving up on this just yet.
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Make: electronics book, Tip to read the inscription on tiny components
Make: electronics book, Tip to read the inscription on tiny components
In the last experiment, we had to use very small capacitors.
The magnifying glass was hopeless so i thought of a useful tip, take a picture of the tiny component and zoom in.
Worked fantastic.
Also found out that capacitors sometimes don't show the value but use a code instead.
Google can be our friend in this case.
(just google "capacitor code")
In the last experiment, we had to use very small capacitors.
The magnifying glass was hopeless so i thought of a useful tip, take a picture of the tiny component and zoom in.
Worked fantastic.
Also found out that capacitors sometimes don't show the value but use a code instead.
Google can be our friend in this case.
(just google "capacitor code")
Make: electronics book, Experiment number #11 part 2
Make: electronics book, Experiment number #11
Adding a bunch of component to create an alarm sound.
Alright im not going to explain everything, just to say that the size of the capacitor regulate the frequency at which the LED would flash in the first part of experiment 11.
If we use a capacitor that has a very high frequency, you'll get a constant on-off really fast which can be translated in a sound.
Get this signal to go on and off at a slower rate and you'll end up having something that sounds like an alarm.
Adding a bunch of component to create an alarm sound.
Alright im not going to explain everything, just to say that the size of the capacitor regulate the frequency at which the LED would flash in the first part of experiment 11.
If we use a capacitor that has a very high frequency, you'll get a constant on-off really fast which can be translated in a sound.
Get this signal to go on and off at a slower rate and you'll end up having something that sounds like an alarm.
Make: electronics book, Experiment number #11
Make: electronics book, Experiment number #11
Putting it all together.
In the first part of this experiment, we put together a programmable transistor with a capacitor to try and simulate the result of a previous experiment in which we used a switch.
The circuit was easy enough and the explanation pretty clear.
The result was a blinking LED.
The difference with the 2N6027 transistor compared to the 2N2222 that we used in the previous experiment is that the 2N2222 amplify the amount of current it gets in the gate, and the 2N6027 use the gate as a information to know how at what amount of current it should let the signal through.
as in:
If we put 2 volts in the base, the anode must receive at least 2volts before the transistor let the current through.
Anyhow, this was pretty straightforward.
Here is the final result:
Putting it all together.
In the first part of this experiment, we put together a programmable transistor with a capacitor to try and simulate the result of a previous experiment in which we used a switch.
The circuit was easy enough and the explanation pretty clear.
The result was a blinking LED.
The difference with the 2N6027 transistor compared to the 2N2222 that we used in the previous experiment is that the 2N2222 amplify the amount of current it gets in the gate, and the 2N6027 use the gate as a information to know how at what amount of current it should let the signal through.
as in:
If we put 2 volts in the base, the anode must receive at least 2volts before the transistor let the current through.
Anyhow, this was pretty straightforward.
Here is the final result:
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Make: electronics book, Experiment number #10
Make: electronics book, Experiment number #10
Transistors 101.
Alright, im still not certain about capacitors, but i decided to move forward and perhaps i'll eventually come across a satisfying explanation.
This experiment was an introduction to transistors.
Very interesting and easy to use.
The experiment was very easy and for the first time, there were no problems!!
To summe up what i learned, a smaller positive current is introduced to the base of a transistor, and it get activated and allow the bigger current to go through.
The more current is added to the base, the more current it let through.
Then the author of the book made us do something fun, remove the resistor that was limiting the current to the base of the transistor and replace it with our finger.
The current was getting through the finger, as showed in the video.
The closer the wires, the less resistance and the more the transistor was letting current through so the led was getting brighter.
All fun and games until i read the warning "don't use two fingers since it will let the current go through your body and it is dangerous" which i had been doing for the last 2 minutes.
A mistake from my part but this raised a question, why was the led so bright when i let the current go through my entire body? shouldn't the resistance offered by my whole body be pretty big?
Anyhow this was a fun experiment.
Looking forward to the next one!
Transistors 101.
Alright, im still not certain about capacitors, but i decided to move forward and perhaps i'll eventually come across a satisfying explanation.
This experiment was an introduction to transistors.
Very interesting and easy to use.
The experiment was very easy and for the first time, there were no problems!!
To summe up what i learned, a smaller positive current is introduced to the base of a transistor, and it get activated and allow the bigger current to go through.
The more current is added to the base, the more current it let through.
Then the author of the book made us do something fun, remove the resistor that was limiting the current to the base of the transistor and replace it with our finger.
The current was getting through the finger, as showed in the video.
The closer the wires, the less resistance and the more the transistor was letting current through so the led was getting brighter.
All fun and games until i read the warning "don't use two fingers since it will let the current go through your body and it is dangerous" which i had been doing for the last 2 minutes.
A mistake from my part but this raised a question, why was the led so bright when i let the current go through my entire body? shouldn't the resistance offered by my whole body be pretty big?
Anyhow this was a fun experiment.
Looking forward to the next one!
Make: electronics book, Experiment number #9
Make: electronics book, Experiment number #9
Measuring the voltage accumulating on a capacitor.
Connect the circuit (a pushbutton, a resistor and a capacitor).
Connect the probe of the meter to the capacitor,
See the voltage rise (and drop when you shut down the power.)
Sounded pretty simple but a few problems arose.
First of all I couldn't get any voltage on the emter to begin with.
So I changed the capacitor and it seemed to work.
Secondly, I eventually read in the book that the voltage in the capacitor should eventually reach the same voltage as the source.
My dc adaptor was set to 12V but i was reading about 17.5 Volts from my capacitor.
What the hell was going on?
After a small head ache, i realize that simply, my dc adaptor is faulty and give me voltage much higher than what it suppose to.
I guess i'll try to send it back to the electronics store.
Thats it for this experience, after the experience, re-reading the chapter on capacitor in both the Make: electronics book, and the "for dummies" book, plus watching the make youtube video, i have a better understanding of capacitors but still have a question about experiment number 8 that i cannot find the answer for.
(why the doesn't the circuit just ignore the capacitor, since there is no resistance in the relay so it is just like a direct wire. So you should have a result exactly similar to the same circuit without a capacitor.
Also since the circuit clearly doesn't ignore the capacitor, and presumably, the relay coil only use the power from the capacitor and nothing from the power supply, why does the capacitor get all of the voltage?)
if anyone can explain this to me, i would be very grateful!
Thank you!
Measuring the voltage accumulating on a capacitor.
Connect the circuit (a pushbutton, a resistor and a capacitor).
Connect the probe of the meter to the capacitor,
See the voltage rise (and drop when you shut down the power.)
Sounded pretty simple but a few problems arose.
First of all I couldn't get any voltage on the emter to begin with.
So I changed the capacitor and it seemed to work.
Secondly, I eventually read in the book that the voltage in the capacitor should eventually reach the same voltage as the source.
My dc adaptor was set to 12V but i was reading about 17.5 Volts from my capacitor.
What the hell was going on?
After a small head ache, i realize that simply, my dc adaptor is faulty and give me voltage much higher than what it suppose to.
I guess i'll try to send it back to the electronics store.
Thats it for this experience, after the experience, re-reading the chapter on capacitor in both the Make: electronics book, and the "for dummies" book, plus watching the make youtube video, i have a better understanding of capacitors but still have a question about experiment number 8 that i cannot find the answer for.
(why the doesn't the circuit just ignore the capacitor, since there is no resistance in the relay so it is just like a direct wire. So you should have a result exactly similar to the same circuit without a capacitor.
Also since the circuit clearly doesn't ignore the capacitor, and presumably, the relay coil only use the power from the capacitor and nothing from the power supply, why does the capacitor get all of the voltage?)
if anyone can explain this to me, i would be very grateful!
Thank you!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)