Equipment for Beginner

"Larry Brasfield" wrote in message news:Kig%d.14$ snipped-for-privacy@news.uswest.net...

and online sources for the theory but I am not sure

too expensive for me and I cannot find out what their

I should add that before you equip a lab, spending some time with the free SPICE simulator generously provided by Linear Technology, would do more for cementing your understanding of the basics than some real equipment. Get it at:

What equipment do I need to get to learn the basics of AC/DC? I have texts and online sources for the theory but I am not sure what hardware I would need to augment the texts. The CIE courses are just too expensive for me and I cannot find out what their "personal electronics trainer" consists of.

Thanks

Check out the very good tutorials found by doing a Google for electronics, there are some very informative sites. Initially you want to learn as much as possible about the safety routines that are mandated in working with active circuits. Then you decide what type of measuring devices you will require. First: a good DVM, a good assortment or hand tools [including a basic soldering station]. <

Thanks - I'll have a look at switchercad. I have not heard of it before.

I have seen many "personal electronics trainers" and they usually consist of some kind of prototype board and some common components like resistors, diodes, transistors, op-amps, etc..

You can get such things a lot cheaper buy buying it yourself as you need it. Or buy an electronics experiment kit, usually found in toy stores.

Youngster who get such a kit can put together circuits and be happy that it works, but you can also measure everything and do theoretical calculations and check them in reality. And change the circuits far beyond the simple instructions in the kit. It's the same components as in a personal trainer. You just use it in another and more advanced way than youngsters do who get such a kit for christmas.

But there is an even cheaper, and better, option.

Learn to use an electronics simulator and you can do electronics experiments in your computer. That will add a very valuable experience to your merits list, and you can do experiments without having to buy real components and tools.

One of the best simulators is switchercad, and it's free.

To find experiments to do you can take circuits from the theory sources you have found, and from all the circuits for beginners you can find on the web. Or from the electronics experimenters kit, if you got one.

You might still want to do some soldering experiments too, to get a feel for the real components. Buy a cheap soldering iron and some pcb board material and components and a cheap digital multimeter.

But such soldering experience is of very little value if you are looking for a job, unless you want to move to Malaysia and get a work in a factory and assemble circuits together with thousands of very low paid malaysian women.

If you learn to work with a simulator in your computer you will have the knowledge needed to design circuits, and that is of great value if you want a future job in electronics.

Shop around for this sort of thing:

Here are some other suggestions:

And for heaven's sakes, if you intend to learn anything useful, DO NOT use a simulator until AFTER you've had components in your hands - at least light up a LED, blow up a capacitor, charge a capacitor and shock your little brother, stuff like that.

Have Fun! Rich

Hey! I was the little brother! Fortunately, he had no electrical inclination.