I’m new to electronics and looking to assemble an array of components and tools for working on and designing electronics & circuits. Something immediately apparent is that all of the widely available kits orient you towards working with microcontrollers and SBCs; these kits are cool, but I want to have a halfway decent understanding of the underlying analog components and circuit design before I go digital.
With that in mind, what should I get? If anyone could specify specifics to look into, I’d really appreciate that! Thanks for the help.
Current list
- A decent breadboard
- Jumper wires
- Multimeter
- Batteries
- Variable Power Supply?
- Assorted resistors (1Ω-?)
- Capacitors (Electrolytic and ceramic?)
- Various ICs?
- Transistors?
- Diodes, probably?
- Potentiometers
You have a pretty good list already. There are definitely still electronic component kits out there that are a handful of resistors, capacitors, and transistors of different values and some LEDs. You can also look at the parts in these kits and order them yourself from a place like Digi-key or Mouser, not sure what is available to you. It might save you a couple of bucks.
You probably don’t need a variable power supply, unless you really want one. But you should be fine with a 2 or 3 AA battery holder that has some wire leads you can plug into the breadboard. 10k Ohm potentiometers are the most common and the only kind I think I used in school. You can also look into logic gates (NOT, AND, OR, NAND, XOR) to start getting into the digital side of electronics without a microcontroller. Logic gates are the building blocks behind modern computers. There are IC chips that fit into breadboards in the 74HC Series.
Yeah, I agree. They’ll be able to get things working with AA’s or a 9V, no need for a fancy power supply. If I were them, I might even just pick up a couple of DC power supplies from the thrift store 25 cent bin of assorted cords.
OP, plenty of people donate things like DC power supplies, they are just not adjustable, they are just random chargers and cords they had laying around. You probably already have a couple. You might not be able to produce the 6.176523 V you want right off the bat if you just have a 5V and a 12V power supply, but one of the first things you learn about with analog electronics is voltage dividing, so it’s easy to get what you need.
Also, the kits that come with an arduino or whatever still have the stuff that you’d want. Arduinos are handy, too cause they’ll take analog inputs so you can graph stuff, or do whatever you want with your computer connected to your breadboard.
A power supply is something that a lot of hobbyists will build themselves. It’s very easy to build one with an LM317.
I don’t understand the list, the first don’t have a question mark, but then they do. Does that mean that the first items are already in your possession and you imagine needing the rest?
If you have all the stuff on your list, I get a book. Practical Electronics for Inventors by Paul Scherz is a terrific resource. With that in hand you can start dreaming up projects and realizing them.
If the question mark is the stuff you expect to need, I’d say that a lab power supply is almost a must have. Nothing fancy, something that’ll do 20 or 30V and a few amps, if you’re looking for something a bit more, then same specs but with current limiting. Something like this https://www.reichelt.de/de/en/laboratory-power-supply-0-30-v-0-3-a-risu-compliant-mcp-lbn-303-p324544.html but see if there’s a second hand market for this stuff in your area.
Some basic components kits like a resistor and a capacitor kit. Maybe assorted diodes and transistors. Maybe get some voltage regulators, 7805 7809 and 7812, they can come in handy, when you’ve only got a single output on the psu and need different voltages.
That should be enough for a few months of fun. Next you’ll maybe play with timing and triggers. So a pc scope opamps and some 555s.
Sorry, I should clarify - the list is items I believe I’ll likely need and the question marks indicate that I’m not sure if they’re necessary or that I’m not sure the specifics about what I should get. For example, I’m sure I need resistors, but I’m not sure if I need everything from 1Ω to 1MΩ, or which ICs to get. I was also unsure if I should get a variable power supply. Hopefully that makes more sense?
I think I understand now. I’ve taught intro to electronics for years, and I’d recommend you start out experimenting with resistor networks and measurement techniques. In that case you really don’t need to spend much. All you need is:
- breadboards, plural
- a resistor kit
- some battery holders or clips
- jumper wire, just get the cheap bundles with only plugs and no sockets.
- pliers and sidecutters. Spend more than 3usd on the sidecutters, and do not use them for anything but thin wire and component leads.
- a decent entry level multimeter, a unitrend ut33a can be had for about 20usd plus shipping on ebay, and is fine for starting out.
Try designing networks of resistors with pen and paper, calculate voltages across the individual resistors to get familiar with Ohm’s law and Kirchhoff’s circuit laws (BTW don’t attempt to understand Kirchoff using Wikipedia, someone wanted to flex their brain when writing that article). Build more and more advanced circuits, start out with series, then parallel, and finally mix series and parallel resistors. Try to work out the power draw of each resistor, and just once try to blow one up… On purpose, that is :)
When you’ve sorta got the hang of it, you can progress on to adding capacitance and inductance in you circuits, or digital logics, or what ever you like. But getting the hang on basic circuit theory? well, that can take some time.
For a desk power supply I highly recommend these.
https://a.aliexpress.com/_mK6QGlC
You’ll need a higher voltage PSU to put in front. I recommend meanwell.
Analog electronics are really cool, but they’re also less forgiving in learning than digital electronics are.
Taking an Arduino and doing some simple projects is simple enough, but it’s not always that easy with analog electronics. I don’t mean to discourage you, it’s perfectly possible, it’s just somewhat harder to understand.
Very soon into your journey in analog electronics, you’ll run into working with AC signals, and at that point I’m quite sure you’re going to need some sort of oscilloscope. There are cheaper desktop oscilloscopes for 300€-ish (for example from the brand Siglent) that perform very well for the price. If you wanna go cheaper than that, I have a DS212 mini handheld oscilloscope from Miniware. It’s quite basic and lacks some functionality, but it’s a banger for the 90€ it costed when I bought it.
To your list I would add a soldering iron, and if you allow me a recommendation, I’d buy the latest model of the Pinecil available, I think that would be the V2, from the Pine64 website. It’s an amazing little soldering iron that, again, is impossible to beat at its price point.
Good luck in your endeavours!!
