Begginer Electronic Book?

Hello,

I feel comfortable with the coding but its the electronics I'm not comfortable with. I can read a schematic, understand what most components do but still have issues with pullup and pulldown resistors and when making a circuit determining what components to use. I've watched two tutorials (multiple parts) which each totaled about 6 hours. Also lots of small tutorials. So I am not completely ignorant but struggling. Recommendations?

Thanks
-Jared

Grob's "Basic Electronics" - starts with "what is an electron" - and moves from there (mind you, this is considered an EE101 textbook, with a price to match - so shop used for older editions).

Horowitz's "Art of Electronics"

For basic electronics (though with a bent toward RF for obvious reasons) - the ARRL's "Understanding Basic Electronics" can be a good resource...

Have you looked at this site?

http://electronicsclub.info/ (it's a european/UK site - so it doesn't use the same nomenclature and symbols for schematics as an American site - so keep that in mind).

Here's a couple others:

http://openbookproject.net/electricCircuits/

Also - you might want to check out the Forrest M. Mims III's books - specifically the ones known as the "Engineer's Mini-Notebooks":

These were originally published via Radio Shack in the 1970s thru the early 1990s, mainly - but they are still available in larger formats as well (though the pocket versions will always be my favorites). There were several that were geared toward beginners - from basic schematics and circuits, to semiconductors and transistors, to the 555 timer, and all kinds of others. However, due to the era - there wasn't any on microcontrollers (and surprisingly, I never saw one on microprocessors of the era, either - I guess because they were still rather expensive, and they weren't something Radio Shack carried in bare form, plus they were much more complex to understand and build a simple system, unlike today's microcontroller systems).

It is very difficult to learn Electronics yourself. Why don't you ask one of the questions that you want answers to. Then someone can explain what you need to know. Like pullups for instance. Give an example.

Lol.

I gotta laugh about this, sorry. In another post recently it was suggested that a newbie guide might be a good idea, however, the idea was soundly squashed. Now here we have someone looking for just such a thing. (Sighhhh...)

Oh well. Try www.allaboutcircuits.com. They have a on-line book about electronics there. It's not specific to what is done here, and you'd have to dig pretty deep to find the basic rules and pertinent tips 'n' tricks, but most of what you need to learn is there, plus a ton more.

:grin:

DirtBiker:
Lol.

I gotta laugh about this, sorry. In another post recently it was suggested that a newbie guide might be a good idea, however, the idea was soundly squashed. Now here we have someone looking for just such a thing. (Sighhhh...)

Oh well. Try www.allaboutcircuits.com. They have a on-line book about electronics there. It's not specific to what is done here, and you'd have to dig pretty deep to find the basic rules and pertinent tips 'n' tricks, but most of what you need to learn is there, plus a ton more.

:grin:

People weren't interested in simply undertaking a massive effort to duplicate information that is already out there. If you still think another document is needed as you did before, by all means, feel free to try your hand. There is nothing to stop you.

A lot of questions would be answered if people simply went through the provided Arudiuno tutorials but they obviously don't from the questions asked. You could add links to the tutorials on related information but if people don't read the tutorials to start with......

JAnwyl:
Hello,

I feel comfortable with the coding but its the electronics I'm not comfortable with. I can read a schematic, understand what most components do but still have issues with pullup and pulldown resistors and when making a circuit determining what components to use. I've watched two tutorials (multiple parts) which each totaled about 6 hours. Also lots of small tutorials. So I am not completely ignorant but struggling. Recommendations?

Thanks
-Jared

Someone has done a series of 'cards' that I cannot find now. Maybe someone has them bookmarked. It shows many of the common different hookups for different components to the Arduino.

Took some effort but I found it:

Pullup/down resistors. Take a look at this schematic: http://arduino.cc/en/uploads/Tutorial/button_schem.png from this tutorial: http://arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/Button

This is a pull down resistor. It keeps the pin from 'floating'. When the switch is open it is 'pulled down to ground' through the resistor. Usually a high value like 10K is used. You don't really want current to flow. You just want to tie it to ground when the switch is open. Without this the pin could 'float' to some value above ground. If you use the serial print line function you can watch the value on this pin. You can change the circuit and pull the resistor and watch it again. Remember, if you are doing a digital read you have not set this pin high or low so what is the value?

You may, or may not see it change. However, when you get to the analog read tutorial you can simulate this same thing with voltage readings from 0 to 255. Then when you pull the resistor you will almost certainly NOT get zero (at least I didn't) if you pull the resistor. If you go through the Arduino tutorials some of this will make a bit more sense. More so than just watching them someplace else.

Thanks for the reply's. I've watched 2 classes on basics each class totaling around 6 hours. Other tutorials on things I've felt I need more understanding of. I feel as though I've grasped a lot but I still have issues with pull-up and pull-down resistors. I don't know how many videos and tutorials I've read on them but anything I can consume, so thanks for the links.

whats (still) ur problem with pull up and down?

I managed to snag most of Mims III's radio shack books when Tandy (Radioshack UK) closed. these were how I learnt along with 2 equally old model railway electronics books.