I am an industrial electrician apprentice. I have been told by instrumentation techs that adruino is a solid option to learn the basics before attending college.
I have no experience building digital electronic systems. Which kit should I start with and what higher level kits should I move onto afterwards? Should I complete the basic kit then move onto the engineering kit?
What home study path would you recommend for an amateur trying to gain expertise in systems similar to instrumentation?
Jservices:
I am an industrial electrician apprentice. I have been told by instrumentation techs that adruino is a solid option to learn the basics before attending college.I have no experience building digital electronic systems. Which kit should I start with and what higher level kits should I move onto afterwards? Should I complete the basic kit then move onto the engineering kit?
What home study path would you recommend for an amateur trying to gain expertise in systems similar to instrumentation?
Please, give an specific example of an industrial instrumentation such as measuring temperature, pressure and humidity and then show them on a single 4-digit 7-segment display unit one after another at 3-sec interval and record them on SD Card against time stamp at 1-hr interval. If this is your instrumentation, then you need:
1. Arduino UNO
2. BME280
3. MAX7219 based 4xcc-type 7-segment diaply unit
4. DS3231 RTC
5. SD Card
That's a tough one and an interesting one, everyone who gives advice will have had there own pathway and probably has there own idea/s what a good pathway might be.
However, what many people lack who are interested in doing something with "Arduino" is something you will be gaining, or are already gaining as an apprentice, and that is a good solid grounding in electrical principles, components and devices, testing and measuring, understanding and creating diagrams and plans, practical applications, safety and construction practices and skills, task flow/management, to name just a few key skills.
These are very translateable to electronics/engineering/instrumentation if the various adjustments are made, by learning and practice.
As for kits, that can be dependent in what part of the world you are and what may be easily available locally, followed by what you can find further afield nationally, and internationally.
But yes, start with the basic ones, and move up the scale as progress is made.
My reccommendation would be to "forget" about Arduino initially, and build up some experience with hobby electronic/electrical/digital kits of interest to you, and also maybe friends or family.
This helps provide some motivation and purpose beyond just a learning exercise, and builds up the basic skills without the distraction of programming and interfacing a micro, and the temptation to regard it as a "magic wand" or black box to solve problems before gaining an appreciation of the underlying principles.
As to the kinds of kits, well the choice is huge, but they tend to range from "learning" kits, sometimes also part of a series or course, to gadgets/useful circuits of all kinds in all sorts of areas, ranging from domestic to automotive, to test tools/equipment. It all depends what areas are of interest, and what may seem to be useful.
As a triple whammy, a piece of test equipment is very hard to beat. Not only will it provide some assembly and knowledge skills, it also provides (possibly!) debugging, testing and calibrating skills/experience, (you have to trust your test equipment right?) and something that aids the assembly and testing of future projects.
Here's just a few examples of kits from just one possible supplier;
a multimeter kit , automotive kits , so-called control/instrumentation kits , audio/video kits (with a few strays thrown in) .
This would be a great foundation to then move onto kits, projects or learning platforms that involve an Arduino and other devices which can be coded/programmed from the Arduino IDE. In many cases, it can be interesting and useful to work out how to add brains to an existing kit/function, or replace some or all/of the analog/digital circuitry with an Arduino and program.
Other aprojects will become apparent as the need and interest arise. If the area of interest continues to be control and instrumentation (communications will also be a given here), there will be no end of possible projects for home or work. One of my own favourite projects is an AC current meter/power estimation meter that evolved from a simple direct connection to a laptop, to an rf link to handheld display and rf link to laptop, to rf link to Arduino with Ethernet connection posting to a cloud data display service, and broadcasting udp for easy wireless terminal display on pc or Android. It evolved as my skills evolved, and there is yet more that could be learnt and done.
For the study pathway, if serious, a two-pronged approach is a good. Acquisition of textbooks and references at suitable levels to support existing and future courses (2nd hand can be really good value), and acquiring interesting hobby level guides and books for the home/hobby interests. Even just loaning books from a library can be very useful.
Then of course the good 'ol internet, - suppliers and data, references, guides and online courses, forums/networking.
Gaining the fundamentals of programming (perhaps C/C++ as a start!, or perhaps python if pc, not micro-based) from a structured course via book, internet or formal class, or all of the above would be invaluable too. Just like one needs the electrical and elctronics basics, one also needs the coding basics to advance.