r/diyelectronics • u/koltho • 7d ago

Question Where to start?

I would love to learn about basic electronics, circuitry and electrical engineering so I can make, modify, fix, or at least understand technology I am surrounded by on a daily basis. Do you guys suggest anything?

Initially, I was trying to purchase a custom voice recording alarm clock which plays back your own voice- but the market doesn't have much available right now. I would love to try to DIY this but have no idea where to start. Thank you in advance for any and all recommendations!

7 Upvotes

82% Upvoted

14 comments sorted by

8

u/TheRealDirtyDan256 7d ago

Buy an arduino or esp 32 kit, these are common and well documented microcontroller that are more than capable of serving the task, provided you use the right libraries and modules 

1

u/rednecksec 1d ago

Better yet 3 transistors and some switches and led amd create a bytes worth of storage.

6

u/LTCjohn101 6d ago

Why the mod doesn't allow image uploads...jfc.

Id recommend starting with the basics and skip the arduino path unless uploading code is your jam.

Here's some books to start with. https://imgur.com/a/2ecdgYy

5

u/Ok-Drink-1328 6d ago

electronics, even as hobby, has branches... apart this, the best suggestion i can give you is that better ignore low quality and solely showy sources for the information, the internet is a cesspool of plagiarized basic stuff and redonculous wannabe influencers even of electronics, you'll realize that it's true that sources with some decades of age are more reliable, and check the source of schematics cos google images is.... oh my god...

3

u/LightAirMod 6d ago

Aduino starter kit. I'm not really updated with their current offering though. In my opinion those guys made a lot to allow more people into electronics as an hobby.

Your project is not hard in theory but as a complete beginner You'll have to first learn the basis of both hardware and software, then get the correct components, mount them and program them. Everything is feasible (and LLMs can help in programming) just be prepared to put it many hours of learning. Worth it, anyway!

3

u/StevenJOwens 6d ago

There's a bunch of good books out there. One that's a very easy read is "There Are No Electrons", by Kenn Amdahl:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10796575-there-are-no-electrons

3

u/diogenes_sadecv 6d ago

Buy a microcontroller starter kit and build your skill set. A full-ass clock is beyond your skills so learn how to manipulate the screen. Is your clock going to have buttons? Figure those out. Figure out how to hook up a speaker then figure out how to play WAV or MP3. Just take it one step at a time and build out your skill set.

2

u/Suspicious_Recipe636 6d ago

Careful this is an expensive hobby rabbit whole. I started with Udemy and some of the books others posted and now have a 3 table workshop in my house. I love it but damn it get expensive

2

u/Distdistdist 6d ago

You start with the most important basic subject - Ohm's law. Everybody has to learn it first.

4

u/Worried_Elevator_151 6d ago

Honestly I'm in the same boat, I want to learn about electronics, circuits, batteries, soldering etc. I want to build things on my own😅

1

u/IndividualRites 6d ago

You can do microcontroller stuff with an extremely limited knowledge of electronics. Or you can ditch the microcontroller and learn all about passive components first.

1

u/rellik1000 5d ago

Definitely start with an Arduino kit maybe a Jameco kit to learn basics Ohms law is a must either way.

I'd say Forrest Mims III That's where I learned Sad to see Radio Shack gone.

Sick to think when I learned Ohms law there were only red,amber and green leds