Ask HN: Good resources for learning electronic curcuits and PCB design

[ancient_art]

I feel lost. I watched videos & read tutorials but it's all pretty advanced stuff and I really need some curcuit basics. They just assume I know WHY to put a resistor here and a capacitor there.

I know some symbol basics but how do I know where to put what and why?

Do you know some tutorials/courses?

My goal is to create my own PCBs for multiple pet projects and being able to repair old ones.

[ChrisGammell]

It's tough at the beginning, there are so many paths to go down, especially on the theoretical side of things.

My suggestion for beginners is to grab an Arduino and make a blinky project. Try to program some LEDs lighting up. This will help introduce you to the concept of current and resistance, and will have some direct feedback. Normally the biggest source of frustration is how long it takes to get from start to finish on a small project in electronics. I think Arduinos do well to shortcut this. Check out some of the adafruit tutorials and boards to start on the right foot.

After that if you're interested in PCBs, I do short courses on YouTube under my brand called Contextual Electronics. Search for things like "Shine on you crazy KiCad" and "Getting to blinky" on YouTube, or check out the link below. The former is the simplest version of a PCB plugged into a Raspberry Pi (controlled via Python), and the latter is using a 555 timer to do the same without any programming elements. These are both primarily LED focused again but only because it takes some time to get used to electronic components before moving on to more complicated things like inductors and op amps. If you end up being interested in that, I have entire courses on my site about how to use those in your designs, in increasing complexity. The most recent course shows how to design a board with bluetooth and cellular capabilities.

Good luck! Electronics to something I've been doing for 20 years and I still get excited about working on it every day.

https://contextualelectronics.com/courses/shine-on-you-crazy...

https://contextualelectronics.com/GTB

[Roybot]

Woah this looks seriously invaluable for a beginner. I studied CompE and ended up going the software route. I am now just coming back to electronics with the hopes of combining my software knowledge with hardware to build useful consumer electronics.

It's people like you, Dave Jones, bunnie, and folks at adafruit that make this stuff accessible and feel approachable . YouTube University is real. Thanks man.

[ancient_art]

For me it's more about creating something that I can touch and projects that have an end. Electronics and PCBs in particular just happen to be really interesting to me.

But other than that I can only agree with your comment.

[ancient_art]

Thank you for your links.

One project I want to definitely try is a weather rock like project. Like a LED that lights up when the sun hits a sensor and useless stuff like this.

There's actually a simple PCB from a tutorial I followed already on it's way to me. I hope it works out.

[ecesena]

Like in software it pays to learn from open source, so in hardware. I understand it might be a bit early, but here are a couple resources to find open hardware projects that you can learn from:

- CrowdSupply: https://www.crowdsupply.com, most project are open

- OSWHA directory: https://certification.oshwa.org/list.html

(and -spoiler- in my profile you can find one more :)

[CloudBuddy]

https://www.udemy.com/course/crash-course-electronics-and-pc...

[ancient_art]

That looks interesting, thank you! Didn't even think about looking on Udemy.

[OnACoffeeBreak]

Take a look at https://ultimateelectronicsbook.com/

It starts with fundamentals and includes in-browser circuit simulator to experiment with.

Once you have the fundamentals, something like "The Art of Electronics" by Horowitz and Hill is useful for rules of thumb and do's and don'ts of circuit design. Warning: this book by itself will not teach you enough fundamentals to be useful.

[ancient_art]

I'm going to take a look at the link. Thanks. I already found "The Art of Electronics" but it's too advanced for me right now.

[rotterdamdev]

Get an electronics 101 book that is intended for highschool students. It will explain 85% of what you will need.

[ancient_art]

That would be a good start since most books I found are not targeted at beginners.

[Jugurtha]

Meta:

You can open an account at:

https://www.electro-tech-online.com/

https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/

https://www.edaboard.com/

These are forums with extremely helpful members. The format is different than Stack Overflow's "Question/Answer". It is built on the "Post/Thread". You can have threads that go on for 40 pages and span a year, when someone is doing a project, and these magnificent creatures will accompany the users with feedback.

One thing I've done when starting to do PCB is submitting the design to electro-tech-online.com asking for feedback and how I could improve it. You'll have people there with decades of experience go through it, make actionable suggestions on the design stinks and why they're not good.

You can also share a project you're doing as you are doing it, and they can help with the brainstorming/ideation and implementation, they would ask questions and question assumptions.

If you write firmware for microcontrollers, they can also chime in and help you refine the code. If you get into that community, you'll be on a fast track because you'll have people who can do that in their sleep help you in the nicest way.

PCB Design:

You can get yourself CadSoft EAGLE or KiCad, print the tiny documentation in a booklet format, then read the whole documentation, page by page, annotating it, trying every functionality. Making routes, ground pour, layers, with commands and with the mouse.

Dave Jones' "PCB Design Tutorial"[0], will also be very helpful.

Soldering:

Check out Dave Jones' multi-part videos on soldering[1][2][3]. Part 3 is for surface mount, don't bother with that just yet.

Electronics

Depending on where you're starting from.

Absolute beginner? Take a look at Tony Kuphaldt's "Lessons in Electric Circuits"[4]. It is split into multiple volumes (DC, AC, Semiconductors, etc...)

Somehwat beginner? Take a look at "The Art of Electronics" by Paul Horowitz and Winfield Hill. It's one of the books one has to have just in case civilization is destroyed.

Fun trivia: The chapter on transistors explains them by introducing a figure called "Transistor Man". That figure was drawn by Edward Purcell, which you may have heard of from CPMG (Carr-Purcell-Meyboom-Gill). He also won the Nobel Prize for the discovery of the Nuclear Magnetic Resonnance.

You can get an electronics test board like [5] on which you can experiment circuits without soldering them, and with fewer flying wires. The ones that have the screws that hold power input are nice. Then you can buy a bunch of operational amplifiers, LED, logic cates integrated circuits, resistors/capacitors/inductors and play with that.

A bit more advanced or not:

- Texas Instruments' "Op Amps For Everyone"[6]

- "Op-Amp Concepts" by Greg Kovacs

- "Op-Amp Applications Seminar"

In depth:

- "Troubleshooting Analog Circuits", by Robert Pease.

More in depth:

Application notes from manufacturers to get ideas for designs.

But to sum it up:

- Getting on dedicated forums

- Getting the test board and components (to tinker)

- Getting software for PCB design (just for the design)

- Share the design on forums to improve fast

- Print the board at a PCB shop

- Solder the components following the tutorial

- Learn more and more and go deeper at every phase after every win

So you may first start by getting components and assembling them on the board to make a circuit work, then designing a PCB for them and soldering them to make a working "prototype", but you will also learn more reading the books, exchanging with others, reading application notes or resources from manufacturers.

All the best,

[0]: http://www.alternatezone.com/electronics/files/PCBDesignTuto...

[1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5Sb21qbpEQ

[2]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYz5nIHH0iY

[3]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9FC9fAlfQE

[4]: https://www.ibiblio.org/kuphaldt/electricCircuits/

[5]: https://static-resources.imageservice.cloud/4858576/breadboa...

[6]: https://e2echina.ti.com/cfs-file/__key/telligent-evolution-c...

[Roybot]

Wow thanks for the resources - I like the recommendation of getting feedback on your design via the forum. Going to check it out now. And also reading the software documentation for pcb.

Any considerations you'd recommend before deciding on kicad versus the other software available for pcb design?

[Jugurtha]

I have worked much more with CadSoft EAGLE, not much with KiCad. I mentioned its name for more choice, but at this point it doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is to avoid analysis paralysis and searching for the optimal path to learning. Which means avoid any debate on the right soldering iron, the right software, the right board, etc. and just pick any single one and get started.

You can go down the rabbit hole and consume hours upon hours on YouTube videos delving into details on whether this soldering station is best, or this multimeter is best. Pick one that doesn't suck because at some threshold of quality/brand, the differences only matter to those who are advanced enough that a particular capability matters most. It's like optimizing to shave off a millisecond by reducing drag: sure it matters to Formula I drivers, but not to me at my level.

Jump both feet in, experiment, get a bunch of components, and build stuff. When you get into these forums, you'll hear about things and read conversations that recommend designs, or other resources such as books/blogs/courses, and you'll absorb a bit by osmosis. Then you make something with these resources to consolidate knowledge.

You can also follow a couple of channels or Twitter accounts. Even if you don't always understand, familiarizing yourself so you can act on things later is useful:

- https://www.youtube.com/user/EEVblog

- https://www.youtube.com/user/TheAmpHour

- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcs0ZkP_as4PpHDhFcmCHyA

- https://www.youtube.com/user/BTCInstrumentation/videos (more instrumentation, from Tony Kuphaldt)

- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCivA7_KLKWo43tFcCkFvydw (Ben Krasnow)

[Roybot]

Thank you.

[Roybot]

I'm on the exact same boat so I don't think there is much advice I can offer as I'm in the midst of working through similar challenges. But designing pcb layouts for my projects is also one of my goals. Take a look at the book Hacking the Xbox by andrew bunnie huang - read Appendix C "Getting into PCB Layout". It's good and informational - it won't give you a solid understanding but it will expose you to the terminology, tips and tricks, and the software you'll need. Read it. Right now. Then you can work backwards on what you need to know. Design a simple circuit and see it all the way through to pcb fabrication. Doesn't matter if it's dead simple or that designing and fabricating it on pcb is overkill. It will expose you to the entire process. Invaluable.

The feeling lost bit is probably common but when that's the case focus on your end goal. Here's my general approach so far.

- I got a personal project that I have no choice but to see through to the end. Having this as an end goal helps direct my focus.

- I avoid most rabbit holes - especially when it comes to learning theory. The rabbit holes are endless. I focus only on the rabbit holes that help me meet my end goal even if that means skipping fundamental stuff. This is really hard sometimes but if it's fundamental it'll come up again and again until ignoring it is not an option or maybe you just become curious enough to explore. My curiosity is dangerous here so I try to curb it the best I can. (maybe I should block time off specifically for exploring my curiosities and go deeper on concepts that may not be immediately relevant)

- I work on some aside prototypes to build an understanding of fundamental circuit components/concepts e.g. LEDs, resistors, voltage, current, resistance. Once I put something together I read a little bit of theory behind the components. Or sometimes it's the other way around - I read the theory then I put a simple circuit together using a breadboard and some wires.

- I bought tools based on advice I found in Books, YouTube, HN, and Reddit. For me this meant buying passive components, a breadboard, pre-cut wires, 22-gauge wire spools, soldering station (and various soldering equipment), hand-held tools (e.g. wire cutters, multimeter, tape measure), a power supply, safety equipment, and a 3d printer. I went on a spree. With that said I bought tools aligned with my goals.

- It also helps when I recognize that it takes time. Picking up and mastering a skill or at least becoming competent is a multi-year process. More importantly - I have that time. I have today, tomorrow, next week, next year to keep getting better. So there's no pressure. Man what a gift.

- I look to people that have the expertise and listen to what they have to say. That either means watching youtube lectures by people like bunnie, dave jones, authors of books. And just reading books like the Art of Electronics, Hacking the Xbox. Or finding material online and reading some more.

What an awesome time to be alive. Resource are endless - it's just a matter of paring stuff down based on your goal. Good luck on the projects.

[ancient_art]

That's pretty good advice. At least for me. Thank you for commenting.

There's already a PCB with a simple curcuit from a tutorial on it's way. I hope it works out.