Learning basic electronics by building fireflies

Re:Learning basic electronics by building fireflies by behnamoh on Tuesday July 29, 2025 @03:28PM (#44727332)

I hold a BSc in electrical engineering and even I still don't fully understand how circuits work, especially the ones that involve transistors. I tried various mental models to think about the "flow" of current/electrons, but nothing works 100% of the time. Maybe that's just how my brain works: I like algorithmic thinking (A → B → C) as opposed to holding the entire circuit in my mind and solving for V or I.

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Re:Learning basic electronics by building fireflies by alias_neo on Tuesday July 29, 2025 @04:23PM (#44727842)

I suppose the BEng in Electronic Engineering I did is more in line with this sort of thing. I did Electrical Engineering (BEng) too but that was more power and control, motors, etc, it didn't really crossover much into this territory.

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Re:Learning basic electronics by building fireflies by blackguardx on Tuesday July 29, 2025 @06:56PM (#44729213)

I have a B.S. and M.S in EE. In undergrad, I took a class where we had to solve a different problem using a new analog circuit each week. At first, we could only use BJTs, resistors, and capacitors. Eventually, we made 555 timers from discrete transistors and "unlocked" that IC for future use. At some point we were allowed to use opamps and other ICs as well.

This class was the hardest class I have ever taken in my life but it really gave me an intuitive understanding of analog electronics that I still have 20 years later.

I don't there there is any quick substitute for just putting in the work. All these posts about AI learning are the same. The magic isn't AI, but the motivation to learn. The AI might help some folks get more excited about the process, though.

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Re:Learning basic electronics by building fireflies by dqh on Tuesday July 29, 2025 @07:29PM (#44729433)

This sounds incredible and makes me want to go through a similar learning process. I don’t suppose anyone could recommend a book or course along these lines?

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Re:Learning basic electronics by building fireflies by JKCalhoun on Tuesday July 29, 2025 @10:59PM (#44730572)

A lot of us started out putting together some of the circuits in Forrest Mims Radio Shack books [1]. He does a good job of explaining how they work as well.

And then there is an amazing site with (thousands of ?) electronics hobbyist magazines archived [2]. If you want to start browsing, they often ran series in their issues along the lines of "getting started in electronics". Regardless, some awesome projects in there.

But if you want to go back pre-transistor (ha ha) the U.S. Navy had a great series on learning electronics [3]. Def. analog.

[1] https://archive.org/search?query=Forrest+Mims

[2] https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Popular-Electronics-Guide....

[3] https://archive.org/details/basic-electronics-volumes-1-5-by...

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Re:Learning basic electronics by building fireflies by jacksavage on Tuesday July 29, 2025 @11:00PM (#44730577)

The Art of Electronics is an incredible resource. They have a companion book which guides you through hands-on labs. I have not read it, but I trust that it would be worthwhile.

https://learningtheartofelectronics.com/

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Re:Learning basic electronics by building fireflies by dqh on Wednesday July 30, 2025 @10:19AM (#44734574)

Thank you - I recently picked up the art of electronics but wasn’t aware of this companion book.

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Re:Learning basic electronics by building fireflies by the__alchemist on Wednesday July 30, 2025 @09:28AM (#44733928)

It's so easy to cheat with your mental model and think in terms of "When I write 0x69 to the GPIO register, LED turns on....

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