Is it easy to study basic electronic at home

[infoseeker]

I am from Birmingham UK near star city , and want to study basic electronic for building a robot ,  my question really is would it be easy for me to study this at home  via ICS study course who provide  course booklet stage  by stage ,

if not  do you know of any other colleage or Part time study place where I can learn Basic Electronic?

Any help would be great.

[galannthegreat]

If you are a person who is a DIYer you can even get books to teach you basic electronics. Here is a book that I have myself that would give you an understanding of basic electronics, http://www.amazon.com/Teach-Yourself-Electricity-Electronics-Fourth/dp/0071459332/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1241197235&sr=8-1

[Trumpkin]

Here is a book that I have myself that would give you an understanding of basic electronics, http://www.amazon.com/Teach-Yourself-Electricity-Electronics-Fourth/dp/0071459332/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1241197235&sr=8-1

I love that book!

[Soeren]

Hi,

This book: http://www.amazon.com/PIC-Robotics-Beginners-Guide-Projects/dp/0071373241 is quite easy to go through, according to a friend of mine who build a life size animated Santa-bot, which is used around Xmas in his wife's shop.
When he started out, he knew nothing at all about electronics or robotics, this book and one or two other got him started (and a usenet group on electronics got him the rest of what he needed).

[galannthegreat]

I have that book aswell... but I found it to be very lacking in a lot ways, things weren't as explained, but that is no reason not to get that book because

"The internet is a vast universe of knowledge, try that one out."

. With that you can easily fill in the blanks with the internet.

[SmAsH]

89% of my knowledge has been learnt from this site... probably another 5% from U.G. then the rest from my electronics teacher.

[kd5kfl]

it's easy until you think you understand something that you don't. from that point on, all of your education will be built on an erroneous foundation.

learning electronics is like making stew. you fill your brain up with unrelated facts and let them simmer for a long time. the end result is tastier than the raw materials. the two important things in this analogy are that it takes time to process, and you must continually add heat.

[Soeren]

Hi,

[...] from that point on, all of your education will be built on an erroneous foundation.

Well most science still in use today builds, in some way, on eg. the (false) fact, that the speed of light is an absolute value that cannot be altered, even if one of my country(wo)men proved that wrong almost a decade ago, by slowing it seriously down.
Seems to me that we get by reasonably well anyway

[...] you fill your brain up with unrelated facts [...] and you must continually add heat.

Now I get a mental image of the OP with a blowtorch on his forehead    (even though I cannot agree about the facts being unrelated).

[Ultra7]

There is always NEETS.
Kind of dry, but will teach you electrical and electronics engineering.
Best of all, it is free.


http://www.tpub.com/neets/

[aludra_55]

I learned some basic electronics from the internet, book store, and hands on...  I got myself a cheapo voltmeter ($13), a bunch of assorted resistors, LEDs, caps, 555 times, op-amps, jumper wires, battery...  if you're interested in embedded design electronics, then these guys in the forum are super helpful...  =)

[unicoder]

http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/biblio?inkey=65-9780766826953-1

Is one of the best books Ive read. The first half covers mechanical things such as gears, hydraulics, pneumatics.
The second half at about page 225 It covers everything from basic electrical theory, ohm law, watts law, to Semiconductors and AC Freq Drives.

This book will help you get started and put you on an apprentice level education if you absorb it.

PS The first half may not seem like much...but its crucial of you plan to work on any robotics containing compressed gas, hydraulic or pneumatic components. Nothings worse than waiting an hour for some specialist to come replace a valve and refill your solution just so you can get back to programming/working.

[HyperNerd]

I will tell you the exact way (pretty much) that I got into electronics. A bloody good book. (And a heap of random components of course )

I suggest buying:
This book: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Electronics-Dummies-Gordon-McComb/dp/0764576607/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1241804722&sr=8-1
This Kit: http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=97369
And getting stuck in!

 -HyperNerd