Electronics Projects for Beginners
Image by mseckington on Flickr
Here are links to projects, tutorials, parts, and online communities to help you get started with electronics projects for beginners.
Daleks, however, probably would be a frustrating project for someone new to electronics.
Electronics projects are a great way to learn about the hardware part of computing. Obviously electronics involves electricity. But it also includes circuits, voltage, and resistance, all components used to build computer hardware. Electronics projects are also a great way for beginners to not only be consumers of electronics but, more importantly, to be able to build, change, and fix computers. You don’t have to become a computer repair expert to benefit.
Where can you get started with electronics projects for beginners? Here are a number of online resources to help you find projects, tutorials, parts, and online communities to help.
Electronics Projects for Beginners
Instructables: Electronic Projects For Beginners
Written by a thirteen year old, this article links to a number of small projects geared towards people new to electronics. Projects include a solar iPhone charger, how to solder, a solar cockroach, and a water powered calculator.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Electronic-Projects-For-Beginners/
http://www.instructables.com/id/Beginners-Electronics-Projects/
Five Beginner Projects that Work on the First Attempt
Links to videos showing simple projects, including a clap on clap off switch.
http://www.buildcircuit.com/5-beginners-projects-that-work-in-the-first-attempt/
Simple Electronics Projects for Beginners
Articles with reader comments for a number of projects, including a water level indicator, FM radio transmitter, and infrared motion detector.
http://www.circuitstoday.com/simple-electronics-projects-and-circuits
Electronics Projects for Dummies
No one who reads this magazine is a dummy, but this Dummies website has a great step-by-step set of tutorials for a coin toss circuit that also teaches the process of designing and building electronics projects.
http://www.dummies.com/how-to/consumer-electronics/electronics/Electronics-Projects.html
Makezine Electronics Projects
While most of their projects are not for beginners, this is a great site to browse to get excited about what you might do once you finish a few electronics projects for beginners. There are some really neat projects on this site.
http://makezine.com/category/electronics/
Radio Shack Beginner Electronics Projects
Really an overview article with some ideas on what they offer people who want to get started with electronics projects, for example, Engineer Mini Notebooks which sound interesting.
http://techchannel.radioshack.com/beginner-electronics-projects-1831.html
Electronics Tutorials
Ben Heck Show: Back to Basics
Key skills like how not to fry your projects.
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwO8CTSLTkijrSW6DIFsQxcvjRo5fZ-y5
How to Solder
The ability to solder, using heat to fuse two soft metals, is a key skill for electronics projects.
https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/how-to-solder—through-hole-soldering/all
Spark Fun Tutorials
https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials
Parts for Electronics Projects
Element 14
Sponsor of the Ben Heck show that features electronics projects, as well as an online community where you can get help with your projects.
http://www.element14.com/community/welcome
Adafruit
Focus on Arduino, Raspberry Pi, and Beagle Board parts and projects, with lots of tutorials.
https://www.adafruit.com/
Spark Fun
Minibread
Octoparts
A search engine to find electronic parts from many different vendors.
http://www.octopart.com/
Online Communities
Element 14
An active community built around their electronics parts business and the Ben Heck YouTube show they sponsor.
http://www.element14.com/community/welcome
Makezine
https://plus.google.com/communities/105413589856236995389
Author
Also In The March 2014 Issue
An Interview with Ben Heck
Ben Heckendorn is a self-taught maker with high energy, an internet show on Element14 (The Ben Heck Show), and a wonderfully wicked sense of humor. He also inspired this issue of the magazine.
Circuit Diagrams
Circuit diagrams are maps used to design and build electronic devices. This article describes connections, components, history, and tools used to create circuit diagrams.
Electronics Projects for Beginners
Here are links to projects, tutorials, parts, and online communities to help you get started with electronics projects for beginners.
Zina Lahr
Meet someone who used her love of electronics to create deeply fun and personal robots, gadgets, and other cool stuff.
Version Control Software
Version control software captures an evolving snapshot of one set of code along with all changes in case older versions need to be retrieved.
Brackets, Semicolons, or Nothing, Oh My
How do programming languages know what to process? And in the correct order?
JSON
JSON, or JavaScript Object Notation, is an elegant way to organize data into key:value pairs and make web applications work like software.
I do not think there is any thrill that can go through the human heart like that felt by the inventor as he sees some creation of the brain unfolding to success.
How to Use an Electronic Breadboard
Electronic breadboards are used to prototype electronic circuit designs and projects without messy solder or hot soldering irons.
Learn More Links for March 2014
Links from the bottom of all the March 2014 articles, collected in one place for you to print, share, or bookmark.
Node.js
Node.js is a software platform to create fast, scalable web applications quickly. These applications also use JavaScript on the server and web browsers.
Non-Relational Databases
These databases are relatively new technology to store data in databases. Here are a few options to explore.
News Wire Stories for March 2014
Interesting stories about computer science, software programming, and technology for the month of February 2014.
