is reading lots of schematics the best way to learn?

[psasidisrcum]

Hi all,
I'm a novice in the field of electronics and wanted to know what your suggestions are for further learning. I've had a few university courses in electronics but don't feel like I have much practical knowledge that would be useful in designing anything complicated.

I gather that The Art of Electronics is an excellent book and plan on getting one soon. But beyond this book, is reading a lot of schematics the best way to learn (other than actually doing lots of projects, of course)?

If so, are there any good books that contain tons of schematics with explanations? I'm guessing The Art of Electronics is more of a how-to book, rather than something with tons of schematics and examples. Certainly, just going through this book isn't going to make me very capable, is it?

I've visited a number of sites with schematics, recommended by people on this forum, but often found them to be either lacking explanations, or inconsistent in presentation (not to mention that I prefer looking at a paper rather than an LCD ).

The books that I did find were mostly limited to a single subject (ie. audio), and I was looking for something more general, ideally presented in an increasingly-complicated manner.

I guess I'm looking back at how I learned to program, and I remember that reading other people's code was of tremendous value. I'm hoping that taking a similar route in learning electronics will speed up the process (please correct me if I am wrong)

Also, are software simulators(ie. PSpice) a good aid in learning? or are they more useful for checking things before actually building a project?

Thanks for your input!

 

[jdhar]

Schematics are a good way to learn, however, designing for yourself is probably the best way. In University, when i felt that i wasn't learning anything practical (which I wasn't), I started to design my own projects. Now THAT is when you learn a ton.

 

[truebs]

Certainly not !!!
I believe that wrestling with lots of schematics can infact lead to a ELectronic phobhia.

You need to be the luckiest person on this planet to just get a schematic and design it and be able to see it work.

It never works.
You need to be very very strong at the FUNDAMENTALS . Only then this journey can be fruitful. Certainly using softwares as a tool is very helpful.

But only hit and try without understanding can lead you no where !!

Goodluck !

 

[ze_dib]

HI,

My point of view is rather mitigated : looking to lots of schematic can be usefull, in a way. But i agree that doing without understanding lead you to a wall.

In fact, concplicated design are essentially a gather of simple functionnal design.

The cheapiest way to learn electronic is to look at application note on chip, particularly in analog design. They generaly show you the way to implement different solution with the same component. But there are generally few theorical element, just the minimum to customize their exemple to your need.

Simulation software are good to check that you design behave as you want, but will teach nothing if you don't have a good knowledge of theory.

Regards,

Ze_DIB

 

[mohammad mokhtar]

Hi
The best way to learn and read schematics and design electronic circuits (provided that elementary elctronics ( like r.l.c.transistors ....etc) is well known to thr extent you can use them without any difficulty) is to go to further step and read about basic electronic modules like comparator cicuits,integrators ,schmitt triggers ....etc. Complicated schematics are composed from such modules.I suggest u the following book Handbook of simplified solid-state circuit design by John D.Lenk
BR
Mohammad Mokhtar

 

[hill]

In my humble opinion, you will need some experiments.

If you don't have the basic knowledge of simple circuit, you can't understand a complex schematic design and reading such design will lead you to nowhere.

 

[as_518]

the best way to learn is to do. do them yourelf and presnt them to somone experinced to tell you where you have errors.

 

[sp]

in my opinion,,,,wad they all say are quite true,,,

i would like to add one....

learning spice is another important part for electronics...pspice...

learn to use pspice will let u know more bout the circuits behaviour....

for complex circuits...simulation is best as u can know wad is the behaviour of each individual part/component.... it is imposible/difficult to do manual analysis at this stage..i mean complex circuits....u can simply change any parts u want n then u can simulate,,,, u will learn the design very fast,,,,

regards,
sp

 

[nomad]

you can learn electronics by through building circuits of course you also should read and learn about the circuit you build.operations of materials should be learned

 

[as_518]

i think if you are a begineer to start with simle simulation programs like elecric workbench

 

[Naveed Alam]

Also, are software simulators(ie. PSpice) a good aid in learning? or are they more useful for checking things before actually building a project?

simulatore etc. helps u to find responses without actually implement it.. they help u learning things
but
actual implementation gives u the best knowledge...

 

[Sceadwian]

It might seem a bit childish, but getting yourself a 301 electronics projects kit (the ones with the springs for connections) is a really good way to understand a wide variety of circuits. The books come with schematics on virtually every basic electronics circuit you would ever need, with component values and a means of testing it immediatly. They design the instructions so that even a kid can't mess up the circuit when it's being put together and usually supply enough theory and understanding to definitly get a handle on what's going on. Also a free spice simulator (linear makes one called switchercad III) is a great start on top of that because you can put a lot of stuff together for testing without worrying about burning anything out. Though be careful about constructing simulated circuits without at least a passing 'okay' from someone that really knows what they're doing.
I've been browsing electronics newsgroups for a little while and searchign the web and simulating lots of stuff, but when my girlfriends son got one of those 301 projects kit I ended up reading the whole thing and almost use it more than he does =) On a basic level it 's definitly helping me learn intuativly how electronics circuits are put together, without too much of a head full of math.