Electronics

Playin’ it Safe – Safety for Electronics Enthusiasts

It’s time to part from the theoretical and get into some hands on, practical stuff once again. Today’s topic is electronics safety, specifically safety with electricity and hobbyist electronics.

If you’re scoffing at me or thinking of skipping this post, I urge you not to. You may save your life, or someone else’s. Some electronics safety measures are a no brainer, but it’s easy to forget a “no brainer” when our grey matter is occupied with our project design or unraveling the mysteries of troubleshooting a problem.

Also, there are some safety measures I’ll present that you may not have given much thought to.

9 Things All Electronics Hobbyists Should Know

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There are certain things all electronics hobbyists should know.

Some of them are simple and easy to learn, while others can take years to completely master.

For example, learning to solder is relatively easy for most people. Becoming an expert in C programming can take some time though.

Because of this, don’t think that you need to become an expert in all of these things if you’re thinking of getting started in electronics. We all start somewhere and even if you know nothing about any of the topics below, you’ll learn as go.

However, as time goes on you should try to become at least somewhat proficient with all the below. Just don’t get discouraged if it doesn’t happen overnight.

There’s never been a better time to start than now!

Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) Tutorial

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At its core, pulse width modulation (PWM) is just another modulation technique like AM or FM, among others.

Many electronics hobbyists who build robots and other moving things recognize the term as it pertains to controlling the speed of a motor.

But PWM has a lot of other, lesser known uses also.

Let’s first start with some PWM fundamentals.

What is Pulse Width Modulation (PWM)?

Choosing a Development Board for Your Project

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Choosing a development board for your projects can be a daunting task. Given the large number of development boards available today, it’s no wonder.

For those who don’t already know this, let’s first come up with a definition for development board.

A development board is a small circuit board containing either a microcontroller, microprocessor (or both) which supplies the necessary components and software for design and programming.

Most of us are familiar with boards like the various incarnations of Arduino, Raspberry Pi, and even BeagleBone. These are some of the most popular options among hobbyists and makers.

Some of us are familiar with other, lesser known boards like Intel’s Galileo or Texas Instrument’s TI LaunchPad. [Read more…] about Choosing a Development Board for Your Project

All About the Decibel

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There are some things in the world of electronics that are just confusing to people, though they are actually simple underneath. The decibel is one of them.

If you’re into electronics you probably have heard the term decibel or dB thrown around.

Even if you’re not an electronics enthusiast at all, you may have heard the term used in situations dealing with sound.

Understanding the decibel (or dB) is important for any aspiring electronics geek.

Decibels show up in amplifier design, filter design, Bode plots, antenna specs and more.

Fortunately, the concept of the decibel is relatively simple once you understand it. In fact, this post will probably be shorter than most of the others due to the simplistic nature of this unit.

10 Ways to Tell if You’re a Real Electronics Geek

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This time, I want to step away from C programming for a minute and do something a bit different and fun.

Stereotypes are woven into the fabric of society, for better or for worse. Luckily for electronics enthusiasts, the stereotypes we get tend to be on the better side of that.

This got me thinking about the stereotypes people like us endure (I’m using the word “endure” in a facetious sort of way) and what it means to be an electronics hobbyist or enthusiast. To me, an electronics hobbyist and an electronics enthusiast are the same, so I’ll probably use both interchangeably.

After a nice brain-dump, I came up with 10 traits that many electronics geeks have.