Wanting to learn more about electronics

[thejuggla1]

Hi, I'm a year one electrical apprentice, about 6 months of school and 4 months and counting in the field. I've taken a few electronics courses back in high school as well spent 2-3 weeks on electronics during my schooling(although I didn't really learn anything I didn't already know), but I want to learn more about the electronics side of things. I'm not sure really where to start?, I know what basic things do like transistors, capacitors, resistors ect. The most advanced thing I've made would probably be a 4-way traffic light using a 555 and 4017, although I didn't design it myself, only tweaked it a bit. I understand how the 4017 works but the 555 is still a bit confusing to me it seems it can be setup multiple ways to do multiple things. I understand in this case the 555 was "telling" the 4017 how long till it jumps to the next prong in the sequence which was controlled by the ohms on the resistor in the 555 part of the circuit.

I was just recently looking up making a circuit board using a Laser jet printer then putting it in the solution to take off the copper. Same way as I learned in school, just I can't recall the program you would use to make the design?

Somethings I'd be interested in making would be
For audio cars guitars or even home: A row of LEDs that light up depending on how much of a signal is being sent to the amp

2 Lights one always on one always off, that alternate which ones and off, but having a timer that shows the countdown till they change. It would be neat if I could setup say 9 LEDs that would make up the number depending on which one the circuit board is telling to light up to make the pattern of the number

Another thing I'd like to get into learning about is repairing electronics, to be more precise amplifiers. Troubleshooting the problem ect.

Thanks for any input.

 

[colin55]

<mod edit: Self-promotion deleted. If you have information to share, please post it directly to ETO. Do not link to your own personal website.>

 

[alec_t]

A good way to learn what a part such as the 555 does is to google the part number and download its datasheet and any 'application notes'. There are also many tutorials on the web for various aspects of electronics.

 

[dr peppers]

555's were and probably still are a staple diet for up and comming electronics enthusiasts, theres a few nifty books on projects just for the 555, do a google search.

Your led amp signal meter can be easily achieved with a bargraph driver chip, google 'lm3914 vu meter circuit', I'm sure you'll find a few, if you can make a 555/4017 traffic light set up then it'll be easy.

Audio amplifiers are like most things evolving, these days they seem to be going digital like class d or class t, when I was at college mosfet linear amps were popular, there's a miriad of info for this on the web, if you want a good amp thats easy to build and to annoy the neighbours with google 'tda2050 power amplifier'.

Best of luck with your projects.