The Basics of Electronics

By David Askew

Are you working in the field of electronics and have no formal training but want to learn more about the basics? Or are you a hobbyist who wants to learn more about how electronics work? Then this book is for you.

This book goes through the basic theory of topics such as DC and AC. It also covers several electronic components, how they work and applications along with labs to experiment with, audio, data, and troubleshooting.

The end of the book also contains several listings of suppliers of both electronic components and test equipment.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jun 6, 2018
• ISBN: 9781546243793

Book preview

© 2018 David Askew. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 06/19/2018

ISBN: 978-1-5462-4378-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5462-4379-3 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018906318

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

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INDEX

Chapter 1 Basic Electronics

Chapter 2 Meters and standard material

Chapter 3 DC Theory

Chapter 4 Resistors

Chapter 5 Oscilloscope

Chapter 6 AC voltage.

Chapter 7 Capacitors

Chapter 8 Inductors and Transformers

Chapter 9 Other signals

Chapter 10 Diodes

Chapter 11 Switches

Chapter 12 Relays and solenoids

Chapter 13 Transistors

Chapter 14 Audio

Chapter 15 Data

Chapter 16 Trouble shooting

Appendix

THE BASICS OF ELECTRONICS

BY DAVID ASKEW

This book was intended for trades people and hobbyists, but not sophisticated for Electrical Engineers.

This book does not get into sophisticated theories of electronics, but basic everyday use of electronics.

I am writing this book to help educate people on the everyday use of electronics, there are several books available for engineering, but I see a need for educating tradesman, both in electrical and basic electronics industry, as well as hobbyist.

This book includes experiments, lists of suggested suppliers, and other reference material.

At the back there is an appendix that includes the suggested vendor list, suggested test equipment, and reference material.

CHAPTER 1

BASIC ELECTRONICS

Electronics can get into large calculations, but that is not the intent in this book.

Electronics consist of Protons, a positive charge, Electrons, a negative charge, and Neutrons, which are neutral.

Electronics theory says that electrons flow, however most electronic symbols show the flow going from positive to negative. Therefore this book will be based on Proton or Positive Voltage Flow. The following picture shows the positive side of the battery connected to the anode side of a diode and following the arrow to the cathode.

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Figure 1

Electronics uses two types of voltage Direct Current known as DC and Alternating Current known as AC. Other signals used in electronics are RF radio frequency and Serial which consists of digital signals in a sequence.

Electronics uses several components. The following is just a list of a few of them. We will discuss most of these products in further chapters.

Resistor, capacitors, Diodes, coils, transformers, transistors, IC’s, batteries, LED’s, LCD display, switches, buttons, and connectors.

CHAPTER 2

METERS AND STANDARD MATERIAL

I am including this chapter because meters are used in several of the labs. There are several types of meters, as shown in figure 2. In the appendix are lists of vendors that can supply meters.

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Figure 2

Let’s first talk about the common features of meters. As different style meters can include a lot of different measurements.

Volts: All meters have AC and DC voltage scales.

Amps: All meters have AC and DC amp scales.

Ohms: All meters include a resistance scale known as ohms.

Other features found in some meters, capacitance test, diode test, continuity, transistor testing, inductance, DB decibels, and frequency.

One of the most important factors when using a meter is to plug the test lead in the correct connectors. Use the owner’s manual for this information.

Some meters are auto scaling and some are manual select.

Manual select meters require setting the voltage, current or ohms based on a range from 0 to the highest value on the selector.

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