Is it possible to self teach how to repair electronics??

I've had this question on my mind for a while now, is it possible to self teach how to repair electronics using resources like google and youtube? or is it necessary to get some type of qualification at a college/university? a big concern for me is repairing something for someone which ends up catching on fire or some other type of way of causing harm to them due to my lack of knowledge of electronics

Repairing electronics requires understanding how it works - you're unlikely to get that from google or YouTube.

Qualifications make no difference - it's just a piece of paper - it's the knowledge which matters.

That knowledge and understanding will allow you to realise what is safe, and what isn't.

Nigel Goodwin said:

Repairing electronics requires understanding how it works - you're unlikely to get that from google or YouTube.

Qualifications make no difference - it's just a piece of paper - it's the knowledge which matters.

That knowledge and understanding will allow you to realise what is safe, and what isn't.

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Interesting, where could you acquire the knowledge needed?

rego21 said:

Interesting, where could you acquire the knowledge needed?

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Books, on-line (these days), years of practical experience.

What is your existing electronics knowledge, what kind of projects have you built?.

Nigel Goodwin said:

Books, on-line (these days), years of practical experience.

What is your existing electronics knowledge, what kind of projects have you built?.

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I have very little knowledge of electronics to be honest, I have read/watched a lot of introduction to electronics content online also I watch people troubleshooting devices online to try and get an understanding of there language/framework/techniques they use, I haven't built any projects only the basic stuff in school haha, I repaired 4 speakers which had a power fault but I was only able to that due to the help from this forum.

I understand I have a lot to learn

Could you tell me some recommendations to any books, websites etc? just to put me on the right path

Either the US Navy NEETS books, or the ARRL Amateur Radio technical material are good sources of information.

The entire set of NEETS books are freely available online from many sources. They work up from starting with zero knowledge to quite advanced topics, for people working on military systems.

eg.
**broken link removed**

rjenkinsgb said:

Either the US Navy NEETS books, or the ARRL Amateur Radio technical material are good sources of information.

The entire set of NEETS books are freely available online from many sources. They work up from starting with zero knowledge to quite advanced topics, for people working on military systems.

eg.
**broken link removed**

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Thanks so much for sharing this you may have just saved me and the people around me from an accident due to my poor knowledge of electronics

I'm going to begin reading them now

rego21 said:

I have very little knowledge of electronics to be honest, I have read/watched a lot of introduction to electronics content online also I watch people troubleshooting devices online to try and get an understanding of there language/framework/techniques they use, I haven't built any projects only the basic stuff in school haha, I repaired 4 speakers which had a power fault but I was only able to that due to the help from this forum.

I understand I have a lot to learn

Could you tell me some recommendations to any books, websites etc? just to put me on the right path

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Assuming you're foolish enough to want to get involved in Electronics Servicing? - which is mostly a poorly paid and dying occupation, you REALLY need to know lot's about it, be enthusiastic, and have built a considerable number of projects BEFORE you even consider attending College or University.

A friend of my daughters went to the same University as she did, she did Chemistry - but he did Electronics - despite knowing nothing about Electronics, and having no aptitude for it. Now while Chemistry is a VERY intensive course (including Maths of Degree Level), my daughter (not a party animal) had a good time, lot's of fun, plenty of friends - her friend doing Electronics basically 'disappeared from sight' - and was hardly ever seen.

It turned out he found the Electronics course so difficult he was working 7 days a week, including evenings, trying to cope with the workload which he didn;t really understand. As a result, just a few weeks before his final exams he dropped out completely, and quit University for good So a complete waste of 3 or 4 years of his life, and thousands of pounds of student debt for no gain.

As with everything, you need to start from the basics - as everything is built on those - in particular Ohm's Law is incredibly important, and you use it multiple times every day if you're involved in Electronics.

The US Navy books mentioned above are extremely useful, we even used the fault finding ones at College over here to a small degree. Because of the way they work, skipping from page to page, if you know what you're doing you can finish the book in a VERY short time

I was probably 10 years old when I started repairing stuff. I had one of those 50 in one elctronics kits which may have helped. It was primarily tube and transistor TV's from the trash. Later, like 5 transistor car radios.

In EE, your not trained how to fix stuff.

I did a Boy Scouts Explorer's Post at Hewlett-Packard back in 1975. In groups of 3 or 4 we layed out a double-sided PCB for am MM5314 clock IC. Component placement was done for us. Our group had the second built, first working clock. Defective 5V regulators were common. One trace, a small one, came off on the layout somewhere before fabrication of the PCB.

The custom case, silk-screening was all done for us.

I did correct one of the instructors as to what wire (white, black or green) gets the fuse and gets switched.

In some countries being able to repair electronic devices could be very lucrative. I spent a lot of time in West Africa and the ability to weld plastic sandels was a good profession. Fixing electronic devices would make you rich!

Mike.

I worked in a semiconductor research facility. I repaired some instruments we had like, SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope) X -ray machines, RF transmitters, vacuum guages, x-y recorders, high voltage power supplies and switching power supplies. Things we had a lot of, it was worth learning how to repair. Did PDP-11/2 and 11/23 computers to the module level.

I also built a 4-terminal current to voltage converter for a front-end for a lock-in amplifier. 4 ranges +-10V outm for bipolar 100, 10, 1 0.1 mA max FS in. Biasable +-10V. Over-range light blink for 1s. This was a huge analog design for one person.

Self learning is easily done through your own research and experience if you have half a brain going into it. There is so much information on the net, you just have to look it up.
Not sure what what people require to consider it "lucrative" but its not all that hard to turn a excellent profit and create a cushy life in the U.S.

narkeleptk said:

There is so much information on the net, you just have to look it up.

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A lot of crap too.

How do you solve this problem: Plumbing: shower: tub spout

The shower has this strange ell.


So, a 3/4 NPS female thread is what you have to connect to. It can come with a 1/2 NPS bushing.

The tub spout can accept a 3/4 NPS pipe.

I need a 2-3/8 long piece of NPS pipe.

Ans is?

Aside: I want to install this


trim plate which is 3/8" thick.


and this


Images from plumbingsupply.com - purchased there too.

Comments:
Not using the trim plate means cauking.
The standard pull-up diverter leaks after a few years. Repair kits may not work. They are supposed to return to tub when the water is shut off. It can be be beneficial or detrimental.
Benificial: if no one is taking a sit down hand shower.
Detrimental: if someone is. A real valve allows the person showering to stop the flow of water to the hand-held to soap up.

What would you do?

Why my response? It's something I really didn't find an answer to. It's appropriate for how to learn and the Internet.

I suggest taking apart some devices to see what they do. It doesn't really matter whether they are working or not, but start with stuff that's not needed and will be thrown out anyway.

Try to work out what the parts do. It can be general parts, or you could narrow right down to individual components. Nearly every component will have a purpose, although some will only be there for rare occasions, for example fuses or diodes to protect against reverse polarity supply.

I can't imagine being able to understand a circuit in detail without being able to understand circuit diagrams. I started to learn that from a Ladybird book which was very good at building from no knowledge, like the Navy literature.

I suggest that you draw out the circuit diagram of something simple. Watch bigclivedotcom on YouTube to see how he works out how electronic devices function. When I've repaired electronics, it's almost always with a circuit diagram, either downloaded from the internet, or at least a partial circuit diagram that I've drawn out from the physical device.

KeepItSimpleStupid said:

Why my response? It's something I really didn't find an answer to. It's appropriate for how to learn and the Internet.

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I can't see your photo's, they are too small so I have no idea what your trying to accomplish. Trying to tie something new into existing? Just cut it out and sweat in the correct fittings instead.


I never said you will always find exactly what your looking for when your looking. Sometimes you have to use a little bit of brain power. That is why I ended my sentence "and with half a brain". You also develop experience the more you do the work. In your example, If you started doing plumbing work everyday, starting with basic jobs which are easily learnable freely in books and net, after awhile you would know exactly how to handle problems like this with out needing to look them up. This is a specific problem your facing not a general idea of plumbing.

narkeleptk said:

I can't see your photo's, they are too small so I have no idea what your trying to accomplish. Trying to tie something new into existing? Just cut it out and sweat in the correct fittings instead.

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The twin ell is a shower fitting. The tub spout is obviously a shower fitting. They both have straight pipe threads so oan adjust the distance so the spout ends up straight. Both come with bushings so tat they can be 3/4 IPS or 1/2 IPS. NP, sort of, fits, but the pipe grabs a coupleof threads.

The wall is the problem. It's cement lath.

I could use this: **broken link removed**




But, I'd LIKE it in 3/4 IPS. I can't find it in the US.

I can sweat pipe without any issues.

My final solution was to thread a piece of schedule 40 PVC pipe with a die. If I had access to a lathe, I'd probably do brass pipe. Threading is an operation I never really learned how to do. I may have done it once.

rego21 said:

is it possible to self teach how to repair electronics using resources like google and youtube?

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it is possible to self teach electronics, but you are better off learning from textbooks rather than going to youtube. most good textbooks start off with the very basics and a (usually) logical progression towards more complex subjects. many textbooks include end-of-chapter quizzes which will tell you whether you missed something and should go back to review the chapter. once you have learned how things work, it's a lot easier to figure out why something is not working.

It is possible ... I have been doing it since I was 8 years old ... now I am 51 ... And I didn't have the luxury of Internet. All I had were public Libraries, and Encyclopedias, and just exploring everything I could get my hands on. Books are nice, but you must realize, books are very opinionated and there may be another more elegant solution. IOW, don't let what you read set in stone the way that it should or should not be done. Use common sense on the fundamentals.

Beau Schwabe said:

It is possible ... I have been doing it since I was 8 years old ... now I am 51 ... And I didn't have the luxury of Internet. All I had were public Libraries, and Encyclopedias, and just exploring everything I could get my hands on. Books are nice, but you must realize, books are very opinionated and there may be another more elegant solution. IOW, don't let what you read set in stone the way that it should or should not be done. Use common sense on the fundamentals.

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About the same era as me. I used to cycle to our local library, read through books and use my pocket money to photocopy a couple of pages. If I'd had a really good paper round week I could buy a couple of components from our local Tandy (Radioshack) - I spent so much time in there they ended up giving me a job repairing toys ........ many years later and I'm a senior electronics engineer at a big engineering firm.