intros to electrics and electronics
 

Hi folks,

At the risk of going over well-traveled roads...

I'm a mentor for Team 1533 Triple Strange and I'm trying to put together an intro course for electrical and electronic systems for robotics. Direction to any websites, books, presentations, outlines, brain dumps, sketches, or backs of envelopes would be greatly appreciated. I hope to get it together (don't we all) in time to teach maybe twice before the start of build season. In a perfect world, I'll have it done and posted in time for someone else to use it before the start of build season. Keep your fingers crossed.

My background: BSEE Penn State '85, MSEE Syracuse '88, and twenty years of circuit design (microwave, RF, analog, digital, and a little power; integrated circuit and board level...but not all at the same time)

Thanks in advance,
Steve Janesch

Re: intros to electrics and electronics
 

I suggest little theory, and much practical....especially stuff like a good understanding of what size wires to use with what size fuse and what size load, and how to do the actual wiring work so it is safe and reliable. No shiny wire showing where you crimp on the connector, use crimp on connectors with the correct size, soldering lessons, heat shrink applictaion, etc. And some theory and practice on how to make sure you are connecting things properly, especially confusing things like Spikes (no, I'm not joking, people do connect the output to the power source, etc) and PWM cables. Teach how to use a DMM to troubleshoot various real life problems, such as finding the voltage drop in a circuit due to a bad connection, learn about the voltage on different types of batteries at different levels of charge, etc.

Maybe include a demonstration of how fast a wire can get hot when not adequately protected by the correct size fuse/breaker.

Now you have a mechanical engineer's take on the subject....

Re: intros to electrics and electronics
 

Speaking from a student's standpoint, during my Independent Study Mentorship class, my mentor recommended "Getting Started with Electronics" by Forest Mims III, so I got the book and finally had a chance to read some of it on my way to Indiana and I thought it very helpful.

Re: intros to electrics and electronics
 

Personally, I learn well by example. I started learning how to work with electrical components when I was in 1st grade and I've been learning more and more since then. Of course, in 1st grade, it was just simple switches and wires, but there has to be some starting point. By 5th grade I was learning how to use LEDs, resistors, and relays. Of course at that time I didn't really know how to integrate all these components into a circuit. Now I can easily make a night light, I can run decently large motors from FET transistors, and I can make a system to control array of components from a micro controller. Although my electronic skills are still quite limited, (I have never had any class to teach me this stuff) I can get by. Now... I did learn quite a bit from RadioShack's electronic boards. I prefer the Electronics Learning Lab out of all of the items on the page. The snap kits would probably be better for younger students like in 2nd or 3rd grade. Also, the Parallax Micro Controller kit is a decent learning platform to work with micro controllers and electronics, although the electronics portion is a bit limited.

Re: intros to electrics and electronics
 

PM me and I will get you my Championship electrical presentation in Power Point if you would like.

Re: intros to electrics and electronics
 

Quoted for truth. I have no formal training in electronics, but so much of what I've learned and been able to apply to FIRST as both a student and a mentor came right from that book.

Re: intros to electrics and electronics
 

Hands on is the best teacher. One year we built a project board that had all of the componits attached to it that FIRST has given us through the years. Each year we added the new stuff and allowed the students to try to make any item on it work. They could look up information, ask questions or try things on their own. Here is a link to our electrical tipps that has a picture of it. http://team1322.org/electrical.htm . The back had a marker board on it and casters on the bottom. Our programer liked to test his programs on it also.

Re: intros to electrics and electronics
 

i did a quick 2 and 1/2 minute pres on the basics of my electronics 1 class and basically crushed the whole yar into 3 minutes (ill see if i can get the pres.- no promises!)

Re: intros to electrics and electronics
 

I'll toss in for "The Art of Electronics" by Winfield and Horowitz. While it seems rather massive, it's really helpful and focuses much more on an intuitive understanding of what going on as opposed to all the mathematical details. Admittedly, it's going to cover a LOT more than you'll ever need for FIRST, but then so does Machinery's Handbook. I'd at least look at it for a comprehensive reference like you'd use Machinery's Handbook for.