(Part 2) Best products from r/ElectricalEngineering

Okay, you're definitely at the beginning. I'll clarify a few things and then recommend some resources.

1. Places to buy components: Depending on where you live in the world, the large component suppliers are almost always the way to go, with smaller suppliers like Adafruit/Sparkfun if you need development boards or specialised things. I buy almost exclusively from Digikey -- they have $8 flat shipping to Canada, which typically arrives the next day, with no customs fees. They have some sort of agreement in place where they cover these costs. This *always* saves money over going to my local stores where the prices are inflated. It's crazy how cheap some things are. If I need a few 2.2K 1206 resistors for a project, I just buy a reel of 1000 because they are so cheap.
   
2. "Steer a joystick with an app" Do you mean connect motors to it and have them move the joystick for you? You're going to want some sort of microcontroller platform, along with a motor controller and way to communicate with a smartphone app. You mention you know C++ so it will be easy to switch to C. This is both true and false. Programming for microcontrollers is not the same as programming for computers. You are much closer to the hardware, typically manipulating many registers directly instead of abstracting it away. Each microcontroller vendor has their own tools and compilers, although *some* do support GCC or alternatives. You mentioned PIC, which is a line of microcontrollers by a large company called Microchip. There are 8-bit, 16-bit, and 32-bit PICs, all at different price points and with hugely differing capabilities. Selecting the microcontroller for a project can be half the battle sometimes. Or, like me, you can just go with whatever you have on hand (which is usually MSP430s or PIC32MX's)
   
3. A lot of people will recommend the book The Art of Electronics. It's decent, but it's not for everyone. Some really like the conversational style, others don't. Many people who want to get into microcontroller programming and embedded development want to skip over the fundamentals and just get something working. For those, I point them to Arduino and let them on their merry way. However, if you actually want to learn something, I highly recommend buying an actual microcontroller development board, learning the fundamentals about electrical circuits, and programming in actual C with actual IDEs.
   
4. As far as resources go, again it depends on your actual goal. Whenever I want to learn a new tool (like a PCB layout software, or a new IDE) I always start with a simple project. Having an end point to reach will keep you motivated when things seem complicated. Your controlling a joystick with motors is a great starting point. I would buy a development board, Microchip PICs are popular, as are ST32s, and MSP430. It doesn't really matter that much in the long run. Just don't tie yourself too hard to one brand. Then pick up some stepper motors, and a stepper motor control board (grab one from Sparkfun/Adafruit, etc). Get yourself a breadboard, and some breadboard jumpers, a cheap power supply (there are tons available now for cheap that are pretty decent), and then jump in head first!
   
5. I highly recommend the book Making Embedded Systems by Elecia White, once you've covered the basics. It's a great way to learn more about how professionals actually design things. For the basics, you can watch *EARLY* EEVBlog videos (anything past around video 600/650 he gets progressively more annoying and set in his ways, another topic entirely, but the early stuff is decent). I'd also recommend picking up your choice of books about the fundamentals -- Electronics for Dummies, the aforementioned Art of Electronics, Making Embedded Systems, The Art of Designing Embedded Systems, and even stuff like Design Patterns for Embedded Systems in C. Again, it all depends on what your goal is. If you want to do embedded design, then you'll need to focus on that. If you're more into analog circuits, then maybe check out The Art and Science of Analog Circuit Design. Either way, grounding yourself in the fundamentals will help a LOT later on. It will make reading schematics way easier.
   
   I feel like I've gone off on a few tangents, but just ask for clarification if you want. I'd be happy to point you towards other resources.

I have all of the multimeters I've bought and they still work.

A cheepo Japanese one that I won in a ham radio club about 45 years ago.

An early Beckman Instruments DMM

A cheepo RCA multimeter that is about 50 years old.

A Simpson 260 that I recently bought on eBay (in great condition).

Here's one that I recently bought on Amazon and it works great (cost 33 dollars).

What you are up against is economy of scale - there is no market for an inverter like that, so there are no low cost (mass produced) ones out there.

You may have better luck getting a 24 to 12V step down and then using a 12V Inverter - I know this is clunky, but step down efficiency is usually pretty good.

Build your own transistor radios gently sweeps from ultra simplistic to quite deep and technical, in a comfortable breezy style.

Designing audio power amplifiers starts from the viewpoint that circuit design is serious engineering (not random "circuit bending" or trial-and-error hobby experimentation or "Maker Faire" futzing around) and you actually must use algebra and other mathematical tools to succeed. It introduces the modern hybrid-pi model of bipolar transistor operation, which is what actual practicing analog design engineers use in industry. Other books on the same topic, by other authors, omit this crucial element because, as the pull-string-to-speak Barbie Doll says, "Math is HARD!".

Elements of Electromagnetics: Matthew Sadiku

All the EM courses I took used this textbook and I found it to be pretty good. Theres PDF copies of it floating around as well

Power professor here:

The golden bible for distribution is this:
power system analsys by Grainger (blue book) I got 3 copies myself: https://www.amazon.com/Power-System-Analysis-Grainger/dp/0070585156/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1478498866&sr=8-1&keywords=power+system+analysis+grainger

Granted I am sure there are newer ones. But all the theory has not changed.

For protection : Old but good, Art and Science of Protective Relaying http://www.gegridsolutions.com/multilin/notes/artsci/artsci.pdf

For controls, I dont really know any tbh, sorry. I dont mess with that as much : (

Arduino:
https://www.amazon.com/ELEGOO-Board-ATmega328P-ATMEGA16U2-Compliant/dp/B01EWOE0UU/ref=mp_s_a_1_6?keywords=arduino&qid=1570048422&sr=8-6

Arduino blink tutorial:
https://www.arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/Blink

Control LED with transistor:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlyV_AHYGcM

Robot:
https://www.instructables.com/id/Arduino-wall-avoiding-robot-FabLab-NerveCentre/

These are probably good to get you started. I think robotics and controls in general are a good place to start.

Isolate mechanically your refrigerator.

​

https://www.amazon.com/Silent-Feet-Anti-Vibration-Refrigerators-Freezers/dp/B00XNVIPMI

​

we used something like this on our washing machine - it worked great.

https://www.amazon.com/VicTsing-Wireless-Portable-Receiver-Adjustable/dp/B013WC0P2A/

I've had this for years. It is better than a lot of mice I've had. I actually prefer it to the Logitech 5G I used to have. I'm all for cheap, but it's all about cost of ownership NOT per unit cost. Basic cost of ownership = (unit cost)/(duration before unit needs replacement). Also, your time is worth something too. Probably worth more than the time it takes to fix a $2 mouse.

Thank you! So I'm now looking at buying the relay and a new 3 position switch for the higher amperage, I believe they're what I want, I just want to double check that I won't have an issue with the coil circuit on these relays using the 3 position switch and these momentary contact switches I already bought?

​

N/C momentary switches I currently have:

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XSTVWBC/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1


Relay:

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00RV6CDOC/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?smid=A2WCR1L7XCIL9L&psc=1

​

New 3 position switch:

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B019O2QD9Q/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A1THAZDOWP300U&psc=1

I am a huge fan of Electronics: A Systems Approach by Neil Storey. It has chapters on a wide range of subjects, with very practical and useful information, applicable to both analog and digital systems but also general principles of engineering. It was a 'must have' book to have during my EE studies according to my teachers and I must say they weren't wrong, I must have opened it atleast once for every course I followed.

It's not too expensive: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Electronics-Approach-Dr-Neil-Storey/dp/0273719181

I thought this book moved at a good pace and covered the history well (discoveries and political/practical consqeuence).

​

https://www.amazon.com/Electric-Universe-Shocking-Story-Electricity/dp/0316729728

The off-the-shelf stuff can be pretty darn cheap...

https://www.amazon.ca/Countdown-Timing-Switch-Module-Display/dp/B07WRDN2P9/ref=sr_1_14?keywords=relay+with+timer+9v&qid=1571185836&sr=8-14

This book is really good, and cheap: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0130115541/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

​

Edit: Nevermind, I see someone already linked the pdf in the comments

I remember E&M being difficult but less so if you have a good standing in calc3. People were over hyping the difficulty and I think its because of their weak calc 3 background.

I did well in calc 3 and had a good understandings of the theory which really helped in EM.

Elements of Electromagnetics is the textbook I used.

https://www.amazon.com/Elements-Electromagnetics-Electrical-Computer-Engineering/dp/0199321388/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1539537073&sr=8-5&keywords=electromagnetic+textbook


Didn't go to class and opted to self study utilizing this book. I thought it was more than sufficient. I didn't opt to watch any videos though.. so can't suggest anything there

You will discharge the battery you are drawing the 12V from causing it to wear out sooner. Here is an example of a DC-DC converter that should work fine in your application.