What is the best way to learn about electricity?

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I want to learn about electricity. I want to able to do and see how it all works here at home. What is the best way to go about this?

depends at what achademic level, there are many ppl here approaching genius ....

my maths is poor, so I'm a 'practical guy' with a smattering of theory.

get a library book, those brick built places we pay the Government to maintain ....

or try say the vintage ARRL Handbook of 1974 .... an utter gem. lots of relatively easily understood theory at the front; the more modern versions 'leave me cold' ....

good luck ! !.

Look it up on the internet!

I recently bought an electronic project kit from Radio Shack, very similar to this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Elenco-MX-907-200 ... B000IXPYSM

I think they're a great way to learn about the fundamentals of electronics, but this is different than learning the basics of electricity, per se.

Hey i was thinking about that. I think I will get the 200 and 1. Thanks for the info

I take it you mean practical electricity and not the theory of electro-magnetism which is very heavily mathematical.

ruveyn

My husband is an electrician and has been for near about 30 years now. He went to college and got a two year degree (not a certificate) in Industrial Electricity, but his parents spent a lot of money on that and he had to take all sorts of other classes that had nothing to do with what an electrician does.

I'd suggest that first off, find out if you know any electricians. If anybody you know has a daddy, brother, cousin, etc who is an electrician. Or you could call a small local company and talk to them. When you find an electrician or a company, tell them you want to learn how it works and volunteer to work as a helper for free on certain days when you can. That's one way to learn. Also look in the phone book and find your closest IBEW union and call them and find out if they have materials you can buy so you can learn about it. Tell them you are interested in learning to do it and then possibly being an apprentice with them. They may have some books and materials you can buy and study.

I'd suggest hands on experience though to really know what you are doing and learn about it. You can also try one of those temporary day labor places. Tell them you want work with an electric company on a job, as a helper, and that you are wanting to learn about it.

Word of warning here, while it may sound deceptive, telling them that you are interested in doing it for a living is about the only way you are going to find professionals to take the time to teach you anything about it. They won't take you seriously if you tell them you just want to know how it works.

You could also call your local trade school either through a junior college or the high school and see if they teach it and if so, find out what books you need and just go buy the books and learn it that way. That's probably easiest if you just want to know how it works in theory. If you want to actually do something with it you should probably get the pro's to teach you.

What do you do for a living now?

Greetings. You have many great ideas. I work in a dental lab. I wish to be able to learn more electricity and maybe build my own solar panels one day. One can get everything you need on line but I think that knowing how it works would be best before even thinking about it. I have just always had a fascination with electricity but never been able to look into it deeper. Anything having to do with science or workings of electricity would be helpful. Again thanks.

Here you go.

List of free online electrical training courses and materials - Link

Hey thanks.

but then again, if its really something you wanted to learn about you would have done it already ......

@Ablovmo thanks. I have struggled with things and your advice is no help. So find another forum you dick.

i wish you well and you wld do well to wonder how your words are perceived.

to be fair, what you said was a bit of a dick thing to say.

We all have our trials and tribulations at different points of our life that can prevent us from getting on with stuff. I know this better than most.

All about circuits

This site ^^ exclusively covers everything electrical / electronic. It isn't interactive like other free sites, and there's tons of reading (nothing you could do in a day). But it explains just about everything about electricity and the information is pretty well organized. Knowing how to read a schematic is the most basic and useful skill to pick up imo.

I think the best way to get into it is having a hobby or some projects that deal with electricity, which isn't as easy as it sounds. You could always see if there's a hackerspace in your area, meeting up with other people who know it better is a great way to get a foot in the door.

You could also go to your nearest thrift store / goodwill and buy really cheap devices (rc cars, printers, ect...) and just take them apart. Its a great way to get discrete circuit components.

I'd reccomend getting the following tools at some point:
1.) Digital Multimeter
for measuring voltage, current, and resistance

2.) Soldering Iron and solder
for attaching and removing components in a circuit

3.) Wire stripper / cutter

4.) Screwdriver set
small and large, allen wrenches couldn't hurt

5.) DC voltage generator
Mine plugs into the wall (120Vac) and gives up to 18Vdc, it's kind of spendy, but it beats using batteries

6.) Breadboard
For testing any circuits you put together before you soldier.

I'm in a similar boat to the one you're in, a year ago, I knew very little about electricity. I think I'll always be learning something about electricity, there's a lot to it.

@MDD123 u have great advice thanks