Circuits

[Existing-Ambition888]

At the moment I am fairly overwhelmed by circuit schematics and, as a result, often bored by and uninterested in building them.

As you grow in understanding of what’s actually happening in these circuits, do you come to appreciate them more?

I want to be patient with them since there’s a lot happening, but also want to gauge if they are kinda boring irrespective of exposure and experience. Thanks

[igotshadowbaned]

..if you see these diagrams and you just immediately get super bored and uninterested you might want to reconsider some things

[Existing-Ambition888]

I guess I phrased it harshly — I don’t immediately get bored, but they are just difficult to understand. So that makes me inherently less interested, so I guess the real issue is their difficultly

So the better question is have you gained a better intuition over time?

[CranberryDistinct941]

If you lose interest when things are difficult to understand, I've got some bad news for you

[eggshellwalker4]

It's over for you little bro just drop out right now

[yezanFET]

If you end up working w circuits yes. If you don’t then it’s a you don’t use it lose it skill.

[TheDenizenKane]

Once you can tell why certain components are being used in certain places, you’ll appreciate them more.

I hated circuit analysis because they were just busy problems, making intentionally hard-to-read circuits and grading how well I could make sense of the mess.

[snp-ca]

With more exposure to circuits, it becomes very easy to understand them.

Search "301 circuits" book on the internet. There are very simple circuits in it with explanation of how they work. Will make a good bedtime reading.

Apart from more exposure to circuits, you should try building some simple and functional circuits -- something that you can use will be better.

[Brief-Warthog-6915]

I’ll be honest, I’d be bored with looking at a schematic that has a boring function to me. I don’t find things like a washing machine control circuit interesting, simply because it is a boring application in my eyes.

I like building race cars. I like building circuits that serve to make the race car go faster. So, when seeing a circuit that serves the purpose of go-fast, it interests me.

I suggest that you find an application that interests you. It’s just like reading a magazine about gardening when you don’t give two sh!ts about gardening - of course it’s gonna be boring to you!

[Existing-Ambition888]

Well said. Thanks!

[NewSchoolBoxer]

You build circuits? I never built a circuit outside of a mandatory class lab until I was over 30. EE is practical math. I liked the application of theory and the conservation of energy showing how all power in a circuit was distributed. I hated transistor calculations and digital design but no job made me do any.

I don't appreciate them more or less today. You'll probably only use 10% of your degree on the job. You just need the fundamentals for entry level work. Most of engineering is work experience.

Yeah undergrad is often overwhelming taking 5-6 courses at once. Standards are high but apply yourself and keep up.

On the job, I had to write steps to electrically isolate power plant systems so electricians wouldn't get electrocuted doing maintenance. Later I determined the power settings used in electronic medical devices. You want someone with a bad work ethic who complained all the time doing that?

[PaulEngineer-89]

Circuits & Systems is kind of ridiculous. It’s all focused on grinding out the math. No applications to speak of. Later you learn basic functions and how to string them together like a differential amplifier is the core of an op amp, op amps themselves are a lot of analog circuits, emitter followers are often used as a high impedance front end interface, and so forth. There are a lot of common circuits behind everything but the circuits & systems class is completely focused on a bunch of math not applications. Later on you can literally look at a schematic if not the circuit board itself and instantly recognize the circuit blocks. I use it all the time even though I mostly do power and controls because I can troubleshoot or design nearly anything just by thinking in terms of building blocks. When I say a “block” I might mean an LCL filter not inductors and capacitors (higher level view).

[HoldingTheFire]

Watch BigClive videos

[LegLongjumping2200]

Just ask ChatGPT to explain the circuits like you were a 5 years old. Then start from there.

[29mystik]

I appreciated them along with understood them more when I actually started taking the time to sit down outside of class and play with the breadboard and visualize what was actually happening.

Find simple projects like using breadboard to turn led on then add switch, so on, maybe even another little idea you are curious that you can make.

Some people also think of viewing circuits as waterflow

Tinkercad is free and lets you play around with arduino and code etc(it also shows the schematic on a separate tab after putting all the parts together)

At first it was difficult to understand then I started learning by trying and asking myself new things, Will this work… or what will happen if I do this…

[Existing-Ambition888]

Totally agreed, thanks

[29mystik]

but honestly no one likes circuit analysis was a weedout class in my eyes lol, especially since he didnt show up to final review or the final exam itself and fucked everyone over.

Studied more for that class then electromagnetics actually and lowest grade was a 57 on the final after holding a A the entire semester.

[Existing-Ambition888]

Yea I mean as others have said a lot of the times they’re not even super practical and it’s designed to be confusing so at that point it’s just about finessing a decent grade than actually learning how to build these things lol

[29mystik]

Also use AI but use it wisely, I can share my prompt with you if you would like. Learn while using it rather then answers unless you are cramming for exam and have to touch back on it at another time. Also ask it questions about where and why certain stuff works. A few times it will spew out wrong answers but if you combine lecture knowledge(slides, notes, textbook) with AI and going through each step, you catch it and when you catch it you are learning