Longer commitments
Playlists and videos that are one part of a longer run. Start at the beginning.
Dave Jones's long introduction to op-amps covering the basic rules, virtual ground, common configurations and part selection; recommended to learners who found textbook treatments hard going.
First part of Dave Jones's soldering tutorial series, covering irons, tips, solder and technique; often named as the one soldering guide a newcomer needs.
Widely cited as the place to start with Arduino, a tutorial series that explains the electrical basics alongside the code.
The opening lesson of the vintage PACE soldering course, regarded as the definitive grounding in flux, wetting and joint quality despite its age.
Ben Eater's playlist building an 8-bit computer on breadboards from basic logic chips, widely recommended for understanding how a processor works from the ground up.
First episode of Mike's series reverse engineering an iPod nano display, usually linked to show how much work driving a proprietary screen really takes.
Entry point to Ben Eater's breadboard computer series, linked when someone asks how a CPU, registers or clock cycles work at the hardware level.
First part of Dave Jones's series designing a lab power supply with op-amp voltage and current regulation; recommended as an introduction to bench supply design.
Part two of Dave Jones's soldering tutorial covers through-hole technique on plated boards; frequently recommended to beginners alongside parts one and three.
The full Jeremy Blum Arduino series as a playlist, treated by many as a free course that covers the fundamentals from scratch.
An Electronic Basics episode on using a MOSFET as a switch, offered as an introduction to driving higher-voltage loads from a microcontroller pin.
Ben Eater programs a parallel EEPROM by hand and uses it as a lookup table to drive a seven-segment display in place of discrete logic.
Dave Jones's long tutorial on surface mount soldering by hand, hot air and paste, recommended before attempting small packages.
An Arduino lesson series from a former engineer and teacher, repeatedly named as the place for complete beginners to start with microcontrollers.
First part of Dave Jones's PCB design for manufacture tutorial, full of practical tips such as solder mask pullback; usually recommended with part 2 for automated assembly.
The old PACE soldering training films, still considered the best grounding in proper technique despite their age and dated production.
Paul McWhorter's first Arduino lesson, opening a long free course that newcomers credit with getting them started, though his pace is slow.
Short explainer on how MOSFETs work and how to switch loads with them; offered to people moving from a small BJT to a MOSFET for motors.
Explains how a shift register can scan many buttons or inputs from a handful of Arduino pins, sometimes linked alongside the same creator's output video.
Ben Heck's portable Raspberry Pi build, cited for the cheap LCD he reuses, its voltage limits and the ports he removes from the board.
Ben Eater explains the inner workings of the 555 timer and builds an adjustable astable clock for his 8-bit computer; popular with beginners following along on breadboards.
Covers diode basics and builds a transformer, rectifier and capacitor power supply; recommended within a beginner series, including on why parallel diodes do not share current.
Part of Jeremy Blum's Arduino series, driving a DC motor through a transistor; followed by beginners, who often then ask about base resistors and battery choice.
The first of Jeremy Blum's Eagle tutorials, covering schematic design, which many hobbyists credit with getting their first boards designed and manufactured.
First lesson of a video series on CadSoft Eagle, suggested to beginners laying out their first PCB with the free version.
Alan Wolke explains discrete transistor current sources and mirrors, ending with LED driving and compliance voltage; suggested as an alternative to an LM317 current source.
Recommended as a first stop for anyone unsure how to use a multimeter safely, and as part of a wider electronics basics series.
Dave Jones's EEVblog series designing a precision bench power supply from scratch, valued for showing a working engineer's reasoning as much as the circuit itself.
Alan Wolke gives a gentle introduction to the BJT differential pair and how it forms an op amp input stage; people build and simulate along with it.
The opening lecture of an MIT circuits course, recommended for explaining the assumptions behind circuit theory and what electrical engineering actually is.
Walter Lewin's MIT lecture on induction, cited mainly as the source of the two-voltmeter experiment that ElectroBOOM disputes, and as a demonstration of Faraday's law.
Part 1 of a tutorial linking a Raspberry Pi and an Arduino over nRF24L01+ radios; often cited by people following it who then ask for help.
A methodical comparison of Raspberry Pi 3 heatsinks under load, showing that the tiny stick on ones sold for the Pi do very little.
Alan Wolke explains IQ signals, modulation and demodulation with oscilloscope demonstrations; praised as one of the clearest introductions for people learning software-defined radio.
The go to starter series for learning KiCad, taking a complete beginner from empty schematic to a finished blinking LED board ready for fabrication.
The official video walkthroughs of the Arduino Starter Kit projects, presented by one of the platform's creators and often suggested as a first course.
The first part of a visual series on imaginary numbers, recommended to engineering students struggling with the complex maths behind phasors and reactance.
Part one of a series explaining how a character LCD module takes data over its parallel pins, demonstrated by hand with toggle switches.
Jeremy Blum's second Arduino tutorial, often pointed to for explaining button debouncing and why a pull-down resistor is needed on an input.
Ben Eater builds the logic that turns a 4-bit value into seven-segment digits using plain gates, praised as a clear introduction to combinational design.
Dave Jones walks through designing and ordering a custom multiplexed LCD for his bench supply project; recommended to anyone weighing up a custom display.
GreatScott's electronic basics playlist, which people have suggested over many years as the starting series for learning what common components are and what they do.
A brief beginner-level MOSFET video, part of a longer series, suggested to Arduino users whose transistor switches run hot or refuse to turn fully on.
Part of the MAKE Presents component series, suggested to beginners who want an approachable first explanation of what a transistor does.
First part of Ben Eater's series building a VGA video card from logic chips on a breadboard; recommended for understanding VGA timing and the effort involved.
Professor Razavi's university lecture series on microelectronics, repeatedly recommended as the place to learn undergraduate semiconductor and analogue circuit theory.
Ben Eater captures a USB keyboard's signals on an oscilloscope and works through the protocol manually, recommended to anyone trying to understand USB at wire level.
Suggested as the first stop in a basics playlist for anyone who needs to rebuild their understanding of electricity from the ground up.
Ben Eater starts building a 6502 computer on breadboards, single-stepping the clock to watch the bus; a frequent starting point for people building their own.
A beginner friendly explanation of how voltage, current and resistance relate, often the first thing suggested before anyone helps with a project.
Ben Eater builds a JK flip-flop and shows why it works only intermittently because of a race condition, cited to settle questions about his earlier latch schematic.
First of three parts on control logic for Ben Eater's 8-bit computer, showing how control lines and microcode steps execute an instruction over several clock cycles.
Recommended as a Signal Path tutorial that designs and measures a single transistor common emitter amplifier, pitched as a fairly basic introduction to class A gain stages.
Quantum Leaps' long embedded systems programming course, repeatedly recommended as a thorough, well explained route into low level ARM microcontroller work.
A beginner Arduino project playlist, mostly put forward by its own author as a follow-on to the starter kit, covering techniques such as shift registers.
GreatScott's basics episode on op amps, routinely offered as a quick first explanation of how they are wired and how resistors set the gain.
Signal Path tutorial on class B and class AB output stages, recommended for learning how an output stage drives a speaker and why the bias diodes are there.
A beginner tutorial for setting up a Raspberry Pi without a monitor over a direct network cable, with separate steps for Mac and Windows.
Shows how to measure capacitance and inductance using an oscilloscope and a cheap pulse generator with fast edges built from a Schmitt trigger inverter.
Dave Jones explains how segment LCD panels work and are driven, useful when reverse engineering or repairing a bare display.
A beginner explainer on what a capacitor is and does, usually linked alongside the companion Make videos on resistors, inductors and transistors.
Neso Academy's long Signals and Systems lecture playlist, repeatedly praised by engineering students as the resource that got them through the module.
A six part MOSFET tutorial series by Julian Ilett, suggested as a gentle introduction to how these transistors switch loads in Arduino and hobby circuits.
Part four of Dave Jones's lab power supply series covers PWM control filtered to an analogue voltage; also cited for spotting probing artefacts on a scope.
Explains how a DC-DC boost converter steps voltage up with an inductor, switch and diode; the usual link for people puzzling over cheap USB step-up modules.
Jeremy Blum's second Eagle tutorial covers laying out and routing a printed circuit board; first-time designers follow it for their first boards before sending them to a fab.
Shawn Hymel's Digi-Key playlist introducing FreeRTOS concepts on an ESP32 within the Arduino framework, suggested as a gentle first step into real time operating systems.
Part three of Dave Jones's EEVblog series on designing and ordering a custom LCD, following the project through to receiving and testing the finished units.
Dave Jones shows automated testing of PCBs while still panelised, cited for test points and for traces routed across snap-off tabs.
A slow-paced Arduino course for complete newcomers, praised for its clear explanations and credited with getting people into the hobby.
Hidden gemPart two of Dave Jones's design for manufacture series, recommended to anyone taking a prototype to a production PCB.
A US Department of Defense training film on DC motors and generators, praised for building intuition better than most lectures.
Hidden gemEric Bogatin explains with Robert Feranec where return current really flows and why split planes cause trouble; repeatedly recommended for anyone routing signals between layers.
Hidden gemWarmly recommended for learning how a processor works from the ground up by building a simple computer from scratch and seeing code run on real hardware.
Hidden gemOpening part of a three part guide to building a small Raspberry Pi cluster, suggested to newcomers curious about clustering several boards together.
Dave Jones tests whether bypass capacitors matter in practice, usually linked alongside his companion decoupling tutorials when questions about choosing decoupling capacitors come up.
A roughly thirty-episode beginner course covering analogue and digital fundamentals, recommended as a starting point for learning electronics from nothing.
Ben Krasnow builds a liquid crystal display from scratch, cited to show how LCD segments switch and as a clear example of spin coating a substrate.
Part one of wermy's build walkthrough for a Raspberry Pi RetroPie project, widely treated as the go-to guide, with a parts list in the description.
An episode of Jeremy Blum's Arduino tutorial series, widely praised for explaining resistors in a circuit and reading a potentiometer, especially for newcomers.
Brian Douglas's introduction to PID control, repeatedly recommended as the first thing to watch before tuning a loop for motors or robots.
Dave Jones shows the voltage spike an inductor or relay coil produces when switched off, which explains why flyback diodes are fitted across coils and motors.
GreatScott turns an Arduino into a programmer for the ATtiny85, the usual pointer when someone wants to shrink a project onto a smaller chip.
Pete from SparkFun gives a relaxed overview of MOSFETs and why they suit switching loads from a microcontroller.
Tinkernut's smartphone-controlled RC car build, used as the practical follow-on for connecting a Bluetooth module to an Arduino.
A frequently cited explanation of changing Arduino PWM frequency with a dedicated library, the second part of a PWM tutorial series.
A soldering tutorial playlist recommended for learning technique, including surface-mount work and packages with a thermal pad underneath.
A w2aew explainer on analogue panel meters, praised for teaching how to characterise and drive them, often paired with his follow up video.
Hidden gemA frequently recommended beginner guide for turning a Raspberry Pi into a RetroPie retro gaming console, with companion videos covering controller setup.
Demonstrates synchronising AC generators with sync lamps, cited when people ask how generators are matched to the grid or to each other before connection.
Recommended for understanding cheap radar motion sensor modules, comparing several and testing how they behave as an alternative to PIR.
A long university-style lecture series on introductory circuit analysis from a highly regarded professor, suggested for first-year students and anyone rebuilding their foundations.
Hidden gemPart of an Arduino tutorial series covering hardware interrupts, often pointed to for its hardware debouncing of a push button with an RC filter and Schmitt trigger.
Shows how to test and set extruder steps per mm; people point to it when fixing over-extrusion, clicking extruders and rough first layers.
Walter Lewin's university physics lectures, widely praised for building intuition about electricity and magnetism through demonstrations in every class.
Hidden gemGreatScott's Electronic Basics episode on stepper motors, offered as a good first explanation of how they step and how to drive them from a microcontroller.
A measured look at Raspberry Pi 3 temperatures under load, with and without heatsinks, cited in debates about whether small heatsinks help.
The EEVblog Fundamentals Friday playlist, recommended as a way to pick up core electronics theory from Dave Jones.
A playlist of 3D animated videos offered as a way to picture voltage, recommended by several people for the quality of its visuals.
Linked as the way into a basics series on electronics fundamentals, described as straightforward for complete newcomers wanting a quick grounding.
Ali Hajimiri's lecture series on analogue circuit design, highly rated for building intuition about amplifier design and semiconductor physics including BJTs.
Hidden gemMr Carlson documents his toner-transfer process for making double-sided circuit boards at home; people report reliable results when following it with its companion video.
Part of Dave Jones's fundamentals tutorials, recommended for learning to work through mesh and loop circuit analysis step by step.
Second part of a series explaining how common character LCD modules work, recommended before trying to read the datasheet yourself.
The 3blue1brown linear algebra series, recommended for an intuitive visual grounding in the maths behind transforms and signal processing.
Enthusiastically shared as a Casper Electronics walkthrough building oscillators and simple synth circuits around the CD40106 chip.
Hidden gemExplains how to use a transistor in practice, as a resistor controlled by the base rather than through semiconductor physics; liked by learners put off by textbooks.
Big Clive's teardown of a mains LED lamp, cited to show how the bulb's driver and LED string are arranged and what voltages the LEDs run at.
Paul McWhorter's Arduino lessons, a slow and thorough beginner course that several people credit with making the basics stick despite a repetitive pace.
Jeri Ellsworth fabricating transistors and simple chips in a home lab, cited to show it is possible but demanding, hazardous and not a beginner project.
Argues that X and Y steps should come from the hardware maths rather than test prints, while extruder steps do need calibrating; cited often in 3D printing answers.
Explains how gated latches build registers and a grid of RAM; learners use it as a starting point and ask follow-up questions about the wiring.
Mike's multi-part series reverse engineering an iPod nano display, praised as a thorough practical lesson in working out unknown screen interfaces.
Hidden gemPart of Ben Eater's breadboard 8-bit computer, testing the register module with LEDs on the bus; often cited when builders hit marginal logic levels.
SparkFun's Pete gives a plain overview of how bipolar transistors work and how to use them as switches, paired with his MOSFET episode.
Robert Feranec's beginner tutorial walking through the process of designing a simple board, suggested to newcomers before attempting their own PCB.
Lesson six of Pace's vintage soldering course on component soldering, with dated footage but techniques the community still considers valid.
Part of a NASA standard soldering series showing how to tin wires and make high reliability joints, more than hobby work needs yet instructive.
Ben Eater probes a 10BASE-T link with an oscilloscope and decodes the Manchester-encoded bits by hand; part of his networking series and a common starting point for line-coding questions.
Recommended as Digi-Key's structured KiCad course that takes a newcomer from schematic through layout, though it was recorded on an older version.
Offered as a dedicated playlist for learning how op-amps work and how to use them in circuits.
The opening lesson of Paul McWhorter's Arduino Uno R4 WiFi course, recommended to complete newcomers who need the programming fundamentals before anything else.
Recommended as Alan Oppenheim's full Signals and Systems lecture course, about 25 hours, covering convolution and the foundations of signal processing.
A beginner friendly RetroPie installation walkthrough that several people point newcomers to when they want a Raspberry Pi emulation box running.
Hidden gemOpening part of a lecture series introducing op amps and nodal analysis around them; suggested to students stuck on op-amp circuit questions.
An episode from an 8-bit computer build series, explaining how a 555 timer provides the clock and handles debouncing, praised for laying out the theory clearly.
A playlist of oscilloscope tutorials from a presenter regarded as the go-to teacher on scopes, covering the basics that apply to cheap and serious instruments alike.
Begins 3Blue1Brown's linear algebra series, which engineers credit with providing the geometric intuition behind the matrices and complex numbers used in circuit analysis.
Hidden gemAndreas Spiess covers building a small battery backup that lets a Raspberry Pi shut down cleanly during a power cut, praised as a good overview of the challenges.
Hidden gemFirst lesson of Paul McWhorter's long Arduino course, repeatedly recommended as the starting point for complete beginners with an Uno.
A Caltech lecture from Ali Hajimiri, praised for explaining why a bipolar transistor is really voltage controlled rather than base current controlled.
Hidden gemThe resistor episode of the Make Presents component series, suggested as a starting point for learning basic parts.
Thomas Sanladerer's series tests and compares 3D printing filaments with a methodical approach; recommended for judging the strength and flexibility of brands and designing your own tests.
Hidden gemThe diode episode of the Make component series, recommended as a clear beginner introduction alongside the resistor, capacitor and transistor videos.
A DC circuit analysis playlist from the Organic Chemistry Tutor channel, suggested to learners who want a grounding in circuit fundamentals, including those starting out with Arduino.
The opening lecture of a full university circuits course, repeatedly recommended as a thorough way to learn circuit analysis from scratch.
A Collin's Lab episode explaining what a schematic is and how to read one, recommended as a gentle first step for newcomers.
Opens EEVblog's six part conversation with Doug Ford on microphone design, recommended as a chance to hear a seasoned analogue designer reason through trade offs.
A Canadian military video explaining how a dipole antenna radiates, offered as an animated way to picture resonance and the fields around a wire.
A complete university Electronics 1 lecture playlist, recommended as a thorough refresher for engineering students who feel weak on analogue fundamentals before further study.
The opening of a long university lecture series on basic electronics, recommended as a dry but solid grounding in fundamentals including op amp feedback.
Part of a numbered Raspberry Pi tutorial series, showing how to wire a DHT22 temperature and humidity sensor and read it from Python 3.
First of a short XBee series covering module setup and basic programming, recommended for getting radios talking despite its quirky presentation.
Recommended for working through BJT voltage divider bias calculations, including replacing the base network with its Thevenin equivalent before analysing an amplifier.
An AlphaPhoenix experiment measuring how current actually travels along a wire, offered as an intuitive route into transmission lines and impedance matching.
GreatScott's first part of building a 5x5x5 LED cube, widely praised as a detailed and inspiring Arduino LED project.
Hidden gemOpening video of a power supply series that explains transformers before later parts cover rectifiers and regulators, recommended to beginners building a first linear supply.
Explains hardware debouncing of switches with an RC network feeding a Schmitt trigger inverter, part of a series people cite when cleaning up clock inputs.
A walkthrough of the current divider rule, recommended to students starting circuit analysis alongside the same channel's voltage divider and Kirchhoff videos.
Part of a beginner Arduino tutorial series, praised for explaining concepts plainly with some humour and bridging gaps left by the starter kit book.
Hidden gemBrian Douglas's classical control theory playlist, credited by several people with making a difficult university subject understandable and covering the fundamentals well.
Hidden gemAn hour long MIT Open CourseWare lecture on circuits and circuit simplification, suggested for those wanting a thorough, university level grounding.
Entry point to Behzad Razavi's Electronics 1 and 2 lecture series, a university microelectronics course that students recommend as a companion to his textbook.
Ben Eater builds an Arduino Nano programmer for AT28C parallel EEPROMs, using shift registers for the address lines; people build it for their own projects.
Part two of Ben Heck's Raspberry Pi handheld console build, admired as an ambitious example of portable gaming hardware and battery repackaging.
One of a set of clock module videos using 555 timers for a home built CPU, covering the bistable switch that selects between the oscillator and a pushbutton.
The official Arduino Starter Kit video series presented by co-founder Massimo Banzi, recommended as a good way for complete beginners to get going with basic projects.
Part of a tutorial series on programming 8 bit AVR chips in plain C, recommended for Arduino users ready to drop the Arduino layer.
A maths playlist by Professor Leonard, recommended as a starting point for brushing up before electrical engineering study.
Ben Krasnow's two-part introduction to electrical impedance, praised for explaining the idea clearly without making it more complicated than necessary.
Final part of an open-source build that maps Wi-Fi signal strength into an image with a gimbal-mounted directional antenna and an SDR; cited for DIY RF imaging.
University lecture building a SPICE model of a PV panel from a current source and diode; people point to it for setting saturation current and plotting power curves.
Part of Ben Eater's 8 bit computer series, this one builds a register from D flip flops and is cited in questions about registers and RAM.
A beginner-friendly walkthrough for setting up a web server on a Raspberry Pi, followed successfully by several people new to the Pi.
Ben Eater builds an SR latch from NOR gates on a breadboard and shows how feedback holds a state; people copy it when learning sequential logic.
Ben Eater builds a JK flip-flop and uses an RC edge detector to shorten the clock pulse; cited in questions about that capacitor and master-slave designs.
Opens Ben Eater's digital electronics series by varying the voltage across an LED to show its forward voltage and current behaviour; suggested to beginners puzzled by LEDs.
Andreas Spiess builds a low-power transmitter that sets radio-controlled clocks via DCF77, WWVB, MSF or JJY; cited when people ask about emulating a time signal.
A clock circuit for a homebrew 8-bit computer built from a 555 timer and logic gates, often copied by learners who then need help debugging it.
Ben Eater builds the 74LS189 RAM module for his 8-bit computer; often cited in questions about the chip heating and LEDs driven without resistors.
