I'm in the process of buying my first house, and I have plans to automate several things such as lighting and heating. I do not want to use existing products because they are either too expensive or are not one integrated system. However, my knowledge of electronics is severely lacking. So, do you know any good resources to learn the basics of electronics (both analog and digital). Books, websites, forums, anything.

Please be aware of any legal requirements (not to mention safety concerns) before you start playing around with your home's electricity system. Some things are best left to professionals, especially where your safety is concerned. [smile]

The A-Level textbook Electronics Explained is excellent, if a little expensive (being a text book). It covers everything from the basics right up to microprocessor circuits, and is clear and easy to understand. Google has a preview.

Microcontrollers are a good way to get into electronics for programmers, and the PICAXE series are easy to use (being aimed at the education market, they have simple tools and clear documentation and are programmed in BASIC).

Quote: Original post by benryves
Please be aware of any legal requirements (not to mention safety concerns) before you start playing around with your home's electricity system. Some things are best left to professionals, especially where your safety is concerned. [smile]

Or to be more blunt:



Since you have a stated lack of electrical and electronics knowledge, I strongly recommend you go with an existing commercial product and get both help and instruction from somebody who knows what they are doing.

Accidentally ruining your house is a very expensive lesson.

I recommend Fundamentals of Electric Circuits.

I also recommend Microchip brand microcontrollers, particularly the PICkit2 (not only can you code this Microcontroller using the C programming language, but there's also a plugin for Electronics Workbench that will let you simulate the controller hooked up to a circuit).

Lastly, since you're so concerned about expenses, I recommend Andrew L. Hodges Funeral Home Price Guide in determining the best prices for funeral services (for when your house burns down with your loved ones inside).

Thanks for the book references and warnings :-)

Some of my colleagues know tonnes about electronics since they make commercial electronics products. I'll make sure to ask them to go have a good look before I plug any of my stuff into a wall socket.

You say that some of the solutions commercially available are not in one system, but what about using available APIs to code up a system that encapsulates them?