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Old 06-25-2003, 09:48 PM
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Mike690003, What is your background? How deep an understanding are you looking for?

A practical understanding of DC circuits is not difficult and learning to use the multimeter with DC will make perfect sense. Just through simple experimentation, after reading the accompanying manual, you'll learn a lot.

AC circuits are a different creature and you'll need additional stuff and either a formal course or a good tutor to do serious work with AC.

The best favor I did for myself years ago was take a self-paced, self-tested basic electricity course followed by a basic electronics course in a local trade school. Classes were small and almost entirely hands-on. I was between undergrad and grad school (classic case of academic burn-out) and took a year off. I took that course, art, and something called, "mechanical drawing" courses. I found that the electricity/electronics course not only gave me a good practical background but that I learned a heck of a lot about real physics that several semesters in college didn't explain. No time in college for anything practical.

If you're highly self-motivating you might try buying several self-paced texts with tests from a local book store. I tried to do that with a couple of courses and found that I was only successful if I had a practical purpose for the course. If no practical purpose was served, it was wasted money.

I'll bet somebody has a web-based, self-paced, basic electricity course.

Also, the US Navy (and probably other branches) produce texts for sailors that anybody can buy. I think the one you'd be looking for would be something like, "Electricians Mate 3&2". Those texts are generally geared to instruct highly motivated, reasonably bright teenagers. Safety is a big issue with Navy texts.
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