A retired avionics technician on the first microcontroller kit that made code and wiring click, and the one LED he burned along the way.
Thirty-four years of troubleshooting aircraft wiring, then a box of parts on a garage bench. Here is what the ELEGOO kit actually taught me over four months of evenings, and where it left me to figure things out alone.
One is a curriculum in a box. The other is a more capable board with a wiki. What that difference actually means for your first four months at the bench.
A retired avionics technician on why a solderless box of parts beats a drawer full of components, and what the lessons actually teach you.
A retired avionics technician on the first microcontroller kit that made code and wiring click, and the one LED he burned along the way.
Two sensors, two very different jobs. Here is the wiring order, the code order, and the two mistakes that cost me an evening each.
A retired avionics technician's account of four months with the ELEGOO UNO R3 Super Starter Kit: what the 1.2 pound box really contains, what the PDF tutorial actually teaches, and the gaps he had to fill himself.
Two years, one garage, one board that has been powered on almost the entire time. What the CanaKit Raspberry Pi 4 Starter PRO Kit gets right, and the four things that still irritate me.
One is a complete kit with a GPIO header and a card that boots to a desktop. The other is a cheap machine with more muscle and no pins. What each one actually teaches an adult who wants to learn.
Two years and one month on a retired avionics tech's workbench, and this is still the first thing switched on in the garage every morning.
Four or five projects' worth of orphan parts are still sitting in my bench drawer. The one box that never sent me back to a website is the one I would buy again.
The card is already written and the power supply already matches the board. What is left is the order to put the parts together, and the four places beginners lose an evening.
Two years and one month on a garage workbench. What the box gets right, what it leaves you to figure out yourself, and who should not buy it.
Six hours over two Saturdays, one sensor cable in the wrong port, and twenty-one months of tape loops on the garage floor.
One arrives as a box with a tutorial and programs that already work. The other arrives as a parts list and your own judgment. What each one actually teaches, from someone who has spent 34 years reading schematics.
A retired avionics technician on what a car the size of his hand actually taught him, and the three things he would tell a beginner to skip.
Thirty-four years of aircraft wiring diagrams did not prepare me for how much a loop of electrical tape on a garage floor could teach me.
The build takes two Saturdays. The calibration takes one afternoon, and it starts with two numbers on a scrap of paper, not with somebody else's code.
Two Saturdays, six hours of assembly, and a year and nine months of garage-floor driving. What the ELEGOO V4 teaches, where the guide stops, and who should not buy it.
Two years and eight months on a garage bench in Everett, Washington. What the kit actually includes, where the sleep timer earns its keep, and the one thing about the iron cord that still bothers me.
One is bench equipment. One is a pencil you keep in a drawer. A retired avionics tech sorts out which job each one actually does.
A retired avionics tech on why the cheap pencil iron stayed in the drawer once a real station showed up on the bench.
A retired avionics technician on what changed when he stopped fighting his iron and set a real temperature.
A retired avionics tech walks through the five steps he runs at his own bench, from setting the temperature to proving every joint with a meter.
Two years and eight months on one bench with the YIHUA 926 III: where the heat holds, where the bundle thins out, and the two features most likely to confuse a first-time owner.
Two years and nine months on a garage bench, one battery, and the four checks it does better than my eyes.
Two meters, two different jobs. One lives on the bench, one lives in a panel, and only one of them belongs in a beginner's first order.
A retired avionics technician makes the case for buying the meter before the next kit.
Thirty-four years of chasing faults through aircraft wiring, and the tool that finally ended the guessing at my own bench cost less than a spare board.
A bench procedure for using continuity and DC voltage to find the bad connection before you swap parts.
Two years and nine months on one garage bench, one 9V battery, and a clear picture of where a 2000-count meter stops helping.
Thirty-four years of troubleshooting aircraft wiring, then a box of parts on a garage bench. Here is what the ELEGOO kit actually taught me over four months of evenings, and where it left me to figure things out alone.
A retired avionics technician's account of four months with the ELEGOO UNO R3 Super Starter Kit: what the 1.2 pound box really contains, what the PDF tutorial actually teaches, and the gaps he had to fill himself.
Two years, one garage, one board that has been powered on almost the entire time. What the CanaKit Raspberry Pi 4 Starter PRO Kit gets right, and the four things that still irritate me.
Two years and one month on a garage workbench. What the box gets right, what it leaves you to figure out yourself, and who should not buy it.
Six hours over two Saturdays, one sensor cable in the wrong port, and twenty-one months of tape loops on the garage floor.
Two Saturdays, six hours of assembly, and a year and nine months of garage-floor driving. What the ELEGOO V4 teaches, where the guide stops, and who should not buy it.
Two years and eight months on a garage bench in Everett, Washington. What the kit actually includes, where the sleep timer earns its keep, and the one thing about the iron cord that still bothers me.
Two years and eight months on one bench with the YIHUA 926 III: where the heat holds, where the bundle thins out, and the two features most likely to confuse a first-time owner.
Two years and nine months on a garage bench, one battery, and the four checks it does better than my eyes.
Two years and nine months on one garage bench, one 9V battery, and a clear picture of where a 2000-count meter stops helping.
