Not feeling NERDY enough? Well, get your micrometer out and make sure it has fresh batteries, probably CR-10’s if I had to guess.
Once you have that accomplishment under your belt and your feet therefore planted already partway down the path to success, avail yourself… nay… immerse yourself in the splendory goodness of the intellectual equivalent of hot buttered chocolate…
A TOP 10 LIST THAT WILL EXPAND YOUR FRIKKEN MIND.
Alright, so everybody knows that there can’t actually be a “correct-perfect” TOP 10, and from one day to the next this top 10 list could (and should) change.
But for now – right now, this list has a goldmine of information for beginners to intermediate (and beyond) skill levels of those jumping into the awesome ocean of DIY Electronics.
That said, in no particular order, here are some channels that deserve your attention and if you dig into the content, you will improve quickly.
(Beginner tip: Soldering skills are crucial to having fun – if you are needing to improve at soldering – through hole or SMT/SMD (surface mount) – just get a handful soldering practice boards or mini projects, you will improve with each one and before you know it you will be a soldering monster).
Perhaps the granddaddy of DIY Electronics channels, Dave was one of the first to go full time youtuber back in the day, and one truly gifted electronics mind with an easy and understandable ability to teach.
Soren started this channel to help teach repair techniques to new employees in a sister office, and never expected it to become very public. He keeps it real – showing mistakes and real problems without holding back. And most importantly, he is brilliant, fun, and easy to learn from.
The effort from Steve Gardner, while not a large channel (yet), has a large library of information is very complete but delivered quickly and clearly, usually in 4K detail. Maybe the steadiest and fastest soldering hands on YouTube, which is saying a lot. Check out his huge Solder roundup reviews (here) and equally huge Flux (here) reviews.
4. Adamant IT
Of course, this channel immediately makes you think of Adam Ant, and then 80’s music, which eventually leads to “AHA- Take On Me”. That said, Graham is a smart cookie, and has a brilliant accent to go along with it. As friendly and entertaining as he is informative, the channel is full of beginner absorbable information. Just guessing, but thinking he may have made his intro music himself. Good stuff. Not to be missed would be the series on Board Repair Basics – playlist here, not just useful for motherboard work, but electronics in general.
And here is a video of Graham diagnosing and fixing a common motherboard problem:
The guy with the swiss accent. While his voice may not be as smooth and warm as a hot cup of swiss hot chocolate, the content on this channel is hot stuff. Andreas focuses in on Microcontrollers and sensors that can attach to them, as well as radio stuff and SBC (Single Board Computers) things like the ubiquitous Raspberry PI. While some of the information is definitely advanced, the detail makes it accessible to beginners.
You could seriously learn years worth of electronics from just this one channel – it’s up toward EEVBlog for information content. The approach is very project and very DIY hands-on with a lot of original ideas, and the kind of detail that includes beginners to advanced.
Another GREAT repair channel. Motherboards, Phones, Keyfobs, Nintendo Switch, if it’s got a circuit board it’s going to be fixed. Or at least attempted. As long as it’s not dead from cat pee. True story. Even if not interested in the types of repairs being done, the information is fantastic – from part identification to diagnosis to ingenious and clever fixes that might not have seemed possible.
This one is not like the others. There isn’t a lot of content here, although definitely a few videos worth checking out -ie. “How To Improve Your PCB Designs (Common Mistakes)“. But the channel made this top 10 list because of one long excellent video. It’s this one:
Okay.. So Stephen is not going to be for everyone. He bounces off the walls, ceilings, floors, and possibly the inner closet as if he has been mainlining Red Bull. So, he’s intense. And geeky. And straight up genius. His series of videos about designing and building a “Pick and Place” contraption cover from the very basics to some pretty advanced math-ish level info all with a fun hyper practicality, culminating in a pretty awesome result that may end up bringing reasonable cost at-home PCB population much closer to reality. Drink a bunch of coffee before watching for proper intensity matching.
Oozing old school West Coast Canadian charm, no project is too complicated or mundane to take a crack at. From 50’s battery powered transistor radios to insanely powerful movie theater amplifiers and much more, the knowledge transfer from this channel is astonishing. Most repair attempts are not only successful, they are done in short order – and as is the case with many in this Top 10 list, done without a schematic. Though to be fair, he probably has the circuit diagram (or similar) in his head from years and years of real world professional electronics experience.
And…
… it wouldn’t be a TOP 10 list without some honorable mentions. But these are better than just that – any of these following three (and there could have been many more than 3) channels could (should) have been in the TOP 10 list.
iPad Rehab https://www.youtube.com/c/Mendonipadrehab/
Definitely advanced, but understandable, Jenna Jones has a background in molecular genetics and teaches how to repair iPhones and other Apple devices with the types of problems that Apple itself claimed were not repairable. Just awesome.
Mr Carlson’s Lab https://www.youtube.com/user/MrCarlsonsLab
Paul Carlson shares his encyclopedic knowledge of electronics, with a focus on the vintage including vacuum tube driven circuitry. It’s like going to electronics lab class with the best teacher who actually has the coolest things to work on. He covers what he is doing in detail, and it’s just great entertaining education.
D-lab Electronics https://www.youtube.com/c/dlab500/
Terry focuses on audio. I might have to do another TOP 10 just on audio, but there is no TOP 10 audio electronics list that doesn’t include D-lab. This channel can teach you how to fix your amplifier, design a new one, safety precautions, how to safely trace a high voltage audio circuit and so much more.
