mail archive

How to learn a new skill this summer

Sometimes when I need to relax and focus, I listen to recordings of nature sounds. Like birds singing and insects buzzing in a summer...

How to combine components?

“How to combine components to get a specific function?” Many people ask me this. But that’s like if you want to learn the piano and...

Behind the scenes of Ohmify [VIDEO]

Every week I sit down to write this newsletter. And I usually spend about an hour. But today when I was sitting down to write, I had an...

Let me tell you a secret: I look up things

A few years ago I received a message: “We need to add a fancy new function to our product. Do you know how to do this?” (Okay it...

What I’ve been up to during lockdown (Hint: Creating)

I hope you are well during these lockdown times. While writing this, I’m...

Can kids learn electronics from Ohmify?

In these corona days, a lot of kids are stuck at home. And I’ve been asked many times by parents around the world if Ohmify is suitable for kids. Here’s what Thomas Jones from Texas (a new Ohmify member) told me in...

Can you learn electronics in 20 hours?

Now that it seems like the whole world is going into lockdown, I still find that the situation has some positive impacts on my life. You see, my wife and I like to travel. But now we can’t for a while. And because...

The dangers of learning electronics

Two weeks ago, we were instructed (as in most of the world these days) to self-isolate. My plans to fly down to Spain and build a kitchen had to be discarded. But a wonderful thing happened instead: I suddenly had...

Not sure how to build your idea? Here’s how:

“I know the basics, and I’ve built a few circuits. But I have no idea how the build my own ideas!” That’s a common problem. However, here’s how you solve it. First of all, make your idea specific. Choose...

What Is Electric Current?

Electric current is what you get when electric charge moves around a circuit. It’s pretty simple when you finally get it. But there are some common pitfalls that can give you the wrong idea when learning. And if you...

Bluetooth, transistors, and buck-converters

Hey there, This is Oyvind checking in from Valencia in Spain. In the last few weeks, I’ve been busy recording podcasts, designing circuits, and creating electronics courses for Ohmify. If I were to summarize my last...

You can use this simple chip to make music

I like to create sound. It’s one of my favorite things to do with electronics. To create sound you need to make a circuit that creates a voltage that goes up and down very fast. Like a few hundred (or even thousand)...

End of year notes from Oyvind

So I just realized today that it’s not only a new year we are entering into… We’re entering into a new decade! I’ve been teaching electronics for about ten years now. And it’s been a crazy ride: From teaching...

Understand electronics next year

“what you hear, you forget. what you see, you remember. what you do, you understand.” I’m not sure who first wrote that. But there’s a lot of truth in it. I want you to understand electronics. Not just...

Ohmify gift cards / The Christmas bundle

Today is the day before “the day” here in Norway. “The day” is Christmas Eve. That’s the main day of Christmas here in Norway. That’s when Santa comes knocking on the door and the kids get their Christmas...

Are homemade Christmas presents cool?

When I was a kid, I had the habit of trying to figure out what my parents had got me for Christmas. So I searched in closets and the basement. One time, I found a table tennis racket. And I thought… “Woah! I’m...

[New Course] How the capacitor works

Have you ever wondered what a capacitor does in a circuit? Well, then the newest Ohmify course is for you. You’ll learn how the capacitor works and some of the cool things you can build with it: Fading LEDs,...

What do you want to focus on?

“There are 10 kinds of people in this world. Those who understand binary. And those who don’t.” That’s a binary joke. Those who understand binary will get it ;) When it comes to learning electronics, I see that...

Did you know about this book?

If you were following my newsletter 2-3 years ago, you might remember 9 Circuits. That was a very popular ebook I wrote and sold back then. So when No Starch Press approached me suggesting we should create a new book...

New Course: Blinking Christmas Lights

Christmas is coming up in about a month. And it’s time to build some Christmas things with electronics. So I just added a new course project to the Ohmify library: The Blinking Christmas Lights...

Did you build the blinking light?

I cannot count how many times I’ve connected my battery to a freshly built circuit and… …nothing. In the last email I sent last week, my goal was to convince you to try and build the blinking light circuit. Here...

Why does the battery voltage change?

Today I got a question from Garry on the Ohmify community. [GARRY]: “When I measure the voltage of my 9V battery using my multimeter I get a reading of 9.06 when it is not connected to any circuit. When I hook the...

The tale of the “damaged” chip

Ok, I’ve been away from electronics for too long. I haven’t been able to get my hands dirty and build circuits for a while. But last week I sat down to build some circuits for the 555 Timer course. I hooked up...

Are you frustrated learning electronics?

If yes, keep this in mind: Building a circuit and understanding a circuit are two different skills. And you can learn one without the other. As a kid, my dad taught me how the relay works. That helped me understand a...

This common rule is just wrong

How can a bird sit on a power line with thousands of volts and not get electrocuted? When I was a kid, I learned that it’s because “the current takes the path of least resistance”. The reasoning behind was that...