How stuff works

If you want to get up to speed quickly or revise the basics, this 50 minute tutorial based on a Restart training session is just the thing!

If your volts, amps and ohms are a bit rusty (or even non-existent) then we have a simple introduction that anyone should be able to follow.

Start off with Volts, Amps, Watts and Ohms - what every Restarter should know.

So what's all this AC and DC nonsense all about, and why should I care?

We have several pages covering electronic components - how to recognise them, what they do and how they sometimes fail:

First of all, Resistors, Capacitors, Inductors and Transformers.

Next comes Diodes, Rectifiers, Transistors and Integrated Circuits.

Moving on, we look at Switches, Push-buttons and Connectors.

And finally, protection components. Fuses, the common-or-garden variety, are only the beginning!

Batteries come in all shapes and sizes, and different types, some rechargeable and some throw-away. Here's pretty much all you need to know.

Finally for this section of the wiki we cover:

Electric motors - different types and how they work.

Power supplies - they quite often fail, and to fix them you need to understand how they work.

How Radios Work. They contain a mass of components but if you at least understand roughly how they work you'll stand a much better chance of fixing them.