That electrical question about load balance brought an interesting recollection to mind...
what with the introduction of computers to cars and such, the amount of wiring and small signal cableing is getting just plainly silly....any car that has a dozen computers in it is certainly more of an Electronics Tech problem then a Mechanical maintenance problem....

so question is, how many actual line mechanics here, and I"m sure there are more than just a few.....
how many of you guys actually understand electronics....I mean electronics, not just elementary useage of a voltmeter.....

now how many of you understand basic electricals....as in Ohm's law, the relationship among power, current, voltage, resistance (load)????

how many of you all know the relationships between the battery and the alternator, and basic charging theory/circuits???

just curious....

GENE

 

I'm a decent shade tree mechanic by experience. I got my electronics background in the Navy (I was near you at NAS Cecil Field for 8 years, BTW).

A basic knowledge of electricity and electrical systems is a good thing for do-it-yourselfers to have, IMO. Nothing complex, just the ability to troubleshoot wiring using a multimeter.

 

My dad had a Television Repair business... I was replacing picture tubes when I was about 10. Then came color TV... had to learn to use a colorbar generator and align the darn color guns. Along with that, I also had to learn to use an oscilliscope. In keeping with the spirit, I began building my own circuits using the "new" transistors... PNP, NPN, FET's... kept me occupied for a while. Built my own DC regulated power supplies from scratch, and assembled many Heathkit products, some of which I still own & use, including a guitar amp. Took Electronics in High School (Mr Zwick at N. Syracuse Central HS, home of Richard Geer- we knew him as "Dick"), then completed 1 year at Rochester Institute Of Technology in Electrical Engineering. Vietnam war was winding down, EE jobs were scarce, so I switched majors. After bumming around (mechanic in gas stations) I joined the IBEW Apprenticeship Training Program (electrician) and worked in construction wiring Shopping Malls and Grocery stores and automated process equipment for IBM. That's where I learned about "load balancing". I wire my own houses and they always pass inspection on the first try. Ohms law is just the tip of the iceberg. Try resonance, capicitance, and inductance in series and parallel circuits. Then try "entropy" in designing digital circuits using and, or, nand or nor etc gates. And how about "fuzzy logic" ? "almost and" Yuck. Who needs a comparator.


Does this count?

Tom

 

I unnerstand all that RF theory stuff, LCR time constants, etc...
and also elementary logic....

but then you get into 'fuzzy logic'......sorry, lost me,...I"m too old I guess...
I wuz a TV shop manager during the 70's....spent the 60's learning the trade, back when knowing the 'dirty dozen' was a job in itself....

GENE

 

Fuzzy logic is where you have an input to a gate (or digital circuit) that is not exactly a 1 or a 0. It is somewhere in-between... with a probabilty attached to it. The circuit has to then make an educated guess at what it received, and make a judgement call on the correct output going to the next gate. At least that is the way I remember it. So it is in essence, a "bit" that can be 0, 1, or something else. Go figure. Isn't that what vacuum tubes did?
Anyhow, all you "up to date EE's" can correct me... I'm working off a "fuzzy memory" :)

 

At one time my Father also worked in the radio/television repair business.
This exposed me to electronics as well. Later he owned a service station &
convenience store where I worked during my teen years. Lots of oil changes
tires, and general repairs.
I had an interest in electronics as well as mechanics. Electronics won.
I persued that career and eventually (1968), I joined a major computer company as a field engineer, repairing computers. Not PCs, these things were huge.
I spent 30 years with this firm, with the last 12 years as a Business Development Manager. I'm now retired from there, and have a small computer
consulting business.
Like Tom, I wire my own home, have built a Heathkit TV, and built several
electronic "devices" over the years.
I still enjoy working on cars. With all the electronics in cars today, it is a
definate advantage to have an electronics background.
One of my other cars has 5 onboard computers, not counting the other
electronic gadgets, remote trunk, locks, alarm system etc.
An automobile today can be a hobby for someone that enjoys mechanics and
electronics.
Barry

 

As a maintenance mechanic, the fortune 500 company I work for requires us to have a basic working knowledge of many systems. Electrical, plumbing, pnumatic, hydrolic, hvac, elec. motors, gas engines, electronic, etc..etc. Jack of all trades, master of none. We do go pretty deep into these systems to be able to install and repair "in house". The facility I work at is 1.3 million sq ft. and is run with 99% electrical energy. Big place... lots of stuff that breaks. So, what I'm rambling about is YES, I do understand more than "basic" electric and some electronics. The fillings in my teeth still hurt from the 277 20A I took last week!! I now have curly hair!! :D :D

 

To bad they don't teach spelling :jester :jester :jester :jester

 

All you guys, I think it's the MOST interesting, challengine age we live in...just wish I could keep up, damm arthritis just slows me down, mind went around corner, parked and engine cooled before body even realized it gone....

now where did I leave my mind???? :rolleyes: :mad :confused: :D :eek: :cool: :cheers:

 

Tom, doesn't that reguire a biased NOR gate or at least an op amp input???
and then isn't it only good for analogue inputs??? to save processing power so to speak??? or am I way off base????

GENE

 

I write device drivers and help develop hardware and such things for a living, I live a fuzzy line (the word 'fuzzy' is in this thread WAY more than it should be for a car forum, when not followed by 'dice') between hardware and software... Been thinking about building my own fuel injection ECU...

Jim

 

GENE-

I don't have a clue. All I remember is sitting in one of my Logic Design Architecture (digital circuit design) classes and discussing the use of the stuff. I have never applied the knowledge.... I'm just mildly aware of the theory. The only OP amp I have is in my CD player. :)
The reference to the vacuum tube was just a joke.... sort of a sarcastic reference to the digital philosophy trying to handle analog reality.

Tom