Alrighty FT, let me field your questions here and then think about how to best integrate them in to the tutorial.
I am going to change the Ia back to I once I get a chance, but as for I representing A, that’s going to have to stay the same and here’s why. A could be used as the Current variable in the equations, but A is also the abbreviation for Amperes. So the following EQN would be very confusing:
12V / 8&Omega = 1.5A
Is that 1.5 amps or 1.5 * A ? This is why ‘I’ was chosen (not my be, but by the electrical gods of long ago) over ‘A’.
I will put a blurb about ‘Why I?!?’ in the tutorial, thanks!
Not really ‘the goal’ per say, as more like it’s a definite thing. If you have a 12V source, then all 12V WILL be dropped by whatever components are in the circuit. All the circuit analysis in the tutorial is calculated in an ‘ideal world’ In an ideal world, wires don’t have resistance, in the real world they do. In an ideal world, batteries don’t have an internal resistance, but in the real world they do (that’s why they get hot during charge/discharge). So in an ideal
Thanks for the reply. Just a statement that in the diagrams I represents current flow as opposed to A being the measure of that flow in Amperes is kind of what I was talking about. I think that would alleviate some confusion - I had to look at that several times the first time to figure it out.
Thanks for the explanations. There may be hope for me yet.
I like the improvements! [tup] Your step-by-step explanations are a big help (for me) in following and understanding what you are trying to convey. And I especially like the section on voltage drop for custom tuning lightbulb brightness and longevity. I’ll probably go through it all again.
David, keep up the good work (in progress [swg] )…
This is really all fine and dandy, but you know you’ll have to write a book for electricity 101. There’s no mention of capacitance reactance, resistance thru parallel and series resistors, (I know…divide the parallel resistors by .1) wattage, microfarads, induction coils, resistors, capacitors, integrated circuits, transistors, diodes, zener diodes, bridge diodes, transducers, thermistors, heat sinks, mofets, coil relays, the relationship between voltage output related to the number of transformer coils, the difference between direct current and alternating current and how to measure it with a multimeter or oscilliscope, …well, you get the picture…the list goes on and on…I took electronics in college for two semesters and still I don’t know the nitty gritty of a lot of electrical principles… I think the best way for folks to learn is to get a good book on electricity and study it, and even then it’s gonna take a long time to get good at it…chuck
As I was typing up my last response to FT, I realized I had made a grievous error in all the equations posted. Voltage is not supposed to be represented with a V for the exact same reason, Amperage is not supposed to be represented with an A. Voltage is supposed to be E and current is supposed to be I. I added this clarification to the definitions at the top of the page and updated all equations. The theory and numbers stay the same, just V became E.
I agree some and disagree some. Most of that stuff will be covered, eventually. Of all the interest I have recieved on the subject, almost all were geared towards lighting, not making custom PCB’s. That being said, the simple subject will be covered first, and if the demand is there, more complex subjects later.
There are certain subjects that I will not type up as books are probably a better place for learning. Once the reader is at that level though, they don’t need my ‘Translated to Engilsh’ tutorials.
I think the best way to learn is to grab a few concepts and sit down and blow up a light bulb or two and learn hands on. I taught BE for several years and noticed that most people will only get so far into a book before they get discouraged as even basic elec fundamentals can get complex in a hurry… people need to play and get their LED glowing to perk enough interest to actually care how a capacitor impac
I wouldn’t go to grievous! I don’t recall ever (well that’s a long time, but…) seeing current represented by ‘A’, but rather always by ‘I’. But I think that I have seen voltage represented by ‘V’ quite often. It has been a while (a few whiles, actually) but I’d say that I saw ‘E’ more in the physics class side, and ‘V’ more, or at least some on the engineering side. At least, I know that I remember Ohm’s law as V=IR, for what it is worth!
I agree, but I also saw that physics/elec eng relationship, but I had it pounded it in to my head in Nuclear Field A school to never use V, as 12V could mean 12 Volts as easily as it could mean 12*V
Vail, Az eh? I spent the first 18 years of my life in Florence, AZ just up rt 79 from Tucson! Howdy neighbor!
Tough call. Probably here, it was too crowded out there even when I left in '92. There’s lots of good stuff out there, though. In general, I’d have to say I prefer the winter weather here, too, and probably even the summer, you know, the dry heat thing!
First half of Section 2 is up. Covers ins and outs of series and parallel circuit configurations. Next up: playing Diodes and Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs).
I have a basic electronics understanding (I can read a schematic, and know the basic symbols), though I always attributed the circuit to “magic” - the books never really went into the how or why it worked beyond “well, you’ve got your <electronic component(s)> hooked up to this power source…”.
I had mixed emotions about the black on grey also, but then I couldn’t decide if black on white images with a grey background would look alright… anyone else having eye strain with the black on grey? If so, I have saved everything in photoshop so no worries.
I agree with Tom. I personally like very visual tutorials and although I have a bit of an understanding of electricy, at least within the realms of this hobby, I would certainly welcome the chance to learn more.
I’m looking forward to going over Section 2. Looks like I might learn something.
A couple points on the section 1: 1. The pictures for Example 1.5 are not showing up for me, don’t know if I’m doing something wrong or if you have a link set up wrong. 2. It would be nice at the end of each section to have a link to both the previous section and the next section. Then, if I am working through I don’t have to go back to the table of contents to go on. Each section should also have a link to the TOC in case I want to go looking for something in particular. 3. I guess I am not a huge fan of the black text on gray background. Maybe you can do a gray border, and then have the body of the page be white with black text. That breaks the page up some so its not such a stark contrast.
I noticed that in your definitions at the top you did put how you would be referring to the different values in the equations. Thanks, I think that helps us [D)]'s.
