Something Cool

[matthew.brough]

Same here. That's how I first learnt that even when unplugged somehow taking the tv to bits and touching (what I now know to be a capacitor) gave me such a belt but I couldn't work out why as it was unplugged. It aspired me to find out

I bet.

Ironic we have the same name. I thought someone was having a laugh at first.

[arfur mo]

Read the rest if the story first arf . . .

i have, it was the statement at the point i read about changing companies because of charging for a relay

Similar situation, over the years i have had many calls to interface fire alarms so the front door is released on a fire signal. i ask the fire alarm co for a voltage free N/C contact (which means they supply and configure and also ensure its correct action), i then attend to wire it in line with the maglock. Fire co charge, i charge depending on travel time etc.

accurate information is welcome on any fault reports, todays event logs with time and date stamps are a very powerful tool, even with best intentions my advice is always treat it with some caution, do not assume or rely on the total accuracy. while your client might be right always check if she/he is wrong, do your own checking.

while working for companies i learnt i listen respectfully to what the clients complaint was, then use a range of questions designed to eliminating from what is claimed, what can and what can't really happen.

tbh while employed, even if the info came from a highly respected fellow engineer, i'd still ask the questions and draw my own conclusions, simply because it will be my name on the docket, so my responsibility, pride/reputation at stake.

to make that clearer, lets take 2 equally capable good engineers, sometimes fault diagnostics fail, second engineer has a slightly different approach to the first, will often drop directly onto the fault, the first engineer missed.

and i don't have the luxury of a second engineer to fall back on.

[matthew.brough]

I take at face value most things people say and look for myself. A good example came in the other day where a customer had asked the Helpdesk for replacement fobs as they weren't working which we had gone 99% of the way of doing and i said have you checked the panel doesn't need resetting or something else that would prevent setting? Sure enough tamper fault. I could see successful reads in the log of the fobs so we nearly replaced a ton of fobs because we took the report at face value.

[arfur mo]

on some older radios or Tv's, you could get a belt of the mains plug pins due to the large reservoir smoothing cap.

[matthew.brough]

There is all sorts I've learned over the years through tinkering and got a few belts and burns to prove it. It was that tinkering that sparked the interest in doing it for a living but I wouldn't condone anyone touching capacitors with super high voltage just for educational purposes as this may kill you.

I sometimes feel quite a hypocrite. We often in here discourage meddling (for good reasons) but it's the meddling that got some of the best technical wizards I know into what they do. That's why I liked being a radio ham. Taught me a lot.

[PeterJames]

Same here. That's how I first learnt that even when unplugged somehow taking the tv to bits and touching (what I now know to be a capacitor) gave me such a belt but I couldn't work out why as it was unplugged. It aspired me to find out

Ironic we have the same name. I thought someone was having a laugh at first.

I used to charge up big capacitors at technical college and then throw them into puddles on the way home used to scare the fook out of the hardressing students LOL!

[matthew.brough]

Didn't have you down as the mischievous type. I had so much fun playing with electronics and finding out how it works. Only thing I understand really. Not sure for the youth of today geeky stuff is so cool to get into.

[goncall]

There is all sorts I've learned over the years through tinkering and got a few belts and burns to prove it. It was that tinkering that sparked the interest in doing it for a living but I wouldn't condone anyone touching capacitors with super high voltage just for educational purposes as this may kill you.I sometimes feel quite a hypocrite. We often in here discourage meddling (for good reasons) but it's the meddling that got some of the best technical wizards I know into what they do. That's why I liked being a radio ham. Taught me a lot.

4th can tubbs..wizards ffs man..

[matthew.brough]

Don't forget I watch Barney

[matthew.nowell]

WOW nice to see all these replys. When i see something cool like the lights going off when alarms set it inspires me to add it to my shed or demoboards then me and matthew will add it to my workplace long as boss agrees lol