Sunday, February 9, 2025

Electrical Basics - Ohm’s Law: A Key to Understanding Circuits

The Foundation of Electricity

Like most things in life, even something as complicated as electricity has simple terminology and parts that it can be broken down into. Understanding these properties and how they are related will give you a deeper understanding of what is going on in a circuit. Ohm's law is the most basic of formulas and can be applied to both simple and complex circuits. It works with AC and DC voltages and with a little algebra it easily demonstrates the relationship between the different properties of electricity.

Saturday, February 8, 2025

Simple Shelves are Never Easy

Very often in the maintenance and repair world, the easiest jobs become the most annoying. It's understandable when the pain is caused by some mechanical error. A bolt head sheers off, wires in a box are too short, or someone mushroomed a shaft and now the bearing is stuck. These are normal levels of annoyance that at some point become achievements for fixing, and a point of pride when others ask you to teach them how you've done it. Then we get to building shelves.

Wire rack shelves are not that difficult to build. On a scale of 1-10 on the skill required, I give it a 2 tops. Where they become not so easy, is having to build them for someone else with zero other information provided. If you stay at any job site long enough, it's almost guaranteed you will make these shelves. You may even have some in your basement, garage, or apartment.

Thursday, February 6, 2025

Proactive or Reactive?

Fail to plan is a plan to fail

What is the difference between proactive maintenance and reactive maintenance and why does it matter? Unexpected downtime is the great killer. It prevents you from meeting your goals. It prevents your factory from producing your products and impacts profit. A cooling tower or chiller breakdown means your hotel, conference center, or arena will likely have to compensate your guests for the poor experience of being trapped in a hot box.

Wednesday, February 5, 2025

Never Switch a Neutral

What do you mean by switch?


I am referring to using the neutral as the breakpoint in a switching circuit. A light is the simplest example. When you flip the switch, your light turns on. Normally this is done by having the switch between the hot wire and the light fixture. This is also the safe and proper way. The problem is, that electricity does not care about you, your codes, your safety, or the proper way to do things. It follows the laws of nature, not the laws of man. That being said, it is physically possible to switch a neutral and achieve the same effect, turning a light on and off.

Wednesday, January 29, 2025

Bare Bones Basic Digital Logic

Introduction


Digital logic is the way computers process inputs from a binary system. Binary simply means there are two possible values. The values are determined by the presence of either high voltage or low voltage. In most logic and control circuitry, high voltage can be 3.3V, 5V, 12V, or 24V being common as the high value. Low voltage is 0V to usually but not always less than 2V. The value range is dependent on the part. 

Monday, January 27, 2025

When a multimeter isn't enough

When it comes to motor troubleshooting your meter likely isn't enough to figure out the issue completely. The usual testing of lead to lead to check resistance and lead to ground to see if there is a short can definitely find some, but not all motor motor-related issues. The problem is the signal that a standard meter sends down the line and between the windings is often too weak to simulate what would normally be happening during operation.

Friday, January 24, 2025

Company Highlight: Siemens

 
Siemens

What is Siemens?


If you've ever been down the electrical aisle of a hardware store, such as Lowes or Home Depot you will have come across at least one of their products. Depending on where you live and when your house was built, you may even have one of their panels inside your home. This is what most people outside of the repair, maintenance, and engineering fields will know this company for. I am here to tell you, that they are so much more.

Besides what you see that keeps the lights on in your house, they provide a diverse range of industrial products. Some products range from different places, such as motor control centers, access control, life safety, and even medical devices. If there is a wire providing data or power, chances are they make it or the parts that make it.

As part of their vast global reach, they even offer financing for companies looking to upgrade their systems. It's one thing that really sets them apart from some of their competition. They are so big and worldwide that they can invest in many different industries.

Being a German company, their products are top-notch. Germany is well known for their engineering and Siemens has shown that to me and the world. I like that their products come with more technical documentation than some other companies and if more information is needed it's readily available on their website.

No matter what industry or country you're in, you should check them out. They may have a solution to whatever problem your job site has. Here's their link again in case you missed it at the top, Siemens.

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