Ask an electrical engineer anything

I really enjoyed the circ. analysis book by Hayt.
Any book recommendations for baby undergrads? Preferably ones that don't glaze over the motivation/proofs. Bonus points if its for a first course in linear sys.

I can answer specific questions definitely. If you want an open ended reply, automation is huge in the oil/gas industry. There really isn't any automation work to be done in the utility field. I worked with a service group repairing high voltage equipment. I did repair work on 345 KVA substation equipment. All utility work is done by human power.

With that said, automation is huge in the oil/gas industry. Everything is process driven. I did design work for oil rigs and pumping stations but down stream opportunities are endless. You need to be able to optimize how a barrel of crude oil becomes the water bottle that comes in a 24 pack from Walmart. Every cent you can save increases shareholder values. I can speak more on this if there is any interest

If you are interested in proofs definitely look in to control systems. Look up any works by Jan C Willems. He is considered the father of control theory and writes extensively on linear systems. I can't tell you much more because I only took 1 undergraduate course on the topic.

I can give you a link to every EE book you'll ever need drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B04l-XMi07VKTlNkQVF5X2FaTjQ

>bought this distortion pedal kit.
>can't figure out where these go

Are they resistors? If so, why are there no spots that have them labeled to go there? Watt do?

Pic

I have no idea what you are asking. Study the schematic and try again.

Those 2 components are capacitors. I'm assuming they are 100 and 300 uf rated. the smaller 100 uf one goes in the top right corner where the label is. These could also be part numbers and not capacitance values. Refer to the instruction manual. I don't see any slot for a 300uf cap.

All of the rectangles are resistor slots and the circles are caps. Be careful on what you attach to the ground plane.

D1-D2 is probably the - + connection for a diode. I can't give you any more information its probably all in the book that came with it.

1K 10K 1.5K1M 100K are resistors 47R and 560R can acturally be too but I'm not sure
1N148 is a diode
the one that have UF are capacitors

this is a resistor

Shit came from China, this is all it had with it.

>installation instructions
>literally same as the pcb
fucking china

Thanks for the input. My 4th year dissertation/project is on nanopositioning control systems and I am open to specialising in that field since I like the math side of engineering more than enacting exoanding brain memes to solve practical problems, but I am interested to hear what steps you took towards power. Was your research or industry experience more focused around power?
Btw i'm in a 5 year MEng program in Scotland (hence every cunt and their dog popping a hard one for oil), are you based in US or elsewhere? Any experience with the european engineering markets?

here again.
Forgot to ask you my favourite question. What got your foot in the door in terms of industry? Was it the prior research you did before or is part of those 2 years spent in internships or placements?
I'm stressing about applying for the few available (summer) internships around the region I study in - one of them is for embedded and one is at a neighbouring uni for designing multilevel converters a.k.a. balls deep in power. If you've had interviews for positions in those two fields, lay it on me bruh

What do finite element methods help with?
Is it just easier to model/manage the heat?

At higher levels the work of Rudolf Kalman and the Kalman filter is also interesting.

EE is boring and I bet you are too.

>You need to be able to optimize how a barrel of crude oil becomes the water bottle that comes in a 24 pack from Walmart.
When you say that, what you mean is how to optimize the operation of the processes, right? Would that mean designing optimized control systems?

name something more exciting than solving a linear system of currents i dare you

Undergrad EE from 3rd world country. Looking to do my MS in the US. Which universities would you recommend?
>inb4 MIT or IVY league

solving laplace and fourier transforms for control systems.

When you learn the real parts and it's not linear anymore, instead it's real world physics.

one with 300 has 30pF and will go in into the slots above the LM308 IC

Is electromotive counterforce a real factor in motor engineering? It as a concept eludes me

I have no experience with the European market. Sorry! I got interested in power research after taking the junior level power classes. I wanted to know what happens between when you plug something in to the wall and the coal or other fuel that is burned on the other end.

In terms of getting my foot in the door, it was really just luck. My school had a career fair with 100+ employers recruiting and a utility company was interested in my resume. I went to work with them for a summer and learned enough about the trade to know that I wanted to get more involved in it. In the US, power is wide open for anyone and everyone that wants to get involved. It's not as attractive as embedded computing or cyber security. I chose to go the path less taken so to speak.

Heat dissipation is a huge factor yes but thats old news. No one has introduced a new heat dissipation model in the last 20 years for 3 phase motors.On the other hand, magnetic flux distributions are constantly being researched and improved.We develop new models almost yearly due to improvements in computational power.

Kalman filters are very interesting to the analog circuit engineer. Ive used babby 9 DOF IMUs for personal projects but they can't accurately detect accelerations without decent kalman filters. I hope those autistis implement a decent filter in a DIP package with a 9 DOF IMU.

Yeah for sure. I made a post on an image board to be able to share my interest. No on else has a hobby this boring.

Yeah pretty much. If you can save a cent then you've made the shareholders a profit.

Georgia Tech #1 US engineering EE. I'm biased

Did you fail any classes during?

asking the real questions here

Hi there! I know that AutoCAD Electrical is commonly used by engineers, but what else is? Do EEs use any sort of 3D CAD software? And finally, is research in EE better than research in ME? Thank you very much, and sorry if I have so many questions!

I'm a hobbyist how do I build some cool shit

Whats your opinon on focussing on robotics(automation) vs signal processing?

Never. Its easy to pass if you go to class and listen to the professor. They give you the material then write a test to see if you paid attention to them or not. With that said, I made quite a few Bs. EE classes are difficult and graded on a curve. I've had 50 test averages curved up to a B.

If you are doing simple wiring diagrams AutoCAD is the go to for sure. If you are doing magnetic simulations you'll need more sophisticated packages such as mathematica. Also commonly used packages include Z88Aurora and Femap.

It depends on what you want to build. If you want to learn in2 microcontrollers check out mbed.com they have a really easy to use and powerful microcontroller with extensive documentation. You can automate your house and do IOT memes with little to no technical expertise. I can control my thermostat with my Iphone. It was the easiest setup i've ever done.

It depends on what you like. If you want to do research and go for a PHD both fields are wide open. Signal processing requires full on set autism to enjoy. Robotics will be practical to study and lead to extensive job opportunities.

I got my Bschlor im Physic. Can i make my mastrr im EE?

Thank you for answering my question!

How do I voltage divider

>Signal processing requires full on set autism to enjoy

Kek you are 100% right.
t. EE graduate

you know basic voltage divider and capacitor addition... can you do any more engineering aside from that?

Minor in Quantum Physics or double major in Physics? Which one would be more useful?

Also, would a minor in CS be useful?

Ive heard people in undergrad get job offers before graduating during senior year, is it similar for masters students? Do you have time to do internships during the first summer of masters or no? I am EE undergrad going to grad school for MS and maybe PhD (depends on job prospects after I get my MS) focused on photonics shieet

I was hoping to go to school for ECE. My education in mathematics is really poor, unfortunately. I study as much as possible in my free time. I'm progressing at an alright rate, but I'm starting from the basics of algebra and I have a lot to learn. Am I setting myself up for failure? Even with ambition, do you think it's realistic for someone with a weak mathematical background to pull off an ECE degree? I live very close to Georgia Tech and was hoping to transfer there after getting some credits at a community college, I saw you rated it as the #1 EE school in America.

Difference between an ECE and EE?

Fear not, I am a high school drop out myself. I went to Gordon State on the RETP back in 2011. I think the transfer program is now called REPP. As long as you go to reputable school like Gordon or Georgia Perimeter or fuck it any of the state sponsored community collages you can get in here. Just get all As in your community college classes. Don't settle for any Bs. You'll easily be able to transfer to GATech and its #1 ECE program.

more useful for what? to brag to everyone about how smart you are? in that case go for quantum physics. If you want a useful degree with applications pick any engineering degree. CS is high tier. It is highly regarded among engineering majors. Software engineering isn't a meme.

At my school you can either get an undergraduate degree in EE or computer engineering (CE). The department offers these 2 degrees. For graduate school there is only 1 degree offered, ECE. It varies by school.

I networked extensively in undergrad so I have had internships and co-ops lined up semesters before starting them. Yes this is true. I have a 6 figure job offer lined up for when I graduate this spring. If you want lots of money look up oil/gas industry jobs.

GA Tech is not #1 for EE...but it is top 10 for sure. Maybe even top 5 for some specializations. No doubt it is the best in Georgia though.

alright boys i'm off to sleep. if you have anymore questions keep this thread bumped. ill check it when i wake up in about 8 hours. in the mean time, enjoy this picture of a phase shifting transformer. when you live in the world of unregulated power systems, this mother fucker can be installed simply to phase shift your power and punish the company supplying it to you by pulling their current out of phase of their voltage. its a real shitfest in a vertically integrated power system.

see my previous post it has every text book the ECE department uses. download those for a head start.

#1 in my heart :)

Gnight man, thanks for your replies. And massive thanks for the textbooks, I will definitely be making use of those.

God those textbooks would be so useful if my shite school used them. Some of them sound interesting enough to read on there own though. Thank you for your service to this country with those

I'm an undergrad in CS with a specialization in audio applications and a math minor. I've done a fair bit of signal processing already, and I'm going to take a hardware level signal processing course next year. Do I have a chance of getting in and doing well in a graduate EE/CE program?

I think you should be fine assuming good grades and the typical application shit. You might have to take some undergrad courses that you may have missed from being in CS and not EE when you get to the grad school, but probably not too many

Why cdoes dis work to turn on the load with the rbpi logic

thoughts about post graduate degree on robotics?

Where did you study? The teacher I had in my polytechnic university now teaches in MIT.

No problem. I always pass this link along to new students. If you want some light reading I highly recommend El Sharkawi's Electrical Energy Systems in the ECE 3072 folder. It only requires algebra and some basic calculus to understand.

Yeah you should be fine as long as you have a good GPA and GRA score. The audio engineering program is excellent here. Check out this website it has some cool stuff
leachlegacy.ece.gatech.edu/audiothings.html

That configuration is really dumb I don't know what you're trying to do but don't do it that way. If you need more current than the rPI pin can supply (I think it's limited to .5A?) just use a single BJT or if you need a shit load of current use a power MOSFET. If you are trying to drive a speaker load get a class D audio amp. It comes on a break out board from adafruit.

in like a DC motor either field coils or permanent magnets why are there always only one pair of magnets/electromagnets why can't there be more than one pair of field coils magnets, I always see like only two, would it lower the efficiency or something?

Hey OP, thanks for making this thread and passing the knowledge, a good virtue indeed.

I'm about to start Electronics Engineering (here in argieland we have Electrical and Electronics as different careers and shit lasts about 5-6 years, supposedly it's equal to a master but I'm not sure yet), and I'd like to ask about your opinion on what's gonna be the next hueg topic in the upcoming years, of course I know you don't have a crystal ball but giving that you're in the industry perhaps you have some insight about that.

Also which country leads the innovation in the field? A wild guess is Japan but perhaps the chinks or gooks caught up with them.
And finally, any YT channel that you'd recommend? Doesn't matter if it's only for your specialty, everything is good.

Thanks again.

Ok some I'm currently working as a control technician for almost a year and pursuing Computer engineering, have you met any CEs in the industry? Currently ive only worked along side EEs. Reason i ask is because i still want the freedom to move to other industries like biomedical or software engineering instead of being stuck in automation and robotics.

What's the hardest subject/module you've had to study so far in your course?

How do permanent magnet DC motors work without flyback diodes during the switching phase? You essentially have an instantaneous change in current.

Shouldn't the voltage spikes fuck up the attached electronics?

>Shouldn't the voltage spikes fuck up the attached electronics?
that's exactly what happens if you don't design your motor properly

explain nigger

OP confirmed to be a phoney. Any ECE would recognize a 100 and 300 capacitor code. I bet you think 102 on a cap means 102 uF dipshit. Also what they hell are you thinking that the 30pF cap is a 300 uF cap? 300 uF isn't a common value and capacitors that large are electrolytics.

The capacitor labelled 100 goes In the 100PF slot just below the LM308. The capacitor labelled 300 goes in the 30PF slot to the left of the LM308.

I have no information for you because I have no experience in robotics. I can catagorically dismiss post graduate engineering degrees because they just are not useful.

It's obvious if you read my replies.

Thats just not how DC motors work. i dont know what pair of field coil magnets are but they arent anything useful to driving loads. Try again

My 8-bal tells me embedded computing is the next generation of ECE work. Embedded systems are everywhere. Learn C++ and you can do anything in the field. Learn how to interface with the hardware.

The United States leads innovation in power believe it or not. Weve come along way from Tesla and his 3 phase machines... basically we hare more sophistocated 3 phase machines.Check out the eastern interchange connection.

here is a decent video:
youtube.com/watch?v=WHzIocy5k_c

Any CompEs ive met in industry have been hardware level software developers. They get shit on in every direction by all other engineers because they are supposed to be the CS's of engineers. CompEs are highly skilled. I have the upmost respect for them.

Conceptually electromagnetics was the hardest course. Digital signal processing was also difficult. My major class of 3 phase machine analysis was very hard but no one else took that so its not a popular opinion.

Any motor without feedback protection is unsafe. I cant talk about these because i have no experience with them. Use diodes please. Also there is no instantaneous anything. Its all switching. Everything happens in finite time. Only academic exercises are this precise.

You got me. Thats an an egregious error. It's obvious on second look that those are pico farad caps and not micro farad caps. I definitely would not have suggested a 102 cap to be a 102 uF cap.My academic career has been in research and not practical part placement. My loss for sure.

Quick question. I study biology and the future is delivering 'gene of interest' on a microchip

you have any idea on this ?

should i choose embedded systems or computer engineering master?

I'm not him, I'm doing CompE in Europe, but I'm pretty sure that you can do embedded with CompE.
It should be broader, but without the curriculum it's hard to say. Some universities come up with the strangest names for the strangest combination of classes.
Which one do you like more than the other?

3rd year electrifag here, I have no idea what am doing and I have no motivation to study. any advises to stop from ending it all?

I did 6 months of EE before dropping out and every morning I went to university I wanted to jump in front of the train .
How did you survive the whole 5 years?

Is research engineering worth it? Do research engineers actually get paid more than actual engineers, and if so do you know how much? I am NOT asking you to give us your paycheck amount, I'm just asking overall.

How is Japan holding up today after decades of innovation? I get the feeling that they fell behind the US and China.

I'll also about to finish my MS in 5 months but I don't have any experience whatsoever. I don't have any connections either. Am I dead on arrival?

Not him, but pure autism. Every one of us ECEs are autists that either enjoy large workloads or are masochists.

>My 8-bal tells me embedded computing is the next generation of ECE work
I'm kind of interested in embedded systems but how much circuitry/device physics does it use? I ask because I don't want to feel like I wasted time in uni learning those difficult concepts if I'm just going to only program in C for my whole career.

No but your starting options will be limited.

Never heard of this.

The other poster is correct. I took an embedded computing lab in undergrad and it was really interested but I lacked a lot of back ground to understand how the hardware actually worked. I would suggest going CompE if you want to really get in to embedded systems. EEs have more of a back ground in physics and how electrons work while CompEs focus more on math and how computing works. As a EE, I never took any low level programming courses and that is really helpful in embedded systems.

I honestly felt the same way when I was in 3rd year taking micro electronics and electromagnetics. It's really hard and unless you are a high functioning autist you will struggle with this stuff. My first suggestion is to make friends and network. Talk to the people you sit next to. When classes start this semester make an effort to learn everyone's name. If you don't make any friends or connections you'll suffer later.

I just had to find what was interesting to me. For that it took until junior level power classes but once I made it there I found myself studying topics outside of the scope of my courses. I started to enjoy it. First and second year classes are truly terrible in most engineering programs. Grad school is great though I can do whatever I want.

I have done research in an academic setting but not in a corporate environment. I can't really talk much about this but after I graduate I will be working in a research lab. The pay difference is considerable depending on where you go. For reference I have never heard of a EE making 6 figures out of school with a 4 year degree. But if you do get your masters or PHD you will make on average 15k more starting out. After about 5 years of experience I have heard it equalizes and you'll move up based on merit, not education level.

I asked you two questions on this thread and I cannot thank you enough for your advice and assistance! Take care and good luck!!

Japanese engineers invented the blue LED and that was huge but happened almost 30 years ago. Japan is still current in techniques of micro electronics and semiconductor research but I don't hear about much else coming out of Japanese universities.

If you have no internships then yeah you probably are. The best advice I can give you is to start making connections with class mates. When classes start in a few weeks make an effort to talk to everyone in your class. All of your class mates likely have multiple previous internships and all have contact information with hiring managers at these companies. I got my job just by asking a class mate to give me an email contact from his company where he interned.

Either that or lots of amphetamines. Lots of amphetamines.

I don't know anything about the embbed system industry but I had to do a fair amount of circuit analysis in my undergrad course. You have to optimize all of your components to be as efficient as possible.

No problem. I'll keep answering questions until this thread 404s. Glad you enjoyed it.

Oh.
Well, that makes me feel a bit better.

How hard is it to get funding during a MS in EE? Ive heard TA and RA positions are open but are they only for 2nd year students? Just wondering because I want to get a PhD eventually but will only have 2 semesters of research when applying so dont think I will be as competitive for the schools Im looking at despite having a good gre/gpa, so plan on applying for good MS programs to get more research exp and apply to PhD after

I am building an RC car from scratch and want a motor for steering. I want it to turn +30 degrees and -30 degrees, no more, with high torque. What the fuck is that motor called that does that? Is there one?

pls

>thinks he can get funding for an MS

Not him, but there are plenty of fellowships to apply for and TA/RA positions usually get paid monthly and a tuition waiver.

>It depends on what you want to build.

Well I really like remote-operated vehicles. Not too long ago I tried to build a small remote-controlled fixed-wing aircraft. Read up on a lot of stuff; for example wireless communications to figure out how to fly it remotely and maybe send back a video feed. I wanted to make one that'd fly really slow and steady so that it'd stay in the air for a long time and be easier to control. I read a lot about electric motors too which judging by this thread is your area of expertise. This was during my vacation, when my classes started and I had to abandon the project to focus on them.

I also enjoy the idea of automating my house. I have a lot of IR-controlled devices with a fuckton of incompatible remote controllers all over the house, I wanted to put a IR emitter in their line of sight and connect it to my LAN so that I could essentially program the devices from my computer. Then I'd set up some sensors and somehow connect them to my LAN as well. Then hook the whole thing up with an event system... If sensor detects person, then activate security camera, turn on lights, turn on A/C, the works.

can you take an integral value from a magnetic sensor and apply it to a program ?

Hello user, I'm curious about getting into electrical engineering but I'm not sure what to expect or what some offers may be if I go for it. How intense is the math would you say?

are you using differential steering? think RC cars use general small DC motors, if youre looking for steering like in a regular car you may need a small servo for the front wheels. I'll leave the final word to OP.
On that note OP i am getting interested in motors more and more, and I am part of a project to build an eco friendly traction vehicle using electric motors. I'd love to keep this exchange going if you want to leave some way to contact you outside of here. Can use wickr and signal too initially.

Thank you! That's the name of the motor I was looking for.

How much energy do I get when I split up one ton of water and let it explode into water again using elektrolysis with two carbon electrodes to split it up?? What's the efficiency?

Nice conveyor motor.

I'm a Sophomore ME but I got some input. My lab instructor for electrical circuits and devices lab was a physics undergrad who's now doing EE masters so its there

>every EE book you'll ever
Good stash, thanks!!