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Circuits
Overachieving and under-appreciated, circuits are the foundation that our technological society is built on. Now's your chance to find out not only how they work, but why. Questions regarding the physics behind voltage, resistance, capacitance, inductance, transistors, LEDs, switches, and power supplies; and how they're used to create analog and digital circuits, should be directed here.
1,646 Questions
Reliant dust collector Model 720 change the voltage from 115 to 220?
Hi, I am tracking down the owners manual now to find out, my guess is it is no different that changing the wires on a table saw motor...will check back.
What does it mean for an elctrical circuit to have a short?
This is simple. A short indicates that there is a wire that is touching someplace that its not supposed to. That path of the electricity is off course and can cause shock if not repaired.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of series and parallel circuits?
Series:
It is impossible to control the bulbs individually. This is one reason that series circuits are not practical for use in home lighting: It is not possible to control the lights in different rooms throughout the house on the same circuit. For example, if someone wanted to read the newspaper or watch television, he would have to turn on a switch that would put on every light and electrical appliance in the whole house.
Also, in a series circuit, the more output devices you add the slower the current becomes. If these output devices were, for example, bulbs, this would mean that the brightness of the bulbs would be dimmed. Another disadvantage of a series circuit is that if a bulb were broken or the pathway broken in any way, the other bulbs would go out too.
Advantages are that you can add more power sources, like batteries, and increase the force of the output which grants you more power. In Parallel, however, the power stays at the same voltage of the original power source. For example, if you were running a circuit on a 5-volt battery and it kept the bulb going for two hours and then added another 5-volt battery, it would keep the bulbs going for four hours instead, but it would only give out 5-volts instead of increasing it to ten.
Parallel:
Advantages would be that, if it were light bulbs that were the output devices linked in parallel, if one bulb broke the others would continue going. Also, the brightness of the bulbs would be greater than the brightness of bulbs in series.
Disadvantages are that there could be a risk of fire in some cases. Another would be that, if you have multiple power sources, the power stays at the same voltage as that of the single power source. In parallel, increasing the number of output devices does not increase the resistance like it does in series.
Does combining ac power sources double the voltage?
This is not a Yes/No answer, as the answer depends on the AC power sources used. There are two factors:
- Frequency: e.g. in the USA the powergrid its AC frequency is 60Hz
- Phase: an AC power source its voltage rises up and down with a certain frequency. When you take 2 AC sources, Phase is the shift between those two (this is often expressed in an angle).
If the AC power sources have the same frequency and there is no phase shift, then the AC Voltage will double when you serialize the two.
However, If the two sources are 180 degrees (or PI radians) out of phase, then they will cancel each-other out. Imagine AC current like the ripples in a pond when you throw 2 stones in the water 2 feet apart: The ripples flow out in a circular pattern from the center of the spot where a stone hit the water. Where the 2 circles meet, you'll notice that a some spots there is no activity (the ripples cancel each other out) and at other spots the ripples are higher.
Actually, I have seen this in a respected electronics magazine (Elektor) quite some time ago: A diode (selected to be capable to handle the amps, the voltage and the heat from the bulb - if placed inside the lighting fixture) is used to "cut off" one half of the AC sine wave and thus sending pulses of 120V to an incandescent light bulb, simulating a simple dimming device. The proposal was meant to run 240V bulbs at 50% of their brightness but I am pretty certain this concept can be used to run 120V bulbs from 240V power.
One other way of connecting 120V bulbs to 240V would be to connect two 120V bulbs OF THE SAME WATTAGE in SERIES, so the two bulbs form their own voltage divider. Not sure what happens if one bulb burns out - I would expect the other one to blow too, as a dying light bulb represents zero Ohms (plasma/arcing) for a few milliseconds before it goes dark forever.Current as a transfer of (+) charge so thats its direction of flow is opposite to that of electrons which are (-) charged
Do Output devices contain the electronic circuits which cause processing to occur?
No. The processing occurs in the Central Processing Unit. Output devices only present the results of the processing after it has been carried out.
It is a voltmeter. There are many styles of voltmeters. They measure the amount of volts available in a particular circuit. There are many different things like in the Movie Harry Potter and the Chamber Of Secrets there are may Volts Harry has to pass. This Information is correct it is seen by a collage professor
What is the term isolation in an electrical circuit?
the term isolated refers to a certain section or even a whole circuit that is separated or de- energized from a power source. high voltage lines are often "isolated" by opening swiches or removing jumpers, usually when a section of line is isolated it is because of trouble, problems or dead work. if a circuit is loop fed rather then radial fed, you can isolate a section of damaged line and still keep many if not all customers hot. But don't be confused if a section of line is isolated that does not mean its dead because IF ITS NOT GROUNDED ITS NOT DEAD!
How do you charge a 1.2 farad capacitor before installing it?
You have to drive around for like 15 minutes with the radio on with little or no volume and the power is fed to the cap. During that time to charge it
Why put an end resistor in fire detector loop?
Because if you dont you will burn and might get athsma Because if you dont you will burn and might get athsma Because if you dont you will burn and might get athsma
What is the function of the com connection on a digital multimeter?
'com' is short for common. This is the ground connection.
Gm of a transistor is proportional to?
Gm of a transistor is proportional to Ie/Vt.
That is, emitter current divided by thermal voltage.
Where is the blower motor resistor on 2002 ram 2500?
Under the glove box between the firewall and the blower motor
What is another name for an inductor?
Once referred to as a coil; still sometimes mis-called an inductance.
Are diodes and fuses the same thing?
no. a fuse protects a circuit from overload, while a diode is a component of a circuit.
Can you change a 35mF 425volts capacitor with a 20mf 410 volts capacitor?
Only if you are sure the voltage is less than 410 volts peak or it might fail. and- only if you are sure the reduced capacitance will not affect circuit operation.
For most purposes, no, you should not do that.
52 x 1K ohms + or - 10%. (Plus or Minus is represented by a + sign with a - sign directly under the +)
Like this ±
What is the purpose of a intergrated circuit?
Integrated cicuits, or IC's are manufactered for many different purposes such as as amplifiers, switches, or for tuning in specific radio or TV channels. An integrated circuit is a miniature electronic device containing many interconnected circuit elements formed on a tiny silicon semiconductor chip. Before integrated circuits were invented, individual electrical components were connected by soldering together the wires attached to them. These components were hundreds of times larger than the electronic elements formed on an IC, and older electronic devices used to be considerably larger and less reliable than they are now.
