MJLorton Solar Power and Electronic Measurement Equipment Forum
General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: Ecobion on June 14, 2013, 11:48:52 AM
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Hello Martin,
Is there an introduce yourself topic on here? I haven't seen one, and if there is, is it a sticky so its easy to find? If there isn't, should we start one?
I'm Brent Stevens, AKA Ecobion, and I must say that watching your progress to date has been very interesting indeed. I'm based in Farnborough, Hampshire, in the UK, home to the Farnborough Air Show, and home to a lot of secret technology research & development, defense and aerospace by the likes of companies such as BAE systems and Qinetiq, there's also companies like Motorola, IBM and Nokia based here. Farnborough is also home to the UK Air Accidents Investigation unit of the Ministry of Transport, and is the place where the first airoplane flew in the UK, just 2 years after the wright brothers (and unlike the wright brothers, it flew entirely under its own engine power, rather than slung from a ramp).
I'm into electronics engineering and regular engineering as well. I'm following a few different electronics engineering channels on You Tube, and yours is the latest I've come across (thank Dave Jones for the traffic to your site). Its informative, and you have a positive way of presenting. Nothing worse than presenters mumbling and you can't understand what they are saying.
Lived in South Africa between 1981 and 1985, in Gordon's bay, next to Somerset West, I can't imagine how the country must have changed since I was there.
Keep up the good work!
;D
UFFFF, Is the verification necessary for making posts? Does it eventually go?
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Thanks for starting it, welcome to the blog.
as to the "Are you a spambot or something resembling human" box, it does go away after a few posts, as you will be deemed to be either human, Kzin or something close to intelligent.
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Hi there.
Fine! A quick paragraph to introduce myself...
I'm Ed Neil, born in Bromley (just by London) on March 20th. I'm only 17(!) but like to think that I am unlike most other 17 year olds; I do not listen to godawful modern 'music', loiter outside public buildings or act like a fool.
My hobbies (as exciting as they may/may not be...) are tinkering with (and repairing) computers (both old and new) and I run a Windows 2008R2 Active Directory domain. I am lucky enough to own a Dell PowerEdge 2850 and a PowerEdge 1650 (thanks to a local charity donating it to me, bloody hell it's loud) and the troubleshooting and repair of electronic equipment.
As to what makes me so unlike your average 17-year old is that I have both Autism and ADHD (which is kinda handy actually, keeps me *quick*) and an insane attention to detail.
(Crikey, that was a long introductory paragraph!)
I've been following MJLorton since August 2012.
So.. that's me.
-Ed
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Sweet! Looks like I already started something.
@seanB - Looking forward to not being a spambot sometime soon.
@Ed - I don't subscribe to this disorder classification that they have to give people, I think it's simply a case where people's brains are wired differently, and different people have different talents. My own opinion is that its a matter of perspective, of which the norm seems to be polarised. I hate this thing where everyone has to be defined these days. Why can't people be allowed to be different. Bring back good ol' English eccentricity - That should be the norm!
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I'm Stephen, I'm 22, I'm from Rotherham in England, and I also have Asperger's Syndrome.
I like electronics and computers. Like Martin etc, I have a bit of a test equipment fetish ;).
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Welcome to Ed and Brent (and Stephen...but he's been here a while ;-) )
My name is Martin Lorton....
I was born in Guildford, Surrey...in the UK...and 6 months thereafter my parents...along with my two older bothers emigrated to South Africa....and Cape Town became home.
I went to Vredehoek primary school...then Sea Point primary school....then Sea Point High School. I had mediocre results in matric (grade 12..standard 10) so had to go to technical
collage to get my N4 so I could get into Cape Technikon to start studying electronics (poor maths result...). The course was electrical engineering, light current. The course at the time was
a 3 or 4 year course with 6 months of classes (theory) and then six months of in-service training.
I only ended up completing my T2 (2nd year) and then decided to go into IT...
I started my IT career (1991) working for a company that supplied Tatung PCs to Shell Oil and I worked as on on-site support engineer at Shell in Cape Town. I soon gained an interest and
exposure to Novell networking (Netware 3.11 at the time) and left the company doing PC support and starting working directly for Shell as a network support engineer / certified CNE 4.
After about 5 years at Shell I left to travel Europe for a while and then worked in the UK for Sun Alliance. I then returned to South Africa and found work back at Shell again as a
network support engineer. I finally left around 2000 and did a 6 month stint in Dublin, Ireland, working for HP.
I returned to South Africa and after a while found work with EDS (started by Ross Perot). EDS contracted their support services to BP Southern Africa to look after their Windows server network.
After Windows 2000 and Active Directory came about, EDS won the contract to support BP USA, UK and a fair part of Europe.
In 2008 we (family) came to the USA as my wife was offered a secondment by her company...I retained my job and I telecommuted from the US. My role had changed a little...I no longer
did technical support but assisted with scoping and writing up new business opportunities that were presented to EDS by BP.
As the South African work day ended around 1pm / 2pm for me in the US...it gave me time to tinker and play....that's when I started sharing videos on Youtube for fun!
We returned to Cape Town in December of 2010....at that stage HP had purchased EDS....as part of cost saving exercises...many of us had our jobs shipped off to India...so by April 2011 I
was unemployed...
I tried work doing solar power, energy audits and heat pump installations...but none of that took off....after not being paid for a small solar powered project...and being rather peeved...I
decided to try make money out of running my Youtube channel full time (December 2011)...it was at this time that Comtest (Fluke agents) found me and started loaning me kit for review...
The rest...as they say is history....and I count myself very fortunate that this line of "work" keeps food on the table.
That's me!
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Interesting story Martin. I often wondered about your career/life history :).
Makes mine sound a little boring. I used to work as a cleaner in a primary school. Sounds dirty, which I suppose it was, but I enjoyed it due to the practical nature, short shifts, localness and reasonable pay.
I do have a National Certificate in Electrical/Electronic Engineering though (with double distinction) from my local 'tech' aka 'further education college', And I have just finished an HND in Electronic Engineering at another local college (this time, a technical college which likes to think its a university ;D)
I'm glad you manage to make a living out of the video blogging Martin. I'm surprised that you can make such a niche area profitable :).
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Martin, When you said you were from Surrey, I didn't realise it was Guildford. Our warehouse facility is in Godalming, just 10 mins drive from there.
I'm seeing a lot of people going back into education as they approach middle-age, particularly into electronics at the moment. It's something that seems to have resurrected within the last few years, possibly with the popularity of the maker community kick-starting it again.
I think the school system can often be at odds with creative people, and this seems to be one area that is a magnet for us. I think if something like BTEC vocational qualifications were available to you at school, you would have done well with them - No exams, only assignments.
My own return to electronics came recently. As a kid I was deeply into it, but the focus started to shift into processors, and subsequently into software, so I ended up doing Software Engineering at university. Took me about 20 years or so to realise I had gone down the wrong path, so got my skill set boosted with mechanical and electronic engineering. Don't think I'll ever stop learning now.
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Ecobion...interesting point about the school system being at odds with creative folks. I think I would have done far better outside of the traditional school frame work.
This is where the Internet and places like Youtube can (sometimes) be great for discovering and learning about topics...and as you say...allowing those of us at middle age to continue the growth in our knowledge without having to seek out formal educational institutions to do so. Bloody marvellous!
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Hi. My name is Jason Guiry and I live in a lovely 200 year old cottage in the countryside of Ireland near a coastal town called Dungarvan. I used to live inland until I was 12 when my father brought the rest of my family to the countryside to live a quieter, slow paced life than town/city life. My grades in school were borderline average but not good enough to be accepted into any of the college courses I applied for which at the time i think was mostly in the computer forensics, programming, and biology related courses.
I did get offered a place on a nursing PLC course which is basically a one year course where they teach you about nursing and do some work placement. You could think of it as a try before you buy course, however I declined and excepted a course called Nautical Science as both the PLC and this course were interview based entry. I studied Nautical Science from 2007 to 2011 where you are trained to become a navigation officer on merchant ships, ie. Passenger, cargo, oil tankers etc...
As part of the course you have immense work placement sections of the course, probably about 50% of the time you are travelling the world permanently on 3-6 month contracts each time with various shipping companies followed by more time in college. It worked out to be 1st month in college, 7months at sea, 6 months in college, 6 months at sea and so on until my final exams in the summer of 2011 where I failed 3 of my exams due to the loss of interest in the course and career path. Sure it was fun and exciting to say i have literally circumnavigated the globe by the age of 22 but I had no further interest to continue. I have been to every continent bar Antarctica but I did try to get on an Antarctic research vessel.
I would love to study electronic engineering and hopefully i will have the opportunity to do so next year as it is something i am always playing with, electricity and electronics, sometimes garden equipment engines too, but i never have enough money to buy any good equipment so i just made do with my €15 multimeter and a few cheap parts from eBay as my family was never well off financially. As a result I adopted the approach of "Don't turn it on, take it apart!" as Dave Jones affectionately says. Plus from watching others play with electronic circuits i found Martin's channel which I have followed ever since which has been beyond invaluable to me. Ok so this turned into more of a life story than an introduction so I'll call it quits :P
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Brilliant...thanks for the into Jason, always great to have a background and an idea of the challenges we face with finding a career we can enjoy.
Cheers,
Martin.
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Ecobion...interesting point about the school system being at odds with creative folks. I think I would have done far better outside of the traditional school frame work.
Funnily enough, it seems the Government here is actually acknowledging this: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-23168781 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-23168781)
I must say that doing a higher level vocational qualification as an adult, where you get no exams, has been really great fun. I would recommend it to anyone wanting to get into engineering or electronics.
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Hi guys, my name is Sergio at the moment i live in finland and was born here even tho my profile state that i am from Puerto Rico kinda, my dad married my mom when he worked at this factory in Puerto Rico where he met my mom there so im half Finnish and half Puerto Rican. Started doing electronics when i was little modified my rca cars, then when i got my driving licence started doing car hifi systems installs and making sub boxes. Going to start studying electronics soon, hoping to become engineer soon. Thats about it :)
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Buenos dias Sergio, bienvenido!
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Buenos dias Sergio, bienvenido!
Mucho gusto Ecobion y muchos gracias,eres español también?
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No, soy Ingles, pero, mi esposa es de Mexico. ;)
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No, soy Ingles, pero, mi esposa es de Mexico. ;)
Eso está muy bien, ¿dónde se conocieron? :)
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Hi guys, my name is Sergio at the moment i live in finland and was born here even tho my profile state that i am from Puerto Rico kinda, my dad married my mom when he worked at this factory in Puerto Rico where he met my mom there so im half Finnish and half Puerto Rican. Started doing electronics when i was little modified my rca cars, then when i got my driving licence started doing car hifi systems installs and making sub boxes. Going to start studying electronics soon, hoping to become engineer soon. Thats about it :)
Hello electric, thanks for the introduction....great to have you aboard!
Cheers,
Martin.
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Hi guys, my name is Sergio at the moment i live in finland and was born here even tho my profile state that i am from Puerto Rico kinda, my dad married my mom when he worked at this factory in Puerto Rico where he met my mom there so im half Finnish and half Puerto Rican. Started doing electronics when i was little modified my rca cars, then when i got my driving licence started doing car hifi systems installs and making sub boxes. Going to start studying electronics soon, hoping to become engineer soon. Thats about it :)
Hello electric, thanks for the introduction....great to have you aboard!
Cheers,
Martin.
Thanks Martin
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Eso está muy bien, ¿dónde se conocieron? :)
En Mexico - Trabajo.
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Hi Martin
been looking at you video's and trying to learn from them....I am 64 year old man that has died from heart attack.....but got back to the living just....ha ha
any way bit of memmory loss and mobility...that's why I have been trying to lern from you...getting there as I have fixed my dead car battery charger with starter the bridge rectifier diodes were blown up I fitted 2 1000v 50 amp bridge rectifier diodes now it.s working also fixed 2 blown up multimeters both now working...also got the same votage ref from china to set my meters up...after seeing your video...
got my self a 20mg Osilerscope just need to get my head around it....ha ha
any way good luck in the U.S.A
Paul Wilson 8)
Nottingham
U.K
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Great to have you aboard Paul! Thanks for the intro.
Cheers,
Martin.
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Hi guys, my name is Sergio at the moment i live in finland and was born here even tho my profile state that i am from Puerto Rico kinda, my dad married my mom when he worked at this factory in Puerto Rico where he met my mom there so im half Finnish and half Puerto Rican. Started doing electronics when i was little modified my rca cars, then when i got my driving licence started doing car hifi systems installs and making sub boxes. Going to start studying electronics soon, hoping to become engineer soon. Thats about it :)
Hi Sergio...thanks for the intro and welcome aboard!
Cheers,
Martin.
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Just stopping in to say hello. Sure looks like a fine group here that seems always willing to help. When it comes to electronics I need all the help I can get.
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Hello I am 14 and live in north Texas in the USA. I am interested in programing, electronics, and physics. I have been tinkering all my life and have just recently started working on my own projects. I am currently working on my first 3d printer.
If you have any questions please contact me at surfacelane@live.com. I usually do not reread posts.
My YouTube account is called TeslaLabratories, there are currently no videos but I am going to upload some as soon as I can get the equipment to edit them.
Thanks for reading my post.
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Just a quick introduction. I have been watching your youtube videos for several weeks now and find them very informative.
My background is avionics and computer repair. I have been away from electronics (I mean real electronics) for some time now and now want to get back into it. I have started reviewing my theory training hoping to refresh my memory. It has been a while and the videos are a lot of help especially on what type of equipment to buy and still stay within my budget.
I will post more about myself later. But I would like to say thanks for your videos and welcome back to the US. I hope to get to know some of you here, and am looking forward to some good discussions.
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Welcome aboard Blackthorn! Great to have you here....and thanks...I'm certainly enjoying the USA again.
Cheers,
Martin.
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Hello everyone, decided to introduce myself also.
My name is Evgeny, I am 24. I live in Saint-Petersburg, Russia and work as a software developer for a big German company.
I've been always interested in electronics, but could not find a decent source of tutorials and information on this topic until Martin's blog. For me it is just the perfect way to learn electronics.
As I live in Russia it is a problem to get good equipment here. In offline-stores there are only very low-quality devices and it takes ages to get something from eBay, amazon, etc. So I am trying to build my lab myself. I am building a power supply currently. I also have a plan to build an Arduino-based LCR-meter and an oscilloscope based on ARM-microcontroller.
Thank you all for your help, and thanks Martin for getting all us here!
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A pleasure to have you "aboard" Evgeny. I'll be checking my PO box for your post card this week...sorry it did not make it in time...but thanks for sending.
Cheers,
Martin.
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hello everyone! I'm from Singapore.
I decided to join this forum because there seems to be a lot of hate for newbies over at the "don't turn it on, take it apart" forum. LOL shortly after i joined someone attacked me. some senior members there seems unhappy over the contest side-effect. blah blah.
I'm not a EE guy. Just a hobbyist interested in EE hardware stuff.
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There seems to be a lack of remembering that all were new at some time or the other. I find that generally after a week or two the memory vanishes that you were once a new member, and you become accepted.
Welcome anyway, and feel free to ask questions, if they are easy or hard you will get an answer, as either you want to know or have a new angle on something.
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Looks like I am the latest member. I found your Tubes and its refreshing parts that were abandoned circa 1974 I have done little bits since but I have recently needed to do some revision and your stuff has prooved useful so I have been more than happy to subscribe.
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Great to have you aboard Jim and glad to hear the videos have helped.
Cheers,
Martin.
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Hi all,
I'm Paul and live in the UK. I came across this forum through mljorton's fine reviews on equipment.
I'm a beginner when it comes to electronics and I'm sure to ask you experts loads of basic questions in the future! :)
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Welcome Paul! Thanks for the post and I hope you find yourself at home here.
Cheers,
Martin.
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Hello everyone.
I'm Ferry Bijl from the Netherlands, I am 61 years old, I live in Arnhem near a beautiful National Park where I have worked the previous 15 years. One of my hobbies is nature photography. I am very interested in insects, especially close focus.
As I became unemployed some time ago without hope for a new job I became interested in building a special rig for macrophotography. In close up photography one of the largest problems is the lack of depth of field. Focussing on the eyes of a wasp throws the antennae out of focus etc.; only a slice is in focus. One way to overcome this is a technique called photostacking: place your camera on a rails, focus, take a picture, replace the camera a certain, small distance, focus, take a shot, replace ...etc. You end up with 10 or 50 or 150 pictures with each having a different part of the insect in focus. With the help of special software you finally end up with a photo that is sharp from start to end.
One of the ways to do this is by using a Stackshot rig from http://www.cognisys-inc.com/home_cogn.php but that would set me back some $750 before I have it here in Holland. So I thought to build it myself. Apart from the hardware there is the problem of controlling the movements of the rig. Of course it is possible to do it by hand but for a real close-up photo it is sometimes necessary to take more than 100 pictures, each maybe only 10 micrometers (sic!) apart from the other; rather tedious to do by hand. A stepper motor and a controlbox would have to do the job.
And that is where I am now: searching for possibilities to do it with Arduino. I have only just started, I have no experience with programming but I like what I have found already.
The way is half the fun!
And that is how I finally arrived on this forum. Looking for info I found Martin on YouTube talking about multimeters and I liked that a lot: supplying me with the needed info but in a way that attracted me from the beginning: a clear voice, (very important for non-english people!) and very sympathetic, open and not afraid to admit being wrong. I like that very much. Thanks Martin.
This has become a rather extensive hello, but that is me.
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Welcome aboard! Thanks for the introduction and the interesting background. It's certainly an interesting challenge and I'm sure you'll have fun and learn a great deal along the way. Do share your experience as I know there are several folk on this forum that enjoy photography and the technical side behind it.
Cheers,
Martin.
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Hello!
After lurking the YouTube channel for a while I thought I'd come and attempt to be sociable.
I'm Rob, from the UK. I'm a software person mostly: by trade I mostly run Internet-connected (BGP) networks and/or write software to run them for me but I take on all kinds of weird software projects if they're interesting (at the moment I'm working on some software for the innards of a train simulator). Also am finishing a Computer Science Ph.D thesis, so my brain is leaking from my ears a lot.
Armed with an antique oscilloscope, a couple of cheap multimeters, and a peculiar array of components I'm trying to learn a bit more about electronics, partly because it feels like a big hole in my digital systems knowledge, partly because I want to start building my own musical instruments, and partly for the fun of it.
I expect to learn a lot and I might even manage to be vaguely useful on occasion (!).
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Hello Rob,
Thanks very much for the intro and welcome to the board.
Cheers,
Martin.
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Hi,
My name is Hunor. (who-nor) And I'm 11
I'm from the USA.
I was born in Florida somewhere.
I am now currently living in S0outh Dakota.
I'm also Homeschooling too. :D
So far I have A 1474 BK precision, 30MHz ocilloscope
And a crappy 5 dollar Multimeter.
(http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ24w7Bi92cx6CRP18w993TmeQ-YRd1RW05T-WOW2eaPNRqt3DBgXmyqpM)
Hunor :D
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Welcome Hunor...great to have some young blood aboard!
And Paul....fascinating intro....good to have some older blood too ;)
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Hello, My name is Alex and I am very new to electronics. I am from California, USA and because of social anxiety I spend the majority of my time hidden away in my bedroom, I decided I needed a hobby and after watching one MJLorton video I was hooked. Though I know little as of now, I hope someday in the future I will be able to make a contribution to help a beginner whose in the same situation as myself.
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Welcome Alex!! electronics is a great hobby to have - very rewarding! well, as I too shut myself away in my lab room for hours working on stuff, and so do probably many others here - you should fit right in! ;-)
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Hello, My name is Alex and I am very new to electronics. I am from California, USA and because of social anxiety I spend the majority of my time hidden away in my bedroom, I decided I needed a hobby and after watching one MJLorton video I was hooked. Though I know little as of now, I hope someday in the future I will be able to make a contribution to help a beginner whose in the same situation as myself.
Welcome! I love to see new people getting interested in electronics. I am 52 and have been in the electronics field since 1984 and even as a child I would tear everything apart to see how it worked. Once you have the passion, it's a wonderful journey filled with great satisfaction. I will tell you the most important first step, get a solid foundation in the basics and fundamentals of electronics. Learn the physics behind how the forces work and how atoms and electrons behave. This will help you accelerate in the learning process and understand the engineering aspects of circuit design.
I would be happy to answer any questions you have along the way. I was teaching for a short while and thinking about getting back into it. It's something I like to do! ;)
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I'm Christopher. Hello World.
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Hi, I am Alex from Switzerland
I am a Cell Biologist MSc.
and a newbie in electronics.
My call-sign on YouTube is bambam 144.
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Hello.
I'm Pete, from Sheffield, United Kingdom.
Current interests are:
Arduino, Power Supplies, Nano Satellites, and building stuff using recycled electronic components.
Why I joined this forum:
I discovered Mr Lorton's YouTube posts about the Electronic DC Load, which I enjoyed so much, I've decided to build one for myself. Hopefully, I'll post my progress on here, and maybe contribute some modifications to the design.
:)
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Welcome to Pete, Alex and Christopher.
Good to have you aboard!
Cheers, Martin.
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Hello all,
My name is Antoine and i live in Athens,Greece and i'm from Greece. I'm 28 yo and my education is totally different from all that stuff.
I'm "playing" with multicopters for about a year now and i think that i've learned all the basics. I'm already developing with a friend a custom frame from scratch. Well, i wanted to learn more about how all that stuff is related to each other and how they work so i found the key....in ELECTRONICS!!!
I found you Mr Martin from a tutorial about Multimeters 10 days ago and i found that you are having tutorials with electronics for beginners, i bought some books as well and here i am in this wonderful world of electronics. Your are awesome person awesome teacher awesome everything!
I will support your work as much as i can later on because my bank account at this time is minus.
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At the age of 8 I built my first receiver "Crystal" bitten by the electronics bug,age 14, built my first AM Transmitter,eventually took and passed my Radio Amateur City & Guilds exam,took the 12 words per minute Morse Code test at a Naval base Portsmouth. I passed it at 25 words per minute. now at the age of 60, I spend my time building devices that fascinate me
for instance I'm on Spectrum Analyser Mk3,I have built 99% of my test gear,the reason is most of it is just far to expensive all 3 of my S/A's are not to commercial standards,however between the 3, I can go between 1Hz to 1 Ghz. And I still get the same buzz, as I did at 8 Years old. I'm married and have 2 daughters I enjoy life, and intend to build devices for many more years,I have developed a strong fascination with the black art of fault finding, which can be annoying and satisfying at the same time.
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Hello all,
My name is Antoine and i live in Athens,Greece and i'm from Greece. I'm 28 yo and my education is totally different from all that stuff.
I'm "playing" with multicopters for about a year now and i think that i've learned all the basics. I'm already developing with a friend a custom frame from scratch. Well, i wanted to learn more about how all that stuff is related to each other and how they work so i found the key....in ELECTRONICS!!!
I found you Mr Martin from a tutorial about Multimeters 10 days ago and i found that you are having tutorials with electronics for beginners, i bought some books as well and here i am in this wonderful world of electronics. Your are awesome person awesome teacher awesome everything!
I will support your work as much as i can later on because my bank account at this time is minus.
Welcome Antoine and thanks for the introduction.
Cheers, Martin.
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Hello everybody,
My name is Kenneth Hakansson and I'm from Sweden, I'm 47 years old and I just recently started to be interested in electricity and magnetism, grounding / earthing and stuff like that. I've got many areas of interest (cleaning my house is not one of them) ... :) ... I'm into all kinds of DIY stuff, woodworking, woodturning, hobby inventing, guitar playing, music in general. I'm also into building electric guitars, and I'm a big fan of Fractal Audio Axe FX (guitar effect/amp solution ... not affiliated in any way).
People like Ed Leedskalnin, Nicolaj Tesla and many many more just fascinate me, how they went "outside the box". I am all about exploring and learning new stuff, and I really do believe that if you learned something new each day, it was not a wasted day :) (don't know if that made sense but ..)
I just bought myself my first digital multimeter and there's a lot I don't know about this stuff, but watching the youtube videos from Martin has been such a big help and I've learned quite a lot already about things I really never knew about. But like I said I am very much a newbie. I have been working with a bit of everything from construction painter, truck driver, network techie, (mcp,cna) .. network admin , done loads of websites especially in the 90's .. Nowadays I am only using the computer for fun, and as a tool to search for knowledge.
I got myself a Uni-T UT61D, seems to be a resonable unit for my level (probably more than I can fully use at this level of knowledge) but, I liked the fact that it was fused and it seemed solid, compared to my older "$10 plastic toy meter" that I used to just verify connection in network cables and such.
I've tried to measure the mv in my body, using the COM connected to a ground pole outside and the other just pinched between my fingers, I set the meter to DC and measure,...and it does measure, but it is constantly jumping between different values (autorange engaged) so much as it is almost impossible to makes sense of it, because it never settle down and stabilize ... The unit is brand new and from my limited experience it seems to be working as it should, the jumping around thing is confusing though, cause I would imagine once it has found it's range it should stabilize ?
One thing I don't like is the probes that came with it, there's just a tiny tiny piece of the very tip of the probes exposed, so little that I can hardly get a grip with the smallest aligator clips around it, the insulation runs all the way down to the tips. So I want to buy another set of cables, and I thought I could might as well buy it from Martins webstore, but I am not sure if I can use the Fluke probe set on my UNI-T .. I would think they are standard but iI wanted to ask you guys first before I go ahead and order them from the amazon store.
Or should I just return the multimeter and buy something else ?
So I am grateful for any clarification on that subject.
you all have a good one
// Kenneth
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Lead sets are pretty much going to be interchangeable.. As to the DC voltage you see, it is because it is trying to measure a low DC voltage with a large induced AC voltage from wiring around you. Not going to be a stable reading there at all, and the meter will never be able to give a reading.
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Thank you for answering Sean,
I am trying to duplicate the measuring done in this youtube video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OhYOsvJleA
:)
Mine is no where near as stable as the one they use
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Thanks for the introduction Kenneth, great to have you aboard.
Cheers,
Martin.
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:) hi
I have got a little tired of low value equipment and inconsistent results but my budget allows for the lower cost equipment. I bought a UNI-T UT61E and just pleased I can have a tool that autos for me.
I attempt to repair anything with a problem and electrical equipment fits nicely into that grouping. Most of my repairs are computer repairs.
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Hallo everyone. My name is Tom and I am from South Africa. I am 56 and now the electronics bug has bitten me! All Martins fault with his vids on YouTube. I will look around to see how things work. I am currently searching for a way to convert my generators wave form to pure sine wave. Is that even possible? Or should I just get rid of the genie and buy one with pure sine wave? With all the load shedding we currently have in SA and all the LED lighting we are switching over to, the modified or square wave of my current generator drives me nuts.
Regards
Tom
BTW, why all the verification even when you are logged in?
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SMF wants to make sure you are not a bot, so does this for a short time for new posters.
As to generator, what make and model, I would guess either Ryobi or Stramm, seeing as they are the most common brands on the shelf. Simplest way to fix it is to make sure the load connected is more than half the generator rating, using either a heater or some other load. I just use a few large lamps as load, which means I have a mini sun when it runs. Little extra fuel use, but as you only run it for 3 hours at a time not going to kill you for the extra R5 of petrol to offset the Prince of Darkness AKA Eishkom.
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Thank you Sean, will try this for sure.
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OK, who came up with the idea to use the 1st 6 digits of Pi as an anti-bot tool??!!
I don't know it! I only know to use 6.28 whenever there is a 2pi formula..(in electronics is always 2Pi)
I had to look it up! could not find on my calculators! So I went to Wiki!!
I am an Amateur. and foolish, and like it that way. I try to choose value and inexpensive regarding electronics gear. Otherwise, I would turn it into a business. I took up this hobby so I could play. My favorite YouTube Martin did was the one where he pulled several DMMs out of a deep freezer!!
So, may I cheerlead for Martin to write a book and Solar power with extras on electronics!!!
Some quick notes (sidebar stuff) on Insulation testing...etc!!
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Hello everyone,
I am Heinrich from NY. Grew up in South Africa and moved to the US about 14 years ago.
For high school I went to a technical high school to pursue a careen in electrical/electronic engineering, but like many that went that route ended up in IT and started my career in 1998.
With all the fantastic micro computers and embedded boards that have multiple output controls available these days, it re-sparked an interest in electronics that I had back in high my school days.
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Welcome Heinrich! I too am trying to rekindle a love for electronics from my high school days. I picked up a BM257s from eBay (waiting for it to arrive, can't wait!!) and a knock off Hakko Chinese soldering station (the one Dave reviewed). Looking for project ideas, if anyone has any suggestions let me know! I have a basic understanding and looking to learn. Big fan of yourself Martin and thanks for the work you do.
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Hello to all.
Been a fan of the show for a long time but finally decided to join the forum. Some wonderful advice, articles so forth here.
Currently live in Ireland and studying computer science at university as a mature 30 year old student ??? . Trying to edge into electronics as I fell in love with robotics. Had previously studied electronic engineering at college years ago at 16 years old and sadly had forgot so much. Anyway, enough rambling.
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Hello all. My name is David. I'm an American that lives in South Korea. Computer science major, software developer, AH-64D Electrical, Avionics, and Armament repairer, and all around tinkerer. I'm a big fan of Martin's videos on youtube and have gleaned much information from them. Working on some arduino projects and soon a full on on grid solar setup( if I can figure out the Korean electrical rules and regulations, etc...).
Hope to participate in some question and answer on this forum.
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I'm back!
I started this topic as Ecobion, but lost my password on here, and couldn't get it to send a new one, so I've re-registered as Ecobion Labs, which is what we're calling ourselves through Media channels.
Firstly, there's trick questions in the registration questions! Martin you caught me out. I thought it was Republic of ...., but perhaps since I left SA back in 1985, that no longer counts?
Also, I thought the first 5 digits of PI would have a 6 at the end, but it turns out that I should not be rounding 59 up to 6?! :P I have learned my lessons there! I can appreciate the span controls, had terrible problems with phpBB in the past over this.
Anyway, glad to be back in the forum, it's looking great and changed a fair bit since I was on here last. Not so many videos on YouTube these days I see, but keep up the good work all the same.
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Hi to all the forum member, my name is Scott, i'm new here
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HI
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I am author,
aida almasi please visit my news .
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i am a Cyber Crime Expert and Information Security Professional. I am a regular resource person at BPR&D, MHA, Govt. of India. I am been assisting law enforcement agencies in cyber perations with his domain expertise from last six years. I have assisted various Indian intelligence agencies and state police in their operations. My advisories on Cyber Security have been appreciated by armed forces.
Best regards
Mukesh Choudhary
Cyber security expert in Delhi (http://www.mjlorton.com/) India , Bitcoin Investigation in India (http://www.mjlorton.com/).
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Hello all, am a newbie to this forum. Great pleasure to be participating here.
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Hi, I’m Ajay Ahlawat (http://www.rissala.in/) Retd. Colonel in Indian Army. I like to play Polo.
Best regards
Ajay Ahlawat
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I am Martin Gail. I love teaching, I have 7 years teaching experience in UK, Teaching Statistics to a wide range of students from Elementary level right through to PhD Students. Currently, I am providing my tutoring services at SPSS-Tutor. I have a kind and patient style of teaching and love to help and explain. I love reading when I have free time there is nothing better than reading a good science fiction novel. I have a bachelor and master degree in Statistics.
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Heyy everyone, Thanks for sharing your views here.
Best regards
Prince Choudhary
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Hello all, I am LeatherNeck. Engineering Technician for many years. I help engineers do what they do :) I try to be as much help in the design process as I can. Currently I have a project to complete that was started by an engineer that is now retired. There are two other EE’s here, but they are very busy. So I have to try and get the project done as best I can. I am going to post my project in this forum for some help as soon as I finish this post. Anyway, hello all.
Regards,
LeatherNeck