B
Bill
- Jan 1, 1970
- 0
I'm sure glad I am a "mechanical type" and know electricity/electronics!
Lately I've had a lot of repair work to do with my car and a new/used truck
I purchased.
More and more vehicles are more electronic than electrical, but no problem
if you know how these things work.
(Then many consumer products I purchase lately do not work out of the box.
They need to be repaired or modified to work properly. I guess quality
control is a thing of the past now? Anyway no problem for me! I just
redesign the thing so it works.)
As to the vehicles, I've been poking around a few automotive forums lately
and it is quite interesting to say the least! Go visit some of these and
look at the electrical questions/answers!
The very newest vehicles now have data communications between various
components including the radio. Or have electronic audible warning sounds
connected to the car speakers via some sort of interface. And some of this
stuff is quite important that it work, so self testing is built in. No
factory radio on the data bus and the car will not start!
In the past people have replaced their factory stereos with an after market
stereo with no problem. Now they do this and mess up the works!
Or they go and change the tire sizes on trucks without taking into account
that the speed of each tire feeds into a computer. Then they have trouble!
Or they add electronic gizmos to a wire - any wire which works, then have
problems with fuses blowing. No attempt to determine the amperage capacity
of the circuit, how much amperage is being drawn by existing components, and
how much amperage the new gizmo will draw.
To top it all off, automotive stores are still in the 60's with the
multimeters they sell. They only have a 10 amp capacity. Yet vehicles
commonly have 15, 20, and 30 amp circuits these days! So how is any consumer
supposed to be able to measure these circuits using the test equipment
available to them via their auto parts store?
Lately I've had a lot of repair work to do with my car and a new/used truck
I purchased.
More and more vehicles are more electronic than electrical, but no problem
if you know how these things work.
(Then many consumer products I purchase lately do not work out of the box.
They need to be repaired or modified to work properly. I guess quality
control is a thing of the past now? Anyway no problem for me! I just
redesign the thing so it works.)
As to the vehicles, I've been poking around a few automotive forums lately
and it is quite interesting to say the least! Go visit some of these and
look at the electrical questions/answers!
The very newest vehicles now have data communications between various
components including the radio. Or have electronic audible warning sounds
connected to the car speakers via some sort of interface. And some of this
stuff is quite important that it work, so self testing is built in. No
factory radio on the data bus and the car will not start!
In the past people have replaced their factory stereos with an after market
stereo with no problem. Now they do this and mess up the works!
Or they go and change the tire sizes on trucks without taking into account
that the speed of each tire feeds into a computer. Then they have trouble!
Or they add electronic gizmos to a wire - any wire which works, then have
problems with fuses blowing. No attempt to determine the amperage capacity
of the circuit, how much amperage is being drawn by existing components, and
how much amperage the new gizmo will draw.
To top it all off, automotive stores are still in the 60's with the
multimeters they sell. They only have a 10 amp capacity. Yet vehicles
commonly have 15, 20, and 30 amp circuits these days! So how is any consumer
supposed to be able to measure these circuits using the test equipment
available to them via their auto parts store?
