Having Trouble

Thread Starter

cj62565

Joined Nov 8, 2008
1
I started school about a month ago and we'rer working on series. parallel, and combination circuits. I can get to the point of figuring for Rt, Et, It, and Pt. Its working my way back through the circuit thats got me stumped. All the resistance for each resistor is given and the total voltage of the circuit. When you have resistor 2,3,4,5,6,7,8 combined and have to start back, I can get going but I just hit a brick wall after a bit. Are there some tips or hints that someone could share. I've been all over the internet but haven't found any combination circuits as big as we're working on.

Any help would be greatly appreciated,
Craig
 

thingmaker3

Joined May 16, 2005
5,083
One trick for simplifying more complex circuits is to solve smaller sections and convert to the equivalent resistance. For example, I might convert all of the parallel resistances individually to equivalent resistances. Then I would more easily be able to solve the series resistances.

Multiple iterations of the above are sometimes required. Look for and solve the easier ones first, then re-draw the circuit. Patterns will emerge.

See also: http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/vol_1/chpt_7/2.html
and http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/vol_1/chpt_7/3.html
 
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