I have a B.S. in electronics have worked in R&D groups designing and testing electronics within a physics engineering and manufacturing environments. I am currently working as a software developer writing code in C#, but have also written code in C/C++ and assembly (firmware)

 

Guess I need to introduce myself. My name is Art, and I am an engineer/businessman (heavy on the engineer and light on the businessman

- I keep on working on the business side, but the engineering side comes more naturally.) Both of my mother's brothers were electrical engineers, and she was very interested in early-education; she actually had me wiring up batteries, lamps and switches before I turned 2! Mom told me that she had been told to get kids real tools so that they would have them all their life (whoever that was didn't know much about the destructive power of kids), and so she bought me a real tool set for my second birthday - I immediately went and took the outlets out of the wall to see where the electricity came from. I also have ADD; my Guardian Angel has been applying for overtime each week since

. So, I have been working in electronics for, literally, pretty much my entire life.

My first experience with computers (at least real ones - I made a tic-tac-toe "computer" out of Christmas lights and switches, when a kid) was in 1975, when a buddy took me to the high school (I was days away from 8th grade graduation) and sat me down in front of a typewriter (ASR-33). He picked up a telephone near the typewriter, dialed a number and placed the handset into a little box next to the typewriter. Then he typed something on the typewriter and the typewriter typed back, all by itself! I was amazed, and, from that point on, my career switched from just electronics to computers.

Currently, my company produces kits and packs for budding engineers. Most of my target market is (supposed to be) high-school, college and young adult students who are interested in, or are working on EE (electronic engineering.) My secondary market (or at least it should be secondary - but mostly this is my primary market, at least until I get going enough to market to schools and school groups) is electronics/robotics hobbyists and non-electronics engineers who want to learn more about the electronics discipline. My latest is a textbook/kit combo for Introduction to Microcontrollers. I have a few more text books that are nearly done, and a few more that are on their way. Once these are done, they will be offered with appropriate kits which will cover the lab work for the course. My ideal here is to get to be like the old Heathkit courses. I have been teaching, professionally, on and off since 1989, and have written a lot of my own course/quiz/exam material, so that is what I am using for my textbooks.

While, someday (hopefully soon) I will begin making enough from Granzeier Consulting to live on, I really like to do things like eat, go to computer/electronics expos and pay my bills, which require money. So, I normally have a "day" job. Last year, I was laid off from a position as a Network Operations Analyst for the Blue Cross/Blue Shield carrier for this area (laid off due to Obama-care.) What that means, is that I monitored our long-distance lines (voice and data), and the local servers, etc. and when anything occured with a circuit, switch, router or server on the network, I either tried to get it up and running, or called the right person/group to get the issue resolved (of course, when we lost an entire city, and the National Weather Service reported storms in that area... Well, there's just some repair work that God reserves for Himself.

)

I am married (to the most beautiful girl in the world - sorry guys

), with a bunch of kids - only three are left at home. For anyone who is still raising their kids, I offer this hope: the light at the end of the tunnel really is there. Hold on, and one day the kids will actually grow up and move out (preferably not coming back home, though that does happen here and there.

) I am also active in our church - running the A/V booth, recording the sermons and duplicating CDs for people, putting the sermons up on our web site. I am also involved in a new Church plant - it is really cool being part of God birthing a new church. For an engineer's look at God and faith, check out my faith page at http://faith.granzeier.com (shameless plug!)

Once I post enough messages to get a signature for my posts, you will see my tag line: Helping to Build a Better Engineer. That about sums it up, I like to help people learn about my favorite subject. So, let's play (err, experiment,) and as Bill Cosby used to say, "if your not careful, you might just learn something."

 

Welcome, Granzeier! There were similar themes in my life, like blowing out the breakers in our house, and at school. By the grace of God, I also survived. Nice faith page, by the way. I'm probably quite a bit more liberal than you, but completely agree on the basics like what you have on that page.

 

Hi, I am new too and hope someone can help me with my circuit aspirations. I want to move a static electric charge along a surface in order to sweep a culture bench surface free of contaminants. I have cobbled together a series of diodes that make bits of fluff jump back and forth between two electrodes. Now I would like to have a ladder effect that would switch off the two electrodes and place a positive charge on a third electrode and so on until the surface is swept clean. Being able to adjust the speed of switching would be a plus as it might allow separation of the various contaminants. This application might also be useful in keeping windshields free of dust.

 

i am a final year student of Btech Instrumentation and control from VIT pune.

 

hi to all peoples my name is alejandro

 

I'am Msc Student 1st Smester .

GOod..

 

Hi. My name is alexis and a ham radio guy. I know the basic electronics and hope to learn from you a lot.

 

Hi,
Who am I? Good question.
After reading a lot of your posts, I'm not an academic by any means. I'm actually looking for a place to learn about circuits, how they work, and hopefully how to test them (simple ones for now). I know next to nothing about the subject, but I love taking apart my kids toys when they stop working,but have no idea how to "test the boards" to find out why.
Can anyone direct me where I could go to start learning how to treat the "simplest" of circuits and go from there?

 

After reading a lot of your posts, I'm not an academic by any means.

Were you an academic before you read our posts:

 

Can anyone direct me where I could go to start learning how to treat the "simplest" of circuits and go from there?

You can post in the general electronics chat area.

As far as learning, you can use the ebooks on this site. You can use a breadboard to build the circuits in the ebook and have a DMM (digital multi-meter) to test them to see how close to the theory they were. You can also build the circuits on a simulator as well, to confirm your analysis of the circuits.

Now, with your kids toys, all I can say is once you are comfortable using a DMM, you can take a picture, both sides of the boards, as well as draw the schematics using your ohmmeter to identify the various connections.

I'm sure there will be enough people in the General Chat area to help you. If your studying the ebooks and have a question, post that in the homework section.

 

You can post in the general electronics chat area.

As far as learning, you can use the ebooks on this site. You can use a breadboard to build the circuits in the ebook and have a DMM (digital multi-meter) to test them to see how close to the theory they were. You can also build the circuits on a simulator as well, to confirm your analysis of the circuits.

Now, with your kids toys, all I can say is once you are comfortable using a DMM, you can take a picture, both sides of the boards, as well as draw the schematics using your ohmmeter to identify the various connections.

I'm sure there will be enough people in the General Chat area to help you. If your studying the ebooks and have a question, post that in the homework section.

Wow... Thanks for the advice and direction.
Now I just need to find out what a "breadboard" is.
I will absolutely start reading the ebooks. I'll assume that the ebooks are "in order"
I'm looking forward to learning something new!
Thanks again for your response.
Matt

 

A breadboard is typically made of fine wood and prevents marring your dining table top when slicing bread.

 

Hello friends,

This is Doyle Clinton.Welcome to the forum. I have searched many topics and discussions through online.It is really informative and useful for all.

With regards
Doyle Clinton

 

Hi jenny123
I am new to this site. I have experience working in R&D (physics engineering and electronics manufacturing) and software engineering. I have a broad range of experience. I hold a B.S. in electronics engineering technology, how about you?

 

I am a programming genius and an electronics noob. I have been programming for 30 years since I was 9 and know every computer language and have written two specialty languages for large companies. I am really loving the internet of things because I feel I have power now to program my surroundings. Right now I have some raspberry pis and arduinos and am stepping through the processes to learn what each sensor does. I also love to play the guitar and one day may make a custom pedal.

Texas Blues Guitar

 

Not sure if this is the right spot, but here goes. I market efficient grow lights online from my remote location in Northern California. At time I have a project that stumps my limited electrical knowledge. I hope the participants here can enlighten me from time to time.
Thanks Bill <snip>

Moderators note: removed commercial link

 

Hello,

I'm Chuck, a 4th year ELE student at URI.

I've only joined gaming forums in the past, but have glanced at this website from time to time the past 3 years. The prompt to join seemed like a wise idea.

Thanks for knowledge sharing and what not!

 

hi my name is david. im a musican.been playing guitar sence i was 8.my dad was music major but took corces in electronics. he gave me his love of music and show me how to repair my guitar amp.he interduced me to electronics at an early age.i even made my 1st cordless guitar unit it worked well but porduced a hell of a hum.when he died in 99 i gave it all up for about 7 years untill one night i was at a party and the guitar player was too drunk to play so i picked it back up that night.ive been back at it for a wile now.that next day i made a 50 amp point to point

 

I'm a senior student studying EIE at POLYU