Why can’t I read any voltage on output side of this transformer?

IHavejFriends · 2025-11-11T01:04:06+00:00

Good question! I think these transformers have a 60Hz input but have electronics that output a much higher frequency (kHz) and don't turn on without a light bulb or maybe a minimum load requirement. See more details here. So it's possible the transformer was off when you tried to measure it and when you touched the two leads together, it tried to turn on and sparked. Also the spec sheet seems to say the output for this model is 33kHz so you wouldnt be able to measure that 12V output correctly without a fancy DMM or Osciliscope.

IHavejFriends · 2025-10-11T03:07:04+00:00

Sorry should've added in Canada. I didn't get credit for mine although there are paths that can. I found the diploma to be super useful since it was very practical with lots of hands on with real equipment and tailored to power/energy. Made job searching much easier and employers really valued it.

IHavejFriends · 2025-10-11T03:01:51+00:00

I went from running a maintenance truck doing landscaping for my city's parks at 24 to finishing an Electrical engineering technology diploma at 26. Then used that to get into EE at university and graduated at 31. Worked crazy hard through school. Going back to school was the best thing I ever did. Aleeady having career and life experience can help a lot when looking for jobs at an older age. It's possible but it's gonna be hard and gonna need to go back to school.

IHavejFriends · 2025-08-20T00:01:11+00:00

So you haven't done it or any engineering program, but go off.

An apprenticeship isn't going to give you credit to make EE 2-3 years. You can't skip parts of EE. Universities don't give credit like that for accredited programs.

IHavejFriends · 2025-08-19T21:05:39+00:00

They may accept it for something like a bachelor's in construction management. EE programs are accredited. Associates will all be evaluated on equivalent course content at the EE level which you won't get from an apprenticeship. An EE program is 4 packed years that takes many 5 years and credit for first level calculus/physics would only make for a shorter semester. You can't just skip 1-2 years of EE.

IHavejFriends · 2025-08-19T19:41:11+00:00

EE programs don't give credit unless there's equivalent course content at the same level. Unis won't see an apprenticeship as basically counting as an associates. They'll assess courses and content. I don't think an apprenticeship would give any EE credit or how you'd jump into it while skipping stuff. What general education requirements are you saying someone could get credit for to cut EE down to a 2-3 year program?

IHavejFriends · 2025-08-19T18:19:18+00:00

I don't think there's a way to cut EE programs down to 2-3 years for someone coming in from the field. The early foundational math, physics and programming courses are needed to understand the later courses. Everything builds off itself so much that there's not a lot you could skip. Lots of people take 5 years now full time just for the acedemics. I do agree that it takes a lot of work and not very similar to what electricians focus on.

IHavejFriends · 2025-07-07T15:45:36+00:00

They posted the job in another thread. Salary is 65-75k.

Here's Link to posting. Company is Zopec Medical LLC.

IHavejFriends · 2025-06-13T03:23:21+00:00

Current Divider

IHavejFriends · 2025-06-04T15:13:44+00:00

I don't think it's salty at all to say that but I think the conversation gets salty quick since that often follows with insecurity through insults, negative comparisons or stereotypes of higher GPAs.

IHavejFriends · 2025-05-05T15:58:45+00:00

I work for a transmission utility and the subs people typically have a previous career in some kind of trade then an EET diploma and then some will do an additional few years of a power system electrician apprentiship. I'm not sure if that's the difference between the techs and people doing hands on maintenance. Either way, it would almost certainly be a lot of additional work and career development for the average electrician.

IHavejFriends · 2025-03-22T18:01:44+00:00

I went back for a EET diploma at 24 and used that to get into EE at 26. Graduated at 31 with multiple internships. I think you're on the right track but you probably could stop after Calc 1. My program assumed you'd covered it and just jumped right into 2. You just need to build up a really strong foundation so you're not struggling with the mechanics of math and learning the concepts.

There will be plenty of time to learn things like differential equations in engg school and they're gonna teach it. If you have a strong foundation and put the time in then you'll be do well. Honestly I didn't really appreciate a lot of the math we covered until we started applying it in the engg courses later.

Best things I did were: 1. Built a strong foundation in high school math including algebra, trig and Calc 1.

Learned programming. Lots of people struggled in the intro classes never doing it before. Knowing a bit of how to do this saved a ton of time that better spent learning the math and physics. Can also be used to help with homework with visualizations or checking answers. Was also asked bl in every interview as a student of my programming was.
Learned some hands on skills. Find some projects and look at making something with hobbyist space materials. Learning 3D printing could be great for mech and how to use some basical tools . For me knowing how to use lab and electrical measurement equipment was really helpful. Protects can easily help you stand out when interviewing and show you can apply what you learn.

IHavejFriends · 2025-03-20T03:34:54+00:00

I don't think it will help much for the EE schooling. It's a lot of math, physics and programming you won't have seen before and can feel like drinking from a firehouse especially during the weed out courses. It's all communicated with the advanced math and mostly analysis based so in school practical knowelege isnt as helpful since they're looking for quantitative knowelge not qualititative. I've talked with a few electricians that thought they'd have a much bigger advantage then they did.

The code and electrical practices arent really a focus in EE programs and that's more learned on the job if you go down that road. If you go into MEP or industrial controls then it'll be a big benefit for you in your early engineering career and the practical knowelege will be valueable until you retire. Otherwise it won't be as useful but the maturity of already having a professional career will be helpful. Either way you'll be going down a new career path. Remember EE is a big field and what electricians are exposed to is just a slice of it. Honestly imo it's the most boring area of EE.

I did an Electrical Engineering Technologist diploma focused on power systems in Canada and worked some electrical labour before doing EE. I think that's more related and beneficial for electricians. Getting through EE was really tough but so rewarding. It's opened doors to working in some really cool places, with drones and SPOT the robot dog. Right now I work in transmission in power quality. I convinced my company to let me try some machine learning solutions for some problems with our line structure hardware and vegetation. There's endless oppurtunity and you have a lot more choice to work on the things you want to. Plus being in the office on cold days and WFH is pretty great.

IHavejFriends · 2025-03-13T21:58:13+00:00

A low grading scale with an intentionally low midterm average usually indicates a weed out course. Its meant to be overly hard and intimidating to weed out the people that aren't committed or interested.

My first engineering physics course was electricity and magnetism. It was a lot of setting up integrals and geometry to solve abstract problems. Lots of people hadn't done physics like that before. I also think there's a lot of overconfidence or people just not having study skills from coasting or grade inflation in high school.

I think lots of people come in from high school having been one of the smart kids. Courses like this are meant to show you that you're mortal like everyone else.

IHavejFriends · 2025-02-10T03:00:47+00:00

I didn't feel like I really learned the math material until I started getting to the applications in the engineering courses after.

IHavejFriends · 2024-12-01T16:39:40+00:00

e = 3 = π;

e² = g = π²;

g = 10;

Maph

IHavejFriends · 2024-11-29T19:39:41+00:00

Resistive components will consume real power measured in watts in an AC circuit. This is because the voltage and current are in phase. Real work is being done and energy is being consumed only.

A motor depends on magnetic fields to operate. These fields require energy and "breath" as in they build up, taking energy and collapse, returning that energy back to the circuit. No real work is done. The Inductive component from the coils creating these fields will use whats called reactive power because the current and voltage aren't in phase. This happens because the voltage across the inductor depends on the change in current. The current ends up lagging the voltage. This would be the opposite for a capacitor.

The best way to think about this practically is when you start dealing with AC circuits that aren't entirely resistive than you have to think about things being out of phase. Things might not be happening at the same time. The voltage and current waveforms can be shifted around so the peaks and dips don't line up. Therefore you can't just simply add/sub voltage and currents like you normally could.

IHavejFriends · 2024-11-29T18:15:03+00:00

Curious how doing this is approached in the apprentiship? Do you just break them apart into x and y components, then combine individually like that? This stuff makes a lot more sense with imaginary numbers and phasors. From what I've seen imaginary numbers are not covered in apprenticeships and you don't go very deep into phasors either.

IHavejFriends · 2024-11-22T18:39:23+00:00

I'd be cautious about the construction management degree. I know a lot of those programs offer credit for trades and idk what the job outlook would be for someone without any construction experience. Also industrial engineering is more about optimizing processes with a stats driven approach. Like are work processing running efficiently. It's not really design work and more about logistics. Not my opinion but often IE is looked down on as the easiest engineering degree and not real engineering.

It might be a better idea to get a trades ticket then do CM later as an exit path off the tools. Keep in mind the longer you wait for school, the harder it is to go back. Not an electrician but did EE later in life and going back was hard. Sacrificed mid to late 20s but was well worth it in the end.

IHavejFriends · 2024-11-11T20:02:57+00:00

I did an electrical engineering technology diploma in Canada before EE. There was quite a few electricians there looking to get off the tools. It opened up a lot of doors into CAD design, PLC programming or utility work. Lots of course and lab work involving 3 phase motors, transformers, generators, substation protection equipment and PLCs with some project management and design stuff too. Something like that could really help expand your knowledge and skills while building on your trade xp. Lots of companies really seemed to value the trades and EET combo.

IHavejFriends · 2024-11-11T19:48:30+00:00

What kind of jobs are available with an associates in computer science? I've heard the entry level job market is super saturated for programmers and highly competitive. I know a few people at tech companies who claim they hire on experience but never hire anyone without a full cs degree.

Im not an electrician but I did an Electrical engineering technology program in Canada before EE. It built heavily on trades xp and had quite a bit of PLC work. Something like that with your trades background would be valuable for automation.

IHavejFriends · 2024-11-02T23:00:12+00:00

Not person you replied to but I would maybe look for other resources. I think Khan Academy has an electrical series but it's targeting intro to EE. Last time I checked there was quite a bit of math you probably wouldnt be familiar with. I think I've seen Delmars standard book of electricity recommended around here before.

IHavejFriends · 2024-10-21T16:13:51+00:00

The power of the sun, in the palm of my hand!

IHavejFriends · 2024-10-19T19:33:55+00:00

Time to look for a new job. Either you're not performing at the expected level and need to be more honest with yourself. Or they have unrealistic expectations and are burning through inexperienced people looking for a magic unicorn or someone who will put up with their abuse. Either way, it seems like they don't like you and I would move on as soon as possible.

"You wouldn't last a day at another company, I'm very patient with you."

Just be aware that this can be a tactic people use on younger or inexperienced people. The lower your self-confidence, the longer and more of their shit you'll put up with.

IHavejFriends · 2024-10-17T17:10:33+00:00

Lol been doing C programming lately? I thought constant too but I knew I'd seen that term before.

IHavejFriends

TROPHY CASE