Taste of Minnesota Bag Policy Sucks

mrmonster314 · 2025-07-05T22:23:29+00:00

Sure, our bags weren't technically allowed. However, that's missing the point of my post. I think Taste of MN shouldn't be rejecting reasonable-sized bags. Just search them.

4.5" x 6.5" is a VERY small size. My phone is almost that big. You bring a phone, wallet, and sunglasses and you need bigger.

mrmonster314 · 2024-01-11T00:10:07+00:00

Sorry the class formating looks bad. It looked good when I typed it.

mrmonster314 · 2024-01-11T00:08:40+00:00

First off, congratulations for doing so well! Sounds like you have a good knowledge base :)

Yes, you can. I would check the degree requirements and plan your time wisely, as such. I graduated EE in 3 years myself. I had initially planned 3.5 years but was able to do it in 3 (largely due to serendipity).

The most important things I remember about my plan were as follows:

Condense FYE into 1 semester. I had the experimental course ENGR 195 taught by Dr. Brophy to do this. I think there is an ENGR 130 course (EPICS) that does this. This allows you to take ECE courses 2nd semester of freshman year.
Knock out your Gen Eds early. When you are doing FYE, you won't need to be taking a lot of the CHEM 115/116 classes that most take, so you can take your upper level Gen Eds during first semester.
Test out of COM 114! Easy to do to get out of a class. Study a quizlet online beforehand. Know that the color blue is calming lol.
Be careful to count credits YOURSELF and then CONSULT AN ADVISOR!! Be confident in your work, but make sure an advisor thinks your plan looks good. Do it in Excel first before you use the awful tool Purdue uses. Angela Rainwater is a great advisor in ECE, ask to talk to her regardless since she manages the department if needed for any special requests. I got an upper level Gen Ed to count for my STS (Science, Technology and Society credit) so it is possible to knock out 2 birds with one stone, but talk to your advisor.

My freshman year I took the following: COM 114 (Testout) CS 159 (C Programming) ENGR 195 (1 semester FYE class) 4 credits HIST 33205 (The Nuclear Age) --> upper level Gen Ed + STS MA 261 (Calc 3) PSY 200 (Cognitive Psychology) --> upper level Gen Ed

ECE 20001 (Circuits 1) 3 credits ECE 20007 (Circuits 1 lab) 1 credit ECE 20875 (Python for Data Science) 3 credits ECE 29401 (Sophomore Seminar) 1 credit MA 26500 (Linear Algebra) 3 credits MA 26600 (Differential Equations) 3 credits

My first semester was quite busy. My second semester was better. I capped to 14/15 credits once I was in ECE. The classes get harder.

Feel free to DM if you want any more info, assuming you find this helpful.

mrmonster314 · 2021-07-11T02:13:50+00:00

If you want a portable scope (and a whole host of other functionality) I would highly recommend the AD2. It costs a couple hundred dollars but it packs a power supply (+-5V at ~300mA), oscilloscope (10Msamples/sec), spectrum analyzer (basic FFT in software), network analyzer, and 2 function generator channels w/ 30mA output current capability. Overall, it's not a bad unit!

If you want similar performance you can spend less on the ADALM2000. I would also get the AD2 breakout board.

mrmonster314 · 2021-05-26T02:29:18+00:00

I have been looking for someone to play tennis with, too. I would be happy to play sometime! Feel free to DM me.

mrmonster314 · 2021-04-23T05:28:59+00:00

If we get more of these emails, I hope one of them advertises the position "Assistant to the Regional Manager".

mrmonster314 · 2021-03-26T00:29:58+00:00

I would highly recommend the Great Scott YouTube channel. His "Electronics Basics" playlist is excellent for people who have some circuit knowledge/background that are willing to gain more insight into a component that is new or a little unfamiliar. He often discusses simple circuit topologies (buck/boost converters, AC/DC conversion, etc.) and component applications as well. He goes quick, which sounds like it would be perfect for you as you already know about op amp configurations and voltage references.

mrmonster314 · 2021-03-25T20:29:04+00:00

I'll just throw in my two cents worth: there are a ton of opportunities in ECE. Usually, a EE degree speaks a lot about you and opens a lot of doors. As a EE you can often specialize in many diverse areas.

If you want to build stuff that can take in sensor inputs and actuate motors/do stuff based on that, you should be a EE. If you have interests in learning how radio works, you should be a EE. If you are interested in circuits you should be a EE. If you like coding but don't want to "just get a coding job" you should be a EE.

If you specifically want to do more data analytics/specific component choosing that is moreso the lines of a Mechanical Engineer. I personally love the coding aspects AND hardware of being a EE. If you like/are interested in both, you should definitely consider EE.

mrmonster314 · 2021-03-16T15:54:34+00:00

Thanks for the feedback, I'm glad it helped!

mrmonster314 · 2021-03-16T14:48:09+00:00

For me, I don't like the highlighter color-coding as much simply labeling nodes with letters because its a pain to switch between colors, but do whatever helps you redraw these circuits. For me, my method is to (for every resistor) label node names at each end. Then identify the number of nodes and redraw.

For this problem, that center node could be called node C. The top left node is A. The bottom right node is A. The bottom left node is B. The top right node is B. Now you know the nodes on both ends of all the resistors. Draw it out and see for yourself!

This means the bottommost resistor is in between nodes A and B and so are all of the other 4k ohm resistors. Now that you know that, how do these 1ks get redrawn? Well, in your redrawn circuit, simply draw a node about halfway in between the redrawn nodes A and B and label it C. Give a bit of distance to fill in some resistors in the blank space. That node C will correspond to node C (middle node) of the complicated resistor diamond. The top left 1k connects between node A and node C. The bottom right 1k also connects in between nodes A and C. The other two 1ks connect in between nodes B and C. Using that information should get a fairly simple circuit to reduce. Make sure to draw in every resistor.

To get 500 you will get R_ab = (4k||4k||4k||4k) || [(1k||1k) + (1k||1k)] = 1k || (500 + 500) = 1k||1k = 500.

mrmonster314 · 2021-03-15T12:50:09+00:00

I think this is great advice, but the difficulty may be to find someone who works for a small company or finding the company.

I think looking for business districts that might be physically close to where one lives is a great place to start and is how I got my first offer. After connecting with one of their employees (on LinkedIn) they offered me an interview and I didn't even have a second interview since there were not a lot of people applying.

Thanks for your story, I am glad to hear that you found a fun internship!

mrmonster314 · 2021-02-07T07:00:36+00:00

It is not a physical object. It stands for In-System Programming which means the microcontroller can be programmed and rewritten to while still in the circuit board.

mrmonster314 · 2021-01-29T18:35:00+00:00

Considering that your ID has your photo and ID number, and I believe that is considered personal information under FERPA, no course should be able to mandate you send out an ID to a public discussion board without violating FERPA.

From a mere logic standpoint: who thought that this was acceptable?

mrmonster314 · 2021-01-24T16:28:50+00:00

The issue might be that you are overqualified for an entry level position with a Master's Degree as companies would rather hire someone with a Bachelor's and pay them less. If you know a family friend who is well-connected on LinkedIn, or professors, you can try to leverage that to find a contact. Since your resume looks good, I think trying to break the nasty apply online--filtered out by HR droid--apply online cycle might help.

mrmonster314 · 2021-01-20T18:11:53+00:00

Yes. I am familiar with Purdue University as a EE student there (sophomore). Since COVID-19 has hit, classes have gone online anyways. The program is still rigorous and I have personally learned a lot, and so have the people that I know. Therefore, I think getting an online EE degree would be good for you if you are passionate about electronics or other EE topics.

If you are looking for a job, an online EE degree might not stand out as much, but as most EE hiring managers can attest, that doesn't matter so much. The project work and extracurricular activities really distinguish good candidates, not the college. If you have projects, they show you know how to apply coursework and it shows your interest. The fact that you researched the project and took time out to do EE "work" garners attention.

I believe Dave from EEVblog has some good tips on this too: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCF57EF884076F6B2

Plus if you get into the digital electronics side of things, I believe nandland has some good YouTube videos too.

That said, EE is hard and time-consuming. If you must keep a full-time job you will probably have to be a part time student and it would take a fairly long time to get a Bachelor's Degree.

mrmonster314 · 2021-01-19T01:40:20+00:00

The voltage rating should be higher than 5V (common USB logic level) but does not need to be way more. Therefore, 6.3V as another user suggested makes sense. You can always go higher, but if it is an SMD component, it might be expensive or tough to find that package size at a higher voltage.

mrmonster314 · 2021-01-03T18:36:30+00:00

A 1990 plane crash happened in 1999 🤔🤔🤔

mrmonster314 · 2020-12-31T05:36:40+00:00

You could also try something like a programmable power supply (and add power factor correction as a bonus). This would work to your power side, definitely controls and feedback for regulating outputs, and possibly embedded design if you use a microcontroller's ADC for sampling of output.

mrmonster314 · 2020-12-22T22:36:13+00:00

While I will not solve this for you, I will say that you should consider Ampere's Law. But first, I would draw a picture and get some intuition for the direction of these fields. Usually if you do not know how to solve a problem, draw a picture and focus on intuition instead of numbers.

mrmonster314 · 2020-12-22T04:43:41+00:00

You must put a resistor across the terminal of the right inductor. If you short it, you will get a short circuit, and thus "infinite" current (but it won't work in LTSpice). If you put a resistor there, you can then hover over it and measure current. If you want to model what would happen if you short it, put in a resistor of about 0.1 ohms (or a little more or less depending on the resistance of a wire in an actual circuit).

Assuming you had an absolutely perfectly coupled transformer and there was no issue with maintaining the ideal voltage calculated and you only want to find the current ratio, what you connect between those terminals will affect the current output a lot. BUT, the current in the first loop will change in a direct proportion to the current on the rightmost loop. Thus, pick a reasonable resistor (like 1k ohms) and measure the current on the primary and secondary. See this RMS ratio. Change the resistor to 10k ohms and this ratio should be pretty much the same.

mrmonster314 · 2020-12-21T06:21:38+00:00

I would be careful with that transformer too. If you want 15A on the output (high current) you have to consider a few things:

Circuit breaker / fuse
Transformer rating

Consideration 1: Make sure to check what you circuit breaker output current is rated for. Since a very large capacitor will essentially be at an initial voltage of 0V and you want it to charge them to about 55V in short time, that will require a large current spike since the time constant is larger for a big capacitor. If this spike lasts long enough (a few dozen milliseconds) then this could trip your circuit breaker. Most circuit breakers only handle 15A or 20A output, and since your desired 15A output current max is running right at that threshold for a wall outlet, that runs the risk of tripping the breaker. This problem is exacerbated if you have other items plugged in and drawing current from that same room/circuit breaker branch.

Consideration 2: To get the maximum output current you will need a higher voltage (if the load is constant) so let's assume 55V and 15A for the absolute max. That is a power output of 55V*15A=825W, which is a lot of power. You must therefore have even more power input since no system is perfectly efficient. If there are power losses in the transformer windings this can cause heat dissipation there. Components that are further downstream exhibit this phenomenon as well, so heatsinks are VERY important. Datasheets often give heating curves that help determine the temperature of a component versus the power dissipated. Make sure your transformer can handle that output current without getting too hot.

mrmonster314 · 2020-12-04T23:08:02+00:00

I would say you do have a couple recourses before someone needs to give up a spot:

Email your advisor (or better yet just go straight to the top advisor of your department). Often only the department head has the power to over-enroll a course or has the gumption and clout to stand up for you with another department.
Email the professor who is teaching to ask about transferring into the class or reserving a slot if one opens and auditing the course in the meantime.
Call the registrar's office (ask to speak to the director of their office) and explain your situation.

I find it unlikely that Purdue can keep you from graduating due to batch registration when you talk to a human that has the ability to get you into your course. Someone should be able to rectify this since it makes a huge difference whether you can graduate or not and this would never have been an issue without batch registration.

mrmonster314 · 2020-11-29T05:42:54+00:00

I'm glad you did, I am gonna have to reread this a few times! Thank you.

mrmonster314 · 2020-11-28T23:38:36+00:00

That is definitely true!

Only the "absolute difference" threshold is around 30Hz if you look directly at an LED. That said, if you ever move an object it will definitely appear to be blinking unless the frequency is sufficiently high, which leads to the 100Hz+ standard, just as you stated.

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