Learn Car Electrical Troubleshooting!


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Old 02-20-10, 01:07 PM
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Lightbulb Learn Car Electrical Troubleshooting!

I know some of the younger people here are learning about electrical things and thought I would share the following...

I have a friend who wants me to teach him how to troubleshoot the electrical sensors in a vehicle.

And he needs to start at the beginning. How to use a multimeter, how to test switches, etc. How to measure voltage. How things work. How to tell if something is working...

Well the way I learned, this is a royal pain because I had to connect/disconnect wires. Or solder/desolder them to change things around.

And for learning, you need to connect things various ways and see what happens! Lots of connecting/reconnecting!

Anyway I found the PERFECT learning tool for learning basic electricity/electronics. That is at Radio Shack they have an "Electronics Learning Lab". This has little spring connectors on everything. So you can easily change wires around to try different things. And it has switches, a relay, LED lights, variable resistors (AKA volume control), a light sensor, a beeper, a transformer, a milliamp meter, and a speaker.

Then it comes with various electronic parts and integrated circuit chips.

Then two books with easy to follow instructions and these explain how everything works for each "project".

So this will be perfect for starting out with the basics. Connect a switch to a LED light. Then test with a multimeter to see how the switch works. Maybe disconnect one of the wires and show him the switch tests good (with the multimeter), but the problem is with a loose wire. And then test the other end of the wires to see that they are not connected to the switch. Etc.

Then connect something a bit more complicated and troubleshoot that.

Anyway this would be perfect to learn this basic stuff, then understand better how the various things on a vehicle work. A link to that kit is below.

What I went to Radio Shack in the first place was for a thing called "What's a Microcontroller BASIC Stamp Kit". This is a little computer which you can connect things to. It is like the above kit, but the "wiring connections" are made with "software".

And my friend was asking me about what computer programming is. I tried explaining that programming is basically "rewiring" the computer. And that the very first computers were actually programmed by changing the wiring!

But I couldn't think of an easy way to demonstrate this. Then I remembered Radio Shack sold a small little computer for not too much money. And you could connect things to this, then write easy programs to turn things on/off.

So I got one of those Basic Stamp Microcontrollers too. And have been having fun with it and was up until late last night.

This kit would be PERFECT for *advanced* electrical learning and learning how computers in vehicles "sense" things and make things operate. Best of all, it comes with a "servo" motor. (This is what an IAC valve is similar to in a vehicle.) And with this you can learn how the computer sends "pulses" of electricity to make the servo motor move a little this way or that way.

And you can learn how something like a throttle position sensor tells the computer how far open the throttle is. Or how the engine computer sends a "pulse" of electricity to a fuel injector, etc.

Neither of the two kits above mention anything specific about vehicles, but if you learn these basic electrical things, then you will easily understand how the various gadgets work in a vehicle when reading about them and understand what you need to do to test them.


Electronics Learning Lab...
Electronics Learning Lab - RadioShack.com

What's a Microcontroller BASIC Stamp Kit...
What's a Microcontroller BASIC Stamp Kit - RadioShack.com

Once you have learned or as you learn, following is a sample automotive bunch of questions on various electrical things to become certified. On the left side at the following web site, you can click on one of the following subject areas and take the sample test for that...

Electrical Basics
Test Equipment
Batteries
Starting System
Charging System
Semiconductors
and Logic Gates
Wire Repair
Wiring Diagrams
Accessories #1
Accessories #2
Instrumentation
Air Bags
Computer Control
Computer Sensors
Scan Tool Diag #1
Scan Tool Diag #2

Here is the link for that...
ASE Test Preparation - Electrical Test Equipment

How to use a multimeter...
Google
 
  #2  
Old 02-20-10, 06:34 PM
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Nice site. I will try them later
Just want to say that I agree.
I knew quite a bit about electrical circuits before I went into Marine Engineering but while in college I bought a lab from..........I forget what store. $50
Helps so much
I know that some will think that it is too basic but a simple electrical problem can have complicated problems.
Its something that can be done with the kids too
 
 

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