You know that little voice in the back of your head...

[Mtech]

Just so happens before he became my fillin. He applied for a electro/mech and failed both test. Which I guess qualifies him to due my job. Which is supervise,coach, and lead our team of electro/mechanics to the top of their abilites.funny but not so funny. Because its a matter of time before he gets himself or someone else hurt.

 

[theDave2]

A few minutes ago PHD Genius came to borrow my multi-meter.

My wife, brother and cousin are PhD's and are outstanding in their fields. Are you inferring something ?

I blame myself for ignoring that little voice.

As well you should. Who hasn't blown a fuse, raise your hand.

 

[SMOKE]

I enjoy this thread.. Reminds me of my friend boom boom.
I also have blown the Milli amp fuse. Too many places to plug in, I know there is only two places.

 

[RussB]

It may be just my opinion but it truly appears to me that the more education one gets the less "common sense" that person retains.
I am beginning to believe that knowledge and "common sense" can not co-exist within a single person.

 

[leitmotif]

Two of my thesis advisors (both PhD) agreed that as you gain degrees and knowledge in your selected area of study you know more and more about it but less and less in everything else.

A Simpson 260 set on X1 ohms completely disentegrated when plugged into 450 - dont look at me man I didn duit.
Dan Bentler

 

[silva.foxx]

Would it be wrong of me to set him up to look like a *** in front of my bosses.

Unless you are REALLY good at this sort of thing, you will end up looking like a "***". It's a dangerous game! But with his glowing resume, intelligent talk and convincing bull, he'll switch the tables on you.

If he is as bad as you state... give him enough rope and he'll hang himself.

 

[Oakley]

I know this is skewing the thread just a bit, but if you are interested in reviews of meters, see some of the video blogs of this guy.

http://www.eevblog.com/

It's rather entertaining.
One thing that I have definitely realized after watching the videos related to multimeters, there is quite the difference in design and features. You definitely get what you pay for.

 

[ianingram]

Anybody remember analogue (moving coil) multimeters?

I lent mine to a neighbour (when I was an apprentice, some time ago), and he handed it back saying that he had broken it - he had checked for voltage with the leads plugged into current connectors, and saw a flash.

I tested it & found that only the multimeter leads were damaged (blown open). I replaced the leads & all was good.


And later on my brother-in-law, who is a degree qualified electrical engineer, wanted a light disconnected at his house. He had two lights connected to one switch, but wanted one light removed.
He asked the question - are these lights connected in series or parallel?

 

[Tom Jenkins]

I am beginning to believe that knowledge and "common sense" can not co-exist within a single person.

I don't think that's it, Russ. I think the real explanation has two parts:

1) I think you learn common sense and a visceral feeling for cause and effect when you do things with your own hands. The understanding you get that way can't be duplicated by book learning.

2) The more formal education you have the less likely you are to work with your own hands. Some of this is driven by false ego (I'm too good for THAT job!) and some is driven by economics (I can pay a tradesman half as much to do that job.)

The result is more highly educated people tend to exhibit less common sense.

(And that is why I made all of my engineers test panels and do site start-ups!)

 

[silva.foxx]

Just been reminded by a mate...

He was working in a control panel when I interrupted him during volt-checking for a neutral fault. He had one probe clamped to the 110v source whilst prodding around points, as to the schematic, with the other. Still in my apprenticeship I was asking him about a fault I was having with a machine. Quite perplexed he was scratching his forehead until the probe tip found a "test point".





Again, early on during my app. I was working with another spark. I was told to put my Fluke on AC-V at a socket and shout when it went dead. He toddled off down the corridor to the switchroom to search for the mcb. I could hear him ask "Is it dead?" a couple of times, assuming he was trying the mcbs. I thought I'll try it on AC Amps, removed the black lead and popped it into the mA/A socket to be surprised with a flash! "What have you done?" he shouted. "Nothing" I said, as I put the meter back to AC-V. He came back in and said he'd found the breaker!
Hmmm...are you sure YOU did? - I thought.


Other places I've worked have refused to issue meters with current function to tradesmen without a purely electrical discipline.

.

 

[harryting]

I learned to use a meter on the job. Haven't blown a fuse yet but that's just pure luck. Heck, I locked myself out of car before

 

[leitmotif]

Unless you are REALLY good at this sort of thing, you will end up looking like a "***". It's a dangerous game! But with his glowing resume, intelligent talk and convincing bull, he'll switch the tables on you.

If he is as bad as you state... give him enough rope and he'll hang himself.

I agree with this advice and can say it worked for me. Had guy who was messing with me. Started with super gluing locks on my toolbox. Kept on going. Brother and boss said just stand back and do nothing - give him enough rope. I did - it was hard. He now has a felony has paid me 1200 and will keep paying 100 per month until July 2011. I feel good every time I cash a check from him.

Dan Bentler

 

[jrwb4gbm]

I wasnt going to comment but here's what I did 30 some years ago with a similar situation. I gave his name to some job placement recruiting firms. It wasn't long after that some other company hired him.

 

[milldrone]

I gave his name to some job placement recruiting firms. It wasn't long after that some other company hired him.

Excellent! Because he looks good on paper, someone will be sure to hire him!

 

[Lancie1]

1) I think you learn common sense and a visceral feeling for cause and effect when you do things with your own hands. The understanding you get that way can't be duplicated by book learning.

2) The more formal education you have the less likely you are to work with your own hands. Some of this is driven by false ego (I'm too good for THAT job!) and some is driven by economics (I can pay a tradesman half as much to do that job.)

Right on target, Tom.

I have been an EE over 40 years, and there are two major types: Those who were born with a "feel" for how things work and generally will not screw up because their intuition prevents it. On the other hand are the very bright, photographic-memory types who can recite page and paragraph of every textbook they ever read, but do not REALLY understand how things work. It is this second type who have to go on and get a MS or a PHD, because that is the area where they excel: reciting and regurgitating facts, equations, and formulas. For me, I had rather work around dangerous equipmet with the first seat-of-the pants type of engineer, even if he can't quote the electrical codes verbatim.