Friday, January 20, 2017

Blog Report Week 2


1. What is the role of A/B switch? If you are on A, would B still give you a voltage?
  • The A/B switch allows you to read and set the values for the voltage and amperage, you can switch between A and B to see what each of the supplies are putting out on the meters. Suppose you are reading the meters for A, since both of the power supplies are independent from each other, B would still be able to give a voltage.


2. In each channel, there is a current specification (either 0.5 A or 4 A). What does that mean?
  • On the power supply we use there are two types of channels: 1 Fixed, and 2 continuous. On the fixed channel, the current specification is at a constant 4A. As for the continuous independent A/B channels, they can range up to 0.5A each.


3. Your power supply has two main operation modes for A and B channels; independent and tracking. How do those operation work?
  • This is a video discussing the three different modes of the DC power supply. The first being independent mode and the others being series and parallel versions of the tracking mode.

Video - Different PS Modes




4. Can you generate +30 V using a combination of the power supply outputs? How?
  • To generate the +30V output, you put the power supply in 

Figure 1: Shows that the tracking mode in series allows you to combine channels A and B to achieve voltages higher than 24 volts, up to 48 volts. 



5. Can you generate -30 V using a combination of the power supply outputs? How?

Figure 2: This photo shows that if you switch the probes' polarity from Figure 1, you can achieve negative voltages of up to 48V as well.



6. Can you generate +10 V and -10 V at the same time using a combination of the power supply outputs? How?
  • It is possible to achieve both negative 10V and positive 10V in the same power supply. This is achieved by connecting channel A and B in series at 10V, then grounding in between the two channels. Measuring from ground across channel B will give -10V and measuring from ground across channel A will give 10V.

Figure 3 (Left) and Figure 4 (Right): Figure 3 shows the voltage measurement at -10V because the probes are measuring from ground to the negative side of channel B. Figure 4 shows a measurement of 10V because the probes are measuring from ground to the positive terminal of channel A.



7.  Apply 5V to a 100 Ω resistor and measure the current by using the DMM. Compare the reading with the current meter reading on the power supply. At what angle of the current knob makes the LED light on? If you keep on decreasing the current limit, what happens to the voltage and current?
  • This video shows us supplying 5v to the circuit and reducing the current dial on the power supply until the light turns on. This light turns on to indicate that there is an insufficient amount of current to power the circuit to it's full power.

Video - Testing what happens when decreasing current at a rate 



8. Where is the fuse for the power supply? What is it for?
  • The Fuse for the power supply is located directly underneath the power-cable input-plug on the right side. Technically speaking the fuse is a safety feature, it helps protect the machine and circuits from damage, if too much current is supplied. In a situation where there is too much current, the fuse would blow and need a replacement to allow the power supply to operate again.


9. Where is the fuse for the DMM? What is it for?
  • The fuse's holder housing for the DMM is located on the back bottom-left panel, it is used to protect the circuits inside of the machine along with the user if too much current were supplied at once.


10. What is the difference between 2W and 4W resistor measurements?
  • The two wire and four wire methods are used to measure resistance more accurately. When measuring a resistor that is large, 1 kilohm or higher, the resistance of the two wire method does not make much of a difference. When measuring smaller resistors, 1 kilohm or smaller, the voltage drop across the probes of the multimeter can make a noticeable difference in your values. The four wire method allows the multimeter to push voltage through one wire and current through the other so there is no voltage drop across the probes.


11. How would you measure current that is around 10 A using DMM?
  • If we were asked to measure a current around 10A, the DMM would require the user to manually set the current range measurement to range up to 12A (AC or DC).

10 comments:

  1. Good start. Needs some touching up. The color of the blog is some spots makes it difficult to read. For each answer it wouldn't hurt to present the question before it, it'd make it easier to comprehend. Finsish up the rest and you should be all good!

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    1. Thanks, re-updated the blog, it makes more sense to add those in from now on.

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    2. Thanks for the idea, Scout. It looks better and is easier to read since the addition of the questions.

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  2. Remember that one of the biggest features of the fuse is that it's a safety feature! It saves the machine and the safety of the circuits! I like how you did video #3 and wrote everything out, very clever. Also good job on getting exactly -30.00 V, we did the same thing!

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    1. We initially thought it said to create a video explaining every power supply mode, but actually misinterpreted that. Ended up explaining our pre-made sketch sheet instead.

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    2. Thank you for the input, Drake. You are right, the fuse is mostly intended to be a safety feature. Clever minds think alike!

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  3. I wasnt able to view your first video because it said it is not available but your second video is great. The commentary is very straightforward and clear. I would agree with Scout that it would be helpful to include the questions you are answering before your response.

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    1. Thanks for the catch, don't know what happened but the embedded video should work again.

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    2. Thank you for your input, Austin. We have made the change by adding the questions and will continue to do so in the future. Also, thanks for the heads up on the video.

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  4. Nice captions and thank you for responding comments well.

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