Quote:
Originally Posted by dmforcier
Back in the day computer rooms would have a big red switch to kill power to the racks in case something caught fire or whatever. We were told NEVER hit that Big Red Shiny Button! Of course, this made us curious and being OCD computer nerds we obsessed about what the button would do if hit.
So one day we took the cover off. Underneath were the main leads going to the power supplies. The Big Red Shiny Button was attached to a guillotine-like blade that would cut (and incidentally short) the main power circuit.
I bet your button could be reset a lot easier than mine.
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I know an idiot that shut down the main computers in Tulsa Oklahoma from the coast of Texas.
All he did was lift a wire.
It not only shut Amoco's computers down in Texas but the ones in Tulsa.
The idiot didn't know how to read contacts with a meter that see if they were closed or not with powered wire going to them.
Try as I might I could never get him to understand contacts wiring meters and relays.
He started out making more money than me because he said he worked with radar in the army.
I on the other hand was in the Marines and was assumed a stupid grunt.
They never even looked past Marine to the part where it said I went to 29 Palms school of electronics and communications.
All I was was a stupid Marine that did stupid pipe work.
The one day I was working with a guy doing fire alarm because he needed help.
He got called away and it was Friday.
I wanted to go home so I finished the job.
He got back and had a heart attack because he told me the stupid pipe guy not to touch anything.
I said just test it so we can go home he did and it all worked.
I was called in the office a day or two later and they handed me a circuit board and was asked what stuff was on it.
I told them everything.
They told me I knew more than the fire alarm guys they had hired.
Where did you learn this?
At home and the Marines.
How would a Marine know this?
You guys are stupid do you have any idea how many types of things the Marines do.
We even have our own Air Wing and fly jets.
The Army doesn't.
Then they asked me if I wanted to go into the fire alarm side of it.
I said let me think about it.
I came back and told them I wanted to do both pipe and electronics so that is what I did.
When I got my own van I had pipe stuff on one side and electronic stuff on the other.
If I got bored with one I would do the other.
My choice.
The stupid pipe fitter comment ticks me off to this day that that guy our boss made.
To this day wherever he is I still cant stand that jerk.
Pipe fitters aren't stupid.
Stupid people are stupid no matter what trade they are in even doctors.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dmforcier
Hmmph! Learned something today. Thanks.
There are "DC transformers" sold, but I found this: For a transformer to work, the current in one coil has to somehow make current flow in the other coil and the circuit it's connected to. A DC current in one coil will make a magnetic field on the other coil, but a magnetic field by itself won't drive any electrons around. A CHANGING magnetic field, however, does create an electric force which will accelerate those electrons in the other coil into carrying a current. This process is described by Faraday's law of induction. You get a changing field from an AC current, since the current which makes the field is changing. It's been a LONG time since my electronics courses... |
They have all sorts of crazy stuff out there now.
Inverter welders and so much more.
Peaking of induction.
I was with another guy all day working around some big time high voltage and I mean big time.
Our hairs were standing up on end.
The insulated conductors were as big as my legs and we were right on them.
He looked at his watch it was time to leave.
We packed up everything and got in my van.
I looked at the clock on the radio.'
It was two hours or so before time to go.
The electricity was so high it made his watch speed up.
No way was I gong to unpack and go back to work.
Worth