Yesterday I passed SFS6002 electrical safety course and got SFS 6002 käytännössä book. SFS 6002 electrical safety training is for all electrical work in Finland engaged in compulsory education, which must be renewed every five years. Now I know somewhat more than before on electrical safety related to electrical installations. SFS6002 is a Finnish standard →
Yesterday evening tech news were all about Standardized Laptop Charger Approved By IEC. The IEC, the standards body which wrote the phone charger specification used in the EU, has approved a standardised laptop charger. IEC is optimistic that it will lead to a reduction in electronics waste and make it easier to find a replacement →
Here is the power supply that came with a cheap MP3 player. It is a power supply that takes in 230V mains power and outputs 5V at USB connector. What is wrong with this power supply? Let’s start with the electromechanical design. The mains connection pins that can be folded in and out at a →
Here are some tips how to arrange electrical power distribution on a small electrical lab (for example home lab). Grounded power outlet: The power that comes to your electrical lab should be grounded for your safety. Most everyone has 3-prong electrical outlets in their homes, with the third prong being called the “ground.” Extension cords →
I just happened to find an interesting presentation on light dimming technologies and who they work with LED lighting. Dimming LED sources: what’s working and what still needs fixing is a worth to take a look if you are into LED lighting or light controlling applications. It is a very good overview of the current →
Knowing the electrical characteristics of direct current and its differences in comparison with alternating current is fundamental to understand how to employ direct current. Direct current presents different problems than alternating current with a regard to the phenomena associated to the interruption of high value currents since the arc extinction results to be particularly difficult. →
Every summer we get thunderstorms, with the accompanying lightning in Finland. It is expected that thunderstorms starts in few days. Varo! Torstaina salamoi article says that it is expected that next Thursday there will be (according to weather forecast) 5000-10000 lightning discharge events in Finland. Lightning is a massive electrostatic discharge between electrically charged regions →
Wireless power has become a hot topic as wireless charging of mobile devices is get getting some popularity. Wireless charging isn’t something new; the technology exists since 1981 and Nikola Tesla has made first wireless power experiments over 100 years ago. Wireless charging for Qi technology is becoming the industry standard on smartphones (pushed by →
The rise of direct current using devices and direct current generation have some rethinking the use of alternating current in the grid. Let’s start from history of electric power transmission: In the late 19th century both alternating current (AC) and direct current (DC) were both used to power devices like motors and light bulbs. Over →
Electrical grid is said to be vulnerable to terrorist attack. I can agree that electrical power distribution network would be quite vulnerable if someone tries to sabotage it and knows what to do. I know this because I design software and hardware for control systems for electrical companies. Some days ago I saw in Finnish →