You are learning academic methods , not productive methods . Im very excited about productive methods . If you could excite me .......
Im a E.E. , im not the only one here , who makes stuff work ,
rather than get frustrated just measuring stuff . I measure stuff NOT with O'scopes and network analysers . An cheap RF bridge is handy , you can read the circuits you are working with . MFJ is a Chinaman in Missippippi who sells MFJ209/249 170MHZ antenna tuner , which everyone turns into RF bridge with a CAP,COIL ,RESISTOR circuit that absorbes enough RF to make the meter show 3:1 SWR .
You may see this as a high power RF bridge . There is nothing it cant read . lumped or distributed L's and C's in any order ! It works well at very low Z's and low Q's .
Since it injects a hi power sinewave , it sees reality , not just voltages and currents .
I think it was the best tool i ever bought , for it freed me up . I no longer had to analyse the circuit for the test equipment i had to search for .
BTW you will learn faster if you are a HAM radio operator . Even though we are being flooded with females and Luddites who have no interest in Ham radio except as a better form of Citizens band . The 70's were best when everyone had respect for those who improved their abilities , but today its too many opportunists , "teachers" , Luddites .... dont want to study anything but how to get a govt job and a badge . Can you make this work ? No but i have a college degree . ( a red flag to a factory owner ....)
I got my first job for i had a novice Ham lic . The intervu went well for half hour , next i informed him , he lit up , smiled and we spent the next 2 hours in a chit chat of how interesting radio , antennas is . Tom Brown was forced to hire diplomas . He had trouble selling his OpAmps if he barred Luddites . They forced him to hire a polite Jap kid who laid a single chip oscillator IC on me for production eng' tests . Silver Mica caps ? 10 microfarad ? This kid developed a sinewave osc that needed Silver Micas !! It was a flop . This is what ALL schools teach . Business is NOT your job , you are an engineer . But an engineer who cant sell his pdt is NOT and engineer ....
My interest is in making cheaper and avail , the switch mode pow supplies . The Chineese have produced a copy for the PC that is reliable and very low cost . Bu the future is single drive NPN , 'blocking" or core saturation oscillators . There are no problems , they nix the timing problem dead band , freq control .... They need nothing but a LM431 and an OPTO ! This ckt is far more fault tolerant ! I want to make a 5 kilo watt MIG welder , 100% duty cycle . They run very cool , hi eff' and i can parallel them to very wide arrays . I can use 200 MicroHen cup cores ( BG Micro , $.30 , 80 watt ?) But all flour' lites do require push/pull to keep one side from burning more than the other . The ones i got in Thailand use curent xfrmr to drive bases . If the load draws no current , the bases are not driven . A Flour lite will glow ( maybe microamps ) easier than it will do full output . Its very non-linear . When you up volt , it reaches an breakover point and you need a ballast . CompactFlour are not better than
48 inch tubes . And 96" tubes use a ballast without starters nor fillaments . They simply loose couple the secondary and drive it to high voltage . So why dont we do same for 48" tubes ? 96" tubes are indoor only , they can't create enoug heat in the tube to start the "knee". The knee is a very effecient but hi power factor output . below the knee , you wont get good output for the $$ . BTW 130VAC incand bulbs were used for life . They lasted but fact is light output drops at a very hi rate as voltage is dropped . They were very hi cost to operate ....But the life was longer !! ? Thats why i gobbled up the Harbor fright $.78 500 W Halogens ! I'll run those 130 VAC bulbs as heaters that need not insulation . The ni-crome in your toaster can make you jump and burn these can't electrocute you , only burn your pizza .. Another interesting ....... RVers use 117VAC , but their alternator can be rewired to make 3 kilowatts of it . Using SCR's you can generate better waveforms than a sinewave inverter ! But dont run roof airs with it , roof airs need lose 50% right off . Air MUST be engine driven . Pelteir diodes are worst performance , Ammonia absorp is the highest . But it depends on your fuel . It fuel is a problem , a linear motor driven box like Norcold ? used to make , is a better effeciency ... Its the written law that kills Ammonia absorp refrig . America used to make ALL its ice for ice boxes , til the govt figured its cronies would make more $$ with a more complicate system . Faraday bent a piece of glass in an inverted V and created frost in seconds using a burner . Farmers long ago could heat a steel aparatus on their coal stoves and cool it ( condense the Ammonia ) then drop it into an insulated "ice" box .. It froze stuff ! It would make ice cubes ! People want to use non-CFC's in their cars A/C . Butane/ Propane can never be a problem for 300 million people would have to purposely vent their cars A/C every week to make a difference , so much butane leaks out world wide . Just charge with Butane and the same R12 oil , next charge tiny bit of Propane , til pressure reads what your old R12 did . Cost si so low you no longer need to evacuate system for TBshoot . You simply charge , Leak ,charge ,Leak ,charge Leak There is NO air in your system . I once removed 95% of my R12 to prove a bet , then sucked it back in . Cool the can , never run cars pump more than 15 seconds at a time
let it cool . Remaining is 5% gas which is maybe .1% total ?