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How Eaton’s Power Defense Circuit Breakers Work | Workbench Wednesdays #41

Circuit breakers make electricity safe in everyday life. The miniature breakers found in your home are relatively simple devices. Commercial units like the Eaton Power Defense with PXR Trip units are found everywhere, even if we do not see them. Learn how a basic circuit breaker works and get some insight into these advanced electronic controlled Circuit Breakers.

In this video, I got to interview Andy at Eaton. He was an interesting person and very knowledgeable about circuit breakers. I had no idea how much technology went into them.

This episode was sponsored by Eaton.

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Measurements with an SMU | Workbench Wednesdays #40

Source Measurement Units, or SMUs, combine an accurate power supply, high-power electronic load, and precise digital voltmeter into a signal unit. They are a four-quadrant source. That means they can provide power to a circuit or consume it.

With an SMU you can characterize semiconductor devices (like Diodes), monitor the power consumption of a circuit, or simulate a battery. In this video, see the difference between an SMU and a Power Supply.

This episode was sponsored by Rohde & Schwarz.

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Essential Logic Families | Workbench Wednesdays #35

Did you know that TTL chips do not output 5 volts? 74LS, 74HC, and 74HCT all have different input and output thresholds. Switching between logic families can be difficult if you are not careful. In this video, learn how different 7400-series logic families compare with input threshold, output voltage, frequency, rise time, and propagation delay.

Check out this TI Application Guide for a great resource on logic families.

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Triggering And Decoding Serial Protocols On An Oscilloscope | Workbench Wednesdays #34

Everything with a microcontroller has serial buses in it. Busses like UART, I2C, and SPI are very popular choices. When you have a problem with a sensor that uses one or the bus itself, you can use an oscilloscope or logic analyzer to “decode” the traffic. These decoders convert the 1s and 0s into readable HEX or ASCII characters.

I am not sure how I thought of the “multiple” James idea for the thumbnail. The concept had something to do with “serial,” but I am not sure what.

Anyway, my favorite James is the far left one. He has no idea where the camera is at.

Oh and this picture was done without a green screen. I took multiple shots of me standing in different spots and then composited them together.

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