PC/CP200 Electronics Lab I

Lab Test 1 Preparation

Practical Lab Test 1 (30 minutes) will test your skills in troubleshooting a circuit. Given a circuit diagram and a set of black boxes, you will determine which box(es) correctly implement the given circuit. For the box(es) that do not correctly implement the given circuit, you will determine which component(s) are incorrect and specify the fault (i.e. open, short, incorrect resistor value). Circuit has been wired correctly and faults are limited to component failures

The first practical lab test is coming in a couple of weeks.  At the end of this week's lab, you may have some time to practice for this lab. To make effective use of this time, you should consider what things you might want to try during the practice time. For example,

• Do you know how to measure resistance and read the value correctly from a meter when you don't know the nominal resistance in advance?
• Do you know the difference between the nominal resistance and the measured resistance?
• At what point is this difference due to component variability versus an incorrect resistor value?
• What is an open? What is a short? How do you measure them?
• What would be some good practice exercises that would allow both partners to be actively testing each other?

Your prep should be written in your lab notebook. List things that you have to know. List things that you would like to test out. List ideas for practice exercises.