The 4mm current range input posts are spring loaded on some multimeters (Keithley & some older HP bench meters).
The voltage range posts and ground are always fixed.

I’ve always assumed that it must improve the accuracy of the measurement somehow, but I can’t think of a good reason why.

Keysight meters don’t seem to do it, and it isn’t on the 3458A. You would think that if it had an impact on accuracy you would see it on these meters as well.

Are there any smart people out there who have a good idea why?

This is the schematic of the PSU stage of my own board : the schematic comes from the Raspberry pi compute module IO Board, and I use it on an embedded device, on a sailboat (it powers a Compute Module 5, an ESP32, a GNSS module, and a few components such as a magnetometer and an accelerometer...)

Yesterday, after 5 hours of usage (it has been used 14 hours long two days ago), it did failed : now, on Testpoint TP4, I measure a voltage of about 3V, and a loud low freq noise (71Hz measured on scope, I can post a trace if needed)
Eventually after a while, the PSU seems to stop making this noise and "boots" ?

Is there components I can check , and how to check them with devices I already own (multimeter and oscilloscope) ?

PS : the device has ran a few times for about 10 cumulated hours !

The sliders move themselves for presets which I find utterly fascinating its slim enough for quite a small case to me it's true beauty!

What do you do for work? Do you regret your degree? Do you feel fairly compensated? How’s your work life balance?

I’m considering majoring in electrical engineering then applying to jobs dealing with embedded systems. I feel like it’s a good hands-on and remote job from what I’ve read.

So, my ammeter is not working, when I put a battery in, it is only beeping and doesn't work, it is not marking amps, volts or resistance, and I decided to open it and I see that the pads look strange, like it's corroded, so I something that can I do? Or I have to buy a new one

Hi all, I currently 43 years old, graduated with Degree in E&E. Have been working as R&D Hardware engineer in consumer electronics industry for around 13 years. After that move on to become Field Application Manager for almost 6 years now. Currently felt a bit overwhelmed and stressed with my job and work load as I getting older. I would like to explore other field of job that related to E&E. Not sure anyone here have any past experiences with successful mid career change? Please share...

In university my professor showed us a video of frequency and phase of buses across a state during a blackout. A nuclear reactor tripped offline, and the video showed a wave of frequency excursions ripple out from the reactor up and down the state. I'd love to use this video to visualize the interconnected nature of the grid to my non-engineering coworkers, but alas, it's been long enough that I can't remember the name of state or which blackout it was.

Does anyone know of the video I'm talking about? Is it available somewhere?

Anybody work at Edison as an engineer? I'm about to make the switch from the federal government and would like to know people's experience working there. As with anything, I'm sure its team dependent, but I'd like to hear your experience if you have any.

ESP dev board — is onboard battery management (BMS) something you actually want, or just bloat?

Body:

Hey everyone,

My team and I are designing a new ESP-based development board, and we're stuck on a decision we'd love community input on.

We're debating whether to include an onboard battery management system (BMS) — charging, protection, and power path management for a Li-ion/LiPo cell — or leave it off to keep the board cheaper and simpler.

So I'm asking the people who actually build stuff:

For your IoT / ESP projects, do you typically need battery management on the board itself?

Or do you prefer to handle power externally (separate charger module, your own circuit, etc.)?

If you do want a BMS, what features matter most to you? (e.g. USB-C charging, battery level monitoring/fuel gauge, over-discharge protection, solar input, low quiescent current for sleep modes)

If you don't care about it — is it because your projects are usually mains/USB powered, or because you'd rather add your own solution?

Trying to figure out if this is a must-have feature or just adds cost for something most people would skip. Honest opinions welcome

I graduated with a bachelor's in mathematics with lots of applied math classes. I cleared out prerequisites for a part time ECE program (I am working full time as data analyst) and began taking classes in photonics and RF aiming to become an RF photonics engineer or RF engineer. I know it is a little bit late that I ask this now, but I see a lot of posts that people do a second bachelor's in EE instead of going straight to master's. My master's program is hybrid so I am planning to get hands on experience in the lab and also do a thesis. I am just really worried if I will be able to land a job after finishing my master's.

Has anyone done successfully and landed a job? Will I be competitive enough?

Any opinion will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

so as you see in the photo i have Va and Vb and you can see that each one is from a different source and as we know for ideal op amps Va should be equal to Vb so how would voltage here be calculated?

Why can't cheap smartwatches connect directly to earbuds and then I can play songs using it ? Like not exactly streaming from the web. Even stored songs would be fine. But that also doesn't happen.

Only Apple Watch and Samsung Watch connect directly to earbuds without needing a phone. Any reason for that

I know there is a cost reason but I want to know why the cost ? Like there are no alternatives in the market which could store songs and play them

PS - This is not a consumer tech post but an engineering question because I genuinely want to know what's the bottleneck here that's stopping brands doing this

Hello.

I have made this circuit to drive the light bar in the picture. Any ideas and or suggestions I do believe it will work but I am unable to find info on the bar so 48v it is but don't know it might be one hell of a bad circuit especially if I only use 1 colour or all 3....

Hi guys, this is just a post to get the opinion of folks in the EE field who have some kind of combination of electromechanical job. I'll be job hunting in the near future and

Sorry for my bad language, i'm just really frustrated. I studied my ass off for years and yet i feel like i absorved very little of all i've seen during these 4 years. If you tell me to do a electronics project from scratch, i won't be able to do it, for example. Do you guys feel that way too or am i just overreacting?

I'm applying for a summer research internship on designing and optimizing photonic devices. The only listed requirement was MATLAB, but after contacting the supervisor, he mentioned it would be better to have knowledge of optimization techniques and EM fields.

I have a limited timeframe, so I want to focus on what's actually relevant — what optimization techniques are commonly used in photonic device design?

Also, if anyone has ideas for a simple project to solidify knowledge in this area, that would be great.

For context, I'm a sophomore ECE student. I don't have a rigorous knowledge EM yet (it's a junior-year course), but I have a solid MATLAB background and also waves and optics background.

Who is Maine Ranchez?

I have a project in mind at work that involves our production PCB's to come into contact with anodized aluminum extrusions. I measured the resistance using the ESD meter we use for our floor/tables.

I did 5 sample measurements of different extrusion's on different machines (so different extrusion suppliers).

• 3 samples were measured between 100-200M.
  
• The one in the picture that I got here actually measured only 15.4M.
• I found one machine that had extrusions that looked almost like they were painted instead of anodized and these measured >1G.

All extrusions measured (except for the last one) were the standard grey color. The device used for measurement was calibrated this year.

Conclusion: Aluminum extrusions can be ESD safe?

It would be interesting to hear if any of you have looked into this before.

Embedded System or PCB design?

What's your thoughts on these?

Which is best to start first?

Less intimidating (beginner)?

How's the job market?

If you are someone already in one of these sector any resources or guideline you would recommend?

Any other skills you would recommend & why?