Calculate Current

[dtmouton]

I watched the video again and would definitely not have hired Dave if that was a job interview. The "context" is not explained in the video. Based on the video, my conclusion is that Dave does not know how to do a standard DC analysis of a circuit that contains diodes or transistors.

This is highly concerning since Dave pretends to be a "Professional Engineer". Yet, there is no indication of an accredited Engineering degree on his LinkedIn page. Being a senior member of the IEEE is not a qualification in itself.

Dave, I think you have to spend a bit of time thinking about the legal implications of what you are doing with your YouTube channel. It looks like you are providing professional advice without any credentials. What degrees do you have and are you registered as a chartered engineer in Australia?

[Nusa]

I watched the video again and would definitely not have hired Dave as that was a job interview. The "context" is not explained in the video. Based on the video, my conclusion is that Dave does not know how to a standard DC analysis of a circuit that contains diodes or transistors.

This is highly concerning since Dave pretends to be a "Professional Engineer". Yet, there is no indication of an accredited Engineering degree on his LinkedIn page. Being a senior member of the IEEE is not a qualification in itself.

Dave, I think you have to spend a bit of time thinking about the legal implications of what you are doing with your YouTube channel. It looks like you are providing professional advice without any credentials. What degrees do you have and are you registered as a chartered engineer in Australia?

Perhaps you should educate yourself on Australian law before choosing to climb on a high horse and suggesting legal consequences.

Dave has mentioned in videos that "engineer" is not a protected title in Australia.

[dtmouton]

I am fully aware of the Australian system. However, the channel is watched all over the world. In South Africa, the term "engineer" is not protected, but "professional engineer" is.

Let's hear from Dave what his qualifications are. Then the viewers can decide if is fair for Dave to refer to himself as a "professional engineer".

I am sitting on a Zebra and not a horse.

[dtmouton]

According to:

https://www.engineersaustralia.org.au/Membership/Occupational-Categories#:~:text=Engineering%20Associate-,Professional%20Engineer,Apply%20leadership%20%26%20management%20skills

Professional Engineers hold an Engineers Australia accredited or recognised four-year professional engineering degree.

[dtmouton]

Furthermore, according to:
https://www.engineersaustralia.org.au/News/registration-engineers

"The title “engineer” is not protected in Australia, therefore anyone can claim to be an engineer and practice without the necessary competencies, understanding of standards, or in compliance with a code of ethics. This exposes our profession to poor quality engineering, a lack of public trust, and increased general risk – be it financial, safety or environmental.

Most people are surprised to learn that the engineering profession does not have this technical assurance in place, compared with other professions such as medicine, law, accounting, teaching, architecture etc. which all require registration, either on a state or national level.

It has been strongly advocated by Engineers Australia for many years that as part of maintaining professional standards we need to ensure that our engineers are properly qualified, assessed, responsible for their own ongoing continuous professional development (CPD), and are accountable to a code of ethics. For EA this is known as the Chartered Engineer process.

Furthermore, Australia should have a national register of engineers whose competency and integrity have been assessed against a national benchmark standard of professionalism.

As a result, the National Engineering Register (NER) was launched by EA in 2016. There are currently over 16,000 people registered, and it is publicly available and searchable online. The EA chartered engineer route is one way (and by far the most common) onto the register, and the other is by individual assessment."

I could not find Dave on this register.

[Jwillis]

I had my fill of so called "registered " "engineers" in the field of civil works I'm in . I won't have a lot of  them design a cardboard box let alone any structure or highway . To tell the truth , I'll take one  Dave over any "registered engineer" that boasts about the fancy ring on their finger .

[dtmouton]

I like watching Dave's channel. But when it comes to the more subtle aspects of electronic engineering he often gets it wrong or just fudges it. This particular video infuriated me since he criticizes lecturers who give this kind of problem to their students without knowing how to solve it himself.

Unfortunately I can no longer refer my students to his channel. In my opinion he has remarkable knowledge with respect to technical aspects of engineering. However. it is clear that he doesn't have the rigorous formal training to be classified as an engineer in many countries of the world.

As I previously pointed out: You need to have a four year accredited engineering degree to call yourself a "professional engineer" in Australia.

[dtmouton]

As an Electronic Engineer, I don't care about the "chartered" part at all. My employer forced me to register. However, I think the degree is very important. I had an electronic design company before I studied engineering and already knew a lot about design. The formal training really took me to a much higher level. It was a true eye opener.

[Jwillis]

I agree 100% that an education is important . But you already had many years of practical experience before a formal education. Many engineers coming out of school have no practical experience at all . They are taught how things should work from a book but are never taught what could go wrong. In my own experience many of these engineers are so arrogant that there might be one in five that isn't likely to get someone killed. I've personally had to fire some of these so called professional engineers simply because they would put people lives in danger because they have no practical experience . Book smart but totally useless in the field. 
Being forced to get a degree from your employer sounds more like protection from possible litigation towards the company because now if something goes wrong the responsibility falls squarely on you  and not the company. But that's totally different discussion on it's own .
I would far sooner trust someone that makes a mistake when teaching to show what could go wrong or a possible work around than someone that thinks they know it all .

[dtmouton]

Just to clarify one point: I decided to study engineering myself. My employer forced me to register as a chartered engineer.

In South Africa, you need to have an accredited degree and a few year of work experience before you can register as a chartered  engineer. You have to give a detailed account of projects you worked on. Nonetheless, I don't care for it and signing the Washington accord was the worst decision our Engineering Council ever made. We had to decrease the content of our program to meet the Washington accord.

It sounds like your students don't gain enough practical experience during their studies. Maybe you should lean on your universities? I did a postdoc at Laval University in 1992. Their electronics  laboratories looked quite advanced.

[dtmouton]

I forgot to mention that in South Africa, you have to be a charted engineer and have a "Government Ticket"  if you do work that is potentially life threatening. The "Government Ticket" also requires a few years of part-time study and is mainly about safety and industrial law.

[jesuscf]

With two test points the problem is easy to solve, because it allows us to use the diode equation.  In my opinion two test points should have been provided from the beginning.  Attached image shows how I solved the problem assuming the four diodes are identical, and two test points are available.  I used XCAS to solve the non-linear system of equations.

[jesuscf]

A slightly expanded version of the solution posted above.

For LEDs n is often larger than 2.