Author Topic: "Giving away secrets" of electronics?  (Read 9840 times)

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Offline FaringdonTopic starter

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"Giving away secrets" of electronics?
« on: November 21, 2022, 07:19:40 pm »
Hi,
I have been fixing up a bog standard couple of hard switched converters for a customer.
Its bare basic , “electrician level” electronics, but tomorrow, I am being taken to their customer, to answer questions about “giving away secrets”…in relation to these bog standard hard switched converters.
I have never given away real secrets about anything……and these circuits that I have been working on are literally "electrician level" SMPS designs……the sort of thing you get demo boards on for a couple of quid. The sort of thing that App notes talk about in droves.
The sort of schems that are strewn all over the internet.
They are the sorts of SMPS that a 14 year old could design. It’s the simplest level of electronics….no more secret than an electricians knowledge.

It’s the knowledge of SMPS, that got outsourced to the Pacific Rim years ago…….as if there are secrets in this?.....secrets no way. If it was secret, why all SMPS work is outsourced to the Pacific Rim? They blame people like me for the fact that China is a million miles ahead of the west in SMPS design. Its the west's own fault...for outsourcing massive amounts of SMPS work to the Far East.

Has anybody else ever been to one of these inquests? What happens?
« Last Edit: November 21, 2022, 07:30:29 pm by Faringdon »
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Offline m98

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Re: "Giving away secrets" of electronics?
« Reply #1 on: November 21, 2022, 07:30:40 pm »
You are taken to your customer's customer to give away secrets? Or are you in trouble for supposedly giving away any secrets?
 
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Online langwadt

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Re: "Giving away secrets" of electronics?
« Reply #2 on: November 21, 2022, 07:38:29 pm »
You are taken to your customer's customer to give away secrets? Or are you in trouble for supposedly giving away any secrets?

it's Faringdon so it might be both, none, or more likely made up, imaginary, trolling, an excuse to complain about the Chinese
 

Online tautech

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Re: "Giving away secrets" of electronics?
« Reply #3 on: November 21, 2022, 07:41:56 pm »
Print the controller datasheet out and when asked about the secrets of how they work slap it on the table and say it's all in here !

Secret electronics......never heard such a damn fool thing !
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Online jpanhalt

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Re: "Giving away secrets" of electronics?
« Reply #4 on: November 21, 2022, 07:42:45 pm »
I can't imagine any "secrets" that haven't been asked here by him.
 
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Offline jonpaul

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Re: "Giving away secrets" of electronics?
« Reply #5 on: November 21, 2022, 08:05:09 pm »

in 55 years of EE and consulting I never encounterd this.

Nowadays most consultant contracts specify NDA, work for hire, etc.

Any confidential information should be so marked.


Where are the patents ? NDA ? contract or PO T&C?

Seems like just another Farrington /Treez time sink

Jon
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Offline pcprogrammer

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Re: "Giving away secrets" of electronics?
« Reply #6 on: November 22, 2022, 06:14:34 am »
and these circuits that I have been working on are literally "electrician level" SMPS designs

I never knew that electricians where taught electronics. My educational path started at electricians level and no electronics was taught at that point. I also think that properly designing a switched mode power supply is not that easy. I would have to dig into the subject to do so, and might not succeed despite being a clever chap. The field of electronics is very wide and there are many pitfalls in the different disciplines.

So my conclusion here is, yes most likely another Faringdon / Treez time sink

Offline eti

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Re: "Giving away secrets" of electronics?
« Reply #7 on: November 22, 2022, 06:57:10 am »
It's quite the insult to call an electronics engineer an "electrical engineer". I used to detest that when I was young and insecure. We are all equally valuable and skilled in/interested in different areas. It doesn't matter to me now, but as a teenager? Oh boy did it annoy me!!
 
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Offline jonpaul

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Re: "Giving away secrets" of electronics?
« Reply #8 on: November 22, 2022, 07:01:24 am »
AS 50% of posts on this power sub are originally posted by Farrington, and are dead ends,

I propos the forum an acronym, for "Farrington Treez Time Sink"  .......

FTTS !

Your thoughts appreciated

Bon Soirée

Jon

An Internet Dinosaur...
 
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Online tggzzz

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Re: "Giving away secrets" of electronics?
« Reply #9 on: November 22, 2022, 11:15:35 am »
You are taken to your customer's customer to give away secrets? Or are you in trouble for supposedly giving away any secrets?

it's Faringdon so it might be both, none, or more likely made up, imaginary, trolling, an excuse to complain about the Chinese

It does look like a classic treez/faringdon post, doesn't it. A barely literate word salad[1] followed by an anti-Chinese rant that has no connection to the beginning.

I wonder whether he is using this forum as as some form of therapy, when another form might be more beneficial for him.

[1]My emphasis...
"I have been fixing up a bog standard couple of hard switched converters for a customer. Its bare basic , “electrician level” electronics, but..."
"simplest level of electronics….no more secret than an electricians knowledge"

There are lies, damned lies, statistics - and ADC/DAC specs.
Glider pilot's aphorism: "there is no substitute for span". Retort: "There is a substitute: skill+imagination. But you can buy span".
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Offline pardo-bsso

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Re: "Giving away secrets" of electronics?
« Reply #10 on: November 22, 2022, 11:46:12 am »
Just jam a noodle in it and Bob's your Uncle!

(you remember me of SpectateSwamp)
 

Online Gyro

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Re: "Giving away secrets" of electronics?
« Reply #11 on: November 22, 2022, 11:49:58 am »
...
I wonder whether he is using this forum as as some form of therapy, when another form might be more beneficial for him.
...

Maybe, or more likely, his own personal R&D department. Looking at the number of threads, maybe the Power/Renewable Energy/EV's section ought to be renamed!
Best Regards, Chris
 
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Online tggzzz

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Re: "Giving away secrets" of electronics?
« Reply #12 on: November 22, 2022, 11:59:45 am »
...
I wonder whether he is using this forum as as some form of therapy, when another form might be more beneficial for him.
...

Maybe, or more likely, his own personal R&D department. Looking at the number of threads, maybe the Power/Renewable Energy/EV's section ought to be renamed!

Yes, but... this particular thread isn't looking for any information or confirmation that he isn't barking up the wrong tree.

When he was incessantly doing the latter, it wasn't so much Research & Design as "ask random body" & "misapplied simplistic rules of thumb".
There are lies, damned lies, statistics - and ADC/DAC specs.
Glider pilot's aphorism: "there is no substitute for span". Retort: "There is a substitute: skill+imagination. But you can buy span".
Having fun doing more, with less
 
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Offline Geoff-AU

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Re: "Giving away secrets" of electronics?
« Reply #13 on: November 22, 2022, 12:13:48 pm »
What’s a hard switched converter? Is it about 2 minutes longer than a soft switched converter?
« Last Edit: November 22, 2022, 12:21:05 pm by Geoff-AU »
 
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Online voltsandjolts

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Re: "Giving away secrets" of electronics?
« Reply #14 on: November 22, 2022, 12:15:07 pm »
It does look like a classic treez/faringdon post, doesn't it. A barely literate word salad

 :-DD Oh, so true, sigh.
 

Online voltsandjolts

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Re: "Giving away secrets" of electronics?
« Reply #15 on: November 22, 2022, 12:20:45 pm »
Is there some way that the forum can restrict the number of topics started by a user?

e.g. restricted to starting one topic per week?

It may help us (retain sanity) and also the over-enthusiastic poster, who might take the time to consider the quality of their new topic?
 

Offline T3sl4co1l

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Re: "Giving away secrets" of electronics?
« Reply #16 on: November 22, 2022, 06:04:49 pm »
Hmm. I have potential context here.

Mind, all the usual OP skepticism still applies.  I just mean, it could be like this, but who knows.

Anyway.

In power electronics, and induction heating in particular, I was actually told by my boss, "in a world of the blind, the man with one eye reigns king".  That probably sums things up well enough by itself, but I will explain a little more.

Evidently, in their scope -- not just the immediate organization, but much of the industry as a whole, it seems -- actual resonant power knowledge is arcane, rare, and coveted.  (Ironically, not coveted enough for them to give me a raise -- among other reasons why I left.)

Turns out, induction just kind of sucks, in terms of... culture, personalities, etc.  I'm sure I don't understand why, or if it happens to be coincidence, but my experience has been, there's enough market consolidation, and other forces (and maybe just intrinsic draw?), that there's an unusually high incidence -- well, maybe it's closer to the average for all US businesses, but in my experience it seems worse than average in the engineering sector -- of, you know, likely NPD types, RWA types, those sorts of things -- in short, the shitty, micromanaging, abusive, underpaying sort.  Managers or owners.

So, given that:

If I had to guess, at what kinds of employers/clients OP is finding, given the general drought of engineering in the area (UK), and given OP's life experience (and whatever assumptions one might make about their income, or bid range) -- it may very well be the case that this acts to filter down the available employers/clients to just the businesses that operate like the above.  To them, even basic SMPS knowledge may be arcane and coveted; but coveted in word only, as they're much too tightwad to offer any kind of salary/rate that would attract the numerous actual-experts in the field.

Tim
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Offline jonpaul

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Re: "Giving away secrets" of electronics?
« Reply #17 on: November 22, 2022, 06:39:22 pm »
ETI says
"It's quite the insult to call an electronics engineer an "electrical engineer"....Oh boy did it annoy me!!"

I was in university in 1960s, engineering was CE civil, EE electrical, ME mechanical

We required all three courses regardless of specialty.  I was indeed an EE.


There were no special category of electronic engineer!

My professors were all "electrical engineers" one from Con Edison, many from Bell Laboratoires, some authored out text books. 

most of my 55 years of experience are with analog and power circuit and products design

So, ETI, I take issue of your words about insults.

Have a great day

Jon
« Last Edit: November 22, 2022, 06:44:00 pm by jonpaul »
An Internet Dinosaur...
 
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Offline armandine2

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Re: "Giving away secrets" of electronics?
« Reply #18 on: November 22, 2022, 06:48:19 pm »
re. secrets in electronics - didn't follow OP's drift, but I can add a snippet to "what counts as a secret in electronics" - Fred Hoyle in his autobiography Home is Where the wind blows (p.172) says the knowledge of the significance of the magnetron's straps was a secret kept by many from many re WWII radar.
« Last Edit: November 22, 2022, 06:50:07 pm by armandine2 »
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Offline IanB

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Re: "Giving away secrets" of electronics?
« Reply #19 on: November 22, 2022, 07:10:15 pm »
It's quite the insult to call an electronics engineer an "electrical engineer". I used to detest that when I was young and insecure. We are all equally valuable and skilled in/interested in different areas. It doesn't matter to me now, but as a teenager? Oh boy did it annoy me!!

I'm not quite sure why? Electrical engineering relates to the engineering of systems that involve electricity. I'm rather sure that electronic circuits use electricity, so they are electrical engineering. When I was studying engineering, the students of electrical engineering used to build all sorts of analog and digital electronics in their project work.
 

Offline pcprogrammer

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Re: "Giving away secrets" of electronics?
« Reply #20 on: November 22, 2022, 07:29:52 pm »
But Faringdon did not mention an electrical engineer. He writes about an electrician, which in my book is someone who wires up buildings and homes and works with mains voltage. And nothing bad about that, but most will know little about electronics.

Online SiliconWizard

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Re: "Giving away secrets" of electronics?
« Reply #21 on: November 22, 2022, 07:40:22 pm »
I didn't understand exactly what the OP was trying to ask.
 

Offline jonpaul

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Re: "Giving away secrets" of electronics?
« Reply #22 on: November 22, 2022, 08:57:34 pm »
Sil Whiz...

"I didn't understand exactly what the OP was trying to ask."


That applies to most if not all of Farrington/Treeze posts....

Hence my acronym FTTS = Farrington Treeze Time Sink (Treeze was his alternate pseudonym)

Enjoy,

Jon
An Internet Dinosaur...
 
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Online voltsandjolts

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Re: "Giving away secrets" of electronics?
« Reply #23 on: November 22, 2022, 09:10:11 pm »
Hence my acronym FTTS = Farrington Treeze Time Sink (Treeze was his alternate pseudonym)

treez --> zenerbjt --> faringdon

FZTTS

Faringdon has started a new topic on average every 36hrs since that username was registered in June 2021, just nonsense. Take a month off and give us all a holiday.
 

Offline Gregg

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Re: "Giving away secrets" of electronics?
« Reply #24 on: November 22, 2022, 09:21:23 pm »
It could be that Faringdon-Treez has multiple personalities and one of his personalities is miffed to the point of auditing another one of his personalities.  :box:
Maybe he posts this stuff in a misguided attempt to keep his sanity somewhat straight; at least enough to scratch out a living. EEVblog members are providing a much needed form of therapy even if the help in not sufficient to lead to a cure.  :-//
 
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