Ultimate Screw-ups
Sylvie Barak
12/10/2012 5:31 PM EST
It's hard to make wiring look tidy, but it's also fairly difficult to make it look quite this complicated!
post comment
9 comments
last comment
WKetel
There was a photo published a few years back that showed a similar mess of wires in a city in India, ...
Dave Riness
10/30/2012 11:25 PM EDT
When roller coasters go wrong...very, very wrong.
post comment
3 comments
last comment
MVD
Unfortunately, Lucky never lets you pick.
Engineering Horror: Shock of a lifetime
Stephen Taylor
10/9/2012 3:58 PM EDT
As we approach Halloween, EE Life brings you tales of horror, extreme current and severed body parts, as engineers tell us their real life horror stories.
post comment
10 comments
last comment
DaStargzer
"Shocking! Positively shocking!" -- James Bond (Goldfinger) I remember as a pre-teen using two ...
Poor contacts stop model trains on the track
Glen Chenier
12/23/2010 9:47 AM EST
Engineer comes up with a clever fix to electrical contacts to keep model trains running smoothly
post comment
26 comments
last comment
Bellhop
I remember seeing a system advertised that used high voltage to generate a plasma at the contact ...
Valve jam poses near-disaster for EEs
Alan Stummer
12/14/2010 8:53 AM EST
EEs learn that knowledge and experience in electronics does not translate into hands-on experience in other fields.
post comment
9 comments
last comment
Mineyes
In USA, NFPA 70E, "STANDARD for Electrical Safety in the Workplace", 2012 Edition is the guideline.
Three months' design work in four weeks
Dwight Bues
12/10/2010 8:19 AM EST
Engineer scurries to make up time adding a missing feature to a display generator
post comment
9 comments
last comment
Dwight Bues
Um, OK. I think I can clear up a couple of points here. I DID get recognition from Management: ...
Mix-and-match dc-to-dc converter design
Bruce Carsten
12/3/2010 8:28 AM EST
Extreme cost-saving measures in a voltage converter design lead to high rate of returns with a diode blown to smithereens
post comment
1 comment
last comment
David Ashton
Good story, and nice design work. Sounds like you were stymied by my pet hate - the bean counters!
Where there's smoke, there's a bad design
Dwight Bues
12/3/2010 8:11 AM EST
Thermal mismanagement wreaks havoc with an avionics display dumping lots of heat
post comment
8 comments
last comment
ReneCardenas
I had the opportunity to repair high-power audio amplifiers used in high-end systems, that used ...
The case of the calendar screw-up
Karen Field
11/24/2010 7:08 AM EST
A calendar gets the dates mixed up.
post comment
8 comments
last comment
Dwight Bues
I have to presume the calendar's designer had two "Ex's"...one born on 23 November and one born on ...
First data's in the register, then it's not
Dwight Bues
11/10/2010 8:34 AM EST
An engineer designing a VME bus-based interface card repeats an earlier mistake and remembers why you should always read the manual
post comment
5 comments
last comment
ReneCardenas
Even when specs define all supported configurations and features, you need to verify with ...