Have Fun Teaching Electrical

Jim Halderman

1
 Introduction
• Former flat-rate
technician
• Former automotive
college instructor
• Author of many
automotive textbooks
• Still plays with cars
• Lives in Dayton, Ohio

2
 Topics to be Discussed
• Meter usage made fun
• Wire repair-meter fuse
• Project-based learning
• LED test light
• Memory saver
• Speaker tester
• Theft deterrent
• Logic probe

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Why do students take Automotive?
• Not to do math
problems
• Not to learn a lot of
theory
• They attend to learn
how things work
• They want hands-on
activities

4
 Where do I start?
• Touching a battery
• Many in the class would
not touch the terminals
• Gives them the “hands-
on” knowledge of:
• Battery voltage (low)
• Body resistance (high)

5
 You can’t see or feel electricity
• They have to measure
electricity

• Voltage is the most

commonly used
measurement specified
Measure voltage on
their vehicles

6
CAT III Meters and Leads

7
 Voltage Testing
• DC Volts is the most
commonly used

• A “V” with a straight

line above it.
• AC volts is a V with a
wavy line on top

8
 Series Demonstration
• A typical nine-volt
battery contains six 1.5
volt AAAA batteries
connected in series.
• The voltage adds would
connected in series (1.5
X 6= 9 Volts)
• Students will never
forget this

9
 Dry Cell Battery Drop Test
• Good battery- stays up
or bounces once

• Discharged battery-
bounces several times

• Does not always work

• Use a voltmeter

10
 Measure body resistance
• Gets students to use the
meter
• Should them the Ohms
symbol
• Show them where to
place the test leads
• How much is normal?

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 Need to measure k-Ohms
• Normal body resistance
is 200k to 400k Ohms
• If lower means
dehydrated
• Can be over one million
so they will measure 1.1
Meg Ohms which really
confuses them

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Meter Settings

13
Meter scales

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 What the meter reading means
• Think of MONEY!
• 1.00 = a dollar
0.50= fifty cents or a half dollar
• 0.25 = quarter
• 0.01 = a penny
• Milliamps I compare to thousandth of an inch
such as bearing clearance.
• 0.020 amp is like 20 thousandth of an inch
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Ammeter

16
Test Lead Connections

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 Protect the meter
• Fuse the meter lead
• Saves money because
the expensive internal
fuse will be protected.
• Use a 10 A. Fuse
• Tie a knot in the leads-
keeps them from
getting tangled

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 Project Based Learning
• The first week, students
get a meter.
• We use the meter every
day starting with checking
their body resistance.
• Asked to purchase some
low cost electrical parts
that they can use to build
projects for their project
grade

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 Speaker Tester
• Uses a 1.5 volt battery
• Connect to the speaker
terminals
• If positive (+) is to the
positive terminal, the
speaker cone moves
away from2020 the coil

20
 Air Bag Diagnostic Tool
• Use a 2Ω ½ watt
resistor as “load tool” to
replace a module

• Most modules measure

1.5 to 3.5 Ohms

21
 Shorting Bars
• When an air bag module
is disconnected, spring-
loaded shorting bars
short the two terminals
together

• Use stir straw to cover

one of the shorting bars

22
 Lighter Plug Tester
• Uses a double banana
plug
• Terminals are ¾ inch
apart-the same for all
meters
• Lighter plug
• Some wire

23
 Lighter Plug Tester Usage
Domestic vehicles-
Lighter (power)plug is
“hot” at all times

Import brands-
Controlled through the
ignition

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 Using the lighter Plug-#1
Battery Testing-
• Connect and watch voltmeter and turn on
high beam headlights.
• Watch voltage drop
• After it stabilizes, turn off the lights
• Watch how fast the voltage increases
• The final voltage is the SOC.

25
 Using the lighter Plug-#2
Cranking voltage-
• Crank the engine
• Observe the battery voltage
• Should be above 9.6 Volts during cranking

26
 Using the lighter Plug-#3
Charging Voltage-
• Start the engine and observe the voltmeter

• Should be 13.5-15.0 Volts

27
 Using the lighter Plug-#4
AC Ripple Voltage-
• Start the engine
• Turn on the headlights to provide an electrical
load
• Switch meter to read AC volts
• Should be less than 0.5 Volt

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 Diodes
• I do not wait to get to
the electronics part of
the course to teach
diodes
• Most students can
easily understand a
diode

29
 LEDs
• Red
• Green
• Blue
• Anode (+)
• Cathode (-)
• “A” comes before “C”
so the anode is the
positive and the
cathode is the negative

30
 LED Test Light
• One LED

• One 470Ω ½ W resistor

• A clicker style pen

• Some wire etc.

31
 Memory Saver
• Very popular

• Can be used with a 9-

Volt battery

• Can be connected to a
jump box

32
 OBD II DLC Memory Saver
• Use OBD II male
connector…Pin #4(-)
and #16(+) to lighter
plug and to a jump box

33
 Theft Deterrent
• Very popular

• Many students build

this and install on their
own vehicle
• Easy to build

• How does it work?

34
 Logic Probe
• Use to check for power
and ground

• A test light can only

detect power (unless
connected to power)

35
 Parts List
PROJECT #1 (Air Bag load tool) PROJECT #4 (LED test light)
• LED
• 2 ohm resistor and label
• 470 ohm resistor-1/2 Watt
• One stir stick straw
• Two stripped wires
PROJECT #2 (Speaker tester)
• 1 wire nut

• Battery holder PROJECT #5 (Logic probe)

• One red LED
PROJECT #3 (Lighter plug test tool) • One green LED
• Two-470 ohm resistors
• Double banana plug
• Three stripped wires
• Lighter plug (male end with wire) – need to
cut and strip wire • 3 wire nuts
• Two black cable ties
• Pocket screwdriver

36
Parts and Prices

37
Parts and Prices #2

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 Electrical parts suppliers that I use
• www.amazon.com
• www.vetco.net
• www.meci.com (Mendelsons)
• www.parts-express.com
• www.radioshack.com

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 Summary
• Students love hands-on activities
• I try to get their hands on meters as soon as
possible
• I give them projects that they can make using
low-cost parts.
• Projects that are useful
• Have fun teaching electrical

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 Contact Information
• Jim@jameshalderman.com

• For a copy of this presentation go to:

• www.jameshalderman.com
• Click on “Jim’s Stuff”
• Click on “Conference Power Points”

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