I Fail a Lot

Well, it is very hard to say that i worked as a Electronics Technician few years ago. I failed there too. I studied Electronics for my diploma, and i failed there too (though i got the certificate at end). Whatever project i intend to do it, i fail to make it work at the end. Even repairing some consumer electronics, to the simplest level, i fail in it too.

I came to know that the transformer of my speakers were burnt, and i tried to fix it using a wall wart, made the connections... everything was fine and it worked. And, once i covered the speaker box, it stopped working. Most of the times i end up trying to repairing stuffs which are easily affordable at a local store. I spend more than what it requires, extra bucks and also time. But, at the end, it seldom works (at least most times). Often, i lose the patience, and throw away all that i started to work on.

I was once asked by a potential employer to do some projects, and i knew what i am, and so i didn't even start since i knew i wouldn't complete. It seems like i have no motivation at all.

Whats wrong with me? Why do i fail so much? What do you say?

Thomas Edison Quote: “I will not say I failed 1000 times, I will say that I discovered there are 1000 ways that can cause failure.”
I heard it that he found 1000 materials that you can’t use to make a filament.

Some things seem like a good idea at the time.
I was going to make a robot lawn mower.
I found out the GPS I was using was only accurate to 20 feet.
So I thought I would start with remote control using a cheap RC airplane control and a child’s ride-on car motors.
Using PWM to control the motors, it was working pretty good except the RC occasionally sent a full speed left motor glitch that drove it crazy.
I beat my head against the wall way to long on that before giving up.
I could have bought quality RC, but that would defeat the DIY creating aspect.
I haven’t played with electronics much since then.

I know a good deal of stuff. One thing I do not have much familiarity with is psychological and mental problems. Asking your question here is a vain attempt to find someone anyone with the background and expertise to help you. I think you should look to other resources in your community rather than an internet forum. Don't be a failure at getting the help that you need. It is unlikely to be here.

Hi E,
I now exactly what you mean, especially with programming, I'm not good.

Having said that I have been working on the same project for many years. The long time, is because of my poor programming, and 'popping' components, when connecting them etc.

I have made lots of progress, due to help from members here and other forums. For most of that time, I've had a headache, but keep moving forward, because too much time and effort from all, means I have to keep going.

The trick is to start a project that you want to do, start small, make a few of them so after a couple of failures, you will still have one that you finish.

I now take more care and move slower, before making that potential error, and the failures are getting rarer.

Best of luck, don't give up.

C.

The bread board is your friend. as is the de-bug features of an IDE , as is a plan B .

granddad said:

The bread board is your friend. as is the de-bug features of an IDE , as is a plan B .

Click to expand...

Don't forget the simulator.

I know that my designs would work well on Simulators. But, what is the point if i can't get it work on the PCB?

The purpose of simulation is understanding which may be a part of the problem.

If you love it , don't give up. It takes lots of reading how things work like tear-downs. Keep making mistakes that's how I learnt, but fix them. Use a meter to follow the signals or resistance.

This link goes to a nice simulator that is simplified without reference designations but has more plots that you can add for every node voltage or branch current if you are curious. The passive values also change easily with the mouse wheel. https://tinyurl.com/2o3pfdb7

When I was a kid I pulled everything apart much to my Mum's dismay. Very rarely did they go back together, that's how I learned anyway!!!

Mike.

Necessity is the mother of invention.
I may add: Necessity is the mother of success.

I have personally succeeded in life in what I 'really' need to have or know 'only'. In such situations, it was out of question for me to withdraw or quit while living too many failures before reaching the end line.

For example, if I discovered 100 bugs in a program I wrote (one bug after another), I considered it a good luck, because sometimes I had to correct not less than 500 bugs before I let it work as I like!

One more thing, the worst that may happen to someone is when he ceases believing his own intelligent brain. I am afraid, this has no remedy

Electroenthusiast said:

Often, i lose the patience, and throw away all that i started to work on.

Click to expand...

That's your problem!

Put it on one side, do something else and go back to it later - even if it's days or weeks.
A fresh look will often help with problem solving.

The only way to avoid such problems is learn from them.

If you never find a solution to a problem, you can never know where you went wrong, to avoid repeating the same type of mistake. You are not learning anything.

Plus, the more projects you abandon, the more frustrated and less patient you will be.

Do some simpler stuff that has less chance of causing problems, to build up you confidence - even if it's near trivially simple like LED flashers etc. to start with.

Electroenthusiast said:

I know that my designs would work well on Simulators. But, what is the point if i can't get it work on the PCB?

Click to expand...

I only use simulation for my software... The hardware was designed in this fashion:-

Power supply was out of the LM2576 datasheet.. The micro bit was the easiest, jut threw on a load of connectors for key pad screen and what nots. Then chucked loads of caps on it.. Once I knew the hardware was good.. Well! job done... That design has served me very well.

Every datasheet gives connection details so you don't really need to think about that bit.. I am more digital than analogue so, Meh!

As for the software... well I do know how that works, and if there are connection issues, then there is always members here!

Electroenthusiast said:

I know that my designs would work well on Simulators. But, what is the point if i can't get it work on the PCB?

Click to expand...

What you need to simulate is the added wire effects. along with ESR is ESL (0.5 to 0.8 nH/mm typ) and stray C 0.1pF/mm typ which is lower without a ground plane. Then shared currents can create positive feedback in some cases times the impedance of these wires and cause oscillations.


So add these tiny inductors in your high current outputs and include several different decoupling caps to shunt the wire inductance on DC +/-.

Real simulations have real wiring effects but you have to estimate these and add them. I use Falstad's simulator for small circuits with ideal Op Amps then add current limiting R's (e.g. 220 ohm) inside the loop. It depends on what I need to learn and what differences you expect. This is learning by trial and error.

The more you learn how to test, the better you are at making assumptions and design specs.

Remember "ground" on a scope is wherever you define 0V for the clip. but the ground wire adds noise above 20 MHz with resonance on fast steps. The same issues exist on your breadboard.