1yr apprentice looking advice!

[YaHandys]

Hi,

I am currently 1st year apprentice and im trying to get an edge on the theory side of things, what should I be learning to make it easier.

Any help would be amazing, thanks!

 

[swaRRR]

The Level 2 book's got loads of info in it that you'll need to digest for year 1. It'll either be the C&G one or EAL.

 

[Lister1987]

As above; the course books really help fill gaps in any teaching as you can go over it as much as you like.

Practice your "hard" skills; drilling, chasing, stripping, filling/repairing, containment etc.

Do what you hate; if you have particular task that you hate because you just can't get it how you want it; do it more and keep doing it until it sticks.

 

[telectrix]

and watch John Ward youtube videos. wealth of knowledge there and well presented.

 

[Lucien Nunes]

Theory, eh?

1. Make sure your maths is up to snuff, so that you can manipulate equations easily. Don't skimp on this. Maths is the best tool for making the behaviour of electricity understandable, just as a screwdriver is the best tool for tightening MCB screws. Play with equations, rearrange them, find applications for them, explain them to others.

2. Experiment with electricity or electronics in some form. Make circuits, build electronic hobby kits, do something that actually works and is fun. It doesn't have to be specifically electrical installation work.

Now here's the important bit, IMO.

3. Continue playing and matching the theory to the practice until they blend naturally together. You will start to get an instinctive feel for the real-world significance of all the units and quantities that you are writing about on paper. You probably have a feel for how big a pint is, and what happens when you try to put a pint into a half-pint glass. Do the same thing for an amp, a volt, an ohm, a coulomb, an amp-hour, a watt-hour etc.

Example: When you are driving along a road, it is obvious that the destinations ahead of you will get closer, while the ones behind you get further away. You don't have to do any maths to work that out and you never get the minus signs wrong and come up with the opposite conclusion. That is because you have had so much life experience of going towards and away from things that the concept is completely natural to you. But it can also be expressed as S = (v+u)/2 * t, it's just a different way to think about the same phenomenon. You want to be in the same position with Kirchhoff's second law.

4. Much electrical crafts teaching stresses the importance of regulations and you will learn a lot that is needed to comply with them. But electricity doesn't obey regulations, it obeys the laws of physics. For historical reasons, many countries have different electrical regulations but electricity obeys the same laws everywhere. Keep a mental balance between the theory that is needed to comply with regulations (e.g. how and why Ib <= In <= Iz) with the theory that makes electricity tick (e.g. how and why Q=CV).

5. Keep asking questions!

 

[Lister1987]

Theory, eh?

1. Make sure your maths is up to snuff, so that you can manipulate equations easily. Don't skimp on this. Maths is the best tool for making the behaviour of electricity understandable, just as a screwdriver is the best tool for tightening MCB screws. Play with equations, rearrange them, find applications for them, explain them to others.

2. Experiment with electricity or electronics in some form. Make circuits, build electronic hobby kits, do something that actually works and is fun. It doesn't have to be specifically electrical installation work.

Now here's the important bit, IMO.

3. Continue playing and matching the theory to the practice until they blend naturally together. You will start to get an instinctive feel for the real-world significance of all the units and quantities that you are writing about on paper. You probably have a feel for how big a pint is, and what happens when you try to put a pint into a half-pint glass. Do the same thing for an amp, a volt, an ohm, a coulomb, an amp-hour, a watt-hour etc.

Example: When you are driving along a road, it is obvious that the destinations ahead of you will get closer, while the ones behind you get further away. You don't have to do any maths to work that out and you never get the minus signs wrong and come up with the opposite conclusion. That is because you have had so much life experience of going towards and away from things that the concept is completely natural to you. But it can also be expressed as S = (v+u)/2 * t, it's just a different way to think about the same phenomenon. You want to be in the same position with Kirchhoff's second law.

4. Much electrical crafts teaching stresses the importance of regulations and you will learn a lot that is needed to comply with them. But electricity doesn't obey regulations, it obeys the laws of physics. For historical reasons, many countries have different electrical regulations but electricity obeys the same laws everywhere. Keep a mental balance between the theory that is needed to comply with regulations (e.g. how and why Ib <= In <= Iz) with the theory that makes electricity tick (e.g. how and why Q=CV).

5. Keep asking questions!

Nail and and head Lucien, transposition us by far an element I struggle with, if I can't put it in a triangle I got no hope

On the subject of "regs", HSR25 (Memorandum on EAWR) and Chapter 13 of 7671 will give you a good solid base from which to build your knowledge of statutory and non-statutory, how they interweave and how compliance with the latter doesn't guarantee with the former.

A lot of it is understanding the WHY of what we do and encounter. Embrace it, surround yourself with it and absorb it ; that more you put in, the more you get out.