Al

Al has always had a passion for all things electrical and electronic. Both his grandfathers where electricians and they taught him at a young age about the trade. When he was young his grandfather played a joke on him and shocked him with a meggar. You might say that he has electricity in his blood.
As a young man of 10 or 11 years he opened a business from his parents basement repairing electrical appliances, radios and TVs. As a student at New Brunswick Vocational and Technical High School Al started AFC Electronics where he designed a device to receive police and fire radio calls over the car radio. Al's father was a policeman and this allowed him to receive calls in his personal vehicle.
After graduation he followed his dream and became an electrician. After completing a 5 year apprenticeship Al was asked to teach the last year of the apprenticeship course, where for 5 years he taught Advanced AC Theory; Automated Control and Electronics.
After designing many systems as a electrician Al went on to establish his company as a electrical panel design and fabrication business. Where he designed, fabricated and installed his panels in companies in USA and around the world.
Al needed a system that would make wire pulling safer and more efficient. He could not find one so he invented one, receiving his first conclusive patent in 1981.
As technology advanced Al became an Allen Bradley Programmable Logic Controller expert. He designed and implement systems for major corporations across the country.
Never wanting to stand still Al sought expert training in Bogen Sound Systems, Edwards Fire Alarm Systems, RCA Video and Security Systems. RCA recommend Al to a Casino in Aruba where he became Chief of Security for King International Casinos in Aruba.
As technology advanced to computer systems he sought knowledge of computers. Self taught in many computer languages, lead him to seek opportunities in the computer field.
Al was asked to teach a course in Automated Industrial Control systems for a local Community College, which he did for three years. As a adjunct Professor he applied for and received a State and Federal Grant to develop a course in Automated Control and Computer Assisted Drafting systems.
Al has designed systems all over the world, Document managements systems in the US and Ger-many for companies like Johnson & Johnson, Roche Pharmaceuticals and General Felt. Al took his expertise to Asia where he spend over 4 years designing network systems connecting companies all over Asia together on a common system. While there he spent a lot of time in Taiwan and China, he taught the Chinese people computer systems and technology. Traveling around the world.
Al developed and programmed the Intuitive Technologies software to manage all types of digital data. He has several patents pending for this work. www.looking-for-it.com
Al has now decided to share his knowledge with the world by writing a series of self-help books. Al has often stated, "The only knowledge worth having is the knowledge that you share"

Power Transmission Grid

I have had many offline discussions about the power transmission grid. These discussions have been very interesting and I have decided to add a Chapter to cover the power grid in the current book Alternative Energy. I will attempt to cover the many types of power transmission currently being used. I will also have a discussion of the past grid configurations. I will include as much as I can on the new Smart Grid Technology being proposed by GE and IBM and others. Please feel free to leave me your comments on this topic. As always keep those emails coming.

Thanks to William I have found the commercial that says the only half the power the is produced reaches a light bulb. You can see it at the link below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuDndnIl39s

I do not know the source of the information and I am trying to source it out this is a very bold claim.

“Today's scientists have substituted mathematics for experiments, and they wander off through equation after equation, and eventually build a structure which has no relation to reality.”

Nikola Tesla, Modern Mechanics and Inventions, July, 1934
US (Serbian-born) electrical inventor (1857 - 1943)

I am happy to say that the first book Control and Monitoring Systems is getting nothing but positive reviews from the publishers and I have several firm offers to publish the book and hope to have a few more soon. Those of you waiting for your copy of the book it will be published soon.

The DC/AC War

Thomas Edison, he is my hero, he was a Direct Current (DC) man and he did not want to change the grid to Alternating Current (AC). DC worked well with incandescent lamps and motors the primary loads of the day. In those days the DC grid had many problems the low voltage 110 volt and the high resistance of the transmission lines meant large loses. Thomas Edison selected 110 volts DC because his light bulbs needed 100 volts to give them the same light output as gas lights and he knew that it would lose at least 10 volts by the time it reached the load. Power plants were usually a mile or so from the load to reduce the losses. George Westinghouse wanted to change the system to Tesla’s AC current. Edison did not like this because he did not like to do the math, he was a brute-force inventor, which of course I am as well although you would not know that from my pending patent. DC is straight forward and easy to calculate with Ohm’s Law. DC in the old days could not be stepped up or down easily it required specialized equipment to transform to higher or lower voltages. AC allowed for higher voltages for power transmission, which reduced the cost of the grid and only required a simple transformer to change the voltage to the required 100 volts AC needed by the load. Nikola Tesla was a mathematician and loved working with AC currents as he could understand them well. After all he was the father AC current and of the radio. He was also a little eccentric and I hope to follow in this foot steps. Although living in a hotel-room with pigeons, wearing a new red tie each day and requiring 18 napkins at dinner is a little much, but I am working at it.

“Everything comes to him who hustles while he waits.”

Thomas A. Edison
US inventor (1847 - 1931)

“If Edison had a needle to find in a haystack, he would proceed at once with the diligence of the bee to examine straw after straw until he found the object of his search... I was a sorry witness of such doings, knowing that a little theory and calculation would have saved him ninety per cent of his labor.”

Nikola Tesla, New York Times, October 19, 1931
US (Serbian-born) electrical inventor (1857 - 1943)

William made a comment that he has seen a TV commercial stating “that half of electricity being generated does not reach end user”. I am trying to find this commercial and the data behind it. If anyone can tell me the product I am trying to find the source. It is a TV commercial it must be true.

Happy Spring

Spring is here the Willow trees are greening, soon all will be green. How wonderful!

All is well with the second book, Alterative Energy. I am working hard on getting it done. I have started writing the content and making the drawings. This book is a lot of fun. I will keep the topics to the most used technologies but it is fun reading and talking to the engineers about all the interesting methods being tested by many companies. Some of the new technology is very promising, we live in interesting times. I hope that many of these technologies make it to the market. I want to thank all of the electricians and supporters for the emails and calls. I will try to cover all the subjects that have been raised. Anyone that has any comments or ideas for books please feel free to contact me at books@itddms.com.

I am happy and proud to say that the first book, Control and Monitoring System, is being well received by the publishing companies. I have just received a long letter from a major publisher that the book has completed their editors review and they would like to add the book to their list of titles. They will have a deal sheet for me within a few days. I will consider all proposals

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One of the largest educational publishers in the world has download more copies of the book yesterday. Now I have the two largest publishers in the world reviewing the manuscript. They have multiple editors reviewing the manuscripts for different markets. I hope to hear from them soon. They have indicated that they feel that the series of books will do well in the educational market. This makes me very happy I love to share my knowledge around the world.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day

Happy St. Patrick’s Day

I am continuing the research on alterative energy. There is more ways to produce energy then there are stars in the sky. I am amazed by some of the innovative technologies. It makes me wonder why we are still using fossil fuels.

I have received permission to use the SMA America products and technical data in the book. SMA America is a leader in providing on grid and off grid inverter technology around the world. As you know I am starting the alternative energy book with inverter technology as it is at the heart of most alternative energy systems.

I want to thank all of you that have called and emailed me with your ideas on alternative energy for my book. I welcome your input it is very useful.

On the quest to find the right publisher. I have received another firm offer to publish the first book, that makes three. I am sure that I will select the best publisher for the book by the end of the month.

Well it is Monday

I am working very hard on the second book. I have made contact with Rich Schwartz from XC3 International. He has provided me with great information and specifications on photovoltaic cell and systems. This will be a big help in my continued search for knowledge to share with you.

On the quest for the right publisher and agent progress is great. I have had 55 authorized downloads of the manuscript to date. It is currently being reviewed by some of the best and biggest publishers and agents. In both the commercial market and the educational markets. The next several days and weeks will be very interesting.

"Alternative Energy"

The second book in the series “Electrician’s Guide To The Universe” “Alterative Energy” is under way.

The following will be covered in the book “Alternative Energy”

Inverters

UPS Systems

Hydrogen Fuel Systems

Wind Power Systems

Photovoltaic Systems

Research is underway and I have started the writing. I have contacted manufactures to get the current information and specifications on these systems.

Control and Monitoring Systems

I am proud to announce that the first book in the series “Control and Monitoring Systems” is completed and ready for the publisher’s editors.

Chapter 1 - Standard Symbols

Chapter 2 - Ladder Diagrams

Chapter 3 - Input Devices

Chapter 4 - Output Devices

Chapter 5 - Monitoring Systems

Appendix

Section A

Section B

Section C

Acknowledgements

Index

Goals

I want to help people learn about being an electrician or maintenance professional in today’s high tech market. I have taught for several years and have been a union electrician IBEW for over 40 years and I enjoy sharing my knowledge and experience. I believe that the only knowledge worth having is the knowledge we share. I have the ability to take complex systems and break them down to simple to understand components. I want to write a series of books the will assist people in acquiring the practical knowledge need to learn about and do there jobs. My plans are to write books on Control and Monitoring Systems (done), Alternative Energy Systems (working), Fire Alarm Systems, Security Systems, Energy Managements Systems, Programmable Logic Controllers and Proportionate Controls and Data Center Systems. I am sure that the list will grow as I get more done and systems change in the fast growing technology.