Basic Electricity

A&P Math: The Formulas Every Aviation Maintenance Student Should Know Math can make a lot of A&P students nervous, but aviation maintenance math is usually very practical. You are not doing math just to do math. You are using it to solve real aircraft maintenance problems. As an A&P student, math shows up when you are working with: Electrical circuits Weight and balance Torque values Sheet metal layout Hydraulic pressure Fluid quantities Temperature conversions Measurements Engine calculations Aircraft drawings and dimensions The good news is that most A&P math uses the same basic skills over and over: fractions, decimals, ratios, percentages, formulas, and unit conversions. ...

Aircraft Magnetos Explained for A&P Students Magnetos are one of the most important parts of a piston aircraft engine ignition system. They are also a common topic in A&P school because they connect several important ideas together: electricity, magnetism, ignition timing, engine operation, and troubleshooting. The big idea is this: An aircraft magneto is a self-contained engine-driven ignition generator that creates the electrical energy needed to fire the spark plugs. ...

Aircraft Generators vs Alternators: What A&P Students Need to Know Aircraft electrical systems need a source of electrical power while the engine is running. That power usually comes from either a generator or an alternator. Both devices convert mechanical energy from the engine into electrical energy, but they do it in different ways. For A&P students, the important thing is understanding what rotates, what stays still, how the current is produced, and how the aircraft uses that electrical output. ...

Basic Electricity: How to Use a Multimeter A multimeter is one of the most useful tools for basic electrical troubleshooting. For A&P work, it helps you check voltage, resistance, continuity, and sometimes current. The main idea is simple: A multimeter lets you see what the circuit is doing instead of guessing. For basic electricity, the most common multimeter checks are: Voltage Resistance Continuity Current Diodes Capacitance, if the meter supports it 1. What a multimeter measures A multimeter combines several meters into one tool. ...

Electrical troubleshooting is one of those A&P subjects that can feel confusing until you slow down and break the circuit into smaller parts. One of the most important circuit types to understand is the series-parallel circuit. A series-parallel circuit is exactly what it sounds like: it is a circuit that contains both series sections and parallel sections. Some parts of the circuit have only one path for current. Other parts of the circuit have multiple paths for current. ...

Basic Electricity: Parallel Circuits One of the easiest ways I remember parallel circuits is: Parallel = same voltage, current divides, resistance gets smaller. That simple phrase covers the three big things you need to know for A&P basic electricity. A parallel circuit gives electricity more than one path to flow through. Each branch is connected across the same power source, so each branch receives the same voltage. 1. Voltage stays the same In a parallel circuit, each branch gets the same voltage as the source. ...

Basic Electricity: Series Circuits One of the easiest ways I remember series circuits is: Series = same current, voltage divides, resistance adds. That simple phrase covers the three big things you need to know. A series circuit has only one path for current to flow. That is the key idea. Since there is only one path, the same current must pass through every component in the circuit. Think of it like water flowing through one single pipe. Everything in that pipe gets the same flow. ...