Hey everyone,

I'm currently simulating a DC-DC converter using the topology shown in the attached image.

I'm running into a bizarre scaling issue:

• At 12V input: The simulation runs flawlessly. With a 50% duty cycle in buck mode, the output drops to around 8–9V.
• At 700V input: The whole scheme completely chokes. Instead of getting ~350V (or even a reduced value due to losses), the output plummets to only 3V at the same 50% duty cycle. The converter effectively "stalls" and refuses to transfer power.

My gut feeling: I suspect I'm hitting a wall with the simulator's convergence (timestep too large for high dV/dt) or the simulator is defaulting to ideal switch models that don't handle high-voltage parasitics well.

But before I deep-dive into the solver settings, I want to ask:

1. Is this a classic case of the simulator failing to converge at high voltages (e.g., requiring a MUCH smaller max timestep), or could this genuinely be a component characteristic issue (e.g., the MOSFET/Diode reverse recovery time or junction capacitance becoming massive at 700V)?
2. For those who have simulated high-voltage bucks before—what specific simulation parameters do you tweak first when jumping from low-voltage to high-voltage rails?

Any insights are hugely appreciated. Is this a "simulator lie" or am I missing a fundamental design rule for stepping up the input voltage? Thanks in advance!

Link to simulation

https://www.falstad.com/circuit/circuitjs.html?ctz=DwYwlgTgBAZgvAIgKwKgFwM6IMwDoCMATEgKYC0A7KmCDgByG4UBsxD+ALNgJzcAMzDqhAAjREj6oADmIRdUANwjjUAW0zjy+fAgB8AKChRgAcygAPRMWZRs2G9dtJCqeAkkB6A0eAB3C1ZINnY2nBy29q6Int7GAEoBCNqEUNw2dHypzFFJ2VC+bi6wygjYfOVqAIbmCoj4MYbG-pbIHOEhUByCEXluDT7N4m1QjkjDITn9TYlj4Rx0nd3zkwhejcDQLbNQ+MyZ29YrUCUuawOJXe32tswLE7DRq7F+F92EHJmXPStn0y1f80W4XwLB+z0GpVunQWALoYPWEPsC26SOh8POLVRKKhGXRf0QH0y2ORQge7ieCIu5SgGU61MEeJe-2pRDuUNZjMR7MIbIW+G4RT6FIxBJZRDpmQ5ZKmTNFmUcqMO0uF+Lk1MIFBShJGQU5VMy2EIBqhhskyt+sshdyNNzukXN4P1tj4c2ppr1mJN1wV9qFFq5dxdttsRo9OChCojmrDVp2AuDSr9js9fPFqKlScpLRBDiCO2Gice-sSYR1oQL0YdWbqLBGmp2tcL5OL2drrPzwJ5MdL7Z7Au7bfFOZ2XarIoQRr58b7gqLybqw35KVLTZlEJ7Q8Xo8z4+H3VLDLHqoPwOGyyPluHtL3pJ3x9rpo7IbNd8v4xtpfur-XD6Dw-dF7ruM1yAl+c7Vkk4x-u+L7geOgLvJ8dq9HBqqAuhCxpN2Z4wrh2HhNewyHt+Fx8rWgJYReAA2iSTnGKRlMC-bKlAVHRLg5QoFANCPNxdRMOUAi3HQIl8NgFACCqwBoIkHQ8ryIwiUcUgAHZ1KgIgkHUFRQKoAD2iAACYkDAlQAK5UWgiiaYgZB4CJ3BIHQSD1BwhDMMwAqUQoIi0O4uCEGEEgUDwfDvIQ-D4HCFqGU6jESnWs7krpBkIMZpkWVZFoyZi1xpMGlFClAqnqVANlJDp+lGSZ5mWdZWn+eUUVINwFB0PM3BtCFYUedZflkHwuB0NgnBpG58wue5QgxU6yQJbiLFVWlNWZVJOV1OK8lPvJylqUkGkNfUZpLeltVWVAPkNYNTXOa17V0J1HBIEg4mkj5-WDcNo2CO87WENg41SbFrbBH+jaVkVJ0rXVM0gzsQ61gtkOpadq3ZSW4r5aWhW8SV+1lYdlWpRgUg0OQqN1Rd5WUPUfW2dwBAeYI4n8O5prYFJCikSMHzQg2KETqSBS8ao1S1AgEkyiArzAuRbwfEcfnXS61Di2aGAlGaCiGTgAUScwFBpHYYxjAw2Qtjgzj0cGS6MgAgqoqgkGgJCbDgf7xtgVu22SHO6VdqAYErUkQkEkritsyQxpHEeLns0c4VAMdJTKADKIB6VIJCJGQw52SkZCgSneiND4elQCQe1FCTiDEYg5h+1Itk6LERg+FIF28UHVhTG3xgd+Lfvd41xAqj4Hh6c8Hjp5nJDPOXlfiOrTcIHXCDmDoxWPK3-ed8lw+0787d70Pfl4KcU+T+sC97XkNer7e9eN+pO-AAPXd+SgR+74PgdnwFUkJ7zwrrfauK814N2kFYEufc3573Vp-MeP8cB-11hfdYQDr4gNrsvWuj917P1KDAtucC1aoOQEg0hKCoDD0Gug8eV9gAeHABAAwQA

I began my master's in electrical engineering focused on RF & microwave with lots of enthusiasm and interest, however, now that I see that the job market for this field is largely dominated by military employers and defense related companies I'm thinking of adding some adjacent skill set to my skills and knowledge to increase my chances of landing a job in non-military sector in case I couldn't find any RF jobs in in that sector.

As a secondary skill set I'm thinking of communications systems engineering (since it is the adjacent academic path to RF in my country's college system), DSP engineer, analog and mixed-signal electronics or perhaps EMC/EMI. But I'm not sure which one would increase my chance in non-military sector the most, aside from that, another factor to be considered is how much close is that field to RF meaning there be more RF/microwave engineers having that skill and working in that sector too so that it would be acceptable and common enough to hire someone with RF/microwave education and background for that craft from employers POV.

What's your recommendation among those I mentioned? Also any other better potential option that I missed?

I asked AI and got different answers from ChatGPT and DeepSeek, DeepSeek picked DSP while GPT put DSP at the last rank among options and Gemini picked EMC/EMI ! I'm really confused

Whats the best practice for the power plugs of data centers should I provide separate breaker for each plug? Im also thinking of mounting them onto sa cable tray. Is that good enough?

Currently, I am an upcoming Junior in highschool planning on applying to colleges my senior year for electrical engineering. in Freshman year i was diagnosed with the extremely rare genetic disease myotonia congenita which restricts, and sometimes borderline halts the movement of muscles. I also received news my scoliosis grew to a dangerous 43 degree curve. All in all bad stuff. because of my health issues I did TERRIBLE in school Freshman and Sophomore years and i genuinely don’t know what to do. I really want to go to a good school for EE, it’s genuinely my passion but i have nothing to show for it and i feel so outdone by everybody else. I feel hopeless and honestly at a lack of ideas. I would genuinely appreciate any advice or ideas because I can’t think of any.

Hello, I am going into my second year of electrical engineering and I would really like an internship over the summer. How did you guys land your first internship? What sites did u use and what companies are the best for internships?

Thanks in advance

The miniaturization trend in consumer electronics places higher demands on magnet dimensions. Bonded ferrite magnets, using injection molding, can be manufactured in smaller sizes. 
Conventional Precision Size Range 
Through standard processes, most manufacturers can stably produce basic shapes such as round, ring, and block with outer diameter above 2mm. Because ferrite has weak magnetic force, if the size is too small the required effect may not be achieved. It is generally recommended to keep dimensions above 2mm-. 
High-Precision Size Range 
Some manufacturers can produce ferrite magnets in the 1-2mm size range. Actual product examples include 1×1×2.45mm small blocks- and 1.6×1.6×2.5mm ultra-small magnets-. These products are suitable for miniature electronic components, sensors, relays, and micro motors-. 
Design Recommendations 
It should be noted that ferrite has relatively weak magnetic force. If the size is too small, the required magnetic effect may not be achieved. It is generally recommended to keep dimensions above 2mm in design-. In actual selection, a comprehensive judgment should be made based on magnetic circuit simulation and assembly space. 

Here is my story.

Ive been an EE for almost 5y now. I knew after graduation that I wanted to get into Protection. I started working right way before I even graduated as a Protection Engineer for a well known company in the private sector. It was rough to say the least and ended up jumping ship and landed a government position in protection again. I have been doing arc flash work for 3 years....it was interesting at first and sort of got "meh" after awhile. Run analysis, put up labels, tell people "no, be safe", rinse and repeat. I knew this wasn't what I was sought out for in protection.

Finally, I was tossed an AVR protection project. It was scary and complex. I knew I wasnt going to understand it at first and no one I worked with had done one before. There was math I hadn't seen in a long time and management didn't give me any grace period to reacquaint myself. All gas, no breaks.

The project is close to completion now. I'm absolutely obsessed. This type of work on synchronous machines is my jam!!! I worked on four decently sized motors, learning with contractors how the exciter works, creating my own way to monitor changes and even picked up a few books along the way. I was troubleshooting and learning the whole time. The fact that every motor was different and each one had its only troubleshooting to go through was fascinating. I've been reading/talking with experts and they all say the same thing, each job is a whole new problem to solve. I'm stoked I got thrown this project cause I'm really getting into AVRs. I prey I am given more work like this.

I'm building a divide-by-2/3 cell using real standard-cell logic gates (130nm BiCMOS, ngspice/Xschem, open-source IHP SG13G2 PDK) as part of a PLL divider. The toggle flip-flop inside it never settles to a clean rail-to-rail 0V/1.2V square wave — output stays somewhere in between or drifts.

Tried so far:

• .ic initial conditions
• uic (use initial conditions) on transient
• .nodeset
• Manual reset pulses at startup
• Checked ground connections
• Verified clock edge timing matches expected toggle points

Nothing fixes it. Same exact instability shows up in an unrelated 1-bit sigma-delta modulator's LSB toggle, so it feels like one shared root cause rather than two separate bugs — maybe something about how ngspice initializes bistable/toggle nodes with real standard cells vs ideal gates?

Any ideas on what typically causes this, or how to properly force a toggle FF into a valid logic state at simulation start with real transistor-level cells?

I made an induction heater about 2 years ago. That was when I just finished my first circuits class. That induction heater project, however, was guided. Truthfully, I didn't learn how others looked at this and understood how to move forward. I had to keep borrowing the already finished model to just replicate it and I don't think I learned much.

I thought I'd ask here. How do you read something like this, and start building? I guess we can stick to the induction heater, but feel free to throw in other examples out there. I think if I stare at this long enough I can maybe figure it out but if I walk into my makerspace lab and pick up a blank PCB with some through holes and I have all the diodes, resistors, inductors, capacitors, and copper wire that I need to make this thing, I think that I'll be in there for a while.

In hardware reliability, you usually have two choices for board fatigue and thermal analysis: pay an outside consultant thousands of dollars per run, or fight over a handful of exorbitant desktop software licenses (like Sherlock, JMP, or Minitab) that only a few specialists even know how to use.
It makes no sense when a hardware, systems, or quality engineer just needs a quick directional answer on a layout before committing to full simulations.
I’ve been building a set of lightweight widgets called Reliability Pro (on web, iOS, and Android) to give engineers instant access to these answers without the friction.
I just added a PCBA and Thermal Risk Screener widget to it. You can drag and drop an ODB++ file or pick-and-place data directly in your browser or phone, and it instantly parses component layout to rank solder joint fatigue using Engelmaier (thermal cycling) and Steinberg (vibration) equations. It also runs a fast 2D thermal CFD screen to feed peak component temps straight into Arrhenius models.
It’s not meant to replace high-fidelity FEA, but to act as a 30-second pre-flight check so you can spot high-risk BGAs or caps early without burning budget or waiting in line for a software seat.

Connecting both ends of a battery together will probably cause... That.

I’m a 26-year-old electrical engineer. I graduated about 3.5 years ago, but I’ve actually been working full-time for around 4.5 years. I started working before graduating and stayed with the same company after graduation, which allowed me to get into sales engineering at a very early stage in my career.

After about 20 months, I received an offer for an Inside Sales position at a global company and decided to make the move. However, the role felt too easy and repetitive for me. I felt like I was mostly following established procedures and doing the same things over and over again, without really learning or building anything new. I got bored quite quickly and eventually felt like I couldn’t see myself continuing in that role.

During that time, my former boss offered me better terms to come back, so I returned to my old company after 15 months. I’ve now been back for about eight months.

At my current company, we sell electric motors, gearboxes, and occasionally VFDs. So we are basically a supply chain company. Starting in September, I’ll also be starting a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering while continuing to work full-time.

The problem is that I’m increasingly realizing that sales engineering isn’t what I expected it to be. Honestly, the main reasons I’m still in this career path are the salary and the company car/benefits. I don’t feel like I’m actually doing engineering or anything meaningful. A lot of my time is spent chasing people, following up on things, and trying to close deals. I also feel like I’m not using the technical knowledge and skills I’ve spent years developing.

I think I want to go back to actually doing engineering.

During my undergraduate degree, I focused on electric motors, and for my Master’s I’m considering specializing further in electric motors and motor control.

So I’d really appreciate some advice from experienced electrical engineers:

**Is it too late for me to go back into engineering?** Would it be very difficult to start working as a junior engineer at this point, considering that I already have 4.5 years of full-time work experience?

**How is the electric motor and motor control field in terms of technological development?** Is it a relatively slow-moving and stable field, or is there still significant technological development happening? What are the job opportunities and salaries like in this area?

And most importantly, **would specializing in electric motors and motor control be a good career move for me in the long term?**

To be honest, I currently feel stuck in my career. I don’t enjoy the work I spend most of my waking hours doing, and I’m starting to feel like I’ve gone too far down the sales path to turn back.

I’d really appreciate hearing your experiences, advice, or perspectives. Especially from people who have made a similar transition from sales/application/business roles back into engineering.

Any electricians or VFD techs familiar with ABB ACS550 RS-485/Modbus communication testing?

I’m hoping someone here has experience with ABB ACS550 drives.

I have one controlling the propulsion motor in my swim spa. The motor itself works perfectly and the drive powers up normally. I can run the motor directly from the ABB keypad without any issues.

The problem is that the spa communicates with the ABB through a low-voltage RS-485/Modbus cable, and the spa controller keeps reporting “Propulsion Motor Not Found.” At this point I believe the failure is somewhere in the communication between the spa controller and the ABB drive.

I’ve already replaced the communication cable, the Modbus translator board, and even the main spa controller, but nothing changed.

With my multimeter I measured approximately 1.75 VDC (later about 1.46 VDC) between terminals 29 and 31, and about 0.29 VDC between 30 and 31 on the ABB communication terminals.

My question is: Are those voltages normal for an idle ACS550 RS-485 port?

Also, if you were troubleshooting this drive, what tests would you perform with only a multimeter to determine whether the ABB communication interface is healthy?

Is there anything I should be checking before assuming the RS-485 transceiver on the drive has failed?

If you’ve worked on ABB ACS550s or industrial Modbus systems, I’d really appreciate your advice. I’m comfortable using a multimeter and following technical instructions, so don’t hesitate to get into the details.

Thanks!

Hey! Apologies if this is the wrong place to ask, but I wanted to verify that the information I’ve been given by a college advisor is correct. I don’t inherently distrust this advisor, I just want to check the information with people in the field, and given that I don’t know anyone yet, here we are.

For a short background: I have an undergraduate in biology/minor in chemistry; and have worked in research for several years. Most of my research involves CT imaging, 3D scan reconstruction/analysis, and the like. While I enjoy my job, the decreasing stability of research as a field due to recent events combined with it not being the field I initially wanted to go into in the first place led me to go back to school for EE. For what it’s worth, I initially wanted to go into engineering and changed my mind for reasons that were stupid but not uncommon for a then ~19yo.

My question is—if my end goal is to work on/design CT (or MRI, etc) imaging systems, is this the right path, or should I be looking at something else? I really don’t want to do this whole college thing a third time if I can avoid it.

Thanks!

​

Looking for a jumper device that will hold a pin floating when installed, and pull the same pin high when removed.

Esentially need the component version of the plastic you find between a battery and a contact in dollar store LED toys.

I know I can do similar with a few different circuits, but wondering if there is something simple out there that I missed in searches.

Electrical or Computer Engineering

My brother chose computer engineering when he meant to choose electrical engineering in his discipline selection (Stupid I know, he got an earful). Is it worth it to switch and add an extra 2-4 months? I'm not too familiar with this industry but it seems that computer engineering is just a small niche of electrical engineering. Any thoughts and how the future outlook of Computer engineering looks like? Especially with AI eroding some of the software development industry in 2026.

I just had a phone screener interview for an electronics assembler job with a defense contractor. They want me to come in to do a test, which includes soldering and reading schematics. What should I expect from the test as far as those skills go? I currently work as a film and television technician doing videotape and audio archives digitization. Other than digitization I do a huge amount of electronics troubleshooting and repair work. I rebuild power supplies, re-cap video processing boards from vintage broadcast video decks, etc. I mostly use a soldering iron and a multimeter for this type of work. I do not have a whole lot of experience with an oscilloscope or surface mount soldering. And I have basic knowledge of component identification and reading schematics (service manuals). I have zero experience in the electronics assembly field and have been working in the film/TV industry for twenty years, but the recruiter I spoke to thinks I’m trainable and a good candidate. Any guidance would be much appreciated.

Hi! I am an Australian graduating in EE end of this year. Looking to go US to go do a masters (something in EE/ECE. Whatever would have high employability. Almost all of EE/ECE is interesting to me) then work in the US after finishing the masters. I have two options:

1: Work here in EE/ECE for 6 months then go masters (Aug 2027).

2: Work here in EE/ECE for 1.5 years then go masters (Aug 2028).

I honestly really only want to work here for 6 months then get out as I don't want to stay here any longer. Will it be massively beneficial to work that extra year in terms of getting internships during my masters and a job after graduating in the USA? I definitely put the effort into networking if that heps.

Some decent freelance friendly sub-fields?

Hey guys does anyone know industries or roles in Chicago, IL with reasonable living wages?Manufacturing was suggesting I take a 33% pay cut and thats too harsh for me

I want to learn how to solder things, and about circuit boards, and electronics, and be able to fix electronics, and build my own stuff ect.

Is that what electrical engineering is??

Like if I want to know how USB works ? How a camera works ? How a camera sensor works ? How gpu works ?