The Secrets of Auto Electric Explained by the Experts

Electrical issues are a mystery to many auto owners; it is even perplexing to many auto mechanics. At Pop’s Auto Electric in Orlando Florida, we think it’s because you really can’t see or touch electricity in the same way you can with other working components on your vehicle.

It is true that we can see the effects of electricity, or the lack of effect in the case of a failure, but we can’t necessarily put our hands on it like we can with other vehicle components that might fail. For that reason, we need to have a basic understanding of electricity, auto electric and how it works in automotive systems.

The Basics of Auto Electricity
Electricity is the flow of electrons within a conductor. You can get these moving electrons to do things for you in automotive systems, such as starting your engine, charging your phone, controlling vehicle emissions, and opening your windows.

Electrical systems are everywhere in modern automobiles. Having a basic understanding of how electricity works can go a long way toward helping you understand what repairs need to be made within your automotive electrical systems.

The first thing we will explain is the flow of electricity. For the purposes of this blog, we’re going to say that electricity flows from positive to negative. Yes, there are other theories on electron flow, but to keep things simple we’re going to stick with electrons flowing from positive to negative.

To get this electricity to flow and go where we want it to flow, automotive manufacturers use conductors. Conductors are materials that allow electrons to flow freely. Resistors are materials that inhibit electron flow.

We use resistors to insulate our conductors so we keep the electricity flowing where we want it to go. Electricity is funny like that; if you let it, it will find the shortest route to ground, which might happen before you want it to. Professional installers like Pop’s Auto Electric of Central Florida keep this from happening.

Then there are semiconductors: transistors, resistors, and diodes, just to name a few. We use these to help control things in automotive electrical systems. Semiconductors can allow electron flow sometimes but not others. They can block electron flow in one direction, but allow it to flow in the other direction.

They can also be used to change the resistance of a circuit based on temperature. Semiconductors are used extensively in computers and control systems. As a result, you run into a lot of semiconductors in automotive applications.

Another big component of an electrical circuit is the load. The load is what does the work in an electrical circuit. The load can be a lot of things. It can be a motor, a heating element, a bulb, or any number of other electrical components that do work. The load and the resistance in the circuit dictate the amount of current flow in the circuit.

Aside from the wires that carry electricity and the wiring insulation that keeps the electricity on the path we want it to take, we also need the ability to control a circuit. We often do this with switches. Switches come in all shapes and sizes. They can be switches that we activate, or they can be activated automatically when certain conditions are met; they can also turn things off at a given time.

This is a very basic overview of what you’ll find in automotive electrical systems. If any one of the thousands of components and wires has a fault, the automobile may simply stop, malfunction or worse become a danger to the driver and passenger.

At Pop’s Auto Electric in Orlando Florida, we are known as experts in the field of auto electric. In fact many shops in the area send their auto electric problems to us for diagnosis and repair. You don’t want to fiddle around with auto electric, take the problem to the acknowledged experts in the field, trust you auto electric problems to no other than Pop’s Auto Electric of Central Florida!

Call Pops Auto Electric today for any repair work, but call right now if you experience any of the brake system repair signs listed above, save your families life, fix those brakes!

 

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