D.C. Fundamentals

Here you can find resources for the units, commonly known as D.C. (Direct Current) Fundamentals. A good book to use for this delivery is:

Floyd, T. L. (2010). Principles of Electrical Circuits: Conventional Current Flow (9th ed.). Upper Saddle River, N.J: Pearson Prentice Hall.

This book was compulsory for many students, enrolled full-time in the Electrotechnology section. The reason for this is that the units related to D.C. Fundamentals are core units (i.e. they are compulsory for all streams in the Electrotechnology section). This material is covered in the first half of the book. Later on, once you have already passed D.C. (Direct Current) Fundamentals, you will enrol in another core subject, called A.C. (Alternating Current) Fundamentals. This body of knowledge is covered in the second part of the same book. Since D.C. Fundamentals units are studied normally for 20 weeks (one semester) and A.C. Fundamentals studies take another 20 weeks (one more semester), this means that you will need this book for nearly one complete year of full-time study. It covers all the theory you need to know for those subjects, plus many more practical exercises and most importantly – it contains coursework problems, which you will be required to solve.

Coursework accounts for about 70% of your studies, so please do not underestimate it. It forms a major part of your studies for this subject. If you expect to turn up once a week in TAFE for a 4 hour lecture and in this way somehow learn everything about electrical circuits, you are mistaken. Your full-time enrolment comprises of approximately 20 hours a week. This means that you will need to spend another 20 hours at home preparing and exercising. In other words, for this subject you are expected to spend 4 hours a week in class for lectures, laboratory work and class activities and then you are expected to spend another 4 hours a week working independently on your coursework. The process is similar to learning how to play a new musical instrument. One may take music lessons for a few hours a week, but the teacher can only point out the techniques to you. If you want to become a great musician, you will need to practice again and again for many hours alone. All your coursework for the entire semester should be collected in a dedicated notebook. It forms an essential part of your competency assessment for this unit.

For a list of things to bring every time you come to D.C. Fundamentals class, please click here.

For a list of things you need to do, in order to pass D.C. Fundamentals subject, please click here:

The material, which is learned in one semester (20 weeks) is pretty much everything, covered in the first seven chapters of the Floyd book. These are:

Chapter 1. Quantities and Units

Chapter 2. Voltage, Current and Resistance.

Chapter 3. Ohm’s Law.

Chapter 4. Energy and Power.

Chapter 5. Series Circuits.

Chapter 6. Parallel Circuits.

Chapter 7. Series – Parallel Circuits.

From this page you can download all the trial tests and solutions you need. Of course, you cannot expect that on the real test you will have exactly the same problems. The numbers may be different, however, in essence the test will be very similar to what is given to you here. You are not expected to know anything over and above what is given to you in the trail tests or the examples in the text book (your coursework). There will be no surprises. Once you have successfully passed both tests, have successfully completed your laboratory exercises and have done all your coursework, you will be deemed competent for this unit and your academic record will be updated accordingly.

In order to facilitate your studies even further, I have prepared two trail tests for you. The first one is the mid-semester test and it is related to the test, which you sit in week 9 (and subsequent re-test in week 10, if needed). The second one is called end-semester test and it is corresponding to the test, which you sit in week 19 (with corresponding re-test in week 20, if needed). Both trial tests contain ‘a pool’ of questions, which are extremely similar to what you can expect to see in real tests. The types of circuits will be either the same, or very similar. Just some of the given variables may be changed, such as the value of the resistors, the voltages of the power supplies etc. If you study all the questions given in these documents diligently and if you answer the questions in the real tests in the same format, it is extremely likely that you will pass the tests with no difficulties whatsoever. Please note, that only about a third of the questions, solved in the trial tests will be given to you in the real tests.

To prepare successfully for the test, please download the relevant test, print it and try your best to answer all the questions in the blank spaces provided. Then download the solutions, print it and compare your work with the given answers. Try to mark yourself objectively. It is pointless to give yourself marks, which you don’t deserve, just to make yourself feel better. At the end of the day, you should really understand the content of the subject and that’s all that matters. If you achieve this, then passing the real test will be not a problem at all. Your answers should be pretty much identical to the given solutions. When solving electrical problems, always label the circuits first, then write the formula, substitute with numbers, calculate the result and specify the measurement units. Your final answer should be given in numbers in the range between 1 and 999 followed by the relevant Greek prefix and unit quantity (for example 33 kV or 555 mA). If you see that your results on the trail test are unsatisfactorily than print the trial test again and start over. Please, do this until you reach satisfactory results. Only then you are done.