Hi,I'm using this to study for the PE exam. It is very helpful with good pictures and diagrams. It has many questions at the end of each chapter but doesn't seem to have any solutions anywhere. I've looked online as well and have found nothing. Does anyone know if there are solutions, and how to get them? Thanks!
Does this book have a good index and is there anything special about it, other than good pictures and diagrams?
Hi EEVA. I used a couple chapters of this book for a course back when I was at school. I didn't sell it at the end of the course so that's why I have it now. I wasn't impressed much back then, but that's because we really only focused on the electronics chapters.
I have found it MUUUUCH better than Camara at explaining the topics it DOES cover. It is geared towards a sophomore level class so that probably helps with read-ability. My study technique has been to study as much as possible from this book, then fill in any gaps with Camara. Camara is just too dense and concentrated to really explain much of the phenomenon that is happening in transformers, motors, etc. Personally I remember material MUCH better if I understand WHY an interaction is happening. Ex- just being told that for wye loads Vphase = sqrt(3) * Vline isn't very helpful for me. Camara tends to give you an equation with maybe a couple sentence explanation. He is very limited by trying to cram all the possible material into one book.
There are also LOTS of good questions at the end of each chapter. Unfortunately there don't seem to be answers anywhere. This is a huge bummer. Yes I have found the index to be very helpful, at least as good as Camara.
One potential issue is that this book doesn't get into a ton of the advanced concepts that may be covered on the test. (ex- it doesn't talk about devices operating when saturated) But it certainly does a great job of explaining things like induction motors, single phase motors, synch generators, etc. If you already confident of the basic-to-intermediate functions of these devices I probably wouldn't recommend it for you.
Hope this helps, I'm happy to answer any other Qs about it. Have you found other books to be super helpful? I still haven't found any material on batteries (that doesn't cost $100).
