Blog 24: Exit Interview

(1) What is your essential question?  What is the best answer to your question and why?

What is most important in obtaining the best performance out of a car audio system? out of my three main answers the best is, Balanced constant, positive and negative current maintains a car audio system at optimum performance, this is the best answer because it is the most basic and most critical thing to take into consideration when installing a system. Speaker location, is key, to give ambient to the car, depending on the speaker location, you can get a surround sound feel, or a full sound feel, or even just a partial feel. Improper positioning of a speaker can also bring damage to the speaker, for example placing it on a door, or in a vulnerable position where it can be damaged by outside sources. It is also important speakers have the right amount of airspace and are placed in the right enclosure. As important as speaker location is, the speaker will regardless still produce sound, and fill the air with the sound waves it produces, it is the signal that the speaker receives that decides the way the speaker will sound. Signal is transferred through wires and cables so it is in the best interest to make sure that electronics are placed in suitable places. For example power wires create a small magnetic field and should be ran separately from rca and speaker wires. They should also be in safe areas for passengers but close to ground and other wires. The signal the wires carry are important but not as important as what gives the signal which is the amplifiers and other electronics, obviously however just buying the best equipment is not an answer, in my science experiment, i found that keeping the voltage at a constant 14.4v maximizes the electronics performance. Ground must also be properly placed, short same size as power and all connected to the same ground.  9092827306

(2) What process did you take to arrive at this answer?

In order to arrive to this answer, I needed to researched what ground was and how it was used, then I realized that amplifiers perform better under certain volts thanks to my mentor, because of this I performed a science experiment to see if different levels of distortion could be correlated with  different voltages, which proved to be true.

(3) What problems did you face?  How did you resolve them? When perform my experiment, i was unable to obtain as many amplifiers as i would have liked, i did however borrow way more than i could ever hope to test, i also committed a mistake during my first independent component when i connected 5 subs into one amplifier causing issues with the ohms but that was latter solved while reading a book.

(4) What are the two most significant sources you used to answer your essential question and why?

The two most significant sources where my mentor and a book named Auto Audio, they are the most important sources because my mentor taught me field work and the book elaborated on what he explained, it gave me more in depth reasons, which helped tremendously in my search for knowledge 

(5) What is your product and why? My product, is a job at car audio depot and my sub woofer enclosure without having met contacts in my mentor ship i would not have been able to accomplish either of them. Because their is always constant production of automobiles I along with my mentor am always learning new things on

Interview 5: 2014 Interview

Content:

1.  Who did you interview and what house are they in?
Tania Negrete South House
2.  What ideas do you have for your senior project and why?
Something with lifeguard and after school outside activities maybe activity coordinator
She likes to be outside and doing stuff hates being in a office.
3.  What do you plan to do for your summer 10 hour mentorship experience?
Santa Fe damn someone she knows she's a lifeguard and program adviser
4.  What do you hope to see or expect to see in watching the 2013 2-hour presentations?
S expects the speaker to be involved listening to questions.
5.  What questions do you have that I can answer about senior year or senior project (or what additional information did you tell them about senior year or senior project)?

How specific does the topic have to be?
I responded by saying that you start with a general topic and throughout out the year it becomes extremely specific, but there is plenty of help in making an specific and well defined Essential Question. 

Blog 22: 3 Column Chart

3 Column Auto Audio Proof

LITERAL
(a) I, Daniel Leon, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work.
(b) Jorge Cardenas, Auto Electric 
(c) 30 Hours Log 
(d) In my second Independent component I completed 11 jobs, i was aiming for 15 jobs but it just wasn't possible to find them all, I also currently am about to begin 3 custom jobs but where not able to be began on time to be counted in the second independent component.
INTERPRETIVE 
Job 1: I installed an alarm system into my uncles Saturn Vue, it took me a while to take apart the dash because of the way it is made, I also specifically remember I accidentally scratched the dash. All the wires where in the back of the centerpiece and the door lock signal was negative, it took a while to find all these wires and adjust the relays to convert the negative signal into a positive signal. It was also the second time I installed an alarm alone.
Job 2: I installed two subs and two midrange speakers with two amps. Corvetts are difficult to take appart in the interior so that took time, also it took me a while to bipass the bose sound system, and when everything was connected there was a problem with fuses and the radio.
Job 3: This was a simple job, all i did was remove the radio and attach an aux and ipod cable, and run the wires into the glove compartment.
Job 4: Here I bipassed a door lock, and installed 4 speakers into a chevy suburban, the door panels are hard to remove and i spent most of my time removing them.
Job 5: I installed subs into this camaro, the wiring was a complete mess and it took some time to figure out, i also had to rewire 2 wires on a separate occasion.
Job 6: Here I installed two subs and an amp into a camry, there was difficulty with the equipment and the stereo.
Job 7: I installed 3 subs an amp and an epicenter into an Impalla ss, it took time to run a 0 gauge wire and then there was a problem with the ohms and the amp.
Job 8: I replaced a radio on a Toyota Tacoma, I accidentally blew out a fuse when I cut the wires but it was an easy fix.
Job 9: I installed a screen radio into an F150, the radio was to big for the dash so i had to cut it in order for it to fit.
Job 10: Here I added a fifth video monitor to a Challenger it was my first time doing it on my own and i had a few difficulties.
Job 11: I installed subs and an amp into a Charger this job is easily done because the battery is in the trunk of the car, little wireing was needed here.

APPLIED
Doing all these jobs has helped me find new techniques and solve issues with system. I have been able to perfect wiring in series and parallel. Thanks to the jobs I did I was able to see different issues and distortion in action, I was able to solve most of the problems and help prevent others. I also used a lot of ground loops and adapted proper ground wires. I also experienced different sub enclosures that sounded better than others, for example the corvett had smaller and less subs than the impala ss but the corvett sounded better because of the enclosure size.

3 Column Chart

Car Audio Chart

Blog 19: Senior Project and ESLRs

1.  What ESLR have you excelled in most in your senior project? 
I believe that i have become a more Effective Communicator and a better User of Technology.
2.  Please explain why you think you have excelled in this ESLR.
I believe I have become a better User of Technology because in my mentorship all I deal with is audio technology, I realize that wiring and the basis of electricity overlaps into many different things, I found myself fixing wiring issues around the house and in other parts of vehicles not just in the audio systems. I have also become a better Communicator because obviously I don't know everything about audio systems, I always ask questions when I need help, and I usually work in a team to be able to complete a car, there is a lot of communication so we know what each member of the team is responsible for what part of an installation. I also have to demonstrate the new installations into a customers car, and show them how to use their new system, there must always be communication between an installer and a customer in order to avoid trouble to the installer and that is exactly what I have been adapting.. 
3.  Provide evidence from your senior project to support your claim (evidence is a photo of something you are doing, photo of something you made, etc).

I installed neon lighting and created a on/off switch for the neon lights under my car because of basic wiring skills learned through audio system installation.

Blog 18: 2 Answer 3

1.  What is your essential question?
What is most important in obtaining the best performance out of a car audio system?
2.  What is your third answer to your essential question (write your third answer in a complete sentence)?
Balanced constant, positive and negative or neutral current keeps the audio system opperating at an ideal performance.
3.  What are three details to support or justify your third answer (details are examples or facts)?
Ground wires can cause irregularities in the system if not placed strategically and properly.
Constant power levels keep the system performing evenly throught use time.
Power Surges are problems in car audio and need to be regulated in order to keep performance at a proper rate.
4.  What source helped you prove this answer is justified for your essential question?
The book Auto Audio by Andrew Yoder provided me with this answer.
5.  What do you plan to study next and why?
I plan to study electricity behavior in circuits and in wires because they do have a certain way of performing and i think this is essential to know why electricity performs best with certain wires and equipment.