Could it be a sabotage using EMI?

Could you explain to me exactly what EMI is?

 

Electro
Magnetic
Interference

EMI is essentially any narrowband or wideband coherent energy, or chaotic "natural" energy, that disrupts an electronic circuit

Sometimes the disruption is so slight it isn't even noticed. Other times, EMI can cause a circuit to glitch, latch up, or act in unintended ways

If the EMI is strong enough, it can actually cause the circuit to outright fail

 

What Jayman said. Electro Magnetic Interference.

There is a presentation and video somewhere on the Toyota site that explains the type of testing that Toyota does on all electronic components. They basically test parts individually and then test the complete vehicle in a lab. In the lab, they bombard the exterior of the vehicle and they have a smaller emitter that they bring into the interior of the vehicle while the car is operating on a dyno.

 

NO...wait...it's true!
I vaguely remember seeing the guy whose doing the EMI, ....somewhere ....in my dreams ....on another planet..


Sincerely,

ZC1

 

Amazing true story. We were doing EMI/EMC conformance testing on a given piece of hardware being considered for military use. The rep was there, bragging about how tough and durable the gadget was

"Blah blah blah direct lightning strike won't even faze it blah blah blah"

I went over to one of the females on our test team, as I knew she carried a stun gun in her purse (She found handgun recoil too objectionable). She smiles, hands me her stungun, I walk up to the gadget, and discharge the stungun right at the connector

ZAP! ZAP! ZAP! ZAP!

Yes, the gadget promptly fried itself

The gadget actually met all required EMI/EMC conformance requirements, and was eventually approved. But it was fun to let the wind out of that rep's sails

 

Using a stungun on your Prius ECU(s) is definitely contraindicated. :madgrin:

 

It would be fun to try

 

With medical electronics, one of our design challenges was dealing with defibrillators. Here you have this delicate electronic system trying to monitor microvolts from electrodes, and then some joker like Evan takes paddles and dumps a jillion volts into it. Real world requirements are generally unreasonable.

Tom

 

Can I use a stungun on people who pass me on the street with those Bluetooth cell phone receivers? I can never tell if it is a crazy person or just an obnoxiously loud telephone call. A stungun should stop the transmission. :madgrin:

 

And that's on a GOOD day. Can you imagine when he's grumpy? He probably sets the defibrillator for 300 joules and zaps some unsuspecting person just to calm down

Note: I'm fairly certain that inducing temporary asystole doesn't hurt ONE BIT

Yes

Indeed, it should be mandatory that you zap some tool using such an obnoxious gadget

A crazy person, just a quick zap will fix them right up.

An obnoxiously loud person, feel free to use a Taser. I'll happily buy one for you