ETA CETa case studies
ETA CETa · Put your knowledge to work in context.
The Associate Certified Electronics Technician (CETa) is ETA International's foundational electronics credential, aimed at people entering the field or formalizing basic electronics knowledge - students in electronics programs, apprentices, military technicians, and career changers. It sits at the base of ETA's certification pathway: ETA lists CETa as the foundation-level credential in its DAS Master Specialty sequence, where it can be satisfied by CETa or General Communications Technician – Level 1 (GCT1). ETA describes CETa as a "basic electronics" certification and publishes an in-house study guide for it, written by industry professionals and featuring chapter quizzes and practice exams; ETA members receive a discount on that guide, and bulk discounts are available. Because certification questions are derived from each certification's published competency, the free competency document is the authoritative statement of what the exam covers and the best place to start planning study. The ETA CETa case studies are 5 cases and about 3,036 words.
1Battery Monitor Divider Loaded by ADC Input
An electronics technician is troubleshooting a 12 V battery monitor. The pack voltage is confirmed at 12.0 V with a calibrated bench DMM.
622 words, about 3 min212 V Linear Supply With Insufficient Rectifier Headroom
A technician is servicing a 12 V, 200 mA linear supply. The transformer secondary is 12.6 Vrms at 60 Hz, followed by a four-diode bridge using 1N4004 rectifiers and a 1000 µF/25 V electrolytic filter capacitor.
600 words, about 3 min3Relay Driver Transistor Operating in Active Region
An assembly line reports intermittent relay operation. A 5 V CMOS gate drives an MMBT3904 NPN through a 10 kΩ base resistor.
603 words, about 3 min4Zener Shunt Regulator Overdissipating at High Line
A 24 V nominal industrial control bus varies from 21.6 V to 26.4 V. A technician must derive a 12 V rail for a sensor that draws 0 to 80 mA.
592 words, about 3 min5Diode Peak Detector Reading Low at 10 kHz
A technician builds a peak detector to capture the amplitude of a 10 kHz sine wave. The source is 4.0 Vpp, or 2.0 V peak, with a 600 Ω source impedance.
619 words, about 3 min