I've always wanted to write a book like this, from the origins, so to speak. Our circuit diagram for a VW Beetle from 1964 actually belongs here, but we've used it so often. Maybe we can find a more concise one.

What is that supposed to mean? It is the experience of tracking things down from their beginnings. And one would be doing that Beetle a bitter injustice if one were to assume that it marked the beginnings of the development of electrics in the car, or even the beginning of the development of electrics in the car at all. After all, the car was already around 80 years old at the time and the first one already had more than a touch of electrical equipment.

However, I would be tempted to start from that circuit diagram, whereby the focus would not be on the car, but on the circuit diagram itself. It exudes a certain fascination and it can be assumed that this is where the essence of electrics is. It is a rare opportunity in other technology to grasp a system in its entirety, even if it has now grown to 600 pages and more in e.g. three volumes.

If all parts are additionally labeled, you could use it to copy such an electrical system. Sure, there is nothing in it about cable lengths and the location of parts, but it would work if the sensor system were replaced with suitable transmitters of certain values. Like this it is checked in a similar way, at least in a random way, during production.

Sure, this also happens with engines, for example, but the question remains, how can one depict an engine on 600 pages in such a schematic way that one could recreate it. No, description is not meant here. It is far too misleading and interpretable. In addition, it would then have to be translated into a wide variety of languages. You can simply draw a course of the current, if necessary by hand, if you have enough paper available.

Everyone understands this, including the Chinese or the Russian, provided they have a certain basic technical education. Even the inside of microprocessors is captured by huge circuit diagrams, which of course are then condensed in unimaginably small dimensions. You can only experience an engine live, in a car with the acceleration in your back, air, curves and the sometimes unbelievable sound. Even the most expensive simulator can't do that.

But you could experience a circuit diagram with the corresponding simulation on the computer, because, for example, it is rarely associated with noise, not even when a component breaks down. It can be modified, maybe even until it works as expected. Try this on the computer with an engine!

At the same time, of course, there is the abstract that makes so many people shy away from electrics/electronics. Already electrical reality is abstract. Who has ever seen electricity flow? Even the physical explanations are based in large part on models. The question 'Is that so or are we just assuming it?' exasperates some people. For example, the preliminary considerations for repairing an engine are just as abstract.

No, with the electrical system I do not need to worry about whether the replacement of this or that part will succeed. Normal manual skills are sufficient, ending at most with a mini format or with the dismantling of a door panel. Relate this once to, for example, assessing and working on a used crankshaft. The world already looks completely different there. But the development towards software can contain PSI phenomena again.

Why is it that this routine has such side effects? How much do I have to exchange? But exchange for what? Such questions do not usually arise with vehicle electrics. We're not developers of circuit boards that are then tried out in the car. In the case of an engine, something like this can already exist when the decision comes up as to how much to remove from a cylinder head. Do you know of a counterpart in electrics?

Why not be more relaxed about repairs to the vehicle's electrical system? Of course, any parts that might be destroyed can be expensive, but a new cylinder head or its refurbishment is not cheap either. Perhaps it is really this unspectacular breakdown that differs from that of an engine with a lot of noise. There you do not know why, but at least that there is now a significant damage.