American Trucking Associations Technology & Maintenance Council is offering a free online assessment of technician electrical knowledge that is open to all fleet and service provider technicians through Aug. 18.

The assessment is aimed at providing a baseline benchmark for knowledge training and reinforcement and can’t ensure that a technician has the required mechanical skills for troubleshooting truck electrical systems. It is based on the TMC Recommended Practice RP 1204, Mechanics Electrical Skill Evaluations, which was developed by the S.12 Electronics Study Group.

The results of these assessments will be analyzed and presented at the S.1 Electrical Study Group Meeting on Sept. 19 at this year’s TMC Fall Meeting in Orlando, Fla.

The assessment evaluates a technician’s knowledge in the following areas:

• Understanding of basic electrical concepts.

• Reading simple electrical wiring diagrams with electrical symbols.

• Performing circuit measurements with a volt-ohm meter.

• Solving basic circuit equations using Ohm’s Law.

• Knowledge regarding the data bus.

The questions ae divided into four categories, Fundamental, Application, Advanced and Data Bus. According to TMC, technicians who have responsibilities for truck electrical system maintenance should achieve a minimum of 85% correct responses to both the “Fundamental”, “Application”, and the "Data Bus" category questions. Technicians who score 85% on the “Advanced” questions have demonstrated an excellent understanding of basic electrical theory.

TMC is currently conducting the assessment and it is open to all techncians until the Aug. 18 deadline. The answers are randomized for each participant to curb answer sharing or creating a key sheet. The TMC will post the correct answers as a as a proposed update to RP 1204 on its online community, TMC Connect.

To access the assessment, click here.

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