I don't care very much what's inside the black-box component, either. I do care what goes in and what comes out, though. More often than not, the spec's say one thing, and reality tells me another.

What I believe and "believe-in" is, in the words of the late president Ronald Reagan, "trust, but verify."

Many fancy marketing brochures make claims about a product, which, because they're not understood by the person writing the brochure, or the first page of the datasheet, are completely false, and, in some cases, absolutely unattainable.

Just like Erik's claim that his 11-cent filter can filter out anything, regardless of power or frequency, that one might encounter at the output of an otherwise unknown switcher, I just don't believe 'em until I see it myself.

I asked Erik about what he's observed coming out of his DC-DC converter module, and he failed to answer, probably because he's never looked. If he can get by with that, I guess it's OK with me. It's just like his other "observations" that he's obviously never bother to make. If he can fool his employer enough to earn a living that way, fine. At least the taxpayers don't have to support him.

What Erik and I often argue is the differences in our approach. I don't know what he does, but I know I have to analyze before I can design. He seemingly doesn't have to do that. As a consequence, he probably arrives at a solution, in those cases wherein he actually does arrive at one, more quickly than I would.

We all have to allow for the fact that we are different, possess different world-views, and approach problem solving in different ways. I do what I do because my circumstances demand it. I have to justify and otherwise document everything I do, as I'm generally an outsider to the client firms I support.

RE