Troubleshooting Cards ( circuit boards) for shorts
Troubleshooting Cards ( circuit boards) for shorts
(OP)
Dear Friends,
While troubleshooting boards [mostly containing logic ICs ]we encounter dead or partial shorts that often load power supply. It is very difficult to trace the short particularly if it is under components or caused by IC. The only way has been isolating 'hot' component or just trial and error method. ATE is ruled out.
Long time back I used current probe from hp for detecting and locating shorts. These are no longer available. I have also thought of using toroid inductor to make sort of detector.
What methods are used now a days? Any probes are available now? Thanks a lot in advance.
While troubleshooting boards [mostly containing logic ICs ]we encounter dead or partial shorts that often load power supply. It is very difficult to trace the short particularly if it is under components or caused by IC. The only way has been isolating 'hot' component or just trial and error method. ATE is ruled out.
Long time back I used current probe from hp for detecting and locating shorts. These are no longer available. I have also thought of using toroid inductor to make sort of detector.
What methods are used now a days? Any probes are available now? Thanks a lot in advance.





RE: Troubleshooting Cards ( circuit boards) for shorts
RE: Troubleshooting Cards ( circuit boards) for shorts
It allows you to find this type of hot spot as well as perform a thermal survey of any board or other piece of equipment.
TTFN
RE: Troubleshooting Cards ( circuit boards) for shorts
I would also be keen on solutions actually tried out by members.Has anyone made custom peobe/detector ?
How about school compass ? [ Maybe I should check that myself ]
IRstuff : How much would the cheapest one cost ? Do you know if anyone has tried that ? Generally we use finger touch to isolate 'hot' components.
RE: Troubleshooting Cards ( circuit boards) for shorts
RE: Troubleshooting Cards ( circuit boards) for shorts
I have in the lab a black box from Polar instruments. It is called Toneohm 700 Faults Locator. And that is exactly what it does. It has low-ohm ranges and DC voltage with microvolt resolution, a tone changes pitch as the resistance or voltage changes. So it is quite easy to follow the voltage drop using the tunsten tipped probes to penetrate the solder mask. So far, I think that a decent ohmmeter could do the same thing. But it also has a current probe so that you can follow the short-circuit current, even if there are components on top of the trace. I love it.
Try to look for Polar, they may still be in business or locate (sorry) a Fault Locator on the surplus/vintage market.
RE: Troubleshooting Cards ( circuit boards) for shorts
skogsgurra Thanks a lot. I checked out Polar is very much alive. Their latest model is 950 .
RE: Troubleshooting Cards ( circuit boards) for shorts
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2545880885&category=25415
RE: Troubleshooting Cards ( circuit boards) for shorts
I am also in touch with Polar now. Let's see how much it costs.
RE: Troubleshooting Cards ( circuit boards) for shorts
RE: Troubleshooting Cards ( circuit boards) for shorts
RE: Troubleshooting Cards ( circuit boards) for shorts
I wonder why HP stopped selling the 547A, and why nobody else makes a similar product. Were you satisfied with it? I was looking to buy a used one on Ebay, but I needed to read from people who have used it before. I was hoping that it could help me finding shorts between vias and ground planes, or to find shorted capacitors.
Felix
RE: Troubleshooting Cards ( circuit boards) for shorts
Felix