Fault finding on Electrical Apparatus

Equipment can malfunction for various reasons. Mechanical contacts and parts can wear out; wires can overheat and burn open or short out; parts might be damaged by impact or abrasion; etc. Equipment may operate in a manner far different than it had been designed to, or not work at all.

Typically, when equipment fails there exists a sense of urgency to get it fixed and working again. If the defective equipment is part of an assembly line, the whole assembly line may be down causing unexpected "time off" and lost revenue. If you are at a customers site to repair equipment, the client may watch you, knowing they are paying for every minute you spend troubleshooting and repairing their equipment. Either one of these scenarios - and you can find more, can put loads of pressure on you to solve the issue quickly.

So, what is troubleshooting? It is practise of analyzing the behavior or operation of a faulty circuit to determine what's wrong with the circuit. It then involves identifying the defective component(s) and repairing the circuit.

Depending on the kind of equipment, troubleshooting can be a very challenging task. Now and again problems are easily diagnosed and the problem component easily visible. Other times the symptoms in addition to the faulty component is often difficult to diagnose. A defective relay with visual signs of burning should be easy to spot, whereas an intermittent problem caused by a high resistance connection can be much more difficult to find.

What makes a specialist Troubleshooter? One trait of expert troubleshooters is they are capable of finding virtually any fault in a reasonable amount of time. Easy faults, complicated faults, they find them all. Another trait is they typically replace only the components that are defective. They appear to have a knack for finding out exactly what's wrong. No trial and error here. So what is their secret?

You may consider that an individual who has a good understanding of how the equipment works, should be able to troubleshoot it effectively. Being good at troubleshooting requires a lot more than this.

Expert troubleshooters have a good understanding of the operation of electrical components that are used in circuits they are familiar with, and even ones they are not. They use a system or approach that enables them to logically and systematically analyze a circuit and determine exactly what is wrong. Additionally they understand and effectively use tools including prints, diagrams and test instruments to locate defective components. Finally, they have had the opportunity to develop and refine their fault finding skills. If you ever want to fault find like the pros you will need to develop your skills in each of those areas.

You will need to be able to determine how the circuit works under normal conditions and what effect changing one of the circuit inputs has on the circuit operation. One example is, what happens to the overall circuit operation when a push button is pressed; which relays energy, which lights illuminate, does the pump start or stop, etc. You also need to be able to determine what effect a faulty component could have on the circuit operation.

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