Troubleshooting on Electric Equipment

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

Typically, when equipment fails there will be a sense of urgency to have it fixed and running again. If the defective equipment is a 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 fault finding and repairing their equipment. Either one of those scenarios - and you can find more, can put loads of pressure on you to solve the issue quickly.

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

Depending on the kind of equipment, fault finding could be a very challenging task. Often 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 identify, whereas an intermittent problem attributable to a high resistance connection can be much tougher to find.

What makes a specialist Fault finder? 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 which are defective. They seem to have a knack for finding out exactly what's wrong. No trial and error here. So what is their secret?

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

Expert troubleshooters have a good understanding of the operation of electrical components that are utilised in circuits they are familiar with, and even ones they are not. They use a system or approach that allows them to logically and systematically analyze a circuit and determine exactly what's wrong. Additionally understand and effectively use tools such as prints, diagrams and test instruments to identify defective components. Finally, they have had the opportunity to develop and refine their troubleshooting skills. If you want to troubleshoot like the pros you will need to develop your skills in each of those areas.

You 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. For instance, 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 see what effect a faulty component might have on the circuit operation.

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