Knowing Where To Take Measurements
The different between a beginner and a seasoned repairer is that the seasoned repairer knows where to take measurement thus they could solve the problem fast. They turned on the power and place the test probes (multimeter, oscilloscope and other type of test equipment) and make measurement. The most important thing is that they know where to place the test probe.
If you are a beginner and wish to be like the seasoned repairer, there are many home work that you need to do. You must know how to use a voltmeter in the first place and dare to make the measurement when the power is on. Next, you need to understand how the equipment work with the help of books, block diagrams and schematic diagrams. If you have understood how an equipment work then it will be easy for you to determine the section to test so that you will not waste your precious time in other section. Tracing problem in a working section would surely lead you into frustration because no matter how hard you try, you will not be able to find out the cause of the problem.
After reading this post, i suggest that you start to practice because only through practice will make you a better repairer. One more thing, don’t give up when you are trying because in order to see success, you need to have strong determination.
Jimmy Lane
December 30, 2010 at 11:46 am
Jestine you hit on some good points. Knowing how things work and leaving sections alone when troubleshooting saves a lot of time. I would like to share 2 things I do on any tv old type or lcd I work on.
Plug power cord into my variac with it set to current mode and turn on power switch to variac. This way I look for a blip on my current meter. If I see one I know I have ac power into the tv. no current usually means ac missing inside. Also if I have the current on the meter and the set is dead, I look for 5 volts on the remote pickup. This is always easy to find at the front and tells you you have standby dc and cpu voltage.
Also I probably learned more from Sencore than electronics school for troubleshooting. They always taught signal injection using their test equipment and looking for a known change in symptoms. This really works faster for me than tracing a signal. Hope this helps somebody, Jimmy Lane
admin
December 30, 2010 at 10:37 pm
Hi Jimmy,
Thanks for sharing. Sencore have lots of good notes on troubleshooting.
Happy New Year!
Jestine
Othman
December 30, 2010 at 11:53 pm
For a basic set-up focusing on LCD / Plasma TV troubleshooting and repair, what would be the Sencore products that would really help?
admin
January 2, 2011 at 12:00 am
HI Othman,
This is one of it:
http://www.sencore.com/products/In-Circuit-Capacitor-Inductor-Analyzer-LC103_183.html
Some older test equipment like sencore sc3100 is also good in electronics troubleshooting:
http://www.testequipmentconnection.com/images/products/SC3100zoom.jpg
They have other new type of equipment and i suggest that you email them for more precise info.
Jestine
Othman
January 5, 2011 at 11:17 pm
Thanks Jestine for the input. Appreciate it.
Rgds
Othman