Comments on: Wiring Broom- A Useful Short Circuit Tool

By: Evis

Evis — Sat, 04 Apr 2020 06:58:03 +0000

Perfect idea. Thanks for your sharing

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By: meizi

meizi — Sun, 12 Mar 2017 13:39:13 +0000

this is a very smart way of finding continuity faster, i will make one from a 14wg wire with 15feet long(length of car) strip of about 2/8, add an about 4inches of shrink tube as a handle and a banana plug on other side to plug straight to DMM.
A big thanks to the inventor.. Good job sir Chris.
For safety disconnect your car battery, turn headlights ON to discharged any remaining voltage, then proceed.

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By: Parasuraman S

Parasuraman S — Tue, 07 Mar 2017 06:58:25 +0000

Good innovative idea! As mentioned by you, one should first discharge all the power supply paths before doing it. Otherwise, it will spoil a few semiconductors for sure!

I normally connect a stiching needle (after slightly blunting it) to one of the probes and rub it on the pins of the IC gently so as not to leave a scratch mark or short the adjascent pin.

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By: Robert Calk

Robert Calk — Mon, 06 Mar 2017 22:08:29 +0000

In reply to Chris.

Hi Christian,
Well, on continuity mode, my Brymen 869s outputs 2.943V, my UT139C - 1.002V, and my Fluke 87V - 7.321V. I'm just thinking that people should know the output of their meter or in some circuits they may do harm to some IC's.

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By: Chris

Chris — Sun, 05 Mar 2017 17:53:19 +0000

In reply to Robert Calk.

Hi!
I'm a bit confused now about your question's.
The DMM's voltage output in continuity mode should not be more than 3v.
So mine has also 3v output.
For any IC's so in automotive circuits too the powering voltage should be in some way stabilized for what takes care the stabilizer IC and/or circuit inside the lets say ecu. There are no way to power up an ic through the live 12v power rail in the car, I mean not because the IC maybe can't handle that voltage but a voltage drop from 1-2 volt would be catastrophic for an eerpom or flash memory. They need stabilized voltages, in most of case it is 5V and 3.3V or very rarely 3V.
So, I'm confused with your questions because I don't see any relation with 12V in continuity mode of the DMM and also my article is usable on any circuit no matter if the circuit is powered from 12v ol 220v until you take care with capacitors etc...
My best regards.

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By: Zed Pato

Zed Pato — Sat, 04 Mar 2017 08:24:16 +0000

Sir Christian have you seen your diagram of your esr scale up to 200 ohms.Thanks

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By: Zed Pato

Zed Pato — Sat, 04 Mar 2017 08:10:07 +0000

Thanks for sharing this tool and technique sir Christian!!!

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By: Robert Calk

Robert Calk — Fri, 03 Mar 2017 23:32:19 +0000

Thanks, Christian. What is the output voltage of your DMM in continuity mode? It might be too much in some circuits. Are the IC's in automotive circuits all made to handle 12 volts?

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By: Mohammed Kasim

Mohammed Kasim — Thu, 02 Mar 2017 15:42:45 +0000

Very good idea. Thanks for sharing the information. I used lot of time for searching the track. This will be usefull for me in future

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By: Chris

Chris — Wed, 01 Mar 2017 12:25:12 +0000

In reply to Peter O.

Hi Peter!
So, here is a simple tutorial how to use the tool:
Make the tool as I wrote, set your DMM to continuity mode ( that is the section where the DMM is beeping when you touch the two end's of a wire withe probe) and connect one probe to let's say to pin 1 on a desired IC and with the broom start to move the wire broom over the pcb and search for a beep sound. If the DMM gives a beep sound you found a region where the pin 1 is connected and start to check the region without the broom with the single probe.
I hope this will make think's more clear.
My best regards.

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