Electrical Machinery Troubleshooting

Equipment can malfunction for many reasons. Mechanical contacts and parts can wear out; wires can overheat and burn open or short out; parts could 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 is a sense of urgency to get it fixed and operational again. If the defective equipment is part of an assembly line, the whole assembly line may very well be down causing unexpected "time without work" 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 these scenarios - and you can find more, can put loads of pressure on you to solve the issue quickly.

So, what is fault finding? It is practise 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 can be a very challenging task. Sometimes problems are easily diagnosed and the problem component easily visible. Other times the symptoms as well as 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 brought on by a high resistance connection can be much tougher to find.

What makes a specialist Fault finder? One trait of expert troubleshooters is that they are capable of finding virtually any fault in a reasonable quantity of time. Easy faults, complicated faults, they find them all. Another trait is that they typically replace only the components which are defective. They seem to have a knack for finding out exactly what is 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, ought to be able to troubleshoot it effectively. Being good at fault finding requires a lot more than this.

Expert troubleshooters have a good understanding of the operation of electrical components which are utilised in circuits they are knowledgeable about, 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. They also understand and effectively use tools including prints, diagrams and test instruments to identify defective components. Finally, they have had the opportunity to develop and refine their fault finding skills. If you want to troubleshoot like the professionals you will require to develop your skills in each of those areas.

You need to be able to work out 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 work out what effect a faulty component could have on the circuit operation.

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