Printed circuit boards, or PCBs, are a mass of insulators and copper traces that connect densely packed components together to create a modern circuit. Troubleshooting a multi-layer PCB is often quite a challenge, with factors such as size, number of layers, signal analysis, and types of components playing a large role in the ease of troubleshooting. Some more complicated boards will require specialized equipment to properly troubleshoot, but most troubleshooting can be done with to follow traces, currents, and signals through the circuit. One step beyond a visual inspection is a powered physical inspect with power applied to the circuit.
By touching the surface of the PCB and the components on the board, hot spots can be detected without the use of an expensive thermographic camera. When a hot component is detected, it can be cooled with compressed canned air to test the circuit operation with the component at lower temperatures. This technique is potentially dangerous and should only be used on low voltage circuits with the proper safety precautions.
When physically touching a powered circuit, several precautions should be taken. Make sure that only one hand makes contact with the circuit at any time. This prevents an electrical shock from traveling across the heart, a potentially fatal shock. Keeping one hand in your pocket is a good technique when working on live circuits to prevent such shocks. Ensuring all potential current paths to ground, such as your feet or a non-resistive grounding strap, are disconnected is also essential to reduce the danger of shocks. Often the most effective techniques for PCB troubleshooting is to test each individual component. Testing each resistor, capacitor, diode, transistor, inductor, MOSFET, LED, and discrete active components can be done with a multimeter or LCR meter.
Components that have less than or equal to the stated component value, the component is typically good, but if the component value is higher it is an indication that either the component is bad or that the solder joint is bad. Diodes and transistors can be checked using the diode testing mode on a multimeter. The base-emitter (BE) and base-collector (BC) junctions of a transistor should behave like discrete diodes and conduct in one direction only with the same voltage drop. Nodal analysis is another option that allows unpowered testing of components by applying power just to a single component and measuring its voltage vs current (V/I) response.
Electronics for beginners is a topic I love. There are too many people out there trying to preach that electronics is hard. Of course it takes time to become an expert.
But you can start having fun, and build useful things pretty much right away. And it’s easy! Wouldn’t it be cool to make something like a remote control or an amplifier? Or maybe something more advanced like a quadcopter or a mobile phone? Do these steps, and you will be well on your way to building whatever gadget you are dreaming about. Step 1: Get An Overview Of The Basics The first step to take, is to get a simple understanding of the basic concepts in electronics for beginners. Voltage, Current and Resistance.
Current is measured in Amp or A. Voltage is measured in Volt or V. Resistance is measured in Ohm or Here is a nice illustration: Schematics are like recipes for electronics. They tell you exactly how to connect the components to make a certain circuit.
There are a gazillion schematic diagrams on the internet. So without knowing any theory, you can actually build some pretty advanced circuits. As long as you know the practical steps on how to build a circuit. Basic Components I wouldn’t spend too much time in this phase when you are starting out. Just read a bit to get your curiosity started.
Then move on to the next step. Start by skimming through my popular article on the. Or choose a specific component you want to learn more about from one of these articles:. Then, as you progress and get curious about something, you can come back to this “Electronics For Beginners”-guide and learn more about the components. Step 2: Start Building Circuits If you would like to learn public speaking – what do you think is the best way to do it? Study it or actually do it? I think you would agree that you’ll learn more from actually speaking in public.
So as soon as possible, start building circuits. This is the number one thing to do if you want to learn electronics. The easiest way to start is. You’ll get the board and all the components in one package. All you need to do is follow the instructions. But, eventually you should free yourself from these instructions and start building circuits on your own. Start by building some circuits using and.
I have written a super practical eBook you might find helpful:. The book gives you step-by-step instructions on building your first circuits – from a blinking light to a music-playing gadget. It also covers the basics of electronics: what components you need to know, and how to choose components for your circuit. I recommend you to read it and do the steps to get comfortable with building circuits.
To really get good at building circuits, I recommend “9 Circuits”, a training manual for building circuits. It also comes with a kit: Step 3: Get an understanding of microcontrollers Now that you have built some circuits and gotten your ears wet, it’s time to learn about. They are one of the most useful tools in electronics. You can choose how deep you want to go at this step. Maybe you just want to read about the, or maybe you want to go deeper play around with some more advanced microcontroller topics for a while. One of the simplest ways to get started with microcontrollers is with. Whatever you choose, it’s useful to know about the possibilities you have with microcontrollers.
Step 4: Start a project you are passionate about Now the REAL fun begins! Take on a project that you feel inspired. Something you think would be really cool to make.
By doing this, you will meet many challenges. And these challenges are good, because they will show you what you need to learn. In this phase you’ll probably learn some electronics theory, like. And some useful circuit concepts, like the. A good resource for you, when starting your own project, is. Step 5: Take it to the next level Now that you have built your first project, it’s time to take your skill level to the next level. It’s time to learn to design your own circuit boards.
When you learn this skill, you will be able to design really advanced gadgets like quadcopters, robots, mobile phones Designing your own circuit boards is one of the many skills you’ll learn in my. Are you a beginner and want to learn electronics? How can I improve this “Electronics for Beginners”-guide? Let me know what you are struggling with by leaving a comment below.
I’ll do my best to guide you on the right path. And if you like it – please share it. Filed Under: Reader Interactions. If things like IC’s etc start getting a little to warm, disconnect them asap! I’m a licensed master electrician and filled my kitchen with small bits of plastic, little connection teeth and a whole lot of smoke!
Don’t kid yourself, disconnect what your working on. Just because it’s small doesn’t mean it’s 100% safe. It can set off detectors which means where theirs smoke theirs a possible fire! I was darn lucky a piece of something didn’t fly into my eye!
So be careful and that goes for soldering tips as well. I eventually found your clear explanation of the current flow direction issue already posted within your site. Is it just me?
I would love to build the stereo amplifier but I just can’t be bothered used an integrated circuit. It is simply the fact that I would rather build it from individual components after studying the schematic for the whole design. Using an IC does not educate ME at all.
It is a complete cheat. Where can I find a schematic for a similar performing stereo amplifier explaining each components’ contribution. I would really like to build it using individual components. Maybe I am just too old for this.
Many thanks again for the hours of pleasure I have had today. I have built a signal strength meter that works with some refinements and an astable multivibrator using transistors similar to your project. Greetings from the Southern tip of Africa.(South Africa and buying components is a challengehehe).
I downloaded your first Ebook on 15 May. WOW I am impressed with it and am loosing sleep at the moment because I can not leave it alone. I’ll recommend it to anybody who wants to start off with electronics.
(By the way I’m 65 years old) Before the publication of your second book, your emails indicated that the second issue will be for free. Where/how do I download that? (I still need to download the Super Simple Light – but that’s not an issue) Lastly. I need a little information regarding “voltage drop”. So one day you may feel like including this topic in one of your emails. (With power shedding in our country I want to wire my house and put LEDs in strategic places, so when the national power is interrupted, one can move around in the house with some light and not bump into furniture finding candles and torches.) Have a fantastic day.
I love the site and your energy and generosity of spirit, thank you! In return I wanted to share a nice bit of information: In English, the saying that someone is “(still) wet behind the ears” means they are so new, such beginners, that they’re like new-born babies who are still wet behind the ears.
So when on this page you say “Now that your ears are wet” – I’m guessing you meant now that we’ve begun, or dived-in to our subject – the meaning is a bit confused although, it’s also kind of appropriate too in a way. I don’t know what context ‘wet ears’ applies in Norwegian but would be interested in learning! I’m just getting back into electronics, so I’m not ‘wet behind the ears’ but a little rusty;P So when trying to begin again, ‘begin a the beginning’! All the best, Tom. Hi Oyvind, I’m trying to kick start a project as a hobby to create something nice for my 4yr old son but not sure where or how to begin.
Basically, my son has this fancy toothbrush which makes sounds/animated voices when you press the button. I’m trying to understand how this works and i’m hoping to be able to recreate this and make him a device which can lets say playback my own voice or his favourite Spongebobs voice or so. Can you advise/suggest how I can go about either building such a thing (circuit??) from scratch. Regards, Sarfaraz. This is one, actually the most impressive, practical and useful websites as a learning resource I think I have ever come across. For years I’ve wished I understood better how to go about building / designing or repairing programmable modern gadgets (or at least understanding why they broke).
I’d been considering buying an arduino kit for ages. I feel positively enthused by this site – I’ve bookmarked it (from me is an exceptional award!), I will spend a couple of weeks studying all the links then wow I figure I’ll be able to actually do something real.
Oyvind, if education is the key to saving the planet in this technological age, I figure you probably have the ideas and ability that would go a long to making it possible! I commend you. So I’m still new to marking circuits like this. I am skill with electrical work with home and cars, but never tryed making the circuit boards. I tryed some basic stuff now like making an led flash light that does uv, red, and standard light in one but that’s about all I know. After reading your papers it got me thinking about high voltage items like welding machines, and stuff like that. So any thing you can make on a circuit board you can also make in large scale as well for high voltage?
Or is there problems that come up with size and volts? Excluding the insulation needed for height amps. Like could you make a high voltage micro circuit or circuit board?
Therefore, these unexpected results of the electronic circuit may require some troubleshooting and testing procedures for making it a ready to use project. It is very common for the hobbyists and circuit designing learners to anticipate the desired or actual results after completion of the circuit at once.
The best way to become proficient in troubleshooting even to tackle difficult electronic problems is decided by hands-on experience with the electronic circuits. Troubleshooting is the process that determines the cause of the problem in the electronic circuit by examining the affected area of it, and then by taking appropriate action.
For minor problems, troubleshooting requires a little knowledge about the circuit and its components’ working because it involves checking the connections only. However, the major problems of these circuits require deeper knowledge of the circuit operation and the way of using various troubleshooting tools. Therefore, this infographic is presented to provide major steps of troubleshooting, which are helpful for the beginners and students. Hope this information certainly gives a chronological way of troubleshooting technique and further any help regarding this concept you can reach us by commenting in the comment section provided at the end of this article. Note: Some safety and precautionary measures must be taken to prevent the shocks against the live circuits before starting to do the troubleshooting process. Troubleshoot The Electronic Circuit Embed This Image On Your Site (copy code below).
Courtesy of: Edgefxkits & Solutions.
Over the last few years many answer on here told the person asking the question to check a certain component with a multimeter. This has caused some basic questions. How do I do this?
Here is the short description of some of the more common components and how to check those. It will be a basic outline only, not a complete course in electronics. A capacitor is a small, most of the time, electrical/electronics component on most circuit boards, that can perform various functions. When a capacitor is placed in a circuit with an active current, electrons from the negative side build up on the closest plate(the negative flows to the positive, that is why the negative is the active lead, although many capacitors are not polarized). Once the plate can no longer hold them, they are forced past the dielectric and onto the other plate, thus displacing the electrons back into the circuit. This is called the discharge.Electrical components are very sensitive to voltage swings, and as such a power spike can kill those expensive parts.
Capacitors condition DC voltage to other components and thus provide a steady power supply. AC current is rectified by diodes, so instead of AC there are pulses of DC from zero volts to peak. When a capacitor from the power line is connected to ground and the DC will not pass, but as the pulse fills up the cap, it reduces the current flow and the effective voltage.
While the feed voltage goes down to zero, the capacitor begins to leak out its contents, this smoothes the output voltage and current. Therefore a capacitor is placed inline to a component, allowing for absorbing of spikes and supplementing valleys, this in turn keeps a constant power supply to the component. There is a multitude of different types of capacitors, they are often used differently in circuits.The all to familiar round tin can style capacitors are usually electroltyic capacitors. They are made with one or two sheets of metal, separated by a dielectric.
Basic Electronic Troubleshooting For Biomedical Technicians
The dieletric can be air (simplest capacitor) or other non-conductive materials. The metal plate foils, separated by the dielectric, are then rolled up similar to a fruit roll-up, and placed into the can.
These work great for bulk filtering, but they are not very efficient at high frequencies. This is pretty much just the basics about capacitors, and if one needs or wants to learn more, there are plenty of electronic courses out there. Now the main question here is, how to check a capacitor to see if it needs replacing. To perform a check on a capacitor while it is still installed in a circuit, an ESR meter will be necessary. If the capacitor is removed from the circuit then a multimeter set as an ohm meter can be used, but only to test an all-or-nothing test. It will only show if the capacitor is completely dead, or not. It will not determine if the capacitor is in good or poor condition.
And by having permission to access a guide book online or by keeping it on your laptop, you’ve got appropriate advice if you’re not in the automobile. We have made it simple for you to come across without having digging. Manual for 2018 volkswagen passat.
To determine if a capacitor is functioning at the right value (capacitance), a capacitor tester will be necessary. Of course, this also holds true to determine the value of an unknown capacitor. The introduction in capacitors is intresting, but it misses some practical insights. Do you know that electrolytic capacitors can be inspected visually?
Basic Electronic Troubleshooting Guide Pdf
The newer versions can be inspected on top. If the top is domed, the capacitor should be replaced. (mind voltage, cap value and polarity) Older versions can be inspected on the bottom. If there are signs of leakage, replace it! It is also good to know (especially for lovers of vintage amplifiers) that capacitors have a lifetime of 20 years.
For some high-quality vintage amplifiers (such as Quad 303) uk-based companies provide replacement sets. (solder skills required). It's time to speak out for your right to repair We have a chance to guarantee our right to repair electronic equipment—like smartphones, computers, and even farm equipment. This is a once-in-a-generation chance to protect local repair jobs—the corner mom-and-pop repair shops that keep getting squeezed out by manufacturers. Join the cause and tell your state representative to support Right to Repair. Tell them you believe repair should be fair, affordable, and accessible.
Stand up for your right to repair!
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