--> What is your favorite piece of troubleshooting equipm

[ibanezts808]

What is your favorite piece of troubleshooting equipment?  multimeter, audio probe, etc...?

[littlegreiger]

I'd have to say the audio probe because you can hear where the signal stops.

[ninoman123]

Continuity mode on my DMM because I always have solder shorts, traces touching, or something misgrounded.

[petemoore]

DMM, I haven't used an AP for a long long time..many debugs and builds ago.
 Of course I use my patented [for 9V and less usage only please] 'ThumBuZZ" Technique, touching [through a conductor rod] points in the circuit SP, starting from the very output, through the switch [listening for the Bzzz that comes through the amp when you touch SP], working toward middle, and then front end of the circuit.
 IF the inputs are a little louder buzz than the output of an amp I can assume that gain stage' is working.
 If I lose signal, or it's sorely attenuated or even unity [testing a gain stage], I look for voltages...
 Generally I just have to look at the voltages, but if there's a break in the SP the "Thumbuzz Technique" seems to find it for me.

[ErikMiller]

Most used: DMM

Most fun: Oscilloscope

[ibanezts808]

lol, that's crazy, I love the thumbbuzz tooo!  I use it for everything, guitar pedals, amps, home power outlets, power poles, and sometimes just for fun, I like to go down to the generator area and check the connections to the cities power.


[I don't want to be liable for any deaths, this reply was only a joke.  I highly do not suggest testing anything but your guitar pedal projects in this way!]

[MartyMart]

1 - MY EARS !
2 - MY BURNT FINGERS !!!


Marty. :lol:

[Brian Marshall]

my crappy diy audio probe... which is basiclaly two wires and a mono jack.  cost about $1

[ibanezts808]

1 - MY EARS !
2 - MY BURNT FINGERS !!!


Marty. :lol:

lol, dammit marty, i said to not do it!  whatever, I'm not liable, I posted a disclaimer. lets hear it for covering your @$s!  

[LivingDeadPunk]

Audioprobe, coz most of the time I don't carefully check the transistors orientation.    :oops:

[R.G.]

The only really essential piece of troubleshooting equipment is a well-oiled brain. No other piece of equipment will make up for not having this one. It is possible in some cases to troubleshoot equipment with nothing else, not even touching the equipment, as we demonstrate regularly here in this forum.

Second is a voltmeter. Analog voltmeters are actually better for some situations than digital. The only way to get a voltmeter these days is with an ohmmeter included, so #3 is taken care of automagically.

Fourth? Ummm... oscilloscope. PC plugin o'scope is better than nothing, but MOSFETs oscillating at 100MHz won't be visible there.

[smashinator]

Wow, R.G. posted what I was thinking.

GET OUT OF MY HEAD R.G.!!!  j/k

[davebungo]

R.G. made me wonder when he mentioned analogue meters.  Has anyone tried using a cheap VU meter for the purpose - I can imagine that this would be really useful as the ballistic is quite slow so it captures the average level whereas a DMM isn't really useful in this sense (unless you can afford an expensive one with a built-in scope).  The only thing with using a VU module would be that you would need some gain on the front of it as it is really designed for monitoring line level signals.

[barret77]

Hey, does anyone has the Mouser part number for the "brain" RG mentioned?
I'm not finding it anywhere! I need it to debug my projects!






:lol:

[davebungo]

Hey, does anyone has the Mouser part number for the "brain" RG mentioned?
I'm not finding it anywhere! I need it to debug my projects!
:lol:

Everybody has one but, alas, not everyone uses one.

[jmusser]

I haven't been at this as long as a lot of other people, but I've found out that a fresh schematic and highlighter goes a long way to finding what you miswired, especially if it's totally dead. If it's somewhat working, and you use the "thumb buzz" technique, you'll end up awful close to the problem area. If you're at the front end of the circuit for example, and touch the output pot lug and the sound gets louder, then your problem is before that stage. I run into that on the Square Wave Shaper. I had to tie two .01s in parallel to make .02. What I ended up doing after I turned the board over, was to twist both legs of same .01 cap together on both caps, instead of 1 each of each leg of the two caps together. Unfortunately, that's not parallel, that's an open circuit! The whole process took about 15 minutes to locate and fix.

[Pedal love]

I have always been able to troubleshoot and fix my own stuff.... I must have one of those brain-o-mometers that R.G. mentioned

[onboard]

:shock:






Ok, it's a lift from the test equipment museum at nethippy.org  -  couldn't resist.

[Connoisseur of Distortion]

:shock:






Ok, it's a lift from the test equipment museum at nethippy.org  -  couldn't resist.

"well, i'll be damned! it WAS a bad solder!"  :lol:

[gammamu]

i have to agree with RG and jmusser.  my first line of action is the highlighter/schematic.  brains are very helpful, but i need an upgrade.  mine is a bit outdated.