[time-nuts] huntron tracker advice & troubleshooting without schematic advise

[Bruce Griffiths]

Magnus Danielson wrote:
> Patrick wrote:
>   
>> Hi Everyone
>>
>> I have consistently had success repairing laboratory instruments(my
>> small business) when I have a schematic and I have consistently failed
>> without one, lots of opportunities are slipping threw my fingers.
>>
>> I want to invest in tools that will help me troubleshoot without a
>> schematic. I was thinking about getting a Huntron tracker. Has anyone
>> had any experience with one? Could you feedback?
>>
>> Are there other tools that have helped you fix circuit boards without a
>> schematic?
>>     
> The Huntron tracker does not solve your basic problem of not having the 
> schematics, rather it helps you for some of the analysis when you do 
> have a schematic. We do alot of analysis at work and the trackers sits 
> there idling on a shelf, since we rarely have problems at which we have 
> a short on a power-plane or a slightly broken semiconductor. Only a 
> handfull of problem would apply. We have alot of other usefull tools 
> instead.
>
> For you to buy a Huntron tracker you should do it for the right reason, 
> that it applies to your kind of problems and would aid in locating 
> problems and measure basic semiconductor behaviour.
>
> Now, Huntron claims that it will aid on undocumented boards. It will to 
> a certain extent, since it is agnostic to the design as such, it just 
> measures electrical properties. However a Fluke multimeter is similarly 
> agnostic and may do similar but not all of the tests the trackers do. 
> Also, to some degree a tracker becomes somewhat difficult to use in some 
> cases without a functional board alongside for reference.
>
> I don't want to say it is a bad tool, it isn't. I just want to kill your 
> overly high expectations. Only then you can buy one and feel happy about 
> it in the long run. What the tracker does as a basic measurement tool is 
> to do I/V diagrams. You can make your own I/V setup by using an 
> (preferably analog) oscilloscope in X/Y setup, a simple diffrential amp 
> (4 resistors and an op-amp in a cook-book diffrential amp setup), a 
> resistor for current-to-voltage conversion and an audio generator 
> producing a sine. This is sufficient to get you started and try the 
> principle out. If you learn to use it and find it usefull, getting a 
> dedicated instrument might aid your work. If not you have not wasted as 
> much money and you only cry over the lost time.
>
> Cheers,
> Magnus
>
>   
A link to a page claiming to have the circuit for a build your own version:
http://www.davesplanet.net/tracker/

Bruce