-=> Quoting Roy McNeill to John Tserkezis <=-

Hello Roy,

 RM> Trick: to help find a shorted cap on a rail that has dozens of
 RM> candidates, connect a power supply to the rail, voltage set to
 RM> something below the rail's normal level, and current limit set to
 RM> something low, start off at say 200mA. Connect neg lead of
 RM> multimeter to neg connection, then use the pos lead to hunt
 RM> millivolts down the tracks. Look for caps with the same voltage on
 RM> both leads. Increase the current if the drops along the tracks
 RM> can't be detected, but watch out for heating. Don't try winding up
 RM> the current and looking for hot caps, shorted tantalums often
 RM> conduct better than the tracks around them.
 
 Sneaky trick, I'll try it next time I have that type of fault.  WRT to other
shorts, I heard this one guy used to slowly crank up the supply until the
relevant tracks start glowing.  Good for multi-layer boards, well, come to
think of it, probably not real good.
 Another told my he used to supply power and feel around for hot ICs.

 JT> Blotching up the sine wave like that defeats the purpose of having
 JT> a sine inverter in the first place. Sure it would be cleaner than a
 JT> square only, but if you go the trouble of making a sine output
 JT> inverter, you may as well actually USE a sine wave. :-)

 RM> not if it's too expensive or complicated. Remember my ancestry, and
 RM> the copper wire legend (see The Profiles on Aunt Teddy's homepage)
 
 I don't currently have web access, but I can imagine.. :-)
 
 JT> If it is just a square wave, you don't really need a PIC, as it can
 JT> be done cheaper with garden variety components.
 
 RM> Marginally cheaper. A PIC and crystal is typically less than $15.

 RM>  the newer 8 pin 12C5xx PICs are $1.50 each in lots of 10. I
 RM> think I'm in love...

 What are they like?  I was doing a bit of homework a while back, and was
not too impressed with the pics at that stage.  They didn't have too much
info available.  I believe the situation has changed, and much is available
now.


John Tserkezis, Sydney, Oz. Fidonet: 3:712/610  Internet: jt{at}suburbia.com.au

... If you're not a hemorrhoid, Then get out of my arse.
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