Comment by mrheosuper

5 days ago

I believe the best way to learn is getting your hand dirty. Take thing apart, try to understand how it works.

Start with simple thing: A heater, a drill, etc. You won't learn much if you take apart complex gadget like smartphone.

Also learn common failure mode: MLCC usually short itself, or old devices usually have dried out capacitor.

For repairing equipment, you dont need high-end equipment from fluke or keysight. a cheap $20 DMM and $30 soldering iron will get you really far.

Dont stick your hand into where you wont stick your D.

3 comments

mrheosuper

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luxcem  4 days ago

For someone that try to learn electronics this comments is really hard to understand. What's "common failure mode", "MLCC", "DMM"? What does "old devices usually have dried out capacitor" means?

  • hyperdimension  4 days ago

    "common failure mode" = 'they break in a particular way a lot'

    As Randy Fromm says, "the things that work the hardest fail the most"

    Examples: MLCC (multi-layer ceramic capacitors) over time will often fail short.

    Older devices with electrolytic capacitors (the large can-shaped things often situated by where the power input is) have a liquid electrolyte in them that evaporates (boils off?) over time. When it does, they lose their capacitance and the power supply stops being able to supply (good) power.

    The point being, when something stops working, check these things first. It's like if your lawnmower dies on you, don't go pulling off the head to look at the piston. Check if there's gas in the tank first.

    Finally, a DMM is a digital multimeter. This is your basic tool to measure voltage, current resistance, capacitance, et c.) You can't do much troubleshooting without one.

    Hope this helps.