Found a trick for tracing those intermittent shorts on the bench

Been fighting a 20 year old King Air audio panel that would drop out randomly. Tried freezing spray, heat gun, tapping on boards nothing. On a whim I hooked up a shop vac to blow cold air through the chassis and it started acting up right away. Narrowed it down to a cold solder joint on a molex pin after tracing with a dental mirror. Has anyone else used air flow to find flaky connections or am I just lucky?

2 comments

2 Comments

cameron31828d ago

That shop vac trick sounds more like luck than a real method honestly. Cold air blowing over a cold solder joint isn't going to make it fail unless you're just shaking the whole board around. Probably just coincidence it started acting up when you did that.

thompson.finley28d ago

Funny you say that, because I had a buddy who used a hair dryer once to "fix" a radio that wouldn't turn on. He just blew hot air around the board for a few minutes, and it fired right up. Worked for about two weeks, then it died again for good. Never did figure out if it was a cold joint or some moisture issue, but he swore by it after that until the thing finally quit. Makes you wonder how much of this repair stuff is just dumb luck or a temporary fix that buys you time. Ever had something come back to life with heat or cold, only to crap out later?