Chat with a retired Pan Am avionics guy got me thinking about old-school troubleshooting

He said they used to trace wiring faults with just a multimeter and a schematic before all these fancy diagnostic computers existed, and that made me wonder if I rely too much on automated test equipment now. Have you ever had a moment where an old-timer's method actually solved a problem faster than your usual go-to gear?

3 comments

3 Comments

kai_ramirez385d ago

Oh man, I used to totally scoff at the old-school approach, figured it was just outdated and slow. But then I had a weird intermittent issue on a circuit board that my diagnostic software kept missing, and tracing it step by step with a multimeter actually found it in like ten minutes. Definitely changed my mind about having backup methods that don't need a screen.

fionanguyen5d agoMost Upvoted

Used to roll my eyes at multimeter work, but it saved me on a weird wiring issue too.

lisab325d ago

Multimeter work is fine but people act like it's some kind of miracle tool. You can get the same result guessing and checking half the time. I've fixed stuff with just a screwdriver and process of elimination. It's not that deep.