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Ask HN: How do I learn practical electronic repair?

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Re: Ask HN: How do I learn practical electronic repair?

#71

Post by gregoriol »

hyperman1 wrote: post #64
atonse wrote: post #24

Louis Rossmann’s electronics guide was the first time these concepts truly clicked for me: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkVbIsAWN2ltOWmriIdOc5Cti... Apart from that, just fix broken stuff. Practice like any other skill, like others have said. Like decide what skills to learn based on what’s broken. Need to solder something together? Buy the soldering iron. Need to figure out which capacitor you need to replace…

I'd add: Learn to recognize dangers first. From the top of my head: * big caps that can contain high voltages even when a device is powered off, in TVs or microwaves. * Know where a fire extinguisher etc is, keep them near the workbench. * Keep the workbench clean, tidy and well-vented. * Don't panic when mistakes are made. Slow down instead of doing a quick-fix. * I like a big red button to power down everything ins…

Also let someone know where you are and by what time you plan to have completed the job, could save your life

Re: Ask HN: How do I learn practical electronic repair?

#72

Post by tosmatos »

steve_adams_86 wrote: post #48
mikewarot wrote: post #6

I've got a friend who has been at this since learning in TV repair shops in the 1950s. His emphasis is always on fast turn-around. He doesn't believe in slowly turning on things with old electrolytic capacitors, for example. I've learned quite a bit from him. I've learned not to fear B+, but to give very healthy respect to anything more than 500 volts. (Only use 1 hand, keep the other behind you, always have a safety…

> You'll definitely need to learn to solder. Probably implied here, but learning to desolder is huge too. And there are tricks to it that didn't come easily to me. When you buy your first iron, I think it's worth getting some flux and solder wick as well. Taking circuits apart cleanly and properly can make repairs so much easier.

On that note, is it worth it to get a desoldering iron ? Like, what is essentially a soldering iron and a desoldering pump combined ? I've had little success desoldering in the past, and broke boards because of it.

Re: Ask HN: How do I learn practical electronic repair?

#73

Post by mtts »

tosmatos wrote: post #72
steve_adams_86 wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You'll definitely need to learn to solder. Probably implied here, but learning to desolder is huge too. And there are tricks to it that didn't come easily to me. When you buy your first iron, I think it's worth getting some flux and solder wick as well. Taking circuits apart cleanly and properly can make repairs so much easier.

On that note, is it worth it to get a desoldering iron ? Like, what is essentially a soldering iron and a desoldering pump combined ? I've had little success desoldering in the past, and broke boards because of it.

Yes. If you can afford it (around 100 $€ will get you a basic one) and you expect to use it more than once, it'll save you a lot of grief.

Re: Ask HN: How do I learn practical electronic repair?

#74

Post by Nextgrid »

hyperman1 wrote: post #64
atonse wrote: post #24

Louis Rossmann’s electronics guide was the first time these concepts truly clicked for me: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkVbIsAWN2ltOWmriIdOc5Cti... Apart from that, just fix broken stuff. Practice like any other skill, like others have said. Like decide what skills to learn based on what’s broken. Need to solder something together? Buy the soldering iron. Need to figure out which capacitor you need to replace…

I'd add: Learn to recognize dangers first. From the top of my head: * big caps that can contain high voltages even when a device is powered off, in TVs or microwaves. * Know where a fire extinguisher etc is, keep them near the workbench. * Keep the workbench clean, tidy and well-vented. * Don't panic when mistakes are made. Slow down instead of doing a quick-fix. * I like a big red button to power down everything ins…

If you're often working with mains-voltage things, you can use:

* an isolation transformer - meaning you must now touch both conductors to get shocked instead of just the live one

* a foot switch to control the power supply - serves as a "dead man's switch" to cut power in case of an accident

(these are not mutually-exclusive, you can combine them)

Re: Ask HN: How do I learn practical electronic repair?

#75

Post by mrheosuper »

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.

Re: Ask HN: How do I learn practical electronic repair?

#76

Post by lnsru »

The thing is that one needs understanding of an electrical engineer to debug circuits one wants to repair. When you have understanding you can do some voltage measurements and try to identify faulty part. There is gazillion different parts now, that wasn’t the case 2 decades ago.

I know few people who repaired their washing machines just watching youtube videos. No skills and no knowledge. That’s the best error you can find - series error. All the appliances of the same manufacturer built in the 5 years will predictably fail and replacing 20 cent regulator revives the machine.

There are then random faults, that need deep knowledge and hours of debugging. They’re not economically viable to repair unless the machinery is very expensive. Good example is 400€ transistor replacement in €20k Tektronix probe.

Then there are things one shouldn’t touch - Tesla battery packs and open microwave ovens for example. Enough energy to kill or badly injure the unlucky hobbyists (in German): https://www.kosmo.at/tesla-akku-explodiert-mann-schwer-verle...

There are enough analog electronics to repair what requires deep analog design knowledge. Music instruments and radio equipment might fall into this category.

I would say, the repairs make no sense in the future that comes. With more and more electronics and programmable components the repairs are not economically viable. I am designing a motherboard with MPM54304 PMIC and a microprocessor. Both are programmed and without firmware sources and circuit diagram one will not able to recreate desired functionality. After product release I will organize workshop for my colleagues from service department and they will still come to me to discuss the repairs when some early faulty products will be send back by customers.

Re: Ask HN: How do I learn practical electronic repair?

#79

Post by snackbroken »

ajb wrote: post #66
hyperman1 wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd add: Learn to recognize dangers first. From the top of my head: * big caps that can contain high voltages even when a device is powered off, in TVs or microwaves. * Know where a fire extinguisher etc is, keep them near the workbench. * Keep the workbench clean, tidy and well-vented. * Don't panic when mistakes are made. Slow down instead of doing a quick-fix. * I like a big red button to power down everything ins…

Definitely Risks to consider in general are (also of the top of my head don't take as exhaustive): * Electrocution * Burning yourself * Setting stuff on fire * Fumes, both from soldering and overheating/burning plastic There's a kind of balance between habits and awareness. Rely too much on awareness and you will miss some safety issue during a complicated repair. You need good habits, but rely too much on them and y…

A tip on how to reinforce good safety habits taught to me by my shop class teacher is to refer to any dangerous tool you are using by the kind of injury it is likely to inflict. The lathe is the deglover, the angle grinder is the eye splinter injector, the welder is the retina tanning machine, the soldering station is the IQ diminisher, etc. This helps to put you in the mind of "I need the eye splinter injector for this task, how shall I go about avoiding getting splinters injected into my eyeballs?" instead of getting complacent.
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