[sdiy] How to find a short-circuit? (Vox organ problem)

[Paul Perry]

-----Original Message-----
>I'd love to hear it! In other words: what is the best way to try to find a 
>short-circuit that is making the power supply output voltages drop?

I am afraid that all you can do is 'divide and conquer".
In this case, you (ideally) divide the circuitry in half (by disconnecting
half the boards, or otherwise removing power from half) and see which half
is shorting (note that the short circuit may only be noticeable under load).

And when you find which half the problem is in, you divide THAT half and so
on. Just replacing caps at random isn't such a good idea. And it might not
be a cap, I suppose...

What do the real pros do? I suspect that:
1. they have seen the same kind of organ before many times and just happen
to know which component fails.

Or, 2. they have a microvoltmeter & by measuring the voltage drop along the
wiring harness and tracks, can detect the direction of the short circuit
current. It's a point of pride not to have to cut any traces, I have heard.

Paul perry Melbourne Australia