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Showing posts with the label Tracer

Octopus Curve Tracer

This project involves the construction of a low-cost curve tracer that is suitable for testing a wide variety of electronic components both in-circuit and out of circuit. It is easy to construct and extremely useful for finding defective parts, especially semiconductors, in electronic devices. The octopus is used in conjuction with an oscilloscope set to display in X-Y mode. It displays voltage across the test probes on one axis and current through the probes on the other axis. A scope with both Horizontal and Vertical inputs (X-Y mode) is required. This is my version of a circuit that has been around since at least the 1960s, I added the ability to select voltage taps on the filament transformer and adjust the amount of current through the probes. Octopus Curve Tracer Circuit Diagram Theory: Power is applied to the step-down transformer through a 1 amp fuse and a power switch. The transformer has output taps at 4V, 8V, 12V and 16V. If you can't find an equivalent transformer, a mo...

Pulse Generator And Signal Tracer Circuit Diagram

Dual-purpose test-instrument, Very simple circuitry, 1.5V Battery-operated. This simple circuit generates narrow pulses at about 700-800Hz frequency. The pulses, containing harmonics up to the MHz region, can be injected into audio or radio-frequency stages of amplifiers, receivers and the like for testing purposes. A high-pitched tone can be heard from the speaker of the device under test when all is working properly. The clip must be connected to the ground of the device under test, touching with the probe the different stages of the circuit, starting from the last stage and going up towards the first. When the tone is no longer heard, the defective stage has been found. Connecting an earclip or headphone to J1, the circuit will automatically change into a two-stage amplifier and any audio signal coming from the device under test and picked-up by the probe will be heard through the headphones. The testing of a circuit should be made in the reverse manner, i.e. starting from the first...