Vehicle Electrical Troubleshooting Shortcuts
Become the "go-to" electrical tech in your shop.
Vehicle Electrical Troubleshooting SHORTCUTS
- Batteries
- Cranking Circuits
- Charging Circuits
- Reading Schematics
Packed full of how-to-do electrical troubleshooting procedures that are effective in finding electrical problems and save valuable testing and troubleshooting time which will increase your profits. Prevents changing unnecessary parts. No more guessing about what's causing an electrical problem. Find out quickly and fix the problem correctly the first time.
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See Electrical SHORTCUTS in action with this youtube series!
TW #10 - Electrical Testing Shortcuts with Vince Fischelli: Part One (Battery Testing)
ITW #11 - Electrical Testing Shortcuts with Vince Fischelli: Part Two (Starting Systems)
ITW #12 - Electrical Testing Shortcuts with Vince Fischelli: Part 3 (Charging Systems)
Learn to find the cause of an electrical failure while the circuit is still on-the-vehicle.
Topics of Seven Sections in SHORTCUTS
26 Pages - 11 Illustrations
The first section is an introduction to essential electrical principles for those who have never studied electrical principles before or would like a brief review. It covers electrical subjects in a way that is practical for vehicle service technicians.
Topics in Section 1:
- Introduction to electricity
- Flashlight operates on electrical principles
- The load in a circuit
- Circuit ON/OFF Switch
- Electrical terminology when a flashlight circuit is OFF
- When a flashlight circuit is turned ON and electron current flows
- In-rush electron current
- Conventional theory of current
- Important electrical terminology when a flashlight is OFF
- It's electron current that gets the work done
- Electrical principles to remember
- Electrical property of resistance - Impact of resistance in a circuit
- The problem caused by corrosion
- The relationship between voltage and electron current
- The relationship between resistance and current
- The relationship between voltage, current and resistance
- Ohm's Law
- Introduction to schematic diagrams
- Vehicle battery schematic symbols
- "Schemation" diagrams - Voltage side of vehicle primary electrical system
- Voltage side B+; Ground side of vehicle voltage source B-; Dual ground system
- Vehicle Ground Circuits
34 Pages - 44 Illustrations
What a DMM can do and can't do and common mistakes using a DMM or a current clamp! Section 2 shows you how to use a DMM and current clamp!
Topics in Section 2:
- Introduction to DMMs
- Two types of DMMs in use
- Caution reading auto ranging DMM
- Converting between volts and millivolts
- DMM voltage ranges
- Tips using a voltmeter
- DMM Current ranges
- Proper use of 20A range
- Tips using an ammeter
- Ohmmeters in general
- Human body resistance affects ohmmeter readings - Errors reading ohmmeters
- Practice testing resistance with ohmmeters
- Tips using an ohmmeter
- Continuity test
- Reading the continuity display
- Conductivity vs. Continuity
- Diode testing
- Semiconductor diodes
- How to use the diode test feature
- Tips using diode test
- Current clamps
- Current clamp set-up
- How a current clamp works
- Tips using a current clamp
- Frequency measurement
35 Pages - 40 Illustrations
How can you troubleshoot circuits if you don't know how circuits work? Section 3 shows you how circuits work & how circuits fail!
Topics in Section 3:
- Why study electrical circuit principles?
- Water hose in a series connection
- Hose water current
- Electrical series circuit
- The law of (electron) current in a series circuit
- Impact of resistance R1
- Current takes the path of least resistance
- Measuring electron current in a series circuit
- Voltage in a series circuit
- How much should a Vd (voltage drop) be?
- Vd of components in a circuit - Law of voltage in a series circuit
- The voltage drop of the voltage side
- The voltage drop of the ground side
- Law of resistance in a series circuit
- Load resistance
- Starter Kit H-111A troubleshooting training
- Two water hoses in parallel
- Electrical parallel circuit
- Law of current in parallel circuits - Current takes the path of least resistance
- Measuring total electron current in a parallel circuit
- Measuring individual parallel branch electron current
- Law of voltage in parallel circuits
- Measuring voltage inside a branch
- Law of resistance in parallel circuits
- Example of resistors in parallel
- Compound circuit
- Voltage measurement techniques
- Measuring B+
- Measuring Vd of the voltage side
- Measuring voltage drop of the ground side
- Putting it all together
- H-113 Troubleshooting DC Motor Circuits Troubleshooting Trainer.
34 Pages - 18 Illustrations
Can you verify by testing if a battery is good, marginal or bad in about 30 seconds? Can you test a battery to be sure it won't burn up a generator? Can you test a battery for proper charging in less than 5 minutes?) Section 4 shows you how!
Topics in Section 4:
- Introduction to batteries
- Understand how the generator and battery work together. What happens to battery voltage (what does battery voltage tell you about a battery?)
- (What does battery current tell you about a battery?
- How, when, what and why to test and measure battery parameters?) Understand a battery's true condition during discharge
- Battery discharge circuit
- Battery changes during discharge
- Battery recharge circuit
- The battery during recharge and what you need to know
- Testing batteries correctly
- Cycle testing electrical circuits
- Static voltage test, O.C.V.
- When battery O.C.V. is 12.66V
- When battery O.C.V. is suddenly down to 10.55V
- When battery O.C.V. is suddenly almost zero volt
- When battery O.C.V. is over 13.00V
- Battery cranking voltage test
- Summary of cranking voltage test
- Battery cranking electron current test
- Battery recharge electron current test (something battery manufacturers don't want you to know)
- Carbon pile battery load test
- Battery bounce-back test
- Determine remaining battery life - Overview of Quick 3-step battery test procedure (takes 2 minutes or less and you know what you need to know about a battery).
30 Pages - 18 Illustrations
Can you test the cranking circuit in less than one minute and know if a no/slow crank is a battery problem? - a starter motor problem? - or simply a bad connection? Section 5 shows you how!
- Introduction to cranking circuits
- Basic cranking circuit
- Understanding starter motor current
- Overview of troubleshooting cranking circuit problems
- Measure cranking current or starter motor draw
- Measure battery cranking voltage
- 3-step cranking circuit testing procedure
- When starter draw is too high
- When starter draw is too low
- Is there a bad connection in the wiring?
- A resistance problem in the starter motor?
- Pin-point a bad connection or cable on voltage side
- 3-step QUICK cranking circuit troubleshooting
- Cranking circuit control
- Testing the solenoid control circuit
- Simple cranking circuit
- Failure to crank
- Starter relay circuit
- H-115 Troubleshooting Relay Circuits Trainer
- Troubleshooting starter relay circuit
- Here's a true story.
47 Pages - 30 Illustrations
Can you test the charging system in 60 seconds and know if there is a charging voltage problem? Can you tell if the battery burned up the generator you just replaced? Do you know how to test a generator when it is controlled by an on-board computer? Can you tell if a computer controlling the generator went bad because the computer just failed on its own or a generator problem burned up the computer? Section 6 shows you how!
- Introduction to generator/charging systems
- Overview of the charging system - Inside a generator
- What a generator does
- Interpreting the charging voltage - Three factors that affect the charging voltage
- Generator voltage tests
- Generator electron current tests
- The charging voltage test
- When charging voltage is too high or too low
- Understanding generator/battery current test
- Measuring battery recharge electron current
- Factors that determine battery recharge current
- How to measure battery recharge current
- What's good
- What's bad
- Read the DMM correctly
- Determine if a battery is defective when recharging
- Try this simple experiment - The conclusion of measuring battery recharge current
- Generator ripple voltage test
- Lab scope test of generator output
- Overview of testing vehicle charging system - Evaluating charging voltage test results
- The wrong way to test a generator
- Two major problems with the generator load test
- Computer controlled generator
- How an on-board computer controls the generator
- Here's the problem
- Testing resistance of rotor/field winding
- Hot and cold resistance Evaluating/calculating rotor/field winding condition
- rotor/field windings may be internally grounded
- Introduction to PWM (pulse-width-modulation)
- PWM duty cycle
- PWM rotor/field winding control.
18 Pages and 9 Schematic Diagrams to study
What does a schematic diagram tell you and what does it not tell you? Section 7 shows you how to get the most out of reading schematic diagrams!
- Learn how to read a schematic diagram
- What a schematic diagram can do
- or can't do. What is a "Schemation" of a vehicle's primary electrical system
- inventory of a circuit diagram
- Trace the path of electron current
- Measure the voltage around the circuit
- Physically trace the circuit lines
- Exercise 7-3: Reading a relay controlled cooling fan circuit diagram
- How the circuit works
- Troubleshooting the circuit on paper
- Exercise 7-4: Reading a relay controlled cranking circuit diagram
- How the circuit works
- Troubleshooting the circuit on paper
- Exercise 7-5: Reading a relay controlled horn circuit diagram
- How the circuit works
- Troubleshooting the circuit on paper
- Exercise 7-6: Reading a rear compartment relay controlled lid release circuit diagram
- How the circuit works
- Troubleshooting the circuit on paper
- Exercise 7-7: Reading a relay controlled window defogger circuit diagram
- How the circuit works
- Troubleshooting the circuit on paper
- Exercise 7-8: Reading a relay controlled window/washer pump motor circuit diagram
- How the circuit works
- Troubleshooting the circuit on paper
- Conclusion reading schematic/schemation diagrams.
Imagine quickly repairing vehicle electrical problems on-the-vehicle in battery, cranking and charging circuits using only a DMM and Current Clamp. No need for expensive electrical testers dedicated to test these components and circuits.
SHORTCUTS provides explanations on how these circuits work and presents innovative electrical troubleshooting procedures for batteries, cranking circuits and charging circuits that anyone can follow!
What Next?
The 60 Lesson Vehicle Electronics Training Course is an in-depth instruction in vehicle electrical-electronic circuits and troubleshooting. This program is ideal as a back-up to our hands-on training programs.
The 60 Lesson Vehicle Electronics Training Course is now digitally available on-line here or purchase a print version here.
All 60 lessons have been translated and are available in Spanish!
