Diagnosing faults/fr

Diagnostiquer la panne peut souvent être la partie la plus difficile de la réparation. Dans ce cas, une approche méthodique peut vous éviter beaucoup de frustration et de perte de temps. Voici quelques conseils sur la façon de procéder.

Nos conseils de dépannage

C'est l'une des choses les plus difficiles à "enseigner" - elle s'apprend principalement par l'expérience. C'est comme un dojo de kungfu - plus vous pratiquez, plus vous avez confiance dans les outils/processus. Mais voici quelques conseils.

Ce qu'il faut éviter

• Ne tirez pas de conclusions faciles !
• Evitez les "voies sans issue".

Rassembler les indices

We have a number of ways to gather evidence about the fault, often we have to mix and match.

• Description of the fault from the owner/user (sometimes this can be misleading and/or 'wrong')
• Nature of the onset
• Visual evidence
• Passive testing (e.g. with a meter - resistance can be useful)
• Functional testing (when safe and possible)

Following a logical process

• It really helps to know how something works! (This may sound obvious, but it's worth reading about how the e-thing works.)
• Start investigating in a logical, sequential way where you move from parts you know are working towards parts you know are not working.

Getting help

• Remember, search engines are your best friend, but to get a good answer, you need to ask a good question.
• If you're running out of ideas, explain the problem to someone else. If there's a flaw in your logic or another way to tackle the problem you may well see it even before you finish the explanation, even if your audience didn't understand a word you said or only asked silly questions!
• Creep up on a problem from every possible angle. Sooner or later, with luck, you'll catch it out.

Root cause or causal factor?

• Fixing the "root cause" will permanently clear the fault.
• Fixing only a "causal factor" (such as replacing a blown fuse) may make something work again, by the "root cause" may still be present and the fault will reoccur.

And Now ...

Don't forget to visit our Case Studies page to see some of these principles in operation.