STREET SMARTS

FOR ELECTRIC
AVENUE

BY SAM BELL
If you don’t know where you’re going,
any path will take you there, eventually.
But with electrical troubleshooting, your
destination must be identified before
you begin the journey.

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 T
he basic ideas present-
ed at the beginning of
this article will devel-
op in ways designed
to help your under-
standing of advanced
circuits to grow. The goal is to help
you learn to troubleshoot electrical
circuits quickly, accurately, confident-
ly and, of course, profitably.
All procedures described are spe-
cifically designed for use on 12V auto-
motive systems only. Work on higher
voltage systems, such as those found
in hybrid-electric or full electric-drive
vehicles, requires different proce-
dures and equipment. High-voltage
systems present a lethal danger.
It’s all about feeding the beast.
Whether it’s something as simple as
turning on the brake lights or mea-
suring coolant temperature, or as
complex as determining whether to
deploy an air bag, every electrical cir-
cuit exists for only one reason: to do
some kind of work. Whatever device
or “load” will be doing the work in a
particular circuit is a beast that must
be fed with an adequate diet of elec-
tricity. The job of the circuit is to
feed the beast; the job of the beast is
to do some work.
Sound troubleshooting procedures
can always get you to the correct an-
swer eventually, although sometimes
the journey will be long and “circu-
itous” (pardon the pun!). Following
sound procedures can identify all
three types of possible circuit faults:
open faults (think of a broken wire or
inoperative switch); shorts (unintend-
ed circuit paths, whether caused by
abrasion, a stuck switch or some oth-
er cause); and voltage faults (usually
reduced voltage most often due to
corrosion, but occasionally overvolt-
age due to charging system faults).
Troubleshooting can identify failed
electrical components as well. Fi-
nally, troubleshooting can also help
Photos: Thinkstock

identify the root causes of some fail-

ures, and may often even help iden-
tify conditions which are likely to
cause future failures.

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 Street Smarts for Electric Avenue

Simple Flashlight Circuit

(all readings VDC )

Flashlight Off

Figure 1 Figure 2

Flashlight Off Flashlight On

Figure 3 Figure 4

Flashlight On Flashlight Off

Figure 5 Figure 6

In many ways, electrical trouble-
shooting is the exact opposite of me-
chanical repair. Mechanical faults
are generally visually apparent and
easily diagnosed, though they may
require lengthy work for access and
repair. Electrical faults are often
hidden, requiring a long time to di-
agnose, while the actual repair (run-
ning in a new wire, replacing a cor-
roded terminal, etc.) is generally rel-
atively quick once the fault has been
located and identified. In electrical
diagnosis, we spend most of our time
finding out where the problem isn’t!
Circuit Measuring Basics
Circuits are circular in that they al-
low energy to flow from a source,
perform some work at the load and,
eventually, to return to that same
source. But if the energy has done its
work, why isn’t it “all used up”? The
short and simplified answer is that,
for our purposes, there are two kinds
of energy in a circuit (positive and
negative), and we need both of them
to make the work flow. And to make
that happen, we need a return path
back to the energy source. And yes,
the energy does get used up along
the way. Some people find it helpful
to think of the two kinds of electricity
as examples of the equal and opposite
forces of action and reaction.
Let’s look at an example circuit.
Fig. 1 above shows a very simple
flashlight circuit. We start with a
flashlight so simple that it doesn’t

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 even have a switch. If good batteries flashlight a bit more practical by add- the switch is off, there’s no flow of
and a bulb are installed, the light ing a switch. Fig, 2 shows our light current, no work happens, no light.
simply shines until the This is an open circuit.
battery becomes too Let’s add in a voltmeter
weak or until the bulb’s now, to see if we can learn
filament breaks. One a little more about the
end (or pole) of the bat- In many ways, electrical circuit’s properties. Fig. 3
tery is positive and the shows the readings we get
other end is negative. troubleshooting is the exact at each of the indicated
Each end of the battery points when we hook up
is connected to the bulb opposite of mechanical repair. the voltmeter’s negative
at opposite ends of its fila- lead to the left end of the
ment. When the two types In electrical diagnosis, we spend left battery and move the
of energy, positive and
negative, meet inside the
most of our time finding out voltmeter’s positive lead to
each of the points shown.
filament, it lights up from where the problem isn’t! The black lead goes
the heat of their combi- in the COM port, while
nation. The heat, in turn, the red lead goes into
causes the bulb to glow. I the VΩ port. The black
know you’re more inter- probe tip is connected
ested in working on cars to the left end of the
than on flashlights, but bear with me. with the added switch in the OFF po- left battery, while the red probe tip
What if we decided to make our sition. What’s happening here? Since is connected to each of the points

Circle #12

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 Street Smarts for Electric Avenue
C
urrent probes, or “amp-
clamps,” make use of one
of the fundamental elec-
tromechanical properties
called induction. A current trav-
eling through a magnetic field
induces a voltage in that
field. This induced volt-
age is proportional to the
strength of the original
current, and varies accord-
ing to the design of the
probe.
And that’s their big ad-
vantage: You can measure
voltage more safely and
easily than you can mea-
sure current. High-current
probes generally output a
voltage of 1mV/A of cur-
rent. They’re very useful
for looking at high-current
power circuits like starter
motors, alternators, wip-
ers and rear window de-
foggers. Low-amp probes
generally output either
10mV/A or 100mV/A.
They’re very helpful when
evaluating low- to mid-
range currents such as
those powering injectors,
ignition coils, fuel pumps,
etc. Microamp probes gen-
erally output 10mv/mA,
and are extremely useful
in evaluating certain types
of wheel speed sensors,
air/fuel sensors, vacuum
switching solenoids, blend
door motors, etc.
Most current probes
have a zero knob or dial. To zero
a current probe, place the probe
around the wire whose current is
to be measured with that circuit
turned off. Make sure to turn the
shown. The selector switch for our
meter is in the VDC position.
What have we measured? So far,
we’ve looked only at source voltage,
the amount of electrical pressure
found in the batteries. But we’ve al-
so learned that there’s a conductive
path from the positive pole of the
26 November 2016
Electrical.indd 5
CURRENT PROBES
probe on and connect it to your
scope or meter. (Most probes re-
quire a 9V battery.) Turn the knob
until the meter reads 0. Low-amp
and microamp probes are easi-
ly overwhelmed by high current
flow, which can cause their jaws’
magnets to become temporarily
too strong. Open the jaws and let
them snap closed on a piece of
paper to dissipate the excess and
right battery all the way to the tip of
the switch, and a conductive path-
way all the way from the negative
pole at the left end of the left bat-
tery all the way along the negative
bus, into the negative terminal of the
bulb, and all the way out of the other
end of the bulb right up to where
restore normal function.
A current probe’s output is gen-
erally in millivolts (mV) and corre-
sponds with the ratio printed on
the probe.
High-amp probes are frequent-
ly used to do relative
compression testing and
to assess actual current
consumption or output.
They usually feature a
large jaw opening capa-
ble of surrounding even
very large battery ca-
bles. Low-amp probes are
best used for circuits in
the 100mA to 20A range.
Jaw diameter is usually
insufficient to allow their
use on a main battery ca-
ble. Microamp probes are
well suited to very small
power consumers that
use 400mA or less. Their
much smaller jaw open-
ing is intended for small-
gauge single wires.
High-amp probes can-
Photo courtesy Automotive Electronics Services
not generally be used to
home in on small current
draws of the sort that
might leave a battery
dead in a vehicle un-
driven for several days.
Low-amp probes may
lack sufficient precision
to pinpoint very small
circuit draws below
about 100mA. They’re al-
so generally unreliable
when currents exceed
40A. Microamp probes
are well suited to small-current
circuits and to identification of
small-magnitude parasitic draws,
but their small jaw size limits
their use on larger cables.
the switch contact would close if we
turned our flashlight on.
Okay, now let’s turn our flashlight
back on and do the same measure-
ments (Fig. 4). We hook up our volt-
meter the same way and check the
voltage at each of the points again.
You can see the change at the left
10/21/16 12:48 PM
 end of the bulb. The closed switch tip is connected to each of the points and so is the one at the bottom of the
now allows positive current to flow shown in turn. bulb. The reading at the battery end
from the batteries to the filament, We’ve already seen what changed, of the switch has also remained the
then back to the other end of the so now let’s look at what stayed the same. In fact, only the voltage at the
batteries. Meanwhile, left end of the bulb, nearest
negative current flows to the switch, has changed.
from the other end of This illustrates a couple
the batteries through of important properties of
the spring, through A voltmeter does not become a electrical circuits: In a cir-
the flashlight, into the cuit where the voltage on
bulb, through the fil- part of the circuit to which it’s each side of the load (the
ament, through the bulb) is the same, no cur-
switch, and back to the attached. There is no appreciable rent will flow. In a loaded
positive end of the bat- circuit, the two sides of
teries. This is an exam- current flow from the circuit the load will have differ-
ple of a closed or com-
pleted circuit. Since
through the voltmeter. ent voltages, and current
will flow. In our example,
the load (in this case one side of the bulb has 3V
the bulb) is on, the cir- and the other side has 0V.
cuit is said to be “load- The voltage “drops” from
ed.” The black probe 3 to 0 “across the load.” In
tip is connected to the left end of same. The readings at each end of fact, in any complete circuit, all of the
the left battery, while the red probe each battery are the same in Fig. 4, voltage will be dropped, or consumed,

Circle #13

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 Street Smarts for Electric Avenue

METER LOVE

T
hink of “meter love”
as sort of a three-way
hookup! Meter A (let’s 1 2
call it Alex) at the left
in photo 1 is set to the volts
scale. As you can see, it’s con-
nected to meter B (Bobbi) to
the right, which is set to ohms.
What does it tell us? Bobbi out-
puts a small voltage (.62V, as
reported by Alex) to measure
Alex’s impedance (internal re-
sistance). Bobbi shows us that
Alex’s impedance is 10.09 meg-
ohms (10,090,000 ohms). The
current Bobbi used to make this
measurement is about .62mA
(.00062A), as shown in photo 2.
Why does this matter? Since
both the voltage and the cur-
rent used to measure ohms (re-
sistance) are very small, they
may not reflect the true state
of affairs when it comes to
large, power-hungry circuits, like
those for a starter, or even for
less needy consumers like an on-
board computer. Additionally, a 3 4
voltmeter with a lower imped-
ance of less than 8 to 10 meg-
ohms (8,000,000 to 10,000,000
ohms) may “load down” sen-
sitive circuits like those of, say,
an oxygen sensor, causing
them to change their behavior
and resulting in unreliable volt-
age readings, possibly leading
to an expensive misdiagnosis.
I have even seen cheap meters
change the spark characteristics
of an ignition coil so greatly as
to cause a no-start! Note that
different meters may use differ-
ent currents during resistance
measurements, as shown in
photo 3, where Alex and Bob-
bi switch roles, and in photo 4,
where Bobbi hooks up with Red,
a stranger whose current, at
1.01mA, is roughly equal to Alex
and Bobbi’s combined output.

along the way. In good circuits, essen-
tially all of this drop will occur across
the load(s).
What would the voltage readings
be if the flashlight were switched on,
but the bulb’s filament was burnt out
or broken? If you figured out that
the voltage readings would be exact-
ly the same, give yourself a gold star.
If you also figured out that there
would be no current flow, give your-
self another one!
Let’s try this thought experiment:
How would our readings change if we
now switched the flashlight off, still
with a blown bulb? The big change
would come at the positive end of
the bulb, where our voltage readings

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 would now be fluctuating. Why? Be-
cause there is no longer a continuous
path between it and ground.
Back to our flashlight once again,
but this time with a twist. We’re go-
ing to introduce a little corrosion
where the spring at the negative end
of the left battery meets the ground
path going to the bulb (Fig. 5). The
black probe to the negative; your
reading should be about 12.6V.
Now remove the red probe from
the positive battery terminal and
lick your fingers on both hands.
With your left hand, touch the pos-
itive terminal of the battery; with
your other hand, touch the red
probe and read your DMM. We’ll
pick it up right here next month.
This article can be found online
at www.motormagazine.com.

See how you can uncover

bulb still glows, but because the volt-
age drop across the bulb is now on-
ly 2.5V instead of the 3V it was de-
signed for, the bulb is dim. The total
voltage drop (across the batteries) hidden repairs faster
remains 3V.
So far so good, right? Here’s where www.hunter.com/motor
it starts to get a bit more interesting.
What are the voltages we’d measure
in our dim flashlight if we turned it
off (Fig. 6)?
They all look the same as they
did without the corrosion! How is
that possible? If the corrosion is so
bad that it drops half a volt across
it when the light is turned on, why
doesn’t it affect our readings when
the light is off? The answer: There’s
no voltage drop when there’s no cur-
rent flow, and current flow requires
a complete path.
A voltmeter does not become a
part of the circuit to which it’s at-
tached. It measures conditions at var-
ious points relative to one another.
There will be no appreciable current
flow from the circuit through the
voltmeter. This is a function of the
meter’s internal resistance (imped-
ance), as mentioned in “Meter Love”
on the previous page, and is one of
the reasons you want a good meter.
When I teach classes in electrical
troubleshooting, techs tell me after-
ward that the following is the most
eye-opening experiment of the class.
I call it “The Statue of Liberty Play.”
Take your DMM out to the car.
Set it to DC volts and attach the
black lead to the COM (or nega-
tive) port and the red lead to the
VΩ port. Clip the red probe to the
positive battery terminal and the
Circle #14

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