Electrician’s Troubleshooting and Testing Pocket Guide
Electrical measuring and testing instruments are used
in the installation, troubleshooting, and maintenance
of electrical systems of all types, particularly in
commercial and industrial facilities. Electricians and
technicians involved with installing, maintaining, and
repairing electrical equipment need a good working
knowledge of portable testing instruments and how
they are used to diagnose and fix problems in the field.
Most operational problems of electrical equipment
and systems involve one of four basic faults:
● Short circuit
● Ground fault
● Open circuit
● Change in electrical value
This guide describes troubleshooting techniques to
identify such problems using portable field-testing
instruments. Although it covers many types of test
equipment, this book emphasizes the use of digital
multimeters (DMMs), the most common and versatile
electrician’s diagnostic tool.
This new third edition of Electrician’s Troubleshooting
and Testing Pocket Guide includes updated information
on testing and troubleshooting lighting systems,
expanded information on diagnosing power quality
problems, and a new chapter on thermographic diagnostic
tools.
Scope of This Book
Electrician’s Troubleshooting and Testing Pocket Guide
covers the use of digital multimeters (DMMs) and
other testing equipment to troubleshoot electrical
and electronic circuits used for power and control
applications. In general, it concentrates on traditional
electromechanical and inductive equipment found in
commercial and industrial occupancies—motors,
transformers, lighting, and power distribution equipment.
In general, this guide does not cover testing
and troubleshooting of the following types of equipment
and systems:
Communications systems. The use of network
cable analyzers, optical time domain reflectometers
(OTDRs), optical power meters, and other equipment
used for testing and troubleshooting communications
systems such as telecommunications, computer
local area networks (LANs), and outside plant
fiber-optic installations are outside the scope of this
publication.
Electronic components and systems. This book
touches on testing of electronic components such as
resistors, small capacitors, and diodes. However, the
broad subject of troubleshooting electronic components
and circuits using digital multimeters and other
portable test equipment is covered in much greater
detail in a different McGraw-Hill publication:
Electronic Troubleshooting and Repair Handbook by
Homer L. Davidson (1995; ISBN 0-07-015676-X).