Been asked the following question several times over the last few weeks on different forums: What test equipment is best for Electrical Fault Finding on cars / trucks etc, so thought I would post it up here as well just in case.
The best answer I can give is based on what I use most on a Daily basis.
The tester I use every day for General Fault finding on Lights, Horn, Heaters etc is a Simple 6/12/24v test lamp (Live circuit tester). You can find most faults without anything more, especially on older vehicles.
You can buy a small ready made test lamp in Car accessory shops for about £2-3 & I think every home mechanic should have at least 1.
A test buzzer: Ideal for Testing Brake lights etc when working alone, Just clip it across the wires & then put your foot on the Brake, if you've got power the Buzzer sounds.
A more important use is as a short locator, if you've got a short in your wiring: Remove the circuit fuse & put the Buzzer in place of it, now you can turn on items that run through that fuse & when you find the shorted circuit the Buzzer will sound without any fuse blowing. All you have to do now is trace & clear the short in that circuit, once the short is cleared the buzzer stops & you know it's safe to replace the fuse. This item saves me a packet in Blown fuses, You can make 1 of these easily enough with an old reversing buzzer, 2 short wires & 2 small Crocodile clips. Just Attach the wires to the Buzzer & fit the Croc clips to the other ends & you'r ready to go.
The third item is a Digital Engine Analyser (Multimeter)& this is used for anything where I need to take Voltages & not just see the test lamp light, such as Charging voltages, anything ECU driven etc.
You can buy a cheap Digital Multimeter that will do everything you need from about £2.99. Just be sure to read the Instructions first.
That's it really: Although i've got more expensive / complicated test equipment, with the 3 items listed I can do virtually all the testing I need.
Note: You should allways put your test lamp or buzzer across the battery terminals first to make sure they work.
|