Electronics Trouble-Shooting Secret Weapon

The other day I was working on a particularly difficult electronics problem with an ion gun controller and to help figure it out, I needed to dust off my trusty Huntron Tracker. I don’t need to use it very often, but when needed, there is nothing better for troubleshooting electronics problems.

Huntron Tracker
Huntron Tracker

First introduced in 1979, the Huntron Tracker displays an analog signature, which is a combination of resistive, capacitive, inductive, and semi-conductive characteristics. This visual display is very helpful for comparing electronics components on a defective board. The Tracker is particularly useful for comparing components on a known defective electronics board with a known good one. The Tracker applies a tiny AC voltage to the probes so you can test components with no power applied to the board that you are testing.

Compare known good board components to defective board components
Compare known good board to defective board

You can usually find defective electronics components with a DVM (digital volt meter) by testing diodes and capacitors, then measuring resistance values. But there are times when all of the individual components check out as OK with a DVM, but you know that there must be at least one defective component because the board does not work properly. For those times, the Huntron Tracker works like a champ every time. By finding some components that read differently with the Tracker, you can get a clue and ultimately, find the problem. 

The early model Huntron Trackers had a little CRT display and three power level settings. Those models are still available on EBay for about $300.00. The Tracker that I use is one of these early ones and it still works well.

Over the years Huntron Trackers have evolved and today’s models include more power settings, automated testing, and software. For more info visit Huntron at –

https://huntron.com/products/tracker28s.htm

If a new Huntron Tracker is out of your price range or you can’t find an older one, there are also inexpensive curve tracer kits available on eBay that provide Tracker functionality using an oscilloscope. To find those, go to eBay and search for Curve Tracer kit.

Curve tracer board

The pictures below show how helpful the Huntron Tracker can be when trouble shooting a difficult problem. In this case a 150V Zener diode was slightly loading down a voltage supply, but only within a narrow temperature range. The Zener diode checked out fine with a DVM but the Tracker showed a difference in a part of the circuit between the board with the problem and a known good board. Using the Tracker I was able to isolate the issue to the diode. I think that without the Tracker this problem would have been very difficult to isolate.

Waveform on good board resistors
Waveform on resistors on bad board
Good diode
Bad diode