A retired electrician fixed my test bench in 5 minutes flat last Wednesday

I was trying to trace a short on an old power supply and getting nowhere. This guy in his 70s walks up at the community repair event and asks what I'm doing. He said 'you're chasing voltage when you should be checking ground paths' and pointed to a cold solder joint I missed. He showed me his trick with a cheap multimeter and an alligator clip lead he had in his pocket. Has anyone else run into an older tech who just saw things differently on a basic board repair?

3 comments

3 Comments

jade6181mo ago

Wait, did he show you that trick with the alligator clip on purpose or was it just the only thing he had?

reeseanderson2d ago

Jade, that alligator clip trick was definitely intentional. The way @faith_smith's ring story connects to this - older guys just have a feel for how circuits actually behave in the real world, not just on paper. The ground path thing is a good lesson too, most people skip it.

faith_smith1mo ago

Bought a used oscilloscope from a guy who tested it by tapping the probe against his wedding ring. Said he'd been doing it that way since 1967.