Equipment can malfunction for various reasons. Mechanical contacts and parts can wear out; wires can overheat and burn open or short out; parts could be damaged by impact or abrasion; etc. Equipment may operate in a fashion far different than it had been designed to, or not work at all.

Typically, when equipment fails there exists a sense of urgency to have it fixed and working again. If the faulty equipment is a part of an assembly line, the whole assembly line may be down causing unexpected "time without work" and lost revenue. If you are at a customers site to repair equipment, the client may watch you, knowing they are paying for every minute you spend fault finding and repairing their equipment. Either one of those scenarios - and you can find more, can put a lot of pressure on you to solve the problem quickly.

So, what is fault finding? It is practise of analyzing the behavior or operation of a faulty circuit to see what exactly is wrong with the circuit. It then involves identifying the defective component(s) and repairing the circuit.

Depending on the particular equipment, fault finding can be a very challenging task. Now and again problems are easily diagnosed and the problem component easily visible. Other times the symptoms in addition to the faulty component is often difficult to diagnose. A defective relay with visual signs of burning should be easy to spot, whereas an intermittent problem attributable to a high resistance connection can be much more difficult to find.

What makes a specialist Troubleshooter? One trait of expert troubleshooters is that they are able to find virtually any fault in a reasonable amount of time. Easy faults, complicated faults, they find them all. Another trait is that they typically replace only the components which are defective. They appear to have a knack for finding out exactly what's wrong. No trial and error here. So what is their secret?

You might consider that a person who has an excellent understanding of how the equipment works, must be able to troubleshoot it effectively. Being good at troubleshooting requires a lot more than this.

Expert troubleshooters have a good understanding of the operation of electrical components which are utilised in circuits they are knowledgeable about, and even ones they are not. They use a system or approach that permits them to logically and systematically analyze a circuit and determine exactly what is wrong. They also understand and effectively use tools such as prints, diagrams and test instruments to identify defective components. Finally, they have had the chance to develop and refine their troubleshooting skills. If you want to fault find like the pros you will need to develop your skills in each of these areas.

You would need to be able to see how the circuit works under normal conditions and what effect changing one of the circuit inputs has on the circuit operation. For instance, what happens to the overall circuit operation when a push button is pressed; which relays energy, which lights illuminate, does the pump start or stop, etc. You also need to be able to work out what effect a faulty component might have on the circuit operation.