Printed Circuit Boards have copper wiring that allows data transmission from one electrical component to the other. This sensitive internal message-sending system is used to connect most electrical parts in modern-day machines, equipment, and devices. PCBs are just as diverse, efficient, and prone to damage as the machines they enable. That’s why PCB repair is one of the most critical tasks in the electronics manufacturing industry.
The most common types of damages on PCBs that force people to seek repair services include – chip damage, damage to the copper wirings on the PCB board, and discrete components breaking down. Owners of damaged PCBs must never power up their boards. For example, if you suspect your fuse is blown, you must first determine the reasons behind the problems. The least non-specialists should do is clean their PCBs.
If your PCB has a conformal coating, give it a gentle clean. Conformal coating is almost a necessity when it comes to PCBs/PCBAs that are used in harsh conditions. They prevent boards from getting damaged by erosion, moisture, dirt, etc. Non-specialists should never remove the conformal coating with solvents or by peeling. Only PCB repair experts know how to fix and repair damaged boards.
More importantly, they know how to detect bad components and determine the exact causes of PCB damage.
How Do Professional Repair Houses Determine Causes of PCB Damage?
When you get circuit board PCB repair service from professional repair centers or houses, you’re sending your damaged PCBs to a place where cutting costs and increasing repair efficiency are the two priorities. That’s why top PCB repair centers use universal automated test systems. They also conduct repair tests using individual test instruments (e.g., V-I signature analysis of the boards).
These repair centers use several diagnostics equipment to enhance their testing capabilities. Proper diagnosis is an important part of all electronic repair processes. There are many useful techniques professional PCB repair technicians use to detect broken or malfunctioning components on PCBs.
From multimeters to Huntron Trackers – here are some of the most common testing equipment used by professional PCB repair technicians –
Multimeters: Multimeters or Volt-Ohm meters (VOMs) are electronic measuring instruments commonly used in field service work to detect basic faults in PCBs. They’re used to troubleshoot PCB troubles in various industrial and domestic devices such as wiring systems or domestic appliances. Modern VOMs are digital (measured values are displayed in numerals on screens), so they don’t suffer from parallax errors. Digital VOMs can be used to measure – Resistance, Voltage (AC/DC), and Current (AC/DC), Capacitance, Temperature, and Frequency.
Huntron Trackers: These testing devices are used to detect and isolate component faults on PCBs that can’t be detected via other functional testing methods. Repair technicians compare Tracker signatures from working and non-working PCBs to troubleshoot issues down to specific component levels.
Visual: Professional PCB repair technicians use their eyes to examine the board. They look for contaminated areas and components showing signs of aging, discoloring, rusting, etc. Trained eyes can easily spot damaged areas that may be affecting the performance of the PCBs.
Automated Testing: In PCB repair centers where there are constant inflows of faulty PCBs, companies install universal automated test systems. These systems perform all types of logical and digital testing/analysis of damaged PCBs. These systems can easily differentiate between active and passive components on the boards. They can also detect unknown components on the chips. Algorithm-based automated test procedures run reliable and consistent tests. The reports are highly accurate and available at high speeds.
Some other testing techniques used by PCB repair technicians include – power-off V/I testing, testing with capacitors, in-circuit testing, flying probe testing, and x-ray inspections.
Selecting PCB Repair Services
Trying to find a trustworthy and competent PCB repair service provider? You’ll need to consider a lot of factors. Make sure that your repair expert knows and uses the testing and diagnosing techniques mentioned above. You should also make sure –
- The repair service provider has a good reputation in the industry. The PCB manufacturing and repair industry is small. It’s easy to verify a PCB repair center’s credibility on online forums and communities.
- Assess what types of failure testing, diagnostics, and component-level troubleshooting the repair center offers.
- Assess whether the repair center can provide per-component replacements. It’s always safer to partner up with PCB repair experts who have strong supply chain relationships and can guarantee quality replacements.
- Make sure the PCB repair experts working on your batch of damaged PCBs have IPC-7711 certification. The IPC-7711 document is designed to assist technicians who conduct soldered assembly rework and PCBA repair.
Repair technicians who are masters of the IPC-7711 standard are likelier to optimize a damaged board’s functional capabilities. This certification serves as an assurance that the repair service experts have the expertise required to conduct complex failure testing, diagnostics, and PCB repair tasks.
