Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

The laboratory portion of this course provides students with the opportunity to develop skills in the operation of electronics test instruments (signal generators, digital multimeters and oscilloscopes). Students will work in teams of two or more to perform and complete laboratory exercises. Through the hands-on practice, students will learn how to apply general troubleshooting strategies to narrow the scope of a problem’s location, and to further isolate it.

Upon completion of the course students should be able to:

• Construct, test and troubleshoot circuits that incorporate semiconductor devices.
• Operate electronic test equipment including multimeters, power supplies, signal generators and oscilloscopes.
• Recognize and interpret technical documentation, such as schematic diagrams and device data sheets.
• Practice safe electronics testing procedures.

Through the lab experiments and the hands-on practice, the students will learn how to apply general troubleshooting strategies to narrow the scope of a problem’s location, and to further isolate it.

One hour of lecture followed by two hours of hand-on activities will  be taken every week. Demonstrations and explanations will be provided by the instructor during the lecture lab hours. The emphasis of all the course activities will be on troubleshooting circuits made with semiconductor components.

Homework in the form of weekly quizzes, one final exam on paper and one final practical exam should be expected. 
The emphasis of each of these examinations is on electronic test equipment 
proper use and on mastering the circuit troubleshooting techniques. 

The theme of the course will be diagnosing and fixing problems with electronic circuits made with semiconductor devices such as rectifiers, power amplifiers, inverters, etc. Students will learn how to apply troubleshooting techniques like:

divide system into sections and test each individual section

remove parallel components

swap identical components

A general troubleshooting approach like the one below will be demonstrated and practiced in the lab setting:

Understand the system.

Understand the problem and history.

Eliminate the obvious.

Develop possible causes and theories.

Eliminate causes, start with what is easy, or likely.

Validate and document the solution.