short circuit locator

[buenos]

I am looking for a short circuit locator or milli/micro ohm meter, to find where we have a short circuit on a digital PCB.
For some reason it is extremely hard to find.
For example there is the Polar Instruments ToneOhm device that we had in my previous job, it is on the Polar website, but no indication for resellers, and none of the online shops seem to be selling it.
Could you suggest a device with a link to a company who is selling it?
By the way why does this have to be so exotic? Every HW lab should have one.

 

[shaiko]

Searching for short circuits by means of resistance measurement isn't very time efficient - especially when the UUT has 22 layers and more vias then bodies in a Chinese cemetery...

Don't know how much a ToneOhm devices costs - but if need it only for that purpose I suggest you invest in a handheld IR camera instead.

Current limit your power supply, light up the city and find out where the hottest place is...

 

[D.A.(Tony)Stewart]

Polar do lots of things well.
- uses chopper stabilized Op Amps for microvolt sensitivity ,
- use up to 2A pulsed current sources and rectify the AC voltage to DC for VCO
- magnetic field sense mode

- but if you want to blow the fuse without melting the board, a proper size capacitor discharge with low ESR will do it.

**broken link removed**

 

[Kripton2035]

here you can get some DIY low ohm meters for this purpose.
**broken link removed**

 

[andre_luis]

I am looking for a short circuit locator or milli/micro ohm meter, to find where we have a short circuit on a digital PCB.

For some applications, a high contrast infrared based thermal camera could suffice, showing the areas where are detected a higher thermal gradient.



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[FvM]

For example there is the Polar Instruments ToneOhm device that we had in my previous job, it is on the Polar website, but no indication for resellers, and none of the online shops seem to be selling it.

They also tell worldwide office addresses. I'm sure you can get the instrument if you really want it. Is google unavailable at your site?

Of course standard lab equipment can be used to trace shorts, but less comfortable to use.