Spent the last day or so showing the young ones how to use the fluke meter as a tool and not just some pretty yellow thing to see if there are volts or not.
Also how to methodically troubleshoot things.
Case in point Keypads for security.
One of the guys said one was acting up and blinking on and off on a system we were bringing on line.
Go take the thing off the wall and see if it is wired up right.
He cam back and said it was wired up right.
Go take it back off the wall and check the wires with the meter to see if the polarity is right you cant keep assuming things.
the polarity is right.
Go back and check the voltage.
It is 11.40 volts.
That's too low that is why it is acting up.
Go put the keypad on another area and see if it works.
It works over there.
Fine now where are all the splices at.
Long story short some jackass months ago spliced in a long run of 22 AWG wire in the line coming from the keypad buss in the MDF room.
Thankfully each IDF room has a power supply and we took 12 volts from them to power up the keypads at each location.
Checked the powder at the keypad that is now working correctly and it was 13.5 volts.
The young man in question is 20 years old and is like a sponge.
My boss asked him a question yesterday and he came up with some sort of babble.
I said that is the most BS answer I have ever heard in my life, you have no idea what you are talking about.
My boss said yeah I was thinking the same thing.
The young man said well at least I tried.
Very respectful person indeed and has been literally thrown to the wolves.
One last thing I asked him if he was a member of Facebook.
He said hell no I read the disclaimer and there is no way I am going to have anything to do with them.
Next last thing.
His family all drinks and acts like a bunch of jackasses when they get drunk.
That is enough for him not to want to drink.
Some of the guys want to take him out to get drunk when he turns 21.
I told him in private dont do it.
He said he wasn't.
Anyway dont assume stuff with or without meters and the story is an example of how to use one to find out why something isn't working even though it has volts.
All voltages in this episode were DC not AC.
Worth