WHAT can a "ROCKKIT" do for ME?
It makes FAULT FINDING EASY, at a PRICE you CAN afford!
AND
You do NOT need to own an Oscilloscope to use it!
It is an IN-CIRCUIT FAULT LOCATION tester that allows you to find faults WITHOUT the need to REMOVE components from the board.
It is a HIGH PRECISION NODAL IMPEDANCE CURVE ANALYSER which provides you SIGNIFICANTLY MORE INFORMATION than a regular MULTIMETER can provide.
A TEST SIGNAL is applied and the result is DISPLAYED as an X/Y GRAPH of the response SIGNAL VOLTAGE and SIGNAL CURRENT.
The TEST is NON-DESTRUCTIVE and is performed with the POWER OFF.
CALCULATES AND DISPLAYS THE FOLLOWING VALUES.
- X/Y GRAPH of GRAPHICAL CURVE of the point being tested.
- IMPEDANCE from approx. 5 Ohms to 3 MegOhms.
- PHASE SHIFT -90 to +90 degrees.
- CAPACITANCE from 1nF to 10uF.
- INDUCTANCE from 10mH to 10H.
SPECIFICATIONS
Accuracy results may vary depending on precision and noise margin of the sound card being used.
Before Testing a board you may need to DISCHARGE any HIGH VOLTAGE capacitors to MAKE THE BOARD SAFE to work with.
PROJECT LIMITS
Up to 10,000 Test Points.
Up to 20 Ground Reference points.
Up to 200 Fault Codes. (Diagnostic fault codes)
Each Fault Code can have up to 200 Faults. (Fault Descriptions)
Each Fault can have up to 100 Test points associations.
OTHER FEATURES
Internal SPEAKER for PROBE CONNECTED / PROBE DISCONNECTED / TEST PASSED / TEST FAILED alert tones.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Designed for use with a WINDOWS VISTA 32 bit or 64 bit or WINDOWS 7 32 bit or 64 bit based PC with AT LEAST 1GB of RAM.
NOTE : This software can NOT be used with Windows XP, Windows 98, or Windows 95!!!
REQUIRES a SOUND CARD capable of RECORD and PLAYBACK at one of the following.
96000hz 24Bit, 96000hz 16Bit, 48000hz 24Bit, 48000hz 16Bit, 44100hz 24Bit, 44100hz 16Bit
The HIGHER sample Rates and resolutions WILL obviously provide better performance.
MOST modern PC's and NOTEBOOKS are suitable. (I personally use a new US$450 Compaq notebook.)
REQUIRES "Rockkit Board Tester" interface HARDWARE from Dockerty Electronics.
OPERATION
This product is designed to be used in TWO DIFFERENT WAYS.
- METHOD 1 - Compare two boards side by side.
This requires you to have a KNOWN GOOD BOARD to use as a reference.
Simply ensure that NO PROJECT file is open and you can begin comparing two boards by connecting the GROUND lead to the SAME ground point on each board and then begin PROBING corresponding points.
You will need to hold the probe on the specific location for around one second and wait until the curve stops changing due to any on-board capacitors.
Once you have measured a point, and then DISCONNECTED the probe, the curve for this point will be set as the REFERENCE curve.
The reference curve will be updated each time you DISCONNECT the probe, providing it was connected for at least 1 second before disconnection.
You can LOCK this reference curve to retain it by enabling the LOCK REFERENCE option.
- METHOD 2 - Compare a board with a Board Tester PROJECT file.
This requires you to have PREVIOUSLY created a Board Tester PROJECT and logged all of the test points of a KNOWN GOOD BOARD.
This uses a PHOTOGRAPH of the board to allow the TEST POINTS to be referernced to locations on the photograph.
The test point locations are VISUALLY DISPLAYED in order to allow you to LOCATE the correct point.
This is then COMPARED with the TEST CURVE on record.
The SIGNIFICANT ADVANTAGE this offers is the ability to compare a faulty board with a good board when you NO LONGER have a GOOD BOARD IN STOCK.
TEST POINTS
Test points are added to a project by placing the test probe on a point and then RIGHT CLICKING with the mouse on the corresponding location on the PHOTOGRAPH.
There is a COMMENTS box allowing you to provide a DESCRIPTION of each test point if you wish.
GROUND POINTS
Ground Points can be shown / defined when the GND box is ticked.
The PURPOSE of GROUND POINTS is to ensure that testing is performed using the SAME ground reference point each time you test a board.
If the board you wish to test has two different sections that are normally ISOLATED from each other then you can define a ground point on each section and link them together with a wire jumper while testing the board.
CONTROLS
The MOUSE WHEEL controls the ZOOM level of the board image.
The LEFT MOUSE BUTTON is used to either SELECT a TEST POINT on the board image, or to CLICK and DRAG the board image to REPOSITION it in the display window.
The RIGHT MOUSE BUTTON is used to ADD TEST POINTS.
Clicking on the CURVE GRAPH displays an EXPANDED view of the curve graph with additional information.
Clicking on the EXPANDED CURVE GRAPH will CLOSE the EXPANDED window.
A LEFT MOUSE CLICK on either the UP or DOWN button will select the NEXT or PREVIOUS test point.
A RIGHT MOUSE CLICK on the UP button will select the LAST test point in the test point list.
A RIGHT MOUSE CLICK on the DOWN button will select the FIRST test point in the test point list.
CLICKING on the TEST POINT SELECTION box will activate a pick list of all active test points to allow you to select one from the list.
The DELETE button allows you to DELETE the TEST POINT that is currently selected.
The UPDATE button allows you to UPDATE the reference curve of the TEST POINT if the reference curve for that test point is incorrect.
ADDING A NEW TEST POINT
RIGHT MOUSE CLICK on the photograph at position you desire the test point to be located.
The following controls will be displayed.
Place the PROBE on the specific location for around one second and wait until the curve stops changing due to any on-board capacitors.
The "OK" button will be enabled once the signal has been measured.
At this stage you can REMOVE the PROBE from the test location.
If the "OK" button is NOT enabled after one second then this means that the test location has NO CONNECTION, and you will need to press the "NO CONNECTION" button instead of the "OK" button.
UPDATING AN EXISTING TEST POINT
If an INCORRECT CURVE has been saved for a test point then you can SELECT that test point and then click on the "UPDATE" button.
FAULT LOG
There is a FAULT LOG database which you can use to RECORD a list of FAULT CODES, FAULT DESCRIPTIONS, and TEST POINTS associated with these faults.
If your board does NOT display diagnostic fault codes then you should create a fault code named "UNKNOWN" or something similar and log all faults against this.
The "ONLY SHOW SELECTED TEST POINTS" option allows you to hide all test points that are not relevant to the FAULT CODE, FAULT, or TEST POINT you have currently selected in the fault log list.
This will remain in affect until you either DESELECT the "ONLY SHOW SELECTED TEST POINTS" option, or CLOSE the FAULT LOG window.
The PRINT option will print the currently selected FAULT CODE or FAULT.
Rockkit Board Tester, © 2010 Brian Dockerty, Dockerty Electronics, All Rights Reserved.