[DonRotolo]

I work in the automotive industry, where troubleshooting is a career.

A good place to begin is with a symptom. Specifically, what is the system doing or not doing that makes you want to troubleshoot? Then, we work down a list of "possible causes" in rough order of probability or likelihood until we find the actual problem. "Working down a list" also assumes one knows how to check that something is correct or not.

We call this the "Three Cs": Complaint, Cause, Correction

So, if anyone wants to contribute, one way would be to state a symptom, list the possible causes, and how to identify if that potential cause is 'good' or 'bad'.

Example:
Complaint: motor connected to Victor not working
Possible Causes/Corrections:
1. Victor has no power (LED is not lit at all).
1a. Verify +12 volts in correct polarity at Victor Input screws. (If none, see "power")
2. Victor is not receiving PWM commands (LED is flashing orange, should be solid orange).
2a. Check that PWM cable is plugged into correct port of Digital Sidecar (verify correct port with Programming team) and is oriented correctly (red wire is +, white/yellow wire is SIG).
2b. Check that PWM cable is correctly plugged into the Victor. These cables are tricky to get plugged in correctly, you need to get a feel for it. It can look correct and not be connected!
2c. Check the PWM wire by swapping it with another, ideally one that is known to be good. You can also unplug the PWM cable form a Victor that is working correctly and plug it into the compliant Victor, it should then show a solid orange LED.
2d. Check if robot is disabled (no PWM commands are sent when disabled)
2e. Verify that Programming is incorrect (see Programming section)
2f. Check if Victor is faulty (swap with a known-good Victor)

(This would continue for all Victor problems we know of)

Now, if we can just build up a library of checklists like that, teams can troubleshoot and also learn the process. A whitepaper, with an index in the front (or a searchable PDF?) might help simplify things.


For anyone interested: This is a form of Failure Mode Effects Analysis (FMEA).

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