1. Home
  2. Electronics Repair
  3. magic diagnostic box

magic diagnostic box

Guess this question goes out to the old farts on here.

Back when I started fixing things, in the mid 70's, a guy who was one of those korean war vets who started fixing tv's in the 60's gave me a bunch of magazines to help the cause, so to speak.

One of them was "Electronic Servicing" I think, sort of like a trade magazine for people in the repair business (rather than something like Radio-Electronics or Popular Electronics).

These magazines are long gone from my collection but there was a "thing" I remember advertised that for years I always wondered what it was and if anyone ever used one.

It was probably a scam but I remember consistantly they (and I don't know who "they" were) had at least a full page color ad each month, sometimes both pages on the inside back cover.

The device they were selling claimed it could diagnose 90% of the problems with a tv set, down to component level, just by plugging the tv into this device and letting it run overnight. Claimed to work on both the new "solid state" and tube sets.

Not sure of the exact dates but guess it around 1972 to 1976 or so.

I always wondered what that thing could of been and how it could of possibly worked. Being this was the pre-home computer days I can't see how it would know the difference between a 26 tube Zenith circa 1962 or one of the state of the art Quasar "works in a drawer" without programming it somehow.

I always assumed it was a scam, I don't think they ever showed the device, or the price in the ads. It was mostly text, lots of words saying how much money can be made without really having to work at troubleshooting.

It just was odd to me that the magazine seemed fairly respectable, some of the trade groups at the time (NEDSA ?) had columns in it, lots of info from the manufacturers and was really no-nonsense overall.

So I was wondering if anyone knows anything about this thing, what it could of been or how it possibily could of worked.

-bruce snipped-for-privacy@ripco.com

Reply to
Bruce Esquibel
Loading thread data ...

-bruce: Without any technical knowledge or training or any other troubleshooting tools and equipment.... .... component level diagnosis.... without taking the back off of the television..... solid state and tube sets..... .....did you also get the deed to the Brooklyn Bridge? electricitym

Reply to
electricitym

Boy you must be really board.

Reply to
kip

Like a sheet of plywood?

--
HELP! My sig file has escaped! ;-)
Reply to
Michael A. Terrell

Wooden you know that a reply like this was bound to appear?

Reply to
Allodoxaphobia

IIRC there was more to it than just plugging the TV into it. There were several standard test points that would be needed.

I dunno if it is the same device, but it was encapsulated to prevent reverse engineering. It came with charts for the different models and gave you a step by step. I'm actually not sure of the design, but I can see how it could be accomplished, even without a microprocessor, but I think it had one. Waveform analysis without a scope was probably what it was doing.

The device to which I refer was offered for a demo with a challenge that it could troubleshoot faster than any tech. With my hotshot mentality at the time (I was pretty good) I seriously considered it. I think the problem was they didn't have a reward for a hotshot who could beat their little machine. I think I might've had a chance. I had a job where when it got busy they gave me three benches and an assistant. After the backs were off I rolled my cart around to them and said "change this, change that, change that".

These old sets with discreet components were a breeze for me. I use a scope, and I mean I USE a scope. I have had an oscilloscope since I was

13 and know how to use it. In fact I have refined my technique even further. For example, dead set. I don't even hook it up, I run the probe near the standby transformer (if SMPS), then hit power with it near the main transformer, seeing the pulses picked up capacitively I move on to the flyback.

On a dead set for example, I can see how a systematic approach could be automated to some extent. With today's sets though, some things require real troubleshooting. For example I had a set, about 3 years old that had no red using the colorstream input. It may have been that way since it was new as this was the first time they had used that input. It was a small SMD transistor that checked good on the ohmmeter, but simply did not amplify. I defy anyone to build some machine that could find that.

Anyway, it was alot easier in the past, but forget about it now. Now we must resort to the scope, something invented before I was born. I have proof because one of my scopes is older than me :-)

JURB

Reply to
ZZactly

God, we were all hoping that youd branch out into something else by now.

Reply to
Simon Scott

I wonder if you mean this:

formatting link

I know a jerk (I"m being kind) who still uses one of these.

John

Reply to
John-Del

John-Del wrote: : I wonder if you mean this:

:

formatting link

: I know a jerk (I"m being kind) who still uses one of these.

It's possible, that Diehl name rings a bell but not sure if they were advertisers also and I'm mixing them up. The vintage is right in that ebay auction (sitting in house for 30+ years).

It's no big deal really to everyone else, the subject of "a magic wand" came up recently in a discussion about repairing things and it reminded me of those ads. They sort of were in the same catagory as D.A.K. ads of the time, which was a company that sold probably sub-standard products by using nearly all text in ads, tiptoe'ing around solid facts by hyping up how much easier life would be if you owned one.

Also although it could of been "Electronic Servicing" magazine, it occured to me there was another one called "PF Reporter" which was printed by SAMS (PF=Photofact) that the ads could of been in also.

The device being a horizontal drive analyzer sort of makes sense if it follows suit that 90% of all problems are related to that fact. Suppose Diehl (if it was them) could of done a study to support it. Off hand I think the ads mentioned anything from intermittent tuners to being able to detect gassy picture tubes, so I don't know.

Maybe there was a deluxe model.

-bruce snipped-for-privacy@ripco.com

Reply to
Bruce Esquibel

Stick with what you know best, I always say.

Reply to
JW

ElectronDepot website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.