[lug] Testing hardware

[Stephen Queen]

On Nov 17, 2007 11:32 AM, Jeffrey Haemer <jeffrey.haemer at gmail.com> wrote:
> Standalone, automatic box, though I'm interested in what sorts of hardware
> tests you recommend for different things.  Might as well get more broadly
> educated.
>

Nothing brings out bad solder connections like repeated rapid
temperature cycling. Rapid heating is fairly easy. Rapid cooling
requires injecting a gas such as CO2. I like to bring the device under
test (dut) to the extreme test temperature ( for us either  -40 on the
low side and +60 C on the high side), let it soak for approximately an
hour and then go to the other extreme as rapidly as  economically
feasible. I do this 4 to 6 times for each dut. If this causes a
failure, chances are it was a bad circuit connection, either on a
printed circuit board or internally to a chip.

Steve