The CurveBug debugging hardware is a simple but effective tool to help find faults in modern arbitrarily complex circuit boards. Bad assembly can result in open solder joints or solder bridges and failures are generally a result of over-stresses, electrical or thermal. A time-honored technique is to use a curve tracer on an un-powered board to hunt for anomalies. Curve tracers are expensive, fussy to operate and easily liable to damage the circuit if mis-used.
An idea emerged to make a simple and safe debugger based on the curve tracing concept. If you simultaneously probe the voltage/current relationship (curve) of good versus bad, you get even more insight into any differences between two circuits. In many cases you may have multiple identical circuits in the same product as in a stereo amplifier with one channel faulty can be compared to itself.
The CurveBug interfaces via USB to a Windows PC. It drives a weak signal onto the tested devices with the result graphically displayed on the PC. The CurveBug ground is connected directly to the controlling PC’s ground mitigating ESD hazards. It only operates on devices that are unpowered.
The short video highlights it use in isolating an area of the circuit board where a difference is detected. The longer version of the video is on our website as well as the User Manual and installation software. The legends for the banana jacks are faintly laser etched into the plastic case. To use the Curvbug you need to install it on a Windows PC (sorry, no iPad or Android device support), and add a USB to C cable, and three banana jack to probe/clip leads (not supplied)..
vintageTEK is a charitable, educational and scientific museum founded to commemorate the early history of Tektronix, Inc and its role in spawning approximately 300 high technology companies in the 'Silicon Forest' - i.e. the four county, two state metropolitan area of Portland, Oregon. Our main goal is to share our knowledge and history and to pique the interest of young people in science and technology and to challenge them to become the technologists of the next decade. We receive donations of Tektronix and other equipment that exceed our needs and we sell these items to cover our operating expenses.