We use an IR camera to locate VCC/GND shorts on our assemblies.  The camera
we have is one of the older models so probably one of the lesser expensive
new cameras would do fine.  With the camera aimed at the board, apply
current between the shorted circuits, slowly and limit it to a safe
value.   Then observe the thermal signature of the board for hot spots.  I
have recovered many $10k's of boards very quickly using this
method.  Current "sniffers" are fine but you still have to probe everywhere
and that may take awhile (and removing and replacing 100 caps ain't no
picnic either.)

The other method is to apply lots of current to the shorted circuits and
wait for something to glow orange or smoke. :)  I don't recommend this
method for deliverable boards.

Good luck,
Gregg

mailto:[log in to unmask]

At 05:34 PM 4/10/01, Jorge Santana wrote:
>  Techies ;
>
>    Is there a " LOW COST " solution to find a short in two common nodes like
>VCC to GND ?
>    Is there somebody using a current tracer or something similar ?
>    This information will be very helpful to my troubleshooting task.
>
>  Thanks

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