That $90 pin tester I bought saved me twice this week

Picked up a cheap pin continuity tester from a surplus shop near Dayton, and it caught two bad cannon plugs we would have chased for hours. Has anyone else used one of these on the bench, or do you just rely on the aircraft's built-in tests?

2 comments

Log in to join the discussion

Log In

2 Comments

lilycraig1mo ago

Yo that's actually a solid find! I saw a thread on a avionics forum last week where a guy used one of those on a 737 flap harness and it found a broken pin that the ship's built in test totally missed. The built-in stuff only checks what it checks, you know? Having a standalone tester is clutch for chasing intermittent stuff, especially on older airframes where the cannon plugs get beat up from vibration. I'm honestly kinda jealous, I just use a multimeter and a prayer lol.

6

reesepatel1mo ago

Had a buddy in the guard who swore by these things for the exact same reason, he'd chase ghosts on a C-130 cargo door harness for weeks and the standalone unit finally caught a hairline crack on a pin that the aircraft's own checks just ignored. So yeah @lilycraig you're dead on, the built-in stuff only sees what it's told to see, having a second pair of electronic eyes is the move.

4