In (Technical) Defense of The Fonz

Somtimes you really can believe the things you see on T.V.

Remember how on Happy Days the almighty Fonz, whenever faced with a cantankerous machine, would demonstrate an almost supernatural power to apply force in some way and get it going? Perhaps you've been able to get the same thing to work for you. Ever wonder how and why?

If not, skip down to the end of the blog, otherwise here's why:

In mechanical devices the blow can free sticky mechanisms, a good example is the jukebox; jukeboxes from this era were both mechnical wonders, and nightmarishly complex relay logic computers to boot. A good whack from the Fonz might well have freed a sticking relay, or caused a normally open one to make contact, springing the machine to life...... "Ay!".

Modern electronics, however is a different story:
Most failures that can be "fixed" in this manner are caused by one of two things, ringbreaks and microphonics.

Ringbreaks occur when the solder that holds the componets in, and connects them to the rest of the circuit, quite simply, breaks. The thermal expansion and contraction of the little legs on these devices causes the solder joint to fail, like pavement cracking. A good whollop will often cause the loose bits to touch and the unit will begin working.

Microphonics is a little harder to pinpoint though.
You see, there are 4 basic types of microphone; resistance, condenser, and dynamic, and piezo-electric. Though the parts used in electronic equipment aren't designed to be this way, as they fail they can take on the properties of these microphones, just due to their nature.

-Resistance mics use the variance of resistance with vibration - the carbon mic that was used in almost every telephone up through the 70's is a good example. In this case the problem would be likely a bad resistor or internal connection at fault, whack, it goes into tolerance and things start working......for a spell.

-Condenser micophones utilize modulating the distance between the charged plates of a capacitor.....again, not normally supposed to be that way in the average capacitor, but age and breakdown set in and it takes on new characteristics.

-Dynamic microphones use the variance of an inductor;the movement of magnetic lines of force through the inductor will cause voltage to be produced, If the inductor is part of a tuned circuit it will change the frequency of an oscillator, or the frequency that a filter circuit is tuned to. Other times it just injects noise.

-Piezo-electric mics work by producing a voltage through the deformation of a crystal lattice, semiconductors are the culprits here.


So what does the modern Fonz do when confronted with one of those, "it works when I hit it" situations? First solder everything suspect, manufacturers don't like to solder anything more than just what it takes, solder is an expensive and, of course lead containing substance.

Then hit it again to see if the problem is gone,
next, depending on the symptom, it's time to tap around on the little bits that are involved in what's getting screwy, capacitors, inductors, resistors and semiconductors.

And, being that there's a lot of those >1000 in most modern consumer devices..... it could take a while.


So there you have it, the Fonz method of troubleshooting!