brooke475•10d agoProlific Poster

The difference between adjusting a relay with an analog meter back in '92 versus using a handheld diagnostic tool today is just wild to me.

I was swapping out an old Otis controller last Tuesday in a building downtown and it hit me that 30 years ago I'd be spending an hour with a screwdriver and a multimeter, now I plug in a tablet and it tells me exactly what's wrong, has anyone else felt like our job got easier but also less satisfying to fix?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_robin10d ago

and you just don't get that same feeling when the tablet spits out 'EC fault, replace brake resistor' in 30 seconds flat. i spent two hours once tracking down a shorted diode in an old GE relay bank with nothing but a beep tester and a cigarette lighter. when i finally found it, felt like i'd climbed everest or something. now it's just plug and play, which is nice for my back but kinda boring for my brain.

schmidt.grace10d ago

Honestly, that's exactly how I feel about it too. I was doing a service call last week and I had the same thought, like where's the hunt, you know? @the_robin you nailed it with that Everest comparison, tracking down a short on an old panel with just a meter and a hunch was something else. Now it feels like we're just reading a screen instead of actually fixing things. Don't get me wrong, my back and knees appreciate it, but my brain misses the puzzle a little bit.