Graphics vs. Schematics

[Michael Johnson <michaelj -at- OECMED -dot- COM>]

Monday Christine Lienhart asked how to fix a messy rear panel hookup illustration, and wonders if photos would work.

Acutally, photos are nice because they are accurate, and very speedy (and cheap) if you've got a digital camera.

Here's how I'd do it, Christine:

1. Get a shot of each rear panel clear enough to show individual connectors (most digital cameras have good macro focusing ability.  Arrange the rear panel shots on the page in the same order the equipment stacks in the rack.
2. Under the illustrations, construct a table to document the connections from one panel to the next.  Each line of the table would describe one connection.  For example, column 1 could be the name of the originating connector (e. g., J1), column 2 could be the part number for the cable, column 3 could name the signal, column 4 could be characteristic impedance or signal type (if that's important), and column 5 could be the name of the terminating connector.  Construct the table in the same order you'd follow to connect the cables.  That way the table will be helpful for system installation.

If you have access to assembly drawings from Engineering, you could adapt rear panel drawings instead of taking photos.  In some cases, this would be even faster.

I hope this helps.

Mike Johnson
OEC Medical Systems
Salt Lake City, UT
Michaelj -at- oecmed -dot- com