Amateur question please

[reddirtfisher]

Hello all, ....I'm learning basic electronics , but need an answer sooner than later about an electronics issue. What causes an electronics board to leak power? what causes a circuit to just shut down after awhile? what should I check?
Thanks in advance.

[Carl-NC]

What does "leak power" mean? Maybe look for overheated components.

[reddirtfisher]

Hi Carl, the detector shuts off after about 10 minutes use. Sometimes it takes several clicks of the on button to get it to turn on. Sometimes the display fades out to nothing after I turn it on. Does has a problem but I don't know what to test or look for. Any advise will help

[Carl-NC]

Which detector?

[reddirtfisher]

It is a bounty hunter Fortune Hunter

[reddirtfisher]

I think its the same as the older Lone Star detector.

[Carl-NC]

Either the power supply is failing, or the micro has a problem.

[pito]

shut down after awhile = overloading, without the schematic it is hard to locate the problem.

[ivconic]

There can be many reasons. But in most cases it is bad capacitors.
This is such a prevalent problem in general with all electronic devices; that is why a forum that deals with these issues has existed for a long time.
https://www.badcaps.net/
I had a problem with my Samsung TV a few weeks ago. I'm not a beginner, I used to service TVs.
But I haven't been doing that for the last 20 years.
Samsung tv showed 100% symptoms of bad "T-Con". At first I suspected bad contacts of the 2 flat cables that connect the T-con to the display.
I solved it. The TV worked, I'm happy! Alas!
The problem began to manifest again sporadically, randomly and without rules.Then I removed the T-Con pcb and did a complete repair on it.
After turning it on again, the problem seemed to be solved! Hooray! Alas! After two days, the problem reappeared and started repeating itself.
Despair!
Then I completely randomly removed the protective cage above the graphic chip and next to it I saw 4 SMD elcos of 86uF/16V !?
I unsoldered them and checked. They read from 82 to 86uF!? They're ok, aren't they? But I threw them in the trash and put in new 100uF/16V.
And since then the TV has been working perfectly! It never had the problem again.
Damn badcaps!

[reddirtfisher]

Thank you for all the replies. After a lot of frustration I changed out the sensitivity potentiometer pot. That was the problem. Go figure.

[ivconic]

Indeed!
Murphy again!