Well,it's possible but its not easy.
Installation sparks generally don't make the grade at industrial faultfinding level,again it's more down to horses for courses rather than any real skill level,just a different mindset.
For example in the commercial arena as with domestic a lot rides on the presentation,which is important in the control/faultfinding world of course but really your most important aid is being able to read diagrams,it's VITALLY IMPORTANT!!!
If you can't do that,you have no chance at all,although it's not too hard to learn the basics on and quality of diagrams vary greatly,generally foreign machines have very good documentation to help you,British ones not so much,but other people may disagree.
You'll be dealing daily with WHY something doesn't work,WHAT caused it and 9/10 how QUICKLY it can be repaired,in this game time is money and very often a "sticky plaster" type repair won't be frowned on,in fact positively encouraged whereas it's usually a huge no no in installation work.
Areas I suggest looking into are 3 phase,as nearly all industrial applications use this,contactors,motors,relays,drives,plc's,proximity switches,pilz or safety relays,door safety switches,emergency stops,n/o,n/c contacts,24dc control,110ac control as these are the typical voltages I've dealt with.
Theres a lot to take in but it's a really rewarding trade,everyday is different,sometimes you can spend 8 hours tearing your hair out just to find that there's a dodgy contact on the side of a relay that's got another 15 bloody contacts,n/o,n/c on them and for some reason that one decides today it doesn't want to play.
It's a great feeling when you get something going again,particularly if it's been down all day and the heats on and YOUR the one who gets the plaudits.
It's been mentioned on here before but operators can be your best friends or your worst enemies,a good one could be even more valuable than you are!!!but one who doesn't want to play ball could leave you head scratching all shift.
That's when your faultfinding brain comes into the foreground.
I had one when I first started here,guy was totally convinced that it was a cable that had been changed that day,insisting this had happened before.
It seemed plausible to me but after proving it out,him and the manager started talking about stripping off guarding to re-run the cable!!!
A quick squint in the plc program diagram revealed a missing input,machineman was adamant that wasn't the cause but after convincing him to check it turned out that a spring latch had not quite retracted.
My point being,sometimes you need to get back to basics,think laterally,say to yourself "what do I need to make that work?" " should that input be on or off?".
It's well worth investigating but I'd say maybe a few weeks research into it all will put you in great stead for the future,as it's enabled me to own my own home,go on exotic holidays,be comfortable in my life in something I thoroughly enjoy.
Hope you can do the same.
