I was concerned because none of the other techs could explain why were doing this and, honestly, it seemed a bit irrational to me at first. After seeing the email from Honeywell, I think I will be able to sleep a little easier now :D
I actually did some snooping around and after asking a lot of questions, I found out that Honeywell has acknowledged the transorb diode passes leakage current to the TDC when operating in analog out mode so we have been removing them.
I don't see what you mean by the instrument not being...
Sorry, that was the wrong picture. Here's the right one.http://files.engineering.com/getfile.aspx?folder=4b9536d9-8f9b-4397-9273-342864e479ab&file=2012-02-02_07.50.57.jpg
Here's a picture of the back of the terminal block. The "diode" has already been removed on this particular transmitter. Let me know if you need anything else.http://files.engineering.com/getfile.aspx?folder=5dddf8e7-ac05-4e3a-a0a7-3594ba156032&file=2012-02-02_07.50.09.jpg
The component being removed is the resistor. The technicians that I work with call it a "diode" because the person who started this originally misspoke or was a complete buffoon. It is under the screw cap for the transmitter, connected to the back of the field wiring terminal block where you...
I am currently working as an Instrument Tech in an oil refinery (haven't quite made it 3/4 of the way to my EE). Some of the maintenance technicians have been cutting "diodes" out of these transmitters to suppress (allegedly) noisy signals or "dropping out" of the signal.
Allow me to define...