Stock Electronic Image FAILS

[ebastler]

It's made that way so when people look at your repaired car in the mirror it will look correct. 

I thought it was to ensure that the light reflected by your shiny polished car comes back looking right. 

[bsfeechannel]

It's made that way so when people look at your repaired car in the mirror it will look correct. 

Makes sense. But I guess you'll have to turn your car upside down too.

[vk6zgo]

Boqλ Cowbonuq

Many years ago, the SATO company in Japan produced a set of terminals, the insulated part of which was integral with a plastic base.
They, as was their habit, had the company name in raised letters on the latter.
Unfortunately, something went wrong with the design of the original pattern, & the finished product was proudly marked "OTAS".

I saw many of them over the years, all with the same error, so it looks like Sato said "Ahh bugger it" & sold them as they were.
They were "cheap as chips" so the financial incentive to do so would have been pretty strong.

[EPAIII]

I have worked with professional photographers. Some don't even know how to focus a lens. Then they blame others for the out-of-focus pictures.

Edit: I had no idea how this thread had evolved. Sorry I posted in it.

It would be interesting to hear from the photographers who actually make these pictures  .

[ebastler]

I have worked with professional photographers. Some don't even know how to focus a lens. Then they blame others for the out-of-focus pictures.

Edit: I had no idea how this thread had evolved. Sorry I posted in it.

It would be interesting to hear from the photographers who actually make these pictures  .

I think your post is still very much on topic. Maybe include clueless Photoshop artists in the discussion, in addition to clueless photographers. 

Although in many of the examples we have seen here, the lack of clues relates to the subject matter being depicted more than to the tools of the trade...

[Moshly]

Funny how YouTube allows you to report everything except advertising ->

[AndyBeez]

So guys, is this actually a real thing? That's solder wire made from stainless steel?

Or is it some magic lead that sticks to stainless steel with a 45W bench iron - rather than needing a 1000C blow torch, as we used in ye olden times?

Just asking 

[Red Squirrel]

Stainless steel is great for ensuring you don't get tin whiskers.  You just need a soldering iron that can go to 1,500 degrees and you're good to go. 

[lwatts666]

Stainless steel is great for ensuring you don't get tin whiskers.  You just need a soldering iron that can go to 1,500 degrees and you're good to go. 

A bit hard on the brass wool tip cleaner, but the orange glow is soothing on a cold winter night.

[xrunner]

More AC battery testing LOL -

[Bud]

2.4V 

[xrunner]

That DMM shows up on Amazon all the time, I call it the Harbor Freight meter. I have yet to see any pics of someone testing a transistor. 

[Gyro]

More AC battery testing LOL -

Actually, that's the correct reading for a cheap DMM with half-wave rectified AC ranges. I just checked on one. It's a case of wrong switch position selected rather than false display. 

[Infraviolet]

Surely it takes the sellers more work to set up photo shoots where the meter is used incorrectly than where used normally? Are they just trying to get these debates started as a way of getting more attention? Have we been nerd sniped (https://xkcd.com/356/)?

[Gyro]

The photographer probably just wanted a pleasing angle on the knob and a right hand shot didn't look right (obscured too much writing).

[McBryce]

The photographer probably just wanted a pleasing angle on the knob...

Don't we all? 

McBryce.

[PlainName]

Most probably it's not the photographer but the publisher that dicks around with these. If you check out the DailyMail (don't forget to wear gloves and a mask) you'll often see that the photos illustrating the sidebar (and sometimes even the ones in the main story of same) are mirrored. Now and then they even place the non-mirrored and mirrored next to each other to make it seem likes there's two different photos! I presume this is done by the compositor to 'give balance' or whatever to the page - perhaps photos down the right side seem better when the subject is looking left, into the page, rather than right, off the page. The photographer merely takes a decent snap and is then left out of the loop as it is twisted, clipped, cropped, darkened, etc, to suit whatever.

[Fungus]

More AC battery testing LOL -

Actually, that's the correct reading for a cheap DMM with half-wave rectified AC ranges. I just checked on one. It's a case of wrong switch position selected rather than false display. 

I tried it and mine jumped around all over the place.

[tom66]

That DMM shows up on Amazon all the time, I call it the Harbor Freight meter. I have yet to see any pics of someone testing a transistor. 

I don't get it either;  I've never found a use for such a poorly parameterised transistor tester.  Hfe, after all, is dependent upon so many conditions, not least base current itself, so I am not sure how you are supposed to interpret the figures these produce.  The particularly fun thing is if you leave a transistor in there, the other range readings can go a bit weird, and if you measure a higher voltage, then that little transistor can go live too.  It's connected across the input terminals somehow and through a cheap current source circuit in some way - there are schematics floating around the internet.

[PlainName]

I've never found a use for such a poorly parameterised transistor tester.

I always thought they were a go/no go check that the transistor works (or not) rather than determining characteristics of it.

[xrunner]

I was going to check a transistor with one and take a pic but I think I threw all mine away. Does anyone have one to show what they read using any jellybean transistor?

[PA0PBZ]

I have a cheap Dynatek with the transistor socket, never tried it before but I just plugged a BC548 in there and the meter says HFE 285. Not too bad and good enough for the 'are you alive?' test.


(edit, typo)

[CatalinaWOW]

I have a cheap Dynatek with the transistor socket, never tried it before but I just plugged a BC548 in there and the meter says HFE 285. Not too bad and good enough for the 'are you alive?' test.


(edit, typo)

I have done the same with the literal Harbor Freight version.  I will never tell you that they are a good DMM, the leads are crap and got crappier over time, accuracy is so so, safety less than so so.  But the ones I have were free, which makes them a good value proposition.  And at that cost there is one in every car, shop and tool box.  A meter at hand is better than any meter you don't have access to.

[tom66]

I've never found a use for such a poorly parameterised transistor tester.

I always thought they were a go/no go check that the transistor works (or not) rather than determining characteristics of it.

They don't really work as go/no-go though because if there's a CE short (at least on the meters I have used) it will show as having a very high gain, 500+, which is in the 'plausible' range for some types of devices.  And CE short is probably one of the more common failure modes for BJTs.

If it pulsed the base it could determine whether the transistor had any shorted junctions, but it doesn't do that. So the utility is very limited IMO -- at best it's a "toy" feature to learn a bit about transistors.

[Gyro]

More AC battery testing LOL -

Actually, that's the correct reading for a cheap DMM with half-wave rectified AC ranges. I just checked on one. It's a case of wrong switch position selected rather than false display. 

I tried it and mine jumped around all over the place.

Odd, it worked on my little Skytronic... https://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/what-did-you-buy-today-post-your-latest-purchase!/msg4160605/#msg4160605  On a reasonably fresh Alkaline AA I got 2.5V reading (one polarity).