What did you buy today? Post your latest purchase!

[TX-RX]

Recently I got myself a vintage ESI RV622A voltage divider. Interestingly, it was apparently owned by NASA before, so I hope it does not beam me into a parallel universe when pressing the wrong button. When supplying 10 V (10.000062 V according to my DMM) and dialing in .123456 it provides an output voltage of 1.234324 V. This represents a deviation of about 0.02% - not bad for such an old device. However, I had to treat the switching contacts with a lot of  DeoxIT D5 before...

Happy New Year to everyone!

I have a RV632 from when they were still known as Electro Measurements Inc.

Apart from taking a known voltage and giving a ratio output, what would the practical or realistic uses of these be?

I have a few EDC 10v references that I can dial up what voltage I want, so would that RV632 redundant? Are they more useful for people who only have a fixed voltage and allow them to get any voltage below that point?

The RV632 has a input impeadance of either 5k or 10k ohm, so it isn’t going to be of much use with higher voltages or voltages that suffer from loading.

You are certainly right that these days there are more convenient ways to generate accurate voltages, mostly I bought it because of the vintage aspect. However, I am considering to use it for occasional ADC and bridge circuit testing. It might be useful in situations when the reference voltage is unstable (e.g. drift) and all that matters are relative proportions.

[AF6LJ]

Good Stuff.

[julianhigginson]

Anyway, I turn this light on, and it has an emergency  blink mode. It has ONE mode - blink. I can't find any way to get it into 'just work you f*cking thing' mode. There's only one control - power on-off. Rapid power cycling via that button or the mains plug make no difference, though ONCE it came up in normal-on mode. Cannot repeat that. There is no mention in the 'manual-ha-ha' of any modes, or blinking.

Gosh... why on earth would anyone want blink mode on a work light? And undocumented? without a specific way to make it do what every user will expect to use it for? I can't see bunnings buyers would want something like this in the store either... based on what you've described, if this is the proper functioning of the unit, I'd expect that every single one they sell will end up a return.

So yeah - I'd expect  the power supply in the unit is faulty and it's oscillating..

Assuming the bunnings isn't a long haul from your place, I'd just take it back... then if the one they swap has the same problem, take that back and swap for something else which is actually fit for purpose (good old Australian Consumer Law!)

[TerraHertz]

Gosh... why on earth would anyone want blink mode on a work light? And undocumented?
  ...
Assuming the bunnings isn't a long haul from your place, I'd just take it back... then if the one they swap has the same problem, take that back and swap for something else which is actually fit for purpose (good old Australian Consumer Law!)

I did. So now we'll never know why it was blinking.
No, there should not be any such mode in a work light. But I suspect they may have used some LED regulator IC that was intended for torches. And somehow it had blink mode enabled. It did _once_ turn on in non-blink mode. Or, as you say, possibly a power supply fault.
Made them plug in the replacement light in the store, to check it. Didn't want to have to make another trip.

[cdev]

"Why would Netscape want HTML text to blink?"

Does anybody remember the "blink" HTML tag?

[Macbeth]

Recently I got myself a vintage ESI RV622A voltage divider. Interestingly, it was apparently owned by NASA before, so I hope it does not beam me into a parallel universe when pressing the wrong button. When supplying 10 V (10.000062 V according to my DMM) and dialing in .123456 it provides an output voltage of 1.234324 V. This represents a deviation of about 0.02% - not bad for such an old device. However, I had to treat the switching contacts with a lot of  DeoxIT D5 before...

Happy New Year to everyone!

Those results seem WAY off what they should be. Squinting at the picture of your DMM7510 the reason is obvious - you are measuring using 10M\$\Omega\$ input impedance!

Try measuring again with >10G\$\Omega\$ High Z. 

[rrinker]

 Another present - one of those cheapo capacitor meters. Put ti all together, curious how they didn't use a socket for the ATMega48 micro but, oh well. Fired it up - worked perfectly. Then I see the small piece of foam, hmm, what is this from? Oh look, a socket for the micro!  Oh well, parts inventory just went up by one for 28 pin SPDIP sockets.

[Inverted18650]

Arrived today. Power Designs Model 5005R. 20VDC up to 500mA. A quick test was very promising for eBay score, for just $23 shipped.

Finally sat down to play with this unit and unfortunately the output jumps straight from 0.4V up to about 10V and it has a few more issues. So, I will get to open it up and poke around. Also, the Keithley 2000 arrives tomorrow. Ill try to get both units into one short video clip for anyone interested.

[Specmaster]

Arrived today. Power Designs Model 5005R. 20VDC up to 500mA. A quick test was very promising for eBay score, for just $23 shipped.

Finally sat down to play with this unit and unfortunately the output jumps straight from 0.4V up to about 10V and it has a few more issues. So, I will get to open it up and poke around. Also, the Keithley 2000 arrives tomorrow. Ill try to get both units into one short video clip for anyone interested.

Was it sold as working???

[Macbeth]

"Why would Netscape want HTML text to blink?"

Does anybody remember the "blink" HTML tag?

Yes, but even better I still remember CHR$(136) on the BBC Micro MODE 7 Teletext display!

[julianhigginson]

"Why would Netscape want HTML text to blink?"

Does anybody remember the "blink" HTML tag?

I see your blink, and I raise you a marquee.
http://www.yourhtmlsource.com/text/marquees.html

I guess they were trying to sieze the opportunity of screen rendered text, and have a way to make web pages break away from being static, like a piece of paper... I guess they do that, and allow simple access to make it happen for the web developer.... but cripes that was tacky...

[FrankBuss]

"Why would Netscape want HTML text to blink?"

Does anybody remember the "blink" HTML tag?

Blink doesn't work anymore in modern browsers like Chrome. But a bit of JavaScript can fix it, and it can be combined with marquee

http://jsfiddle.net/5bjwL9m0/2/

jsfiddle is really useful for testing webpages.

[Inverted18650]

"Was it sold as working???"

It was sold as a working unit and it does "work" above 10V. I paid so little for it, I wouldn't dare fuss. It will be a fun project and hopefully I can get it back in spec.

[HumbleDeer]

You wouldn't believe how addicted I am to eBay and AliExpress shopping. It's so enjoyable!

I bought a pair of gloves, a can opener, a knife..

And not one but FIVE 36v 11A (they claim so) SM Power Supplies. For 55 bucks. Shipped & Delivered, with a secret inside.

Cheers,
Anna

[TX-RX]

Recently I got myself a vintage ESI RV622A voltage divider. Interestingly, it was apparently owned by NASA before, so I hope it does not beam me into a parallel universe when pressing the wrong button. When supplying 10 V (10.000062 V according to my DMM) and dialing in .123456 it provides an output voltage of 1.234324 V. This represents a deviation of about 0.02% - not bad for such an old device. However, I had to treat the switching contacts with a lot of  DeoxIT D5 before...

Happy New Year to everyone!

Those results seem WAY off what they should be. Squinting at the picture of your DMM7510 the reason is obvious - you are measuring using 10M\$\Omega\$ input impedance!

Try measuring again with >10G\$\Omega\$ High Z. 

Many thanks for catching this !

[DC1MC]

I've bought myself one of these (extremely overpriced in their time) office lamps and had a light-gasm    .
Of course after I removed the years of caked dust and grime, but holly God of light, my tired old eyes said thank you so much !!!
I definitely recommend it and the seller in Frankfurt a.M seem to have more for a very acceptable price (PM if you want the Kleinanzeigen link).Mannheim is in between two rivers, and from middle of autumn to middle of spring it's Gotham City cloudy, I thought my eyes are gone bad, but really the natural light is miserable bad and the table lamp was not cutting it anymore, I'm so happy now with 4 x 55W daylight goodness.

 DC1MC

[Kjelt]

I've bought myself one of these (extremely overpriced in their time) office lamps and had a light-gasm    .

Is it fluo or led? 4x55W is a lot of Lumen 
I have now 35W led office fixture dimmable 4000K over my desk which is more then enough.
I wish in the future to make it tunable white since I wake up under the light so if i sit at my desk in the late evening i notice that my sleep is gone.

[DC1MC]

It's fluo, this why they show cheap now, the office buildings are kicking them out and use the LED ones, otherwise they are crazy expensive but build to last.
The lamps can be switched on in pairs of two: 2 or 4 at a time.

Tens of years starring in a CRT reduced my retinal sensitivity , but if one has good eyes it's ultra simple to put instead 4 x 15W lamps, I will still stay with 4 lamps to have a better spread.
A new lamp is in between 2.50-3.50 EUR and it really feels like sunny in the shack 

[Inverted18650]

Me a few days ago:

"I am in need of a nice 6 1/2 digit meter, so I gambled on this:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Keithley-2000-Multimeter/263388432470?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

I have my fingers crossed I didn't just piss away $275. Seller states just needs a cal. Pictures show its been opened but I am hoping it was just in a rack. I'll know within a few days."

It arrived! The aluminum plate on the bottom is a bent/wrapped and that is my guess as to why the tabs on the top-front of the case were sticking out. Otherwise, I am very pleasantly surprised that it passed the 'built-in self test' and I have no found any issues with it, yet. I will try to get some video for anyone interested. So far it seems I have picked a jewel out of the rough.

When I opened it up, everything looks  original and I cannot see any immediate signs of repairs or part-swaps. The PCB dates to 1994 and most of the chips are mid-late 95 with a few stamped '96. While it is still to early to say, I hope I get to shout "Winner-winner, chicken dinner".

[Specmaster]

Me a few days ago:

"I am in need of a nice 6 1/2 digit meter, so I gambled on this:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Keithley-2000-Multimeter/263388432470?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

I have my fingers crossed I didn't just piss away $275. Seller states just needs a cal. Pictures show its been opened but I am hoping it was just in a rack. I'll know within a few days."

It arrived! The aluminum plate on the bottom is a bent/wrapped and that is my guess as to why the tabs on the top-front of the case were sticking out. Otherwise, I am very pleasantly surprised that it passed the 'built-in self test' and I have no found any issues with it, yet. I will try to get some video for anyone interested. So far it seems I have picked a jewel out of the rough.

When I opened it up, everything looks  original and I cannot see any immediate signs of repairs or part-swaps. The PCB dates to 1994 and most of the chips are mid-late 95 with a few stamped '96. While it is still to early to say, I hope I get to shout "Winner-winner, chicken dinner".

I hope it does turn out to be OK, I thought about going for it myself but thought I might regret it seeing as the top was open.

[peteb2]

My next project calls for a 100uA analog panel meter. So i start out looking locally at the hobby shop and well their stock is at zero and their catalog offering was small, hard to read  "One-Hung-Low Brand, so pretty much rubbish...

So i trawled for probably an hour through Ebay and found a few, almost all from China, some Korean and and some from yaiwan. I found a couple but they were small scale, oval in Bakelite, very old and more at home in someone's museum collection...

I next turned to the local sources again namely via the self styled online auction company known as Trade Me and had a search. Instantly up came a nice not too 'old-school' 80mm square AWA unit.... i guess there's an old adage... always check locally before wasting time looking for something you may not ever find!

[bitseeker]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Keithley-2000-Multimeter/263388432470?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

It arrived! The aluminum plate on the bottom is a bent/wrapped and that is my guess as to why the tabs on the top-front of the case were sticking out. Otherwise, I am very pleasantly surprised that it passed the 'built-in self test' and I have no found any issues with it, yet. I will try to get some video for anyone interested. So far it seems I have picked a jewel out of the rough.

When I opened it up, everything looks  original and I cannot see any immediate signs of repairs or part-swaps. The PCB dates to 1994 and most of the chips are mid-late 95 with a few stamped '96. While it is still to early to say, I hope I get to shout "Winner-winner, chicken dinner".

Be sure to check on the forums regarding replacing the electrolytic caps before they leak. That way your chicken will be good for many more years.

[Inverted18650]

Be sure to check on the forums regarding replacing the electrolytic caps before they leak. That way your chicken will be good for many more years.

I was just reading the XDevs blog about the issue as well. thanks mate.

[GK]

I bought two fat Australorp hens (a black and a blue) to add to my flock of fowl. The white one is a fugitive which I found in my backyard yesterday, dehydrated, sporting a broken toe and trying to break in to my chicken coop for a drink and feed. Dunno where she came from. A far as I can figure she is some kind of bantam Leghorn.

[julianhigginson]

I bought the MX master S2 last year after a solid churn of all day every day AD use in august-september that had my wrist starting to really complain.

I like the switchable wheel too,  where I first had free run on all the time, I have moved away from it lately - only turn it on when I really want to navigate huge documents like microcontroller datasheets and the like, and end up turning it off pretty soon after that -  in a lot of websites it seems to be a bit uncontrollable, and the page drifts...