What did you buy today? Post your latest purchase!

[CatalinaWOW]

A pair of 2 Terabyte USB sticks for $16.  Too good to be true, but at that price I had to try.  Chinese Ebay seller, less than two weeks from order to delivery.  So far a win.  Very nice apparently stainless steel cases and an acceptable ring.  Packaging re-purposed from USB cable package with sticker showing drive size.  Shows ~ 2 Terabytes capacity, with some 2 mbyte used.  Currently doing a full format and will do some other checks but other than worries about data life and such looks like real deal.  Seems to be USB 2.0 speed so not going to set the world on fire, but makes it reasonable to have an entire set of backup files on your key ring.  When the forest fire, or hurricane or tsunami or whatever hits its one less thing to worry about. 

[technix]

I bought a used Xeltek Superpro 500P universal programmer and a new ZIF socket for the thing. I have a few chips (mainly 8051 MCU from Nuvoton, SyncMOS and Meagwin) my TL866II just won't support, so I bought that to support them.

[don.r]

A NooElec Nano 2 to use as a portable spectrum analyzer via a USB OTG adapter on my phone.

[McBryce]

Ordered a Wowstick 1F+ just to see if they are any good...

McBryce.

And what do you think of it?

I'll let you know when it arrives.

@aargee: I've used a Bosch IXO for many years (for shelving etc, not electronics) and I'm very happy with it. The WowStick will just be for opening/closing small cases (Phones/consoles etc).

McBryce.

[Black Phoenix]

Visit to Huaqiangbei Electronic Markets to get some prices for silicone cables, lemo connectors, some more work tools and to buy a Silicon Labs CP210x USB to UART Bridge:

[Nominal Animal]

Do you check if your cables are truly silicone (can withstand a soldering iron at 300°C/570°F), and not just overly plasticized PVC?
The extra plasticizer tends to leech out, melding the cable with any PVC or compatible plastics given sufficient contact duration (weeks).

[Black Phoenix]

Do you check if your cables are truly silicone (can withstand a soldering iron at 300°C/570°F), and not just overly plasticized PVC?
The extra plasticizer tends to leech out, melding the cable with any PVC or compatible plastics given sufficient contact duration (weeks).

No I didn't check out, thanks for that info.

[edit] Basically like this ones:

Shrouded:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/P1018A-5Pcs-1M-4mm-Silicone-Banana-Plug-to-Crocodile-Alligator-Clip-Multimeter-T/362774198874?epid=12016622019&hash=item547706fa5a:g:74sAAOSw6RNdSwi5

Normal:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DANIU-5Pcs-1M-4mm-Silicone-Banana-Plug-to-Crocodile-Alligator-Clip-Test-Probe-Le/362774214793?hash=item5477073889:g:MioAAOSwUTNdSwXQ

The difference was that the tips on the lower one were only one outside 2mm spring wire instead of the lantern tip foil (if it's this way it's said). I didn't check the top ones, but I suppose that are lantern tip instead of spring wire.

I think the user mnementh had some also in his collection but I can't find the topic where he shows that.

[thm_w]

A pair of 2 Terabyte USB sticks for $16.  Too good to be true, but at that price I had to try.  Chinese Ebay seller, less than two weeks from order to delivery.  So far a win.  Very nice apparently stainless steel cases and an acceptable ring.  Packaging re-purposed from USB cable package with sticker showing drive size.  Shows ~ 2 Terabytes capacity, with some 2 mbyte used.  Currently doing a full format and will do some other checks but other than worries about data life and such looks like real deal.  Seems to be USB 2.0 speed so not going to set the world on fire, but makes it reasonable to have an entire set of backup files on your key ring.  When the forest fire, or hurricane or tsunami or whatever hits its one less thing to worry about. 

You need to do a full 2TB write test with h2testw, anything less is just a waste of time.

[maginnovision]

https://www.raymond.cc/blog/test-and-detect-fake-or-counterfeit-usb-flash-drives-bought-from-ebay-with-h2testw/

I wouldn't say anything else is a waste of time. You can be pretty sure those are tiny drives and trash.

[ealex]

Just got this "bad boy" :






(sorry for the bad photos, I really need to get some LED panels to provide better lighting)

It had a rough trip ... the package looked like it was rolled down several stairs - holes in the box, etc.
The handle took most of the damage and got a lot of the locating pins sheered off.
Everything else looks ok.
I've opened it up and it's very clean inside - I can't see any mark of a lot of run-time (no PCB discoloration in high-heat areas, etc).
Now I'm pondering if I should do some preventive PSU rebuild, or if I should leave it as it is, and

Do you know if there is any schematic available ? I've looked  over the net and I only found some partially reverse engineered ones, and GW Instek did not want to send me anything.

[TerraHertz]

From US ebay:
"90 lbs Vintage HP Computer Circuit Boards PCB Gold Scrap Precious Metal Recovery
Used / Gold Recovery Only / Will Be Bulk Packaged (Not Individually ESD Packaged or Wrapped)"
Seller greenpowerparts

This was a rescue mission. The seller didn't care that a lot of those boards are useful, some even quite rare.
The ebay item (174036836066) got a mention on a 'classic computing' mail list. Several people on the list pointed out boards they wished they could have. One person on the list made an early bid attempting to rescue the boards, but got outbid by a gold scrapper pest. An idiotic slow bidding war between two of those scrapper pests ensued. Apparently neither of them aware of the existence of snipe bidding services.

But I am. I also have a couple of HP 3497A data acquisition frames, and recognized a stack of those boards (rear left corner) as optically isolated DtoA modules for them. Also I'm in the process of setting up a HP 1000 computer system in a rack, and there are some serial IO cards for it.

Anyway I won. The boards are now with a 'holding, sorting and distribution' volunteer from the CC list, located on the US East coast not so far from the seller (for minimized shipping cost.)

Progress of this rescue is tracked here: http://everist.org/pics/pcbs/
I'll be reselling some of the boards to recover some of the costs.

Many of the boards are for the HP 6942A Multiprogrammer frame, which I don't have any of. Hence these subsequent buys:
  372789928614 HP 6942A Multiprogrammer W/ 4x Relay Output 1x RES Output 1x DST HP6942 M0
  122318542675 HP App note: #316-2  Waveform digitizaton with the 6942A multiprogrammer
  401832955018 HP 06942-90006 Multiprogrammer 6942A Installation/Assembly Level Service Manual
  362605762142 HP 6942A MULTIPROGRAMMER USER'S GUIDE for the HP-85A, HP-83A and 9915A
  401832955076 HP 06942-90013 Using 9826 9836 Computers 6942A Multiprogrammer User's Guide


Does anyone recognize the large boards in stacks 9, 10 and 13?

[tooki]

A pair of 2 Terabyte USB sticks for $16.  Too good to be true, but at that price I had to try.  Chinese Ebay seller, less than two weeks from order to delivery.  So far a win.  Very nice apparently stainless steel cases and an acceptable ring.  Packaging re-purposed from USB cable package with sticker showing drive size.  Shows ~ 2 Terabytes capacity, with some 2 mbyte used.  Currently doing a full format and will do some other checks but other than worries about data life and such looks like real deal.  Seems to be USB 2.0 speed so not going to set the world on fire, but makes it reasonable to have an entire set of backup files on your key ring.  When the forest fire, or hurricane or tsunami or whatever hits its one less thing to worry about. 

(Attachment Link)

Those are some nice key fobs, but nothing more. There is somewhere between zero and null chance that those actually have the advertised capacity, and while attempting to write beyond their true capacity may appear to succeed, that data will be lost. Use the tool thm_w and maginnovision mentioned to see what it really is. Then ask for your money back and post a bad review.

Bear in mind that the largest USB flash drive on the market right now is a 2TB from Kingston, and it’s much, much larger than a normal one (think half a snickers bar) and costs $1000. There’s no way a random Chinese vendor could not only outperform the big guys in data density, but do so at 0.8% of the cost!

If you want actual low cost portable backup storage, get some hard drives. A 2TB should be well under $100. The last thing you want is to think you have a backup on your keychain, when in fact you don’t.

[beanflying]

While we are chatting USB sticks anyone got any thoughts on an NVMe USB solution? At least you can put a known drive in it. Considering a 500 or 1TB as a portable drive rather than a backup (have NAS and external drives for that). Drive usage is more for dumping the contents of Cards with video files when out and about.

[BravoV]

Not bad, pretty handy imo, use 250GB one on this ->

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32803895217.html

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32890263541.html

[aix]

While we are chatting USB sticks anyone got any thoughts on an NVMe USB solution?

I've used several NVMe products from sintech (bought directly from http://eshop.sintech.cn), with good results.

For example, I have a USB 3.0 / 3.1 M.2 nVME SSD external Case (PA-U31M2PCE-C) and it works well (used with an Intel 760p drive).

My only issue with sintech is the bewildering array of products they offer, some of which seem nearly identical.  On the flip side, they do have some unique products, such as an adapter that let me put a standard NVMe drive into an older MacBook Pro (which I am using to type this) — a massive win both in terms of capacity and speed.

To save you a bit of time, I think this is the right category:
http://eshop.sintech.cn/storage-adapter-ngff-m2-pcie-c-130_137.html

[Jeroen3]

Little warning about those m.2 to USB adapters. A lot of them only support SATA mode, only recently (q3 2018) JMicron released the JMS583 controller capable of going from NVME PCIe to USB 3.1.
Both the units linked by BravoV do not support PCIe and require SATA and those SSD's are very rare or have the wrong m.2 keying.

[aix]

Little warning about those m.2 to USB adapters. A lot of them only support SATA mode

+1 to that warning, though the unit I mentioned in my post and the entirely category I linked to are specifically NVMe rather than SATA.

[beanflying]

Surprisingly most of the evilbay sellers are fairly clear about go no go for drive options. eBay auction: #223652718352 example one. But certainly worth mentioning for others. The bottom of the barrel ones seem to be generally SATA for about 1/2 this price.

[MosherIV]

Latest ebay bargin:  peak esr meter £40

Something from Aldi: large hole drill bits £8

[Terry01]

Ive been wanting one for ages but just never got round to ordering 1! Looking forward to learning how to drive it! 

[xrunner]

Ive been wanting one for ages but just never got round to ordering 1! Looking forward to learning how to drive it! 

Good for you it's a lot of fun! 

[MosherIV]

Pickdd another bargin.

I was wondering through my local Wilko and found these:


Each item just £0.50
The screw drivers are nice because they have a hex part for spanner to increase force for stuck screws!

[boffin]

Just picked up this in a local government auction.  C$100
Seems to work, and close enough in cal for my use.

[Terry01]

Ive been wanting one for ages but just never got round to ordering 1! Looking forward to learning how to drive it! 

Good for you it's a lot of fun! 

I've seen lots of reviews that say the same thing. 
Even just getting a few LED's flashing at different speeds was very satisfying. I'm looking forward to learning to do more and more with it.

[Kjelt]

Just picked up this in a local government auction.  C$100
Seems to work, and close enough in cal for my use.

Check if the PSU has an overshoot at powerup/startup, I once fried a circuit with a look a like PSU that when set to 5V at powerup shot over to 6,8V spike then return to 5V, frying my board that was still connected.