I feel kinda stupid...

[duskglow]

So I'll confess here.

I got a lecroy oscilloscope at surplus a bit ago.  This was before I was getting into electronics again seriously, and it had no vertical sweep.  I thought maybe I could fix it, so I opened it up and looked inside.  While (I thought carefully) trying to pull the front off, I cracked the picture tube.  So I took it apart because that's what I do... or did.

So recently I got the idea that maybe some of the parts I could sell on ebay.  I had already thought it was the CRT driver board, so I scrapped that, and sold most of the rest of the parts.  One of them being a rather beefy power supply (this was not the same model Dave tore down, but it was similar).  I cleaned it up with a duster and thought "hey, this is pretty cool, maybe I can get a little of what I paid back".

Sent it to the guy, he sent back "I had to fix it, some of the caps were blown, and the electrolyte ate away at the sense trace".  So I opened up a hi res picture I took from ebay, and sure enough, electrolyte everywhere.

I have no idea how, even in my rather green (even though I've been at it for years) state, I missed that.  Thankfully he was just grateful to have the power supply and was able to fix it, but I have no friggin' clue how I missed that.  Maybe if I'd noticed, I could have fixed the supply and the vertical would have started working.  Maybe if I'd even looked in the first place.

I take a whole bunch of stuff from this experience, but the biggest one is..  man, I hate feeling stupid.  I have many, many years at development and linux administration, and can run rings around even some experts, but here I feel like I'm this child who's just learning how to walk.  Sigh.

Note to self - always inspect caps, and a bulging cap is not the only evidence of failure.  *grimace*

[Telequipment]

I always feel stupid for a different reasons , my wife and two daughters, leave me standing outside the changing rooms, holding their handbags, looking like a right idiot, then for the pleasure, I have to pay for what they bought.

[duskglow]

Heh.  Funny thing is, that probably wouldn't make me feel all that stupid.  I'd just shrug and every other husband/father there would just nod in sympathy.  (Not that I would know, I'm blessedly single at the moment).

I need to figure out what I'm doing with all this stuff.  And I suppose learning how to spot defective caps and actually bothering to look is step 1.

[Telequipment]

Good days & bad days we all get them steep learning curve for me

[Fraser]

I have often carried out repairs and after finding and fixing the fault I realise that there was a far more efficient way of identifying the failed component. That is just life though. Hindsight is great, and at least I learn something each time this happens 

[Telequipment]

I have often carried out repairs and after finding and fixing the fault I realise that there was a far more efficient way of identifying the failed component. That is just life though. Hindsight is great, and at least I learn something each time this happens 

I personally think that is the best way to learn, because if you come across that fault again & probably will, you'll remember it, and do it differently , I don't believe any text book would teach you that.

[duskglow]

'tis true.  I had to wipe a few hard drives before learning to be really, really careful with the 'rm' command.  I don't usually make those newbie mistakes anymore.  So thanks for that.  You can bet next time I'll be checking caps thoroughly before I do *anything* else.

I like to say, when it comes to Linux, that I don't make the newbie mistakes anymore.  I save up all the mistakes a newbie would make and use them all at once for a truly monumental mistake only someone with 20 years experience could make.