Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[med6753]

This is the Vertical Board from a 465 parts mule. It has been unceremoniously stripped out never to be reinstalled or functional ever again.  But there is a method and a reason for my crime against TEA. Hopefully in the next few days that will become readily apparent. I will report regardless of success or failure.

I would beg for forgiveness but frankly my dear I don't give a damn. 



 

[bd139]

I've got a box of horrors like this. There is no shame. No different to organ harvesting put at least the donor was only a machine

Edit: from a Tek plugin

[tggzzz]

Soooo... what appeared on my local CL today but a TDR 1503 that doesn't power up and, based on the photos, was probably dropped. 



Though I know fixing something like this is way above my pay grade, I am tempted to give it a go anyway, so I came back here to this post to remind myself why it is a terrible idea.

Not that it will stop me. *sigh*

Just get it.

The 1502 is squaddie proof. One of mine had a 3cm "hole" (case material still present, so welded back into place) plus longer cracks on the rear case, and still worked. ISTR the CRT is shock mounted.

They won't turn on unless there is a functional battery installed, but there is a quick test trick. The battery pack uses 4mm banana plugs/sockets, so simulate the battery with a bench PSU and flying lead with 4mm sockets on the end. Getting the correct polarity helps

Other thing to check is that the tant caps haven't spewed acid over the tracks.

Yeah, I am going to make an offer on it today. Just figuring out how it works will be fun, even if I never get it working. Thanks for the tips. I was going to ask you about subbing an external supply for the battery as a way to test it.

Here is it being done for a 1502: http://w140.com/tekwiki/wiki/File:Tek1502-bottom.JPG That looks overcomplicated in that the black block probably connects a 4mm plug to a 4mm plug; simpler to have a 4mm socket on the end of the lead!

A quick glance at the 1503 manual shows a very familiar PSU, and different cavity electronics. The 1503C is rather different.

The outer can of some of the PSU axial electrolytics is at 100-200V, so it can tickle you - at least that's what I presume since I've never bothered to look in detail. The 2kV is buried, except where it goes to the front panel controls

[med6753]

I've got a box of horrors like this. There is no shame. No different to organ harvesting put at least the donor was only a machine

Edit: from a Tek plugin

Box of horrors you say? Here's mine. All sorts of Tek parts. And when I'm done with that Vertical Board it will join it.

[bd139]

Box of horrors you say? Here's mine. All sorts of Tek parts. And when I'm done with that Vertical Board it will join it.

That's possibly not as bad as mine 

This is one of about 20 similar sized boxes full of shite:



The "tektronix scope stripped parts" box. One of about 7 which are broken down into vendor parts. I tend to strip boards and dispose of the substrate. Doing this is good stress relief when you're bored. This is, when time allows, filtered out into the parts store boxes (35 of them).



And look what I just snagged! Tested working with warranty. Been after this exact power supply for about 2 years. They are pretty rare here.



There's a 320V 6209B up on ebay UK as well for £70 if anyone wants it. I want it but I'm getting out of budget now and need some Kempton money still. Plus I'll never use it or kill myself with it.

[0culus]

Box of horrors you say? Here's mine. All sorts of Tek parts. And when I'm done with that Vertical Board it will join it.

That's possibly not as bad as mine 

snip

And look what I just snagged! Tested working with warranty. Been after this exact power supply for about 2 years. They are pretty rare here.



There's a 320V 6209B up on ebay UK as well for £70 if anyone wants it. I want it but I'm getting out of budget now and need some Kempton money still. Plus I'll never use it or kill myself with it.

Oh interesting...my local surplus store has a about 3-4 of these last time I checked. Perhaps it would be worth picking one or two of them up.

[bd139]

I would take the lot. They are excellent supplies.

[0culus]

I would take the lot. They are excellent supplies.

If they are still there next time I'm in, just might do that.

[med6753]

Box of horrors you say? Here's mine. All sorts of Tek parts. And when I'm done with that Vertical Board it will join it.

That's possibly not as bad as mine 

This is one of about 20 similar sized boxes full of shite:


The "tektronix scope stripped parts" box. One of about 7 which are broken down into vendor parts. I tend to strip boards and dispose of the substrate. Doing this is good stress relief when you're bored. This is, when time allows, filtered out into the parts store boxes (35 of them).



And look what I just snagged! Tested working with warranty. Been after this exact power supply for about 2 years. They are pretty rare here.


There's a 320V 6209B up on ebay UK as well for £70 if anyone wants it. I want it but I'm getting out of budget now and need some Kempton money still. Plus I'll never use it or kill myself with it.

OK, you got me beat. I surrender! 

Nice snag on the power supply. 

[bd139]

Yep I'm happy with the supply. Once it's checked out I'm going to lose my TTi PL310

[grizewald]

There's a 320V 6209B up on ebay UK as well for £70 if anyone wants it. I want it but I'm getting out of budget now and need some Kempton money still. Plus I'll never use it or kill myself with it.

There was.

This place is dangerous, I really have to stop coming here!

[tggzzz]

There's a 320V 6209B up on ebay UK as well for £70 if anyone wants it. I want it but I'm getting out of budget now and need some Kempton money still. Plus I'll never use it or kill myself with it.

There was.

This place is dangerous, I really have to stop coming here!

Aw, bless. Nice to have fresh blood newbies

Think "Hotel California", and you'll be on the right track.

[bd139]

There's a 320V 6209B up on ebay UK as well for £70 if anyone wants it. I want it but I'm getting out of budget now and need some Kempton money still. Plus I'll never use it or kill myself with it.

There was.

This place is dangerous, I really have to stop coming here!

Hahaha enjoy 

[factory]

There's a 320V 6209B up on ebay UK as well for £70 if anyone wants it. I want it but I'm getting out of budget now and need some Kempton money still. Plus I'll never use it or kill myself with it.

There was.

This place is dangerous, I really have to stop coming here!

I was just about to say that, gone before I could turn my PC on.

Hope it gets packed better than my 6209A was, the current control got smashed inside. Guess I will never know if GSP removed some of bubblewrap or the seller couldn't be arsed, as there wasn't much in the box. 

David

[Rémi]

I received today the HP5334B universal counter that I bought on Ebay. Unfortunately the instrument was poorly packed and two BNC have been damaged.
Hopefully, the instrument is working, at least channel A. Now I'm looking for BNC replacements.

[bd139]

Two posts in a row of shitty packaging. Not good    Genuinely feel sorry for you both.

The VTVM I posted earlier was really badly packaged as well. I don’t know how it survived. It was in two tomato boxes taped together loose with no bubble wrap or anything with a UK mains plug on it. Good inch around all sides rattling around.  Not a scratch. No idea how that worked out.

[Specmaster]

Next restoration project arrived today.

Thing is nearly the size of my DS1054Z. It's huge. I like it. Much better than the vertical format VTVMs. Fluke 87V for scale too.



This one sort of works but is in excellent condition and was assembled very well. No sign of battery leak either. I am very impressed:



Going to take a lot more than a GDO to refurb this though. Looks like we have many possibly drifted carbon composition resistors, dirty pots, hunts horrible bastard film capacitors, waxies, selenium death rectifier etc.

Also these things are floating metal case so there's the "shall I ground it" decision to be made as well. It's not double insulated so it's about trading off the mortality risk here

I'm in heaven again 

Edit: also got another GDO in the post. The variable capacitor is much much better in this one so I'm going to do swapsies. Comedy gold though - someone got half way through refurbishing this one and gave up by the looks after a 100v electrolytic capacitor blew up in their face. FFS it has 145V+ in there 

I'm playing catch up again, that heathkit looks like it has a far larger meter than the vertical variety as well, nice addition to you bench. [emoji106]

EDIT:
If you do ground it, which I'd recommend, it will mean having to evict that jack plug for the RF probe / DC probe and re-configuring the circuitry slightly so that the DC resistor is switched in and out as required on the range selector switch. You could also replace those banana jacks with some of the more modern sleeved type and then use the same leads as you do with the 87V (almost said the 867 then  ) then the same leads are used for everything.

[factory]

Well if those LCD conversion kits from newscope were affordable that would be an option.

Look really cool though.

I recently came across this method that seems impressive with enhancing capabilities also with math functions and views.


He references his Github files in the description too.   I've seen these going for as low as $50 brand new.

This is the first I've seen such an upgrade for a 141. Hmmm... yes... TEA...

That video has been on YouTube for well over a year, I wonder if he ever got any further with it. It's certainly interesting and doesn't require any modifications to the HP 140 or 141 series spectrum analyser.
There has been plenty of these spectrum analysers appearing for sale over here recently, is everyone replacing them with something smaller & more modern?

I still need to confirm if the storage CRT is OK on my 141S, but the 141T I collected a couple of weeks ago seems to have a good CRT.  The modules & tracking generator that came with it need some work though, the IF has a seized control, blown fuses & the two of the Nixies in the TG are faulty.
The power supply & HV section look in nice condition too, not much dirt for a change. 

David

[Cubdriver]

I would take the lot. They are excellent supplies.

If they are still there next time I'm in, just might do that.

Definitely useful if you play with tube gear at all.  They operate as either voltage or current limited supplies - I use mine to reform (at least most of the way, or verify that I cannot reform) HV electrolytics in tube gear power supplies.  Set it for a few mA at 320V or the cap's rated voltage (if it's lower), then turn it on and let it run while watching to see if the voltage rises as the dielectric regrows.  If it makes it to the voltage limit, continue to watch and see if the leakage drops to acceptable levels.  It's nice to be able to do it relatively hands free and without needing to constantly babysit adjusting forming voltage as leakage drops off.

-Pat

[grizewald]

I was just about to say that, gone before I could turn my PC on.

Hope it gets packed better than my 6209A was, the current control got smashed inside. Guess I will never know if GSP removed some of bubblewrap or the seller couldn't be arsed, as there wasn't much in the box. 

David

There will be hell to pay (or at least a refund) if they pack it that stupidly. How hard is it really?

Make sure the contents can't move. Anchor the contents in the centre of the package. Use a box within a box to be certain.

[factory]

I received today the HP5334B universal counter that I bought on Ebay. Unfortunately the instrument was poorly packed and two BNC have been damaged.
Hopefully, the instrument is working, at least channel A. Now I'm looking for BNC replacements.

Ouch that doesn't look good  , is one of those BNC's a special? as it seems to have a fuse incorporated into it. Hope you can fix it. 

Two posts in a row of shitty packaging. Not good    Genuinely feel sorry for you both.

The VTVM I posted earlier was really badly packaged as well. I don’t know how it survived. It was in two tomato boxes taped together loose with no bubble wrap or anything with a UK mains plug on it. Good inch around all sides rattling around.  Not a scratch. No idea how that worked out.

Luck more than anything else I guess.

I do hope I can repair the 6209A, but as the damaged control is a stacked one, it's probably not something I can easily find a replacement for. The box did come with the mark of the devil to warn me.

As most people seem to think it's fine to send stuff in inadequate packaging, I decided it was best to collect both the HP spectrum analysers myself, even though it meant losing most of two days spare (TEA) time driving to do so, much better than having another pile of delivery victims.

David

[Cubdriver]

I was just about to say that, gone before I could turn my PC on.

Hope it gets packed better than my 6209A was, the current control got smashed inside. Guess I will never know if GSP removed some of bubblewrap or the seller couldn't be arsed, as there wasn't much in the box. 

David

There will be hell to pay (or at least a refund) if they pack it that stupidly. How hard is it really?

Make sure the contents can't move. Anchor the contents in the centre of the package. Use a box within a box to be certain.

Based on personal experience, much harder than you think.  You'd be surprised how such a simple concept is lost on so many sellers.

-Pat

[0culus]

So it seems that someone robbed the entire battery board from my 8566A. No wonder it was complaining about battery...it's not dead; it doesn't even have one! On the bright side, this means no damage from a crapped out battery pack. Time to look into retrofitting a more modern battery.

[Rémi]

I received today the HP5334B universal counter that I bought on Ebay. Unfortunately the instrument was poorly packed and two BNC have been damaged.
Hopefully, the instrument is working, at least channel A. Now I'm looking for BNC replacements.

Ouch that doesn't look good  , is one of those BNC's a special? as it seems to have a fuse incorporated into it. Hope you can fix it. 

Two posts in a row of shitty packaging. Not good    Genuinely feel sorry for you both.

The VTVM I posted earlier was really badly packaged as well. I don’t know how it survived. It was in two tomato boxes taped together loose with no bubble wrap or anything with a UK mains plug on it. Good inch around all sides rattling around.  Not a scratch. No idea how that worked out.

Luck more than anything else I guess.

I do hope I can repair the 6209A, but as the damaged control is a stacked one, it's probably not something I can easily find a replacement for. The box did come with the mark of the devil to warn me.

As most people seem to think it's fine to send stuff in inadequate packaging, I decided it was best to collect both the HP spectrum analysers myself, even though it meant losing most of two days spare (TEA) time driving to do so, much better than having another pile of delivery victims.

David

It is a special BNC indeed, a fused BNC to SMA connector. Already found a replacement on Ebay for the broken part.

[mnementh]

Two posts in a row of shitty packaging. Not good    Genuinely feel sorry for you both.

The VTVM I posted earlier was really badly packaged as well. I don’t know how it survived. It was in two tomato boxes taped together loose with no bubble wrap or anything with a UK mains plug on it. Good inch around all sides rattling around.  Not a scratch. No idea how that worked out.

Hear hear! Good to know it's not just me this crap happens to...    But maybe I need to stop bitching so much about the occasional borked item from slAmazon. I think from now on, I'll just let them take care of it (which they always do, and with minimal hassle) and go on about my business. 

Speaking of eBay BS... on to my brand new AMD Octa-Core processor being 5 days late:

You wanna know what failure to meet that "Fast & Free GUARANTEED DELIVERY" date is worth? fleaBay gives you a $5 coupon applied to your account.

And these assholes wonder why Bezos is siphoning their customers away like a busted dam... 

And finally... let's get the gripefest all over in one shot: 

Last 3 days I've been going round & round with Progressive (The adverse insurant's carrier) over getting my new Rav4 fixed properly, with OEM parts instead of aftermarket; all to save from paying the deductible and submitting to my own carrier, USAA. Progressive "Policy" is to only pay for OEM parts if the vehicle is current model year AND less than 12K miles. This means that if the accident had happened 3 months after we bought it, when the 2019s came out, they would STILL expect us to put up with cheap-ass aftermarket parts, or give up the lifetime warranty they promise on the repair. 

Worse; the adjuster gave me the runaround and wasted my time for 2 days, finally pawning me off on their Collision Center to get these answers.

So, in disgust at the wasted time, I call my insurance and ask all the "what ifs". In 30 minutes I had correct answers, found that they covered OEM parts for 2 years from date of purchase, offered better lifetime nationwide warranty on the bodywork than Progressive, and due to the specifics of the accident, my rater would not go up, AND the deductible would be waived. 

4 hours later I receive a call from their Collision Center (5 minutes up the highway from my home) asking If I'd like to bring the car in tomorrow morning. And they have no problem giving me a ride home or arranging a rental.    

*SMH* This BS is why insurance is so expensive. When people have to do it the way I did, then they STILL have to pay for the OEM parts. But then they ALSO have to pay for the adjusters at MY company AND for the company lawyers to sort it all out. I think maybe I should submit a bill for my time as a consultant troubleshooting their claims process... 

mnem
"Progressive Flo" makes some cute ads... but she's a fucking no-paying bitch.