Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Specmaster]

Crazy pricing of the week goes to

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/265277070312

I’d expect the seller to chuck their partner in for a couple of days at that price 

Oh hell yes, look at this then, also from the same seller (who, it must be said, does appear to shift this junk judging by his feedback score and is VAT registered as well) https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/284102793249, and its total shit, look at his list of faults, and he makes zero mention that the left woofer cone is completely ripped. I attach a photo of what a good one looks like. Is it me or has this country since Brexit gone totally stir crazy on eBay with these utterly ridiculous valuations?

[Specmaster]

Crazy pricing of the week goes to

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/265277070312

I’d expect the seller to chuck their partner in for a couple of days at that price 

Careful what you wish for. Remember the stripper granny 

everyday an idiot wakes up in the morning. You just have to FIND him. 

Thats so easy these days, just go to eBay and there they all are, looking for the equally brain-dead to come buy.

[Vtile]

Ethernet is from devil! 😁

I beg to differ. Serial ports are important; we agree there. But only as debug and out-of-band method, to get things running on the network. As soon as you've gotten network connectivity, the serial port is just an "Oh, shit" device.

Compared to say GPIB, TCP/IP over Ethernet on an instrument is IMNSHO much better. The only thing you'd lose is some timing. Ethernet cables are cheap as chips, can be self made (but it is not economical) and reach much longer than GPIB, at speeds that simply are insane in comparison. And then we haven't introduced a switch, yet. Which is also very inexpensive.

I've got one GPIB instrument so far. I'd be happy to get more, and as soon as I do, I'll probably try getting a cable for it and bodge an adapter/bridging solution so I can talk to them from my networked computers..

Didn't you read the grinning hieroglypth at the end  It's like two sided coin, when ethernet work (modern implementations) they work nicely, when you have poor connector (RJ-45 rubbish) somewhere, you will loose your mental health quickly.

[med6753]

Crazy pricing of the week goes to

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/265277070312

I’d expect the seller to chuck their partner in for a couple of days at that price 

Careful what you wish for. Remember the stripper granny 

everyday an idiot wakes up in the morning. You just have to FIND him. 

You rang? Just woke up. 

[med6753]

Crazy pricing of the week goes to

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/265277070312

I’d expect the seller to chuck their partner in for a couple of days at that price 

Careful what you wish for. Remember the stripper granny 

I can go wake her up if you like. 

[bd139]

Ethernet is from devil! 😁

I beg to differ. Serial ports are important; we agree there. But only as debug and out-of-band method, to get things running on the network. As soon as you've gotten network connectivity, the serial port is just an "Oh, shit" device.

Compared to say GPIB, TCP/IP over Ethernet on an instrument is IMNSHO much better. The only thing you'd lose is some timing. Ethernet cables are cheap as chips, can be self made (but it is not economical) and reach much longer than GPIB, at speeds that simply are insane in comparison. And then we haven't introduced a switch, yet. Which is also very inexpensive.

I've got one GPIB instrument so far. I'd be happy to get more, and as soon as I do, I'll probably try getting a cable for it and bodge an adapter/bridging solution so I can talk to them from my networked computers..

Got to be honest if I have the choice I’d rather use TCP/IP over Ethernet followed by RS232 then GPIB last. I did a lot of test automation with GPIB systems and it’s not actually that nice to work with. On top of that all the APIs and abstractions for it are garbage. Somewhere in the middle of this pool of poo is the USB over serial which is a device identification nightmare.

And please just give me a request response line based protocol to work with. No SCPI no VISA no fuckity binary protocols.

Command query protocols over TCP/IP over Ethernet gives you

1. Static addressing of all devices. Everything is where you put it last.
2. No client API to wrestle with
3. Ability to use off the shelf standard tools like netcat and python to do your automation.
4. Near zero cost.
5. No horrible stateful protocols which can get out of sync with the client.
6. Less hair loss.

[factory]

Crazy pricing of the week goes to

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/265277070312

I’d expect the seller to chuck their partner in for a couple of days at that price 

Oh hell yes, look at this then, also from the same seller (who, it must be said, does appear to shift this junk judging by his feedback score and is VAT registered as well) https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/284102793249, and its total shit, look at his list of faults, and he makes zero mention that the left woofer cone is completely ripped. I attach a photo of what a good one looks like. Is it me or has this country since Brexit gone totally stir crazy on eBay with these utterly ridiculous valuations?

The price of the hp 184A has nothing to do with that B-word  , the lazy seller just found the US one advertised at around £500 and added £100 because their one still has the bezel  . The US 184A has been on ePay for much much longer than B-word has been around and being in the US the B-word never applied in the first place.

Didn't prices start going crazy during the vorus* lockdowns, as people had nothing to do. 

*misspelling intended.

David

[med6753]

Gonna be interesting weather wise in these parts today and tomorrow. Current track will put me on the western edge of it. Cubdriver (Pat) will take a near direct hit. 

https://www.weather.gov/media/aly/AutoBriefing/ALYBriefing.pdf

[med6753]

Crazy pricing of the week goes to

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/265277070312

I’d expect the seller to chuck their partner in for a couple of days at that price 

Oh hell yes, look at this then, also from the same seller (who, it must be said, does appear to shift this junk judging by his feedback score and is VAT registered as well) https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/284102793249, and its total shit, look at his list of faults, and he makes zero mention that the left woofer cone is completely ripped. I attach a photo of what a good one looks like. Is it me or has this country since Brexit gone totally stir crazy on eBay with these utterly ridiculous valuations?

The price of the hp 184A has nothing to do with that B-word  , the lazy seller just found the US one advertised at around £500 and added £100 because their one still has the bezel  . The US 184A has been on ePay for much much longer than B-word has been around and being in the US the B-word never applied in the first place.

Didn't prices start going crazy during the vorus* lockdowns, as people had nothing to do. 

*misspelling intended.

David

The hp 180 series of scopes are decent. I've used them. But they ain't worth nowhere near that asking price. 

[Specmaster]

<snip>
The Metrix was not cheap, although nowhere near as expensive as that yellow one I linked before. It's quite well specced, and has the weirdest battery/fuse access that I've ever seen.

Here's the front:



Here's the back, with the dinkiest stand I've ever seen:



Hold up, where's the damn battery compartment? Oh.... I see!

We'll just jam a screwdriver in heah, in an AvE stylee:



And off comes the front on the meter! The battery and fuses are hidden behind a rubber seal:



And a plastic shield held on by an allen bolt:



I've not seen one of these fuses before, sorry it's out of focus but I didn't notice at the time and I'm not taking it apart again just yet:




I'm off to plug the Duratool and Metcal in, and get some food. Hope to have good results to report by Discord time!   

Yeah, that Metrix battery / fuse arrangement and that dinky stand is par for the course for that particular format of meter, but your meter is missing the special clip on Secur'X lead clamp, see photos attached.

[mansaxel]

Ethernet is from devil! 😁

I beg to differ. Serial ports are important; we agree there. But only as debug and out-of-band method, to get things running on the network. As soon as you've gotten network connectivity, the serial port is just an "Oh, shit" device.

Compared to say GPIB, TCP/IP over Ethernet on an instrument is IMNSHO much better. The only thing you'd lose is some timing. Ethernet cables are cheap as chips, can be self made (but it is not economical) and reach much longer than GPIB, at speeds that simply are insane in comparison. And then we haven't introduced a switch, yet. Which is also very inexpensive.

I've got one GPIB instrument so far. I'd be happy to get more, and as soon as I do, I'll probably try getting a cable for it and bodge an adapter/bridging solution so I can talk to them from my networked computers..

Didn't you read the grinning hieroglypth at the end  It's like two sided coin, when ethernet work (modern implementations) they work nicely, when you have poor connector (RJ-45 rubbish) somewhere, you will loose your mental health quickly.

Us nordic people and irony. Yeah, the 8p8c connector is an interesting piece of technology.

When it works it is extremely reliable, but as soon as one mistreats it, it will extract a gruesome revenge. Almost like a french car.

I recently happened to buy a couple 1000 of it, for next to nothing, including a crimper and, more importantly, almost as many backshells with tab protectors.

[AVGresponding]

Crazy pricing of the week goes to

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/265277070312

I’d expect the seller to chuck their partner in for a couple of days at that price 

Careful what you wish for. Remember the stripper granny 

I can go wake her up if you like. 

She's asleep in your apartment?   



RS Pro insulation tester failure mode confirmed and repaired; "safe" operation is restored. Now I have another tool to wake up slumbering apprentices with...   

[med6753]

She's asleep in your apartment?   

Falls under the category "Don't ask, don't tell". 

[factory]

Crazy pricing of the week goes to

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/265277070312

I’d expect the seller to chuck their partner in for a couple of days at that price 

Oh hell yes, look at this then, also from the same seller (who, it must be said, does appear to shift this junk judging by his feedback score and is VAT registered as well) https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/284102793249, and its total shit, look at his list of faults, and he makes zero mention that the left woofer cone is completely ripped. I attach a photo of what a good one looks like. Is it me or has this country since Brexit gone totally stir crazy on eBay with these utterly ridiculous valuations?

The price of the hp 184A has nothing to do with that B-word  , the lazy seller just found the US one advertised at around £500 and added £100 because their one still has the bezel  . The US 184A has been on ePay for much much longer than B-word has been around and being in the US the B-word never applied in the first place.

Didn't prices start going crazy during the vorus* lockdowns, as people had nothing to do. 

*misspelling intended.

David

The hp 180 series of scopes are decent. I've used them. But they ain't worth nowhere near that asking price. 

True, but they just aren't very desirable, probably due to the size and maybe some of the obsolete & custom parts used in them. Prices I noted pre-vorus pandemic were around £30 to £70. This one was a bargain at €32ish.

Maybe things will change if someone restores one on yuotube and it finds lots of viewers. 

Just found this hp 181A listing funny, guessing they are ashamed of it to need to hide it under a Tek cover  , note: the item it not even avaible to buy, on loan apparently. 
https://www.ebay.com/itm/154428367715


David

[Vince]

[..]  but your meter is missing the special clip on Secur'X lead clamp, see photos attached.

Nope he is not missing anything actually !  His meter is a red one, that's the last generation, the ' HD' series. These did not come with the clamp, except for the bottom of  the range MX20.

See Metrix sales brochure attached (PDF), for pics and specs of the red generation. No clamp excpet for some reason on the bottom of the barrel MX20  (leftmost on the pictures).

My MX 57EX does have the clamp, because it's a first generation model, a yellow one not a red one. I find these ASYC meters very weird looking without this clamp so I never bought one, especially since they are technically exactly the same as the old ones, just red.....

[med6753]

Random stuff on the bench this morning. The 7904 has been out of action for several months so wanted to give it a good checkout. Connected to my 10MHz reference. Now I know for you time nuts 15Hz or less off is a total disaster. But for me it's good enough. I did notice that the 7A24 plug-in is a little flaky. Probably needs a spritz or two of some deoxit.

Sometime today I may go to war again with the Type 547. Or I may not. But I WILL be on discord for a change. 

   

[Specmaster]

[..]  but your meter is missing the special clip on Secur'X lead clamp, see photos attached.

Nope he is not missing anything actually !  His meter is a red one, that's the last generation, the ' HD' series. These did not come with the clamp, except for the bottom of  the range MX20.

See Metrix sales brochure attached (PDF), for pics and specs of the red generation. No clamp excpet for some reason on the bottom of the barrel MX20  (leftmost on the pictures).

My MX 57EX does have the clamp, because it's a first generation model, a yellow one not a red one. I find these ASYC meters very weird looking without this clamp so I never bought one, especially since they are technically exactly the same as the old ones, just red.....

Oh, but they all carry the indentation for the clamp to click into. My own meter is not a hazardous area meter, it is the MX52 and that came with the clamp.

[AVGresponding]

Stupid RS, their manual for the Metrix is in the original French!   

Fortunately ManualsLib had one in English.

Congratulation on the Metrix ! Have a dozen of these, I love them 

I don't suppose you have either (a) a spare secure X clamp you'd be willing to part with, or (b) the means/ability to make an stl file so I could print my own?

EDIT: Never mind, just read your last post. Any idea why they stopped using it? The case still has the notches in the side to locate it.

[Vince]

Oh, but they all carry the indentation for the clamp to click into.

Well yes of course they  were not going to redesign the case just because of that !     Especially since they are such a small company with very limited R&D power compared to the big American boys like Fluke. Making the latest ones red was an attempt to increase their ROI for next to no cost ! Of course they were not going to waste tons of money redesigning the case just because of the missing clamp, that would be like tossing all revenue from these meters for the past 10 years, straight in the toilets... 

My own meter is not a hazardous area meter, it is the MX52 and that came with the clamp.

As I said it's nothing to do with EX  or not EX, just a matter of being of the red latest generation that's all.
Your MX 52 most likely is not a red one so of course it has the clamp, any non-red one had it. If it does not, it got lost.
I have never seen or heard of a red version of the MX 50/51/52 series, this particular series must have been dropped I think...

[AVGresponding]

The picture in the RS listing shows it without, and also rather amusingly seems to have been stolen from an equipment rental company!

[Specmaster]

  don't worry, I'm nowhere near as cack-handed (UK slang for clumsy and rough) as AvE or Big Clive. No screwdriver marks were left behind!

Phew  !

Thanks for the tip on the secondary use for the stand, hope I remember it if I ever need to crack the case open![/color][/size][/b]

It's not its "secondary" role at all.. it is its one and only purpose in life ! 

If you want a stand it's built into the rubber holster which you don't have. Same on my Fluke 11, nothing Metrix specific here...

Example pic below of the stand for these Metrix meters.

Stand is actually a bit shitty/ unstable, don't like it...

Cool, I like that bumper case, might have to trawl on the French eBay for one of them to fit mine.

[Cerebus]

Come to software. Good pay. Good working conditions. Work just as pointless. Most of the time no one dies if you fuck up. No risk of imposter syndrome as no one knows what they’re doing at all 

Yeah I would if I could !

Problem is that I can't even wrap my head around my Android smarphone, or my ADSL box Wifi features.
My command line abilities are limited to 10 commands.

Oh. Software management material then. 

[Vince]

I don't suppose you have either (a) a spare secure X clamp you'd be willing to part with, or (b) the means/ability to make an stl file so I could print my own?

Yes it's a problem for me too ! Two of meters came with no clamp, they got lost. You just don't find any parts for theses things. Only part I found, once, was a rubber holster. That's about it.
So I can't give you one, but I can send you one for as long as you want, to model it (I applaud your braveness), as long as you think of returning it to me when you are finished with it ! 

Never mind, just read your last post. Any idea why they stopped using it? The case still has the notches in the side to locate it.[/color][/size][/b]

Offer still stands, meter would look so much better with the clamp ! 
Think long term the only good solution is to wait for a red MX20 as this one did have the clamp. Was also the lowest spec meter of the lot, so likely to have been the most sold hence easiest to find used, as well as being the cheapest.

I have no idea why they removed the clamp either ! It makes no sense as it takes away a key element of their ASYC design, then when you see they removed it on all BUT the MX20 for some reason, you add inconsistency to the mix !
Honestly it just baffles me, it really looks both silly and inconsistent. I - just - do - not - get - it.... 

[Cerebus]

Ethernet is from devil! 😁

I beg to differ. Serial ports are important; we agree there. But only as debug and out-of-band method, to get things running on the network. As soon as you've gotten network connectivity, the serial port is just an "Oh, shit" device.

Compared to say GPIB, TCP/IP over Ethernet on an instrument is IMNSHO much better. The only thing you'd lose is some timing. Ethernet cables are cheap as chips, can be self made (but it is not economical) and reach much longer than GPIB, at speeds that simply are insane in comparison. And then we haven't introduced a switch, yet. Which is also very inexpensive.

I've got one GPIB instrument so far. I'd be happy to get more, and as soon as I do, I'll probably try getting a cable for it and bodge an adapter/bridging solution so I can talk to them from my networked computers..

Didn't you read the grinning hieroglypth at the end  It's like two sided coin, when ethernet work (modern implementations) they work nicely, when you have poor connector (RJ-45 rubbish) somewhere, you will loose your mental health quickly.

Us nordic people and irony. Yeah, the 8p8c connector is an interesting piece of technology.

When it works it is extremely reliable, but as soon as one mistreats it, it will extract a gruesome revenge. Almost like a french car.

I recently happened to buy a couple 1000 of it, for next to nothing, including a crimper and, more importantly, almost as many backshells with tab protectors.

The difference is that the French car is plotting your downfall from the first day it is assembled in the factory. As is the assembly line worker with the Gitaines dangling from the corner of his mouth while he gives a dismissive Gallic shrug - "Oh mon ami, the seal he is not essential, he only keeps the rain out. ". 

[xrunner]

Come to software. Good pay. Good working conditions. Work just as pointless. Most of the time no one dies if you fuck up. No risk of imposter syndrome as no one knows what they’re doing at all 

Yeah I would if I could !

Problem is that I can't even wrap my head around my Android smarphone, or my ADSL box Wifi features.
My command line abilities are limited to 10 commands.

Oh. Software management material then. 

Oh my!