Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[VK5RC]

Not TE but installed 48hrs ago, is both a decent PSU and AC load - to the order of 13kWHr ie a Tesla Powerwall 2, took bloody forever to arrive (5 months).
So far with 8kW of solar panels, the first full 24hrs we used 2% of total power usage from the grid. Winter will be our worst time - rough calculations say it should pay back in about 10yrs, which isn't great but ~10% return on a $ deposit here is not to be sneezed at. Pretty funky app.

[Zucca]

I was saving up for a used BMW i3...
But I can take a bike for the time being 

My 2018 i3S goes back to the leasing company on Friday.   We are going down to one car, which puts me on a bicycle or bus several times a week.


The i3S is one of the best cars I've ever had.   Only car I've had with zero faults. Everything worked on delivery and everything still works.



If you get a used i3, be sure to get a 2017 or newer.     2017 was the first year with the 94Ah (~34kWh) traction battery.  2018 was the first year with LCI (facelift) which looks about the same but has many improvements.     Stay far away from 2013's and 14's. 

In my opinion the S is the one to get but the stiffer ride is not for everyone.  Also the rear tyre size is unique to the i3s.   

The i3 is one of the very few production cars with a carbon fibre body.  All of the others are exotic sports cars.

Thank you so much! I work for BMW and I am always happy to hear about happy customers.
I developed the RDC/TPMS system in those cars.
Yes the first i3 were unstable....

Anyway I heard in California you can buy cheap used i3s... 

[Robert763]

EBay (GSP) has just stolen my item

https://www.ebay.nl/itm/203864948409

Undeliverable - Item restricted at Global Shipping Center
The item in question has been deemed restricted. This could be due to import/shipping restrictions or eligibility requirements within the Global Shipping Program. The item will not be shipped to you nor returned to your seller.

It's not restricted, it is sold by Tilt 5 in the Netherlands. The seller got the money and I got my money back but I'd rather have the item, it was a good deal. I guess there's no sense in contacting them... 

Probably because it has batteries in it.....
Not saying they are right, just a posible reason

[mnementh]

EBay (GSP) has just stolen my item

https://www.ebay.nl/itm/203864948409

Undeliverable - Item restricted at Global Shipping Center
The item in question has been deemed restricted. This could be due to import/shipping restrictions or eligibility requirements within the Global Shipping Program. The item will not be shipped to you nor returned to your seller.

It's not restricted, it is sold by Tilt 5 in the Netherlands. The seller got the money and I got my money back but I'd rather have the item, it was a good deal. I guess there's no sense in contacting them... 

I don't imagine it can hurt to contact them... even if it is just to know so you don't try to buy similarly offensive items again.   

It's probably either a aLiPo battery or the Accelerometer/Gyro tech in the headset (or that they think is in there); there are restrictions on shipping it across borders, not necessarily dependent on where you can buy it either at point of origin or at destination. If LiPo where they cannot determine the size of the battery, it may well be a no-fly item and EGS cannot necessarily ensure ground-only carriage.

If the Accel/Gyro tech, the problem is probably Chain of Custody... a vendor selling across borders is assumed to complete correct paperwork and to maintain proper CoC to the carrier, which is then assumed to maintain proper CoC to the end-buyer. As this is a used item that has been handled by persons unknown, they have no way of knowing if it has been modded with a larger battery pack, or FW that contains controlled encryption tech, or any of a dozen other technologies deemed unsafe to pass through certain regions of the world.

It is a brave new world, indeed.

mnem
and we're at the Model T stages of cyberspace...

[mnementh]

   Not TE but installed 48hrs ago, is both a decent PSU and AC load - to the order of 13kWHr ie a Tesla Powerwall 2, took bloody forever to arrive (5 months).

So far with 8kW of solar panels, the first full 24hrs we used 2% of total power usage from the grid. Winter will be our worst time - rough calculations say it should pay back in about 10yrs, which isn't great but ~10% return on a $ deposit here is not to be sneezed at. Pretty funky app.

Hope you didn't have it installed by "Tesla authorized contractors"... 

mnem
*tzzzzt*

[BU508A]

Please, could we leave this political stuff outside here?

Thanks.

[mnementh]

No, this is too important. This is affects each and every one of us.

I warned clearly that it is an OT: World Events post; you can skip over it if you don't want to read it. But zero-tolerance is just unacceptable.

Cheers,

mnem
 

[mnementh]

mnem
Be kind.

[med6753]

Sometimes experiments take a very unexpected turn. The 7904 fan install has done just that. Connected up the fan and powered up and all seemed fine, at first. The fan started up and had a nice draft demonstrating it was pulling air through the scope. Looks good. But wait. All is not good. The intensity on the CRT has gone wacko. I can't kill the beam with the intensity control. And the trigger on both time bases is FUBAR too. I get "ghosting" on the trace or it won't trigger at all. If I disconnect the fan everything returns to normal. Connect it and the issues return.

I don't know if the fan motor itself is upsetting the scope or the fact that it's connected into the +15V bus that's causing the issue or perhaps a little bit of both. But clearly this won't work. So I have to decide what to do for here. Leave the scope as it was with no additive cooling (and it worked just fine) or try to identify exactly what is causing the issue.   

[BU508A]

My recommendation: do not fix what is not broken.

[med6753]

My recommendation: do not fix what is not broken.

Yea, probably the best course of action. But I think I will try powering the fan from an external 15V or 12V source first just to see what happens. But not today. I'm a little pissed off that this went so far south. 

[Robert763]

Most likely it is the nature of the current draw from the fan. The specification will give the average currrent but the the fan will draw pulses. This may be upsetting the 15V rail.
If you look at the fan specification it will probably withstand 15V I'd use a combined RC filter / voltage dropper. A couple of resistors and capacitors. Just a resistor connected to the 'scope supply. Set the combined value of the two resistors so they drop the voltage to about 9V (or whatever the datasheet minimum voltage is) at the nominal rated current. This will also slow the fan reducing noise.
The above is based on experience with a similar situation but I can't say what 

[mnementh]

Alternately, bust open a small linear 12V wall-wart and give the thing its own supply tapped off the power switch. Provided, of course, testing with external power doesn't contraindicate.

mnem
Oh, wait... you don't 3DP. Will need a proper 12V XFMR & term strip, etc.

[AVGresponding]

Most likely it is the nature of the current draw from the fan. The specification will give the average currrent but the the fan will draw pulses. This may be upsetting the 15V rail.
If you look at the fan specification it will probably withstand 15V I'd use a combined RC filter / voltage dropper. A couple of resistors and capacitors. Just a resistor connected to the 'scope supply. Set the combined value of the two resistors so they drop the voltage to about 9V (or whatever the datasheet minimum voltage is) at the nominal rated current. This will also slow the fan reducing noise.
The above is based on experince with a similar situation but I can't say what 

Was it an overheating WAM?   

[Specmaster]

I'm attempting to make up 1 x 6pin M-F Dupont lead and 4 x 5pin M-F leads and so far I've managed 1 5pin and half a 6 pin lead in about 90 minutes, what a faff. With that 10 way multicoloured ribbon cable you really need to tin the wires , trying to the strands into the crimp, in the crimper as per instructions is like pushing a piece of string. Taking a break to grab something to eat, I'm starving.

Maybe after I've eaten, the rest of the leads might be easier, I'll let you know 

Tinning leads before crimp is not good practice, so if you feel the need to do that, something's wrong. I'm with the dragon here, throw that craple in the metal recycle. I usually crimp stranded 0,22mm² with those crimpers. It is fiddly.  But not that much.

Yep, I agree 100%, I only tinned 1 lead at one end and gave up doing that. Problem is the crappy cable they supply, is too darned small with just a handful of hair like strands that loves to splay out all the time. I discovered that I was stripping a tad too much cable each time, that wasn't helping either. Any way, I have finished the leads, albeit they look a bit rough, they are connecting OK, just need to exercise care when connecting them to ensure that pin 1 goes to socket 1 etc. as they can be reversed 180 degrees if not paying attention 

[Specmaster]

-The incredibly stupid tire implementation

If you are worried about handling, the i3s is sooo much better than the standard i3.

BMW changed a lot of parts, even the steering rack.   The car is lower and wider than the standard i3.  Not by a lot but it made all the difference.

i3S is 175/55 R20 in the front and 195/50 R20 in the back.    That may seem narrow, but the contact patch is a decent size, especially compared to the  155 front 175 rear regular i3.

They are a bit  expensive, especially the rears.   

Buying wheels and spacers just to save £60 every 3 years?  Meh.

I was under the impression that bmw i3 owners were burning through tires every ~8 months. 3 years isn't so bad.
For me, NY roads are pothole city. A wider tire is absolutely essential.

Yeah, potholes, here the council say that they won't repair them until they are at least 4" across and 2" deep, trouble is that then by their own standards, they are (depending on road classification & a bus route or not), they will repair them within 4 days etc, except they are not. Many far larger holes, on main routes and bus routes greatly exceed the measurements and have been there for well over a year. How does NYC compare to that?

[Cerebus]

No, this is too important. This is affects each and every one of us.

I warned clearly that it is an OT: World Events post; you can skip over it if you don't want to read it. But zero-tolerance is just unacceptable.

Cheers,

mnem
 

I'm quite happy to adopt a zero tolerance policy to off topic political posts no matter how important the poster thinks they are. I'll tolerate a little bit of politics if it's got something to firly directly do with why we're here but not otherise.

This is not your personal blog, you don't get to decide the rules or what is acceptable. Please obey the rules that have been decided by the moderators and the community, otherwise people are going to start reaching for the "report to moderator" button and I'd rather not have that here if at all possible.

[mnementh]

Nor do you.

I deliberately kept the my political views out of it; even apologized for the more-than-slightly leftward bent of the source, and explained carefully why I felt this was an important issue that people should be thinking about, even if they choose not to discuss it here.

If you can't see that, then you need to check yourself.

Furthermore, I have taken great efforts to curb such posts, and if you don't believe it, just go back over my history for the last 30 days and look. That's fine, I'll wait. 

EDIT: This clearly falls under our usual standard of "around the water cooler" talk, and again, I deliberately chose my words carefully to limit the inflammatory rhetoric. Please at least try to notice.

That said; we have again, as usual, spent far more time arguing over the fact that something at best tangentially political was posted than we would have ever spent on the actual posted subject.

Congratulations.

Cheers,

mnem

[Cerebus]

Mnem, people keep asking you not to post off topic political stuff and you continue to do so. What makes you so important that you can ignore repeated requests and the forum rules? On this occasion you were again asked by Mounty and you flat out refused. The only reason we keep revisiting this subject and keep wasting time on it is that you do not have the good grace to stop doing it, but instead act like you're entitled to ignore the rules that the rest of us obey and whine if anyone tells you off about it.

[mnementh]

I can see. And I have done so. Show me the "Rules" you claim to refer to, and where my post breaks them. Just because "some people" are offended by the merest mention of anything marginally political is not an acceptable metric, and you yourself have argued exactly that.

This is world events, and this issue in particular directly affects every aspect of our lives, including the cost and availability of the TE we talk about in here. Did you even bother to look at the article I linked to, or were you just too busy being offended that I dared to post it to bother?

All the shit we bitch aboot in here... it is directly and hugely affected by volatility in the oil market. This is a big splash in the fundamental economics of that part of the global economy, and even if Putin is unsuccessful, the ripples will be seen far and wide literally for generations. And as usual, it will be the little guy who feels the pain first and longest, and has to clean up the resultant mess.

Cheers,

mnem
*SMH*

[med6753]

Mnem, people keep asking you not to post off topic political stuff and you continue to do so. What makes you so important that you can ignore repeated requests and the forum rules? On this occasion you were again asked by Mounty and you flat out refused. The only reason we keep revisiting this subject and keep wasting time on it is that you do not have the good grace to stop doing it, but instead act like you're entitled to ignore the rules that the rest of us obey and whine if anyone tells you off about it.

Wait a minute, back up the bus. How come when I made the same request about political discussions several months back I got dog piled. And you were the lead dog. Some nonsense that this wasn't my personal blog and I couldn't determine what was or was not acceptable. Exactly the same as you typed here. And yet when Mounty makes the same request you support him? What am I? Chopped liver? And then, several weeks ago when I made a somewhat political comment you jumped in my shit to remind me to practice what I preach. 

As far as what mnem posted...I agree. That crap doesn't belong here. We ALL are informed as to what is going on in the world right now. I come here in TE to get away from it. All I have to do is flip my screen and there it is in all it's ugliness.   

[factory]

EBay (GSP) has just stolen my item

https://www.ebay.nl/itm/203864948409

Undeliverable - Item restricted at Global Shipping Center
The item in question has been deemed restricted. This could be due to import/shipping restrictions or eligibility requirements within the Global Shipping Program. The item will not be shipped to you nor returned to your seller.

It's not restricted, it is sold by Tilt 5 in the Netherlands. The seller got the money and I got my money back but I'd rather have the item, it was a good deal. I guess there's no sense in contacting them... 

Probably a waste of time contacting them, seems to be pot luck on what they seize due to "restrictions", I wonder if it's automated & based on certain keywords, or clueless employees that stop the items.
They can seize items with tube/valve mentioned in the listing, small engines & parts, chainsaws, certain types of wood, liquids/fuel, batteries etc. It is a little harder to find items that may get restricted these days, as I suspect some ebay categorises are now blocked from the GSP lottery.
And remember they have lower parcel size/weight limits than other shipping services.

I've lost a NOS kit of parts for a HP 130 scope to them, they lost it after shipping internationally, but I suspect it never shipped and was actually seized. My Dad lost a working 1920s Eisemann magneto to them, it was listed as "hot spark" if I remember correctly.
USPS seem to have no problems with tubes/valves, chainsaws, generators, small engines and engine parts (providing the box isn't dripping fuel out in the post office ) from my experience. These days I contact the sellers of certain items and try & get it sent by USPS instead, I give up if they can't, as it's not worth the risk to me.

Oh and GSP pass the seized items on to liquidator/resellers in bulk, the entire listing & pictures are identical (this is in the Ts &Cs).
They won't be visible internationally without using third party websites to get round the geoblocking, they often price it way above what it sold for, presumably to try & recover the costs, 8ten1944 is one of the resellers.

David

[mnementh]

My recommendation: do not fix what is not broken.

Yea, probably the best course of action. But I think I will try powering the fan from an external 15V or 12V source first just to see what happens. But not today. I'm a little pissed off that this went so far south. 

If it does behave, you might try just slapping a big ol' electrolytic across the output and/or input of that reg. As Robert said, BL motors are a dynamic inductive load with strong current pulses; those little tants might not be enough to keep that from causing the reg to oscillate. Actually, now I think of it, as close as your Vin is to your Vout, they could be causing it to oscillate all on their own.

Good hunting,

mnem
 

[mnementh]

EBay (GSP) has just stolen my item

https://www.ebay.nl/itm/203864948409

Undeliverable - Item restricted at Global Shipping Center
The item in question has been deemed restricted. This could be due to import/shipping restrictions or eligibility requirements within the Global Shipping Program. The item will not be shipped to you nor returned to your seller.

It's not restricted, it is sold by Tilt 5 in the Netherlands. The seller got the money and I got my money back but I'd rather have the item, it was a good deal. I guess there's no sense in contacting them... 

Probably a waste of time contacting them, seems to be pot luck on what they seize due to "restrictions", I wonder if it's automated & based on certain keywords, or clueless employees that stop the items.
They can seize items with tube/valve mentioned in the listing, small engines & parts, chainsaws, certain types of wood, liquids/fuel, batteries etc. It is a little harder to find items that may get restricted these days, as I suspect some ebay categorises are now blocked from the GSP lottery.

I've lost a NOS kit of parts for a HP 130 scope to them, they lost it after shipping internationally, but I suspect it never shipped and was actually seized. My Dad lost a working 1920s Eisemann magneto to them, it was listed as "hot spark" if I remember correctly.
USPS seem to have no problems with tubes/valves, chainsaws, generators, small engines and engine parts (providing the box isn't dripping fuel out in the post office ) from my experience. These days I contact the sellers of certain items and try & get it sent by USPS instead, I give up if they can't, as it's not worth the risk to me.

Oh and GSP pass the seized items on to liquidator/resellers in bulk, they won't be visible internationally without using third party websites to get round the geoblocking, they often price it way above what it sold for, presumably to try & recover the costs, 8ten1944 is one of the resellers.

David

The cynic in me wonders if it isn't clued-in employees with somebody's wish list in their pockets...

mnem
*toddles off to do something less inflammatory*

[Cerebus]

I can see. And I have done so. Show me the "Rules" you claim to refer to, and where my post breaks them.

Here:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/forum-rules-please-read/

specifically:

5) This is an electronics forum, so try to stay on-topic. We understand that threads drift off-topic, but try not to start deliberately and grossly off-topic stuff.
There are a couple of pet topics that always get out of control on forums, namely, religion, politics, gun and conspiracy theories. They are not welcome here.
Those who come here to mostly only contribute non-electronics related material are not welcome. There are forums for that stuff, this is not one of them.

You explicitly agreed to obey them when you signed up. We all did.

Even if keeping off politics was not part of the formal forum rules, common courtesy when everybody says "no politics, please stop it" would be to either stop it or go and find somewhere else to play where people aren't repeatedly asking you to knock it off, not argue the toss every time. Most people who are politely asked to keep off politics either wander off, or shut up, refrain from doing so in future, and, more often than not, apologise for overstepping the line.

I can tell you from watching it happen in front of me, that the moderators are taking a zero tolerance attitude towards anything vaguely political related to Russian/Ukraine at the moment.