Flood of new Agilent 82357B GPIB-USB adaptors on eBay the real deal?

[Navarro]

I bought a counterfeit and couldn't make it work with the Bechvue and my 34401A

Any tips?

[Scottjd]

What contempt one, does it say Agilent?
First thought, return it for an exchange. Or write the seller if it's on eBay telling them it's doesn't work and you found out it was counterfeit. Since it's against eBay's policy to sell counterfeit items the seller will probably want you to go away without any bad rating or review and just refund you.

And if you want to see if you can get it to work I would probably give more details when asking for help.
Error messages? Lights turn on? Any addition details help other members help you without having to ask.

But for the sake of starting off with basic troubleshooting I'll offer these ideas.
Do you get any kind of error message?
Did you check the event logs to see if it's a USB driver issue? Are you plugging it into a hub, if so try directly to the computer USB port or another computer to rule out that it's an issue with the converter.
Does any of the LED's light up on it when you plug it in. Did you install all the needed software?
What operating system are you running, windows, Mac, Linux?
Did you enable the port on the HP 34401A in the meters settings?
Do you run any other GPIB equiptment to that same computer? If so make sure the address assigned to the HP is not conflicting with any other address assigned to another piece of test equiptment.
Are you using an extention cable? If yes, remove the cable and make sure it's not a faulty cable.

I would start with the above basic triple shooting first.
If the lights don't come on at all then try just plugging it into a USB power plug, but not another computer incase it has a short inside you don't want to mess up the computers USB port.
If you get no lights at all then it's a hardware issue, not a computer or software issue.
Now if you don't plan to send it back or maybe are being refunded then I would take it apart and look for basic bad soldering. Maybe a short between some legs of a chip, or a component that is not soldered on all the way and is loose.
Or maybe even a missing component, compare yours to other pictures posted in this thread.

I hope this is a good start and helps,
Scott

[macboy]

I bought a counterfeit and couldn't make it work with the Bechvue and my 34401A

Any tips?

Maybe the 34401A is configured to use the RS232 port instead of GPIB? You need to choose one or the other, both can't be used. It's in a menu somewhere.

[usagi]

I bought a counterfeit and couldn't make it work with the Bechvue and my 34401A

Any tips?

do you know for certain your 34401a has a working gpib? did you verify it with a known working gpib adaptor?

[plesa]

I bought a counterfeit and couldn't make it work with the Bechvue and my 34401A

Any tips?

Is it detected by operation system? What is VID and PID?
Which type of clone you purchased?

[Navarro]

Yes, it is detected and I can't return because It was send to the hotel room of a friend in Shenzhen. I asked for a refund because it's a counterfeit, the Agilent name in the other side of the adapter is not on Agilent font.

It is detected on the Keysight software and the Keysight software detects the 34401A but, when I try to connect in Benchvue it goes similar if it was desconnected. I tried to change the GPIB addres, it's on SCPI but didn't worked yet.

[HighVoltage]

It is detected on the Keysight software and the Keysight software detects the 34401A but, when I try to connect in Benchvue it goes similar if it was desconnected. I tried to change the GPIB addres, it's on SCPI but didn't worked yet.

In the "Keysight Connection Expert" software, can you send and receive a *IDN? command to and from the 34401A?

Usually the fake Agilent 82357B adapters work well, as reported here in this thread.

[Scottjd]

Interesting. Yes, do what high voltage asked with *IDN.
But I find it interesting that you see the adapter and the meter, then when you try to connect it goes offline.
Are you using a laptop? The are rated to use a certain amount of power, I think it's 500mAh. Some laptops have a tendency to put out less power on the USB port. And newer ones with windows 10 tried to power management the USB port and regulator the output.
This might be one time you want to try using a powered used USB HUB inline with it?
Scott

[MattSR]

The COA in this auction is priceless:- http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/NEW-HP-Agilent-82357B-USB-GPIB-Interface-High-Speed-USB-2-0-/192183296063?epid=854505730&hash=item2cbf04603f:g:FawAAOSwZ4dZEvFj

Misspelled perfectly!

[tooki]

COA?

[CJay]

COA?

Certificate of Authenticity

[Kean]

The COA in this auction is priceless:- http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/NEW-HP-Agilent-82357B-USB-GPIB-Interface-High-Speed-USB-2-0-/192183296063?epid=854505730&hash=item2cbf04603f:g:FawAAOSwZ4dZEvFj

Misspelled perfectly!

Sshhh!!  You're giving away secrets useful for identifying the fakes 

[Scottjd]

That's awesome, I looked at my fake cert and it has the correct spelling. See,s we have a new batch of fake manufactured ones hitting eBay's market now.
Serial number still missing from being on the certificate also. 10 of November, 2009 is the wrong date even when compared to the real certificate I requested from keysight with the serial number of the fake one I received. It is in November 2009 and I think all the carts have the same date, just different serial numbers and it's not the 10th day in November., but close.

And when I was looking I think I found another batch of fakes like this was. This batch of fakes went the extra mile to pay and get it UL certified. How nice of them to pay extra for that certification.
Even my real authentic one directly from keysight and has the keysight printed on the adapter (not Agilent) doesn't even have the UL certification on the label. So another new sign of a fake one.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Agilent-82357B-USB-GPIB-Interface-Adapter-GPIB-USB-Controller/192183300711?_trksid=p2047675.c100623.m-1&_trkparms=aid%3D555018%26algo%3DPL.SIM%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D20161027085944%26meid%3Df00a6a4a86bf4823b4417bb3d8d1b986%26pid%3D100623%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D2%26sd%3D192183296063

[Scottjd]

So after shopping for another eBay buy that I can't afford to buy the new thing I stated to look deeper into eBays policy on counterfeit/fake items being sold.

I found the following in eBay's policy of "Money Back Guarantee" as of today's date on this post. It may change so I'm mentioning the date I copied this.

EBay's policy on counterfeit items is covered under the money back guarantee policy as stated below on August 6, 2017.
https://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/money-back-guarantee.html
The section on fakes copied from the policy as of August 6, 2017
*Counterfeit items
*If a buyer suspects that an item is counterfeit, and there are strong indicators that the item is counterfeit, we don't require the buyer to return the item to the seller. The buyer agrees to cooperate with us to ensure the proper disposal of the item. In such instances, we refund the buyer for the full cost of the item and original shipping, and the seller reimburses us for the refund. The buyer may not sell the item on eBay or elsewhere.

Now only if Amazon will do the same since fighting counterfeit items take up a lot of resources, money, avoid taxes. I'm almost sure the store I bought the fake GBIP adapter from is still running and selling them on Amazon.

This also handles the problem of some countries not allowing people to ship fake items if it's true since eBay doesn't want you to send the seller the fake item back. They want to cut the stock, and hurt them financially for violating the sellers agreement. They will go as far as shutting down the store and possibly paypal account also unless the seller can argue they didn't know it was fake and also sells other items that are not fake. Let's face it, sellers get ripped off sometimes also.

For more information on fake/counterfeit items, how they affect everyone, what they find like human trafficking, slavery, sweatshops, and drugs you can read my post I just put up that has links for more information.
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/counterfeitfake-hakko-fx-951-information-on-fake-items-and-ebay's-fake-policy/msg1275040/#msg1275040

Scott

[Simon Spiers]

I too bought  one from Ebay a few years ago. I w3as assured it was genuine when I paid the money although I doubted it. When I cracked it open it was obviously a fake, nothing like the genuine article inside. It did however seem to work OK, but I was piseed that they lied to me so demanded a refund. They did ask me to return the item but I told them I was not obliged to return fake items according to the UK law. They did refund the full cost on the agreement that i destroyed the item.
Oh yes, of  course I did!

[Scottjd]

Well, I little,off topic but not.
I was assured today that the “replica” finger monkey was the same thing as the fingerling monkeys.
Well, expect for the extra $5 price tage. Then he pulled one off the desk and showed me how it did the same thing, had the same sensors and all.
When he turned arround I picked it up and what he showed me was an authentic fingerling monkey, not the ones he was selling in the boxes. So not only are they selling fakes, they are showing you the real thing to make the sale and lie to your face and charge you $5 more.
Of course I bought it, how else am I to do a video showing the difference between a real and a fake and tear them both down?
I did find it funny that they refused to sell me the demo one when they could have just opened another box for the demo. Oh, and the scrapped off the paint from the fingers to make it look like it was a fake one.
But I have the whole conversation on video showing the really one with the Wowwee name half scrapped off the back, the authentic model number, serial number. All this stuff is missing from the fake ones in the box they are selling.
I’m sure Wowwee would be interested in that video since they are in a roll with 132 law suits and stopping most of them at customs. All they did was changed the name and packaging and they now get past customs again in the US. But some of the really good fake packaging still gets past.
But I think it will be a fun video to do, I’m looking forward to it. Besides, I want my microscope bench back. Can you find the fake one, lol?
Scott

[beanflying]

Amazing how many 'used' ones come in a 'final seal package' whatever that actually means

[don.r]

Can anyone point me to an ebay seller who has sold them an adapter that functions well?

[beanflying]

Mine came from here bad spelling and all in a final seal box  https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/NEW-HP-Agilent-82357B-USB-GPIB-Interface-High-Speed-USB-2-0-NICE-CONDITION/122463606648?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

Only really had a first play with mine. Hooked up fine to both my 34970's Loggers and 6632B Power Supply saw my 34401A but there was some sort of communication issue which I suspect is the 34401's issue but I need to read the manual on bits and parity and language.

Based on reading here and elsewhere it is still a lottery 

EDIT: Just plugged in the 34401. Language was set to 3478a about to give SCPI a go.

[beanflying]

Now working fine on SCPI. It was seeing the meter on the 3478a but was getting an error back. Without having any older gear or other adapters to try I would gather it may be a problem to try and use 3478a based codes?

[don.r]

I don't have a 3478A but I have some mid-80's Keithley and some late 80's/90's HP and Tek.

If its a crap shoot I might as well go for the cheapest and try and minimize my losses.

[beanflying]

Given a reasonable level of protection against either non working and or fake items and evilbay paypal protection there is plenty of options if you get a non working one. I went with Hong Kong dispatch rather then mainland China to make sure I had some time to test it. China can be 40+ days to here via Malaysia  Hong Kong generally is direct and 8-10.

As I am changing my workshop around at some stage I will get another.

[alm]

Now working fine on SCPI. It was seeing the meter on the 3478a but was getting an error back. Without having any older gear or other adapters to try I would gather it may be a problem to try and use 3478a based codes?

Most likely whatever gave you the error was trying to send the SCPI command *IDN? to the 34401A, which is an SCPI command to identify an instrument. This command is not supported by older meters like the 3478A, so that's probably why you were getting an error. Try opening a terminal and sending it a valid 3478A command (e.g. F2) with the 34401A in 3478A mode, that will most likely work (meter should switch to ACV mode).

[beanflying]

Will give it a go tomorrow back on the 3478a setting then. Apart from what I did almost 30 years ago at Uni all of which I have forgotten SCPI/488 hasn't been used so plenty of relearning to go.

[beanflying]

  Yep that works, turn off the auto identify puts it into listener mode on the particular instrument it doesn't error. In and out using 3478 commands seems to work fine too.

Just for fun I have dropped 3 instruments off the adapter. 34401a using 3478a, 34970a using scpi and the 6632b on scpi. Works fine in this configuration too talking to all of them