Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[bitseeker]

I think a few of us might have developed Pokemon syndrome about these plug ins, there is a compulsion to collect them all..

And not just plug ins...

You know you've been looking at this thread too much when you write in a google chat message to your partner "Time to go get a cup of TEA" and capitalise it like its the acronym from this thread!

LOL! Yes. A new syndrome?

[bitseeker]

Something I've wondered about ...

Take for example the FG501A I've been working on. It has 14 pin DIP ICs - 10 of them. Some are in sockets and some are not.

Why did they design it like that? Did they think the ones that they put in sockets would be the ones that might fail? The fact is, the one that did fail was not one they socketed from the factory ...

Any thoughts? 

Well, since we've eliminated the hypothesis that someone else had installed the sockets, perhaps the socketed ones do fail more often, but had already been replaced. Thus, the next IC to fail was a soldered one.

[mtdoc]

On it's way now, an A6302 current probe for my recently acquired AM503 module.  $180 shipped!

[xrunner]

On it's way now, an A6302 current probe for my recently acquired AM503 module.  $180 shipped!

Sweet - something I do want to get.

Well, since we've eliminated the hypothesis that someone else had installed the sockets, perhaps the socketed ones do fail more often, but had already been replaced. Thus, the next IC to fail was a soldered one.

Remember the saying "A watched pot never boils"?

We can coin a new one - "A socketed IC never fails"

Plainy because it would be easier to replace, and we know that we must always be presented with the harder failure. The electronics gods wouldn't have it any other way.

[Housedad]

One other possibility comes to mind about the socketed chips.  There has been a great deal of innovation and development in the world of board assembly and wave soldering.  We take it for granted now that the devices will not be harmed from the heat of either SMD ovens or wave soldering.   However, things like the ability of fluxes to wet faster and coat better have reduced the amount of heat that boards are exposed to.  To protect some sensitive parts, they may have had them socketed so they would not be subject to the heat of wave soldering as it was at the time. 

Just a wild thought without any proof or evidence.

[MarkL]

On it's way now, an A6302 current probe for my recently acquired AM503 module.  $180 shipped!

I hope it's ok!  It looks like there's a piece broken off at the tip.  The slot in the tip is used by the mating piece as a leverage point to put pressure on the split core closure (see photo).  A tight fit for the the split core halves is important to minimize loss.

Better check for accuracy and variability when you get it.  Hopefully you bought it as "Used", which means it's required to operate properly, and returnable at the seller's expense if it's broken (assuming ebay).

My A6302 has a crack in that piece also which I glued with plastic solvent.  Maybe it's a common failure point.

[mtdoc]

On it's way now, an A6302 current probe for my recently acquired AM503 module.  $180 shipped!

I hope it's ok!  It looks like there's a piece broken off at the tip.  The slot in the tip is used by the mating piece as a leverage point to put pressure on the split core closure (see photo).  A tight fit for the the split core halves is important to minimize loss.

Better check for accuracy and variability when you get it.  Hopefully you bought it as "Used", which means it's required to operate properly, and returnable at the seller's expense if it's broken (assuming ebay).

My A6302 has a crack in that piece also which I glued with plastic solvent.  Maybe it's a common failure point.

Yes, listed as "used" in good condition. 2 available, and asking $260. Took my offer of $180. Free shipping and 14 day return. Seller with 100% positive feedback in South Korea!

Listing is here. The other pics look ok.

[Brumby]

Just had an interesting discussion.  Cordial at the moment, but that could change.

I've worked out a solution that addresses (almost) all issues - but I need one more thing to make it work: A TARDIS.  Time and space travel circuits not required - it's just going to sit in the one place.  Anyone got a spare?

[med6753]

Reference this post:

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/what-did-you-buy-today-post-your-latest-purchase!/msg1204791/#msg1204791

I was going to do a separate thread on this DMM but decided to add to the TEA thread.

Received the DMM yesterday. Exactly as pictured. It is absolutely immaculate. There are no marks, dirt, dings, or damage. It looks like it came out of the factory yesterday and I suspect it has very low hours. And the best part is that it was less than $40 USD delivered.

Initial test with a 1.000VDC reference. I don't think it's ever been calibrated since leaving Fluke. There's no evidence of any cal stickers on the cabinet.


View inside. There's a grey beard QC stamp on the board dated October 19, 1979. I think this is the first time the board has seen the light of day in 38 years. Immaculate. No dirt, smudges, or fingerprints. The power supply caps in the upper right corner appear OK. No swelling or leakage. I checked the supply voltages (+/- 15V and +5V) and they are in spec so for now I'm going to leave them alone.   


I calibrated the DCV and Ohms and everything fell into spec. Here it is with the rest of my Fluke family going thru a several hour burn-in. It passed with no issues and ready for work. 

And now a bit of nostalgia. Way back to 1975. I was a tech at IBM in final systems test of the System 370/3158 mainframe. We used the 8000A to set all the power supply voltages. At that time the system power was not microcode controlled and needed to be set up manually. The MST-2 logic power voltages were +1.250V and -3.00V. Once set up and had “power good” proceeded to test the machine logic. Once it was fully functional and running you had to bias the voltages +/- 2% to insure the system kept running. Again it had to be done manually with the 8000A. So having one in my collection brings back a lot of memories. Makes this grey beard happy.   

[bitseeker]

That's a great score! Even better with the story tying it to memories of prior use of the same model.

I do like axial caps for their ease with which one can check for leaks.

[xrunner]

Received the DMM yesterday. Exactly as pictured. It is absolutely immaculate. There are no marks, dirt, dings, or damage. It looks like it came out of the factory yesterday and I suspect it has very low hours.
Initial test with a 1.000VDC reference. I don't think it's ever been calibrated since leaving Fluke. There's no evidence of any cal stickers on the cabinet.

It's amazing isn't it, that these are out there in such good shape?

Oh and I wanna play too, here's mine. The serial number is 450484. Don't know if they are sequential or not. I was also amazed at the good condition it was in. Glad you got one!

[med6753]

Received the DMM yesterday. Exactly as pictured. It is absolutely immaculate. There are no marks, dirt, dings, or damage. It looks like it came out of the factory yesterday and I suspect it has very low hours.
Initial test with a 1.000VDC reference. I don't think it's ever been calibrated since leaving Fluke. There's no evidence of any cal stickers on the cabinet.

It's amazing isn't it, that these are out there in such good shape?

Oh and I wanna play too, here's mine. The serial number is 450484. Don't know if they are sequential or not. I was also amazed at the good condition it was in. Glad you got one!

The S/N on this one is 2335820 and I would think by 1979 it would be nearing the end of it's production run and the newer LCD meters being introduced.

[t_ryner]

Have you found test equipment anywhere besides Ebay? Just curious.

[Cubdriver]

Have you found test equipment anywhere besides Ebay? Just curious.

Hamfests and electronic related swap meets are possible sources, as is (occasionally) Craigslist, though it seems based on my admittedly rare perusal of CL that folks there have an inflated idea of the value of what the have to sell, even relative to evilBay.

-Pat

[smurph]

I have also found some stuff on the various government auctions sites.  There is a GSA warehouse location near me where all of the surplus goes that I got some stuff out of.  But be careful here because government stuff can be rather clapped out.  I saw tons of stuff that was just junk in that building.  I'm sure some of that ends up on eBay.

I also get stuff from manufacturing plants around the area.  I just pop in and ask if they have any equipment that need repairing or gotten rid of.  Never hurts to ask.  Got nice plating power supply that way.

Steve

[Cubdriver]

Finally posted some pictures of the 335A from the calibrator I snagged last week.  The thread is: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/fluke-335a-dc-voltage-standarddifferential-voltmeternull-detector/msg1207421/#msg1207421

and the gallery of images is: https://pmanning.smugmug.com/Electronics/Fluke-335A-DC-Voltage-Standard-Differential-Voltmeter-Null

I'll be opening the other instruments up over the coming weeks, after I get some time to work on this one.

-Pat

[med6753]

Have you found test equipment anywhere besides Ebay? Just curious.

Of my recent purchases only 2 were from E-bay. I've made several new purchases from Amazon and 1 purchase directly from China. I do scan Craigslist but haven't seen any test equipment worth going after but I did score some decent audio equipment.

Sometimes it's pure luck. My best score was this beast and it was free...as in 0, nada, nothing. 


Back story: My Brother's company was writing it off and was going to scrap it. He asked if he could have it. They agreed. He then asked me if I wanted it. He didn't have to ask me twice. I guess the test equipment gods were smiling upon me that day.   

[Brumby]

Nice score.

[tautech]

Sometimes it's pure luck. My best score was this beast and it was free...as in 0, nada, nothing. 

Even this DSO nut would be proud to own it.
Congrats.

[SeanB]

With the sockets some had built in ceramic bead decoupling capacitors across the TTL power pins ( 8,16 or 7,14), so that you could either save 0.1in in spacing on the board for the capacitor, or add it in production if you found out at the last minute you really needed that extra 0.1uF ceramic, but there was either no time to respin the board, or you were not able to bodge in one as a line assembly mod at the rear, or just needed too many to make it work. IIRC they were available in assorted values, 100n, 470n, all in a dipped 50V leaded ceramic chip capacitor. You also got just a carrier socket with the IDC terminals inside, so you could use your own special value capacitor ( you probably could fit a 10uF 16V tantalum cap in there with care) in the socket, or any other component that would fit.

[AF6LJ]

Have you found test equipment anywhere besides Ebay? Just curious.

Of my recent purchases only 2 were from E-bay. I've made several new purchases from Amazon and 1 purchase directly from China. I do scan Craigslist but haven't seen any test equipment worth going after but I did score some decent audio equipment.

Sometimes it's pure luck. My best score was this beast and it was free...as in 0, nada, nothing. 


Back story: My Brother's company was writing it off and was going to scrap it. He asked if he could have it. They agreed. He then asked me if I wanted it. He didn't have to ask me twice. I guess the test equipment gods were smiling upon me that day. 

That is indeed a nice score since I last year at a local hamfest one that needed a little cleaning up went for $200.00

[tggzzz]

With the sockets some had built in ceramic bead decoupling capacitors across the TTL power pins ( 8,16 or 7,14), so that you could either save 0.1in in spacing on the board for the capacitor, or add it in production if you found out at the last minute you really needed that extra 0.1uF ceramic, but there was either no time to respin the board, or you were not able to bodge in one as a line assembly mod at the rear, or just needed too many to make it work. IIRC they were available in assorted values, 100n, 470n, all in a dipped 50V leaded ceramic chip capacitor. You also got just a carrier socket with the IDC terminals inside, so you could use your own special value capacitor ( you probably could fit a 10uF 16V tantalum cap in there with care) in the socket, or any other component that would fit.

I'm not sure which sockets you are referring to, since you don't quote any context (Hint: use the "quote" button top-right of a message, rather than the "reply" button)

Anyway, there were also the Rogers Micro/Q capacitors which had some electrical and size advantages. FFI see http://www.farnell.com/datasheets/22715.pdf

[SeanB]

IC sockets, thought the reference to TTL, which almost always came in a DIP14 or 16 form, was enough.

[tggzzz]

IC sockets, thought the reference to TTL, which almost always came in a DIP14 or 16 form, was enough.

No, that's not what you wrote.

Since you still appear unable to to find the "quote" button next to the message, here's the context:

With the sockets some had built in ceramic bead decoupling capacitors across the TTL power pins ( 8,16 or 7,14), so that you could either save 0.1in in spacing on the board for the capacitor, or add it in production if you found out at the last minute you really needed that extra 0.1uF ceramic, but there was either no time to respin the board, or you were not able to bodge in one as a line assembly mod at the rear, or just needed too many to make it work. IIRC they were available in assorted values, 100n, 470n, all in a dipped 50V leaded ceramic chip capacitor. You also got just a carrier socket with the IDC terminals inside, so you could use your own special value capacitor ( you probably could fit a 10uF 16V tantalum cap in there with care) in the socket, or any other component that would fit.

I'm not sure which sockets you are referring to, since you don't quote any context (Hint: use the "quote" button top-right of a message, rather than the "reply" button)

Anyway, there were also the Rogers Micro/Q capacitors which had some electrical and size advantages. FFI see http://www.farnell.com/datasheets/22715.pdf

I've added the emphasis to make it clear that you were referring to some unknown specific sockets, since you used the definite article ("the").

[bitseeker]

Have you found test equipment anywhere besides Ebay? Just curious.

Sources can vary greatly depending on where you are, time of year, state of the economy, etc. As mentioned, hamfests and swap meets have potential. Maybe flea markets, though most I've seen are consumer goods and farmers markets. Other possibilities include estate sales, government surplus, recycling centers, thrift stores, corporate/industrial liquidation sales and auctions, garage sales, and educational institutions. I've had some good scores from Craigslist, but they're rather rare. YMMV.