Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Specmaster]

Well it seems I now have my first nixie tube piece of equipment, it fits in nicely with my other meters with the ability to read such high value resistors 

[bd139]

Congratulations. I completely forgot that - was soldering

Watch out for the anode on them; zapped myself a number of times fixing old counters in the distant past.

I missed this one the other day: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/162684296204 - boo hiss.

[Specmaster]

I missed that one as well. I'm actually excited about the Keithley, I just noticed as well that has dedicated ranges for uA and nA as well so nicely expanding my measuring capabilities at both ends of the spectrum. I'm not expecting to have to do anything with this one other then maybe a new coat of paint on the top cover. It is supposed to be refurbished, soon find out.

If I keep growing my toys at this rate, I'll be looking for a garden shed as well soon and maybe a comfy sofa

[Specmaster]

Congratulations. I completely forgot that - was soldering

Watch out for the anode on them; zapped myself a number of times fixing old counters in the distant past.

I missed this one the other day: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/162684296204 - boo hiss.

Did you also go for one of those Velleman WFS210 scopes, I did , so thats 3 multimeters, a bluetooth scope, silicon heatproof mat, croc clips, 2 transistor radios for restoration and a OBD dongle for the car in 2
 weeks, not bad, now its time to batten down the hatches for a while before the wife retaliates with another floor to ceiling (almost) cupboard to house yet more cake bits and bobs.   

[bd139]

I passed on the scopes. I have a rule that it must be standalone and not involve the computer.  The day job is wrangling the dastardly things so I need a clean break.

OBD dongle is a damn good investment. I have saved myself a fortune with mine. Plus as I drive a diesel, you can force it to do a DPF regeneration the day before you take it for MOT and emissions check. That makes it behave enough to pass for a few days even though it drinks a bottle of oil every three months

Good job with the transistor radios. I miss playing with them. Used to buy them by the bucket load at jumble sales in the 1980s. I actually miss the wax gunk and leaked batteries

[djos]

Haha I agree with all of you here, my second time around and been married this time for 35 years

• Lets count shoes and boots
• Count handbags
• Jewellary
• Clothes
• Cake decorating materials and gagdets

Shed should be called mancave surely?

Im pretty sure that if I add up all those things of my wife's, and add up My HT System, misc AV gear, Vintage computers, Computers, electronics tools, general toys etc she's still winning in the total dollar value stakes. 

[Specmaster]

Judging by the reports so far on the scope, I think I'll be joining a long que to return it unless mine works OK which I doubt. It seems less hardware more software that is the cause for so many negaitive reports. I don't actually need it, I got it for its novelty value really, at it is original £100, it was a no no, but at £20 it was a punt I thought. Spoken like a true TEA member 

[djos]

Judging by the reports so far on the scope, I think I'll be joining a long que to return it unless mine works OK which I doubt. It seems less hardware more software that is the cause for so many negaitive reports. I don't actually need it, I got it for its novelty value really, at it is original £100, it was a no no, but at £20 it was a punt I thought. Spoken like a true TEA member 

If it turns out to be useless for me, I'll just throw it into the junk pile and maybe harvest it for parts later on. 

[Specmaster]

Im pretty sure that if I add up all those things of my wife's, and add up My HT System, misc AV gear, Vintage computers, Computers, electronics tools, general toys etc she's still winning in the total dollar value takes. 

I think you might well be right, it certainly is my case, oh I missed out on another habit of hers, keep fit gadgets, flavour of the month and then phased out for something else..

[djos]

Im pretty sure that if I add up all those things of my wife's, and add up My HT System, misc AV gear, Vintage computers, Computers, electronics tools, general toys etc she's still winning in the total dollar value takes. 

I think you might well be right, it certainly is my case, oh I missed out on another habit of hers, keep fit gadgets, flavour of the month and then phased out for something else..

Lol, my wife used to go thru those stupid FitBit things like crazy (always upgrading), so I bought her an Apple watch series 2, problem solved! Thankfully she doesn't collect the other stuff either after buying her a decent quality elliptical machine.

[bitseeker]

Wow, the TEA thread is more active than ever. In order not to appear to be pumping up my post count, I shall consolidate my various replies in this post.

Ready? Here we go...

Perhaps 1st of October should be TEA day

Might also be Jan. 15 (1st post date).

Oh no, headaches are on their way, a few more digits and I might have been tempted 

Likewise. Since I have a Fluke 8100A with 4.5 digits, I can safely admire the K160 from afar. A neat little meter it is, too.

This is actually quite interesting, it seems that the ohms range reads upto 1,000 M ohms, how often do you come across a resistor / resistance anywhere near that size?

There are some whopper resistors inside the Keithley 220 current source.

If I keep growing my toys at this rate, I'll be looking for a garden shed as well soon and maybe a comfy sofa

A hammock might make for a good alternative. You can hang it above the test equipment.

Im pretty sure that if I add up all those things of my wife's, and add up My HT System, misc AV gear, Vintage computers, Computers, electronics tools, general toys etc she's still winning in the total dollar value stakes. 

Absolutely. There's no need to even take an inventory. She wins, hands down.

Judging by the reports so far on the scope, I think I'll be joining a long que to return it unless mine works OK which I doubt. It seems less hardware more software that is the cause for so many negaitive reports. I don't actually need it, I got it for its novelty value really, at it is original £100, it was a no no, but at £20 it was a punt I thought. Spoken like a true TEA member 

If it turns out to be useless for me, I'll just throw it into the junk pile and maybe harvest it for parts later on. 

It could be quite interesting for parts. I wonder what kind of goodies it has inside.

OBD dongle is a damn good investment. I have saved myself a fortune with mine.

I concur. Even if you have someone else do repairs, knowing what the problem is before taking the car in can save you big bucks.

oh I missed out on another habit of hers, keep fit gadgets, flavour of the month and then phased out for something else..

See also: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/test-equipment-anonymous-(tea)-group-therapy-thread/msg1115175/#msg1115175

[xrunner]

Wow, the TEA thread is more active than ever.

It's TEA-riffic! 

[bitseeker]

  Yes, cheers!

[Carl_Smith]

OBD dongle is a damn good investment. I have saved myself a fortune with mine.

I bought a cheap Chinese OBD2 Bluetooth dongle for $5.  Didn't work.  So I spent about $25 on Amazon for one with good reviews.  Works great.  Hasn't saved me a lot of money though because the problems I've had with my SUV were beyond my home auto mechanic skills so I end up taking it into the shop anyway.  But at least I have an idea what's wrong before it goes to the shop.

The other problem it causes is that it gives me ideas that I can figure out what's wrong and fix it myself instead of just taking it to the shop. 

[Cubdriver]

Well it seems I now have my first nixie tube piece of equipment, it fits in nicely with my other meters with the ability to read such high value resistors 

 

Welcome to the slippery slope.  Your first will lead to your second, and your third, and your fourth, and your...   

You've come to the orange glowie side!  Enjoy the cookies.   

-Pat

[Cubdriver]

Perhaps 1st of October should be TEA day

Might also be Jan. 15 (1st post date).

Hey - we're addicts here - why not celebrate both dates??   

-Pat

[neo]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fluke-8600A-Digital-Multimeter-2-10254-/112579029344?epid=1171158654&hash=item1a363ba960:g:bTUAAOSw2FxZywjY

Please, someone, anyone buy it! Save me from myself!

EDIT: You may have to revoke my TEA card, i took a pass on it because i already have an 8800A and i remembered the 8600A has problematic unobtainium relays.

[Specmaster]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fluke-8600A-Digital-Multimeter-2-10254-/112579029344?epid=1171158654&hash=item1a363ba960:g:bTUAAOSw2FxZywjY

Please, someone, anyone buy it! Save me from myself!

EDIT: You may have to revoke my TEA card, i took a pass on it because i already have an 8800A and i remembered the 8600A has problematic unobtainium relays.

That's a poor excuse when it went for a measly $10, well worth a punt in my book any day,. I looked at it but the postage to UK was the killer for me.

[Specmaster]

OBD dongle is a damn good investment. I have saved myself a fortune with mine.

I bought a cheap Chinese OBD2 Bluetooth dongle for $5.  Didn't work.  So I spent about $25 on Amazon for one with good reviews.  Works great.  Hasn't saved me a lot of money though because the problems I've had with my SUV were beyond my home auto mechanic skills so I end up taking it into the shop anyway.  But at least I have an idea what's wrong before it goes to the shop.

The other problem it causes is that it gives me ideas that I can figure out what's wrong and fix it myself instead of just taking it to the shop.

Mine is a cheap Chinese one, it was a freebie so I thought why not, cars 4 years old now and problems could be building on. Plugged it in and not a problem could be found anywhere, clean bill of health. I never that so much information could be extracted from the cars computer, current, past, and possible future fault codes,  performance facts etc. brilliant. 

[Berni]

I bought a cheap Chinese OBD2 Bluetooth dongle for $5.  Didn't work.  So I spent about $25 on Amazon for one with good reviews.  Works great.  Hasn't saved me a lot of money though because the problems I've had with my SUV were beyond my home auto mechanic skills so I end up taking it into the shop anyway.  But at least I have an idea what's wrong before it goes to the shop.

The other problem it causes is that it gives me ideas that I can figure out what's wrong and fix it myself instead of just taking it to the shop.

Sometimes knowing whats wrong before you come to the shop can be a good thing too. Not all mechanics are competent at troubleshooting and will just throw replacement parts at the problem until it works again(or the costumer runs out of budget and gives up). Authorized repair shops don't tend to have the brightest mechanics around.

As long as the automotive version of TEA doesn't get to you and you end up with a garage full of tools for working on cars

[bd139]

That is why I do most of my car servicing myself. Was quoted £1200 for a new DPF. Got one off eBay for £100, bought a socket set for £120 and some ramps for £80 and a can of WD40 for £4 and did it myself!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fluke-8600A-Digital-Multimeter-2-10254-/112579029344?epid=1171158654&hash=item1a363ba960:g:bTUAAOSw2FxZywjY

Please, someone, anyone buy it! Save me from myself!

EDIT: You may have to revoke my TEA card, i took a pass on it because i already have an 8800A and i remembered the 8600A has problematic unobtainium relays.

Don’t have to use the original relays. Mine has an in-line packaged one bodged in.

Anything can be fixed. It all depends on time, budget and inclination.

[bitseeker]

As long as the automotive version of TEA doesn't get to you and you end up with a garage full of tools for working on cars

You mean, Tools & Engines Anonymous? Yeah, there's that.

[tautech]

As long as the automotive version of TEA doesn't get to you and you end up with a garage full of tools for working on cars

You mean, Tools & Engines Anonymous? Yeah, there's that.

I plead guilty to this too. 

[bitseeker]

Right on! Now we're up to TEA³.

[neo]

That is why I do most of my car servicing myself. Was quoted £1200 for a new DPF. Got one off eBay for £100, bought a socket set for £120 and some ramps for £80 and a can of WD40 for £4 and did it myself!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fluke-8600A-Digital-Multimeter-2-10254-/112579029344?epid=1171158654&hash=item1a363ba960:g:bTUAAOSw2FxZywjY

Please, someone, anyone buy it! Save me from myself!

EDIT: You may have to revoke my TEA card, i took a pass on it because i already have an 8800A and i remembered the 8600A has problematic unobtainium relays.

Don’t have to use the original relays. Mine has an in-line packaged one bodged in.

Anything can be fixed. It all depends on time, budget and inclination.

There is that, it could be fixed if it broke BUT i already have three 4.5 digit meters and a 5.5 digit meter. It went for 10 dollars, yes, but the shipping was triple that even to me a measly 400 miles away from it.