Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[tautech]

We'll all be on a stay-at-home order as of midnight tonight. No going anywhere except for groceries and "essential" needs.

Same here in NZ and sure glad I live rural. 
Lots of jobs without distractions to catch up on. 

[mansaxel]

Meanwhile, in other news, here is what some of those troops have been doing.

When I did my service back in '88, it was in the supply troops; the supply batallion attached to an armoured brigade. I was supposed to end up as a sgt commanding a platoon of ambulances. As infantry marches and sailors chip rust, supply troops drive trucks. 2 weeks into basic training we were driven to a large field where a truck per 2 recruits  was parked. They handed us the keys and (those of us that held civilian licences) we were told to practice. 2 weeks later, we got our in-service licenses.

If these squaddies get a week, they probably are part of the supply branch and need adaptation training only. A modern lorry drives quite easily, especially if it is European. (US is a disaster, of course.) Also, a semi-trailer is much easier to handle than a load-carrying truck hauling a trailer on a dolly, due to the fewer degrees of freedom involved.

[URI]

Here it is. And it works, at least on DC volts. Haven't tried any other functions yet. Last calibration date is November 10, 2003. It's on been on for a little while and I'm going to let it cook for a few hours. But notice something? 9.99716V against the AD584 ref of 9.99691V. Not bad. In fact...fucking spectacular and the peanut gallery that keeps telling me that my assumptions about calibration/accuracy are wrong I not so kindly invite them to go piss up a rope. 

 
Welcome to voltnuttery med, finally!        

Besides that the fluke 8505/8506 do look cool, I quite like their UI design. It's a bit confusing though -as it is with other DMMs of that era, e.g. the HP 3456A.
Look at the lovely red glowing display and the buttons! Lots of them -there must be something to it.      

After I check it all out going to give it a good cleaning and I'll do a teardown.

Looking forward to it.

[mansaxel]

We'll all be on a stay-at-home order as of midnight tonight. No going anywhere except for groceries and "essential" needs.

Surely my Mouser order must be "essential". It shows as not having left the warehouse yet. 

[mnementh]

For properly characterizing caps OOC, (and sometimes in-circuit as well) I find the DER-EE DE-5000 as close to laboratory-grade as you're going to get under $300; at around $110 delivered with a full kit of tweezer & alligator probes it is one of the best values in TE out there, bar none.

I've read in some threads that various suppliers of said instrument have been more or less dependable. Any recent purchasers who can recommend a good seller?

I got mine from ebay seller eina-japan; 1100+ completed sales with zero negative feedback on the same listing I bought from, which is still up: https://www.ebay.com/itm/282040803373

If you look on their eBay store, they have the DE-5000 in several different kits and prices, and also carry the PEAK ESR70+ & SCR100 instruments: https://www.ebay.com/str/einajapan

They shipped very quickly and for a very reasonable $12; handling by my local USPS, however, was less than stellar.

mnem
*currently nom-nomming on a Dagwood from the local deli*

[bd139]

Argh it's going to be one of those days today 



Edit: printing on a raft this time. It's a relatively complicated part this one. May have to redesign the whole enclosure to make it easier to print.

[Wolfgang]

Argh it's going to be one of those days today 



Edit: printing on a raft this time. It's a relatively complicated part this one. May have to redesign the whole enclosure to make it easier to print.

You need a non-warping filament. Then it should work. Had the same problems.

[bd139]

Yeah that'd possibly work. I'll try a raft first on this one though. That worked last time I had this problem and doesn't involve buying anything at the moment.

[SilverSolder]

Here it is. And it works, at least on DC volts. Haven't tried any other functions yet. Last calibration date is November 10, 2003. It's on been on for a little while and I'm going to let it cook for a few hours. But notice something? 9.99716V against the AD584 ref of 9.99691V. Not bad. In fact...fucking spectacular and the peanut gallery that keeps telling me that my assumptions about calibration/accuracy are wrong I not so kindly invite them to go piss up a rope. 



When I removed it from the box I heard stuff rattling around inside. Found these pieces of plastic.



After I check it all out going to give it a good cleaning and I'll do a teardown.

Those plastic pieces are one of the little clips that hold the cards in place.  Sadly, they go brittle over the years and tend to break during transportation, even gentle transportation.  They can be glued back together with the right adhesive but it is a recurring issue...

[Saskia]

one of my HGST warranty replacements showed up today.
The 2nd drive got lost at their warehouse even though it was packed in the same shipping container.
D'oh.

Now I am building a NAS Volume with 4 instead of the 5 intended drives and a few TB less than intended. Will probably run another day to verify the volume ...

Cold symptoms. Headache, cough. Even though I have been in pretty strong self isolation. No fever though.
rats.

[worsthorse]

Here it is. And it works, at least on DC volts. Haven't tried any other functions yet. Last calibration date is November 10, 2003. It's on been on for a little while and I'm going to let it cook for a few hours. But notice something? 9.99716V against the AD584 ref of 9.99691V. Not bad. In fact...fucking spectacular and the peanut gallery that keeps telling me that my assumptions about calibration/accuracy are wrong I not so kindly invite them to go piss up a rope. 

After I check it all out going to give it a good cleaning and I'll do a teardown.

med, that looks pretty damn fancy!  i am going in the opposite direction, with an HP 3400A:



definitely not 7.5 digits.  or even 3.5, i guess...   

It is in pretty good shape, though the phenolic board in the power socket was broken.  I was going to replace it with an IEC socket but it didn't quite fit and I didn't want to modify the metalwork.  I finally found a small supply of the original oval sockets (what the hell are they called? I don't remember):



These things are, as you all know, built like a tank:



I've been reluctant to start another refurb as I am still rather bummed about destroying the 184.  But I haven't a choice. I've run out of things to organize and inventory and if I keep cooking like I've been for the last couple of weeks, I am going to gain back the fourteen pounds (one stone, 6.35 kg, 544.44 tola) I managed to lose since the beginning of the year.   

So back to the bench I go!

[Mr. Scram]

You need a non-warping filament. Then it should work. Had the same problems.

Non-warping filament? Is that like smokeless components?

[Cubdriver]

Here it is. And it works, at least on DC volts. Haven't tried any other functions yet. Last calibration date is November 10, 2003. It's on been on for a little while and I'm going to let it cook for a few hours. But notice something? 9.99716V against the AD584 ref of 9.99691V. Not bad. In fact...fucking spectacular and the peanut gallery that keeps telling me that my assumptions about calibration/accuracy are wrong I not so kindly invite them to go piss up a rope. 

After I check it all out going to give it a good cleaning and I'll do a teardown.

med, that looks pretty damn fancy!  i am going in the opposite direction, with an HP 3400A:



definitely not 7.5 digits.  or even 3.5, i guess...   

It is in pretty good shape, though the phenolic board in the power socket was broken.  I was going to replace it with an IEC socket but it didn't quite fit and I didn't want to modify the metalwork.  I finally found a small supply of the original oval sockets (what the hell are they called? I don't remember):



These things are, as you all know, built like a tank:



I've been reluctant to start another refurb as I am still rather bummed about destroying the 184.  But I haven't a choice. I've run out of things to organize and inventory and if I keep cooking like I've been for the last couple of weeks, I am going to gain back the fourteen pounds (one stone, 6.35 kg, 544.44 tola) I managed to lose since the beginning of the year.   

So back to the bench I go!

The oval power connector is a PH-163.

-Pat

[mansaxel]

The oval power connector is a PH-163.

If cables for it weren't close to unobtanium I'd be a lot warmer to them. As it stands, there probably is a landfill of them somewhere and a global TE community looking for it. (like the Atari video games in the desert story).

Here, the last generation of analog trunking first responder radios by Ericsson / Niros are sought-after by amateurs and others; it's a very good radio, available in vehicle mount and hand portable, intrinsically sealed, etc. The same few sellers on the local auction site are trickling them onto the market to keep prices up. I've got a UHF mobile, (which nicely covers the amateur band) and would love to get a few handhelds and a VHF mobile. But that'll set me back a few 100 dollars/euros. For old, used radios that then need an expensive programming cable to do anything with; like all commercial radios, they're not reprogrammable without a computer. Guess my GAS is multistrain; I'll fall for it, sooner or later... 

[med6753]

I'm just going leave this here.

Source: AD584-M. Stated voltage: 9.99691V.
All DMM's have been on for at least 4 hours

Fluke 8505A



The 8800A pair



The Siglent SDM 3055



This should end the argument once and for all. As I have insisted all along the Siglent is off. This proves it. It may be in spec but I truly believe the factory cal was flawed.

Flukes rule, Siglents drool.     

[Mortymore]

Guess that when you reach the amount of 10 voltnut meters, the average of the 10 values measured will give you a decent amount of certainty.

Just kidding. The "new" Fluke is awesome!  I don't like flap buttons of the others.  (but that's a matter of taste)

[Cerebus]

definitely not 7.5 digits.  or even 3.5, i guess...   

Three digits on the long scale I reckon. I can easily interpolate a final digit by eye on a scale like that. I wonder if this is a learned skill from only having analogue meters to work with at first, and is lost to the current generation who've only seen digital displays, or whether it is something that anyone can do and whether a millennial would get a 2 or 3 digits out of that scale?

[bd139]

I’m a generation X’er and I have trouble with the analogue scales occasionally. Frequently misread them or pick the wrong scale. My first MM was an analogue and that’s all I had for 6-7 years as well.

Got to say though I do like that warm fuzzy feeling you get from a VTVM with an analogue scale though. Hmm eBay 🤔

Edit: that wore off almost instantly when I hit eBay and saw a V7 and got flashbacks. Med has one of the only the good bits from my last one.

Edit: ooh just been paid. Window shopping time 

[Mortymore]

I would love to have a meter like that HP 3400A. 10MHz BW and RMS... 

One thing I like in the analog meter is the fast and easy to catch, movement of the needle in case of some fluctuation. The analog bar in DMM it's just not the same thing.

[Specmaster]

Over the weekend I picked up 3 interesting bits of TE, a Avo 8 (NATO one), Advance J2B AF gen and a Racal Dana 9802, the latter appeared to be all working but subsequent investigation has shown that a gorilla has been let loose inside it and some major work is required, more on this later.

So after discovering the damage done by the gorilla, I decided to look at the J2B gen instead which was indeed working and by checking on a cope and frequency counter was working really well the body was in need of some TLC here and there but overall it was pretty good condition apart from the usual stickers applied in the most stupid of places. This thing is really heavy and open opening up revealed why, it has two transformers. Overall build impression was good, I got the image of a tank when I saw just how modular the frame was and the thickness of the metalwork is very generous. Apart from the application of some switch cleaner, the replacement of the power cable which had seen better days and also had the fibre filler cords all exposed at the switch terminations and had a burn half-way along its length right down to the cores was all the remedial work that was required. Because the voltages were spot on and the frequencies similarly within spec, I decided that the caps were also OK, no visible signs of leaking or distress, so I elected to leave them alone for now.

The chassis was thick with dust though and this was removed and revealed that the top of the chassis was tarnished or treated all over and was a dark grey in colour so no further attempt was made to return this shiny metal as it added to the originality of the thing. Just before reassembling the gen, I noticed the cleaning process had broken a cable to the 600ohm terminals. Closer inspection showed that the cable had corroded, so cut back, stripped and resoldered this termination and tested, all was OK. Re-assembled the case and the only thing to do now is to source a replacement carry handle for it which is proving to be a bit difficult as the only ones I can find are longer and will not fit the case because they are bigger then the case

This was originally made in Essex so its rather fitting in a way that it has returned to its roots in Essex once again.

[bd139]

That’s a nice bit of kit that. I’d get rid of those hunts and plessey capacities ASAP though. Absolute bastard things 

[Specmaster]

one of my HGST warranty replacements showed up today.
The 2nd drive got lost at their warehouse even though it was packed in the same shipping container.
D'oh.

Now I am building a NAS Volume with 4 instead of the 5 intended drives and a few TB less than intended. Will probably run another day to verify the volume ...

Cold symptoms. Headache, cough. Even though I have been in pretty strong self isolation. No fever though.
rats.

Lets hope that all you have is a common cold 

[med6753]

The US Gorillas and the UK Gorillas have an underground network of havoc. 

[Specmaster]

That’s a nice bit of kit that. I’d get rid of those hunts and plessey capacities ASAP though. Absolute bastard things 

Well I was going to do a med on it, full recap but when everything checked out OK thought, well whats the point, it's a working bit of kit again that can be put to one side, so I can get on with the Avo 8 and then clear the bench down again, so I can get further into the jewel in the crown, the 9082. Maybe I'll get around the recapping the J2B later when I'm looking for something to do.

[Mortymore]

......

Besides recaping, some resistors are not is great shape also.
Just working is good enough, or you intend to restore it?