Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[bd139]

Yep about half a watt that. It's mental. Looks like a disco in here now.

Ooh now a few of them and some MOSFETs and some ... no wait no distractions!

[URI]

Hi, everyone, I'm back from recovery.

A little late, anyway: Happy new year from germany!

I was knocked out not by mens flu but something real. Xmas and new year was quiet and steady for me having to stay in bed. 
Cough still not gone completely. 

This TEA thread is a real denial of service-attack for members who want to read all postings.. 
Took me really a while to catch up!

[Specmaster]

Welcome back URI, yes its growing like a mushroom cloud, someone must have nuked it.

[Specmaster]

Yep about half a watt that. It's mental. Looks like a disco in here now.

Ooh now a few of them and some MOSFETs and some ... no wait no distractions!

If you're looking for the red card to go and get your handle, its under the home made tanning machine 

[bd139]

Hahaha yeah I had a panic about 20 minutes ago because I lost it

Welcome back URI; hope you feel better

[Specmaster]

Those post office red cards do happen to make good insulators though 

[URI]

Thanks, I'm feeling (and hope that this continues) that it's getter better everyday. 

After reading (must have been ) thousand of postings one thing has come to my mind:
One has to get T12-Clone soldering stations now.

D**ed! My three Weller soldering stations feel so stupidly unhip now. 

Has anyone considered this one:
https://hackaday.com/2017/07/24/review-ts100-soldering-iron/

It's also from china and the (more expensive) solder tips look quiet similar to the T12 ones: They also seem to be fully capsuled and contacted trough isolated rings at the upper end. Heating power up to 65 Watts.

I find those quiet sexy since everything (also control, display and push buttons) is integrated into the pen handle.
The downside is the higher price of the device and also the tips.

[bd139]

I did consider one but the £50 outlay put me off.

T12 is interesting because it is so amazingly cheap.

I'm after something I can run off 12-14V as well. The T12 can't quite manage a decent job of that so I'm going to look at adding a boost converter up front. Will get it on a bench supply first and see what sort of current it pulls.

Edit: incidentally I'm adding a 12V off line power bus to some of the new house when we move in. This will have some equipment attached to it, mainly communications and lighting. Would be nice to be able to do some soldering if the mains goes pop

[URI]

Managed to get my hands on an HP 5006 signature analyser on ebay..
The tip is broken but should be repairable.

Why the heck did I throw money on such a thing I'm asking me..?
I think I found the HP5006 in more than one service manual and thought "I shall be prepared for the time might come I need it to debug HP test gear".. 

Now I have to repair the HP 5006 first. Seems I haven't recovered from GAS/TEA over the past four weeks. *Mift*   

[URI]

I did consider one but the £50 outlay put me off.

T12 is interesting because it is so amazingly cheap.

Agreed.

But I don't like to buy off aliexpress or banggood.
Hmm. Haven't searched ebay yet...   

[Specmaster]

I saw the TS100 review after I had decided and ordered the T12 and I think that the T12 is the better system for bench use. The TS100 uses a modified T12 tip, but its construction is essentially the same.

The TS100 being cordless may be an advantage but it can also be a disadvantage, overall I think I'd personally stick with a corded iron.

[Specmaster]

I did consider one but the £50 outlay put me off.

T12 is interesting because it is so amazingly cheap.

Agreed.

But I don't like to buy off aliexpress or banggood.
Hmm. Haven't searched ebay yet...   
Why, I have no problem with either of them?

[URI]

I saw the TS100 review after I had decided and ordered the T12 and I think that the T12 is the better system for bench use. The TS100 uses a modified T12 tip, but its construction is essentially the same.

Yes, seems like that to me, too. I wonder why the TS100-tips are so much more expensive than the T12 ones.

The TS100 being cordless may be an advantage but it can also be a disadvantage, overall I think I'd personally stick with a corded iron.

I would use the TS100 mainly for situations away from home where I now use an old, big and heavy Weller station.

[URI]

I did consider one but the £50 outlay put me off.

T12 is interesting because it is so amazingly cheap.

Agreed.

But I don't like to buy off aliexpress or banggood.
Hmm. Haven't searched ebay yet...   

Why, I have no problem with either of them?

Uhh, it's partly a feeling. I don't have trust in those platforms and how they might handle my data.
Secondly: How can I pay? Aliexpress accepts PayPal meanwhile but if the seller doesn't offer that.. I don't like paying internationally per credit card.

[bd139]

But I don't like to buy off aliexpress or banggood.
Hmm. Haven't searched ebay yet...   

Haven't had any problems with aliexpress. The only problems seem to be with Royal Mail here who are useless. It's amazing it can get all the way around the planet no problems at all handled by the lowest bidding carrier. When it gets to RM, it all goes to shit.

I use a credit card. If something happens, they can fuck off when they ask for the bill to be paid.

I saw the TS100 review after I had decided and ordered the T12 and I think that the T12 is the better system for bench use. The TS100 uses a modified T12 tip, but its construction is essentially the same.

The TS100 being cordless may be an advantage but it can also be a disadvantage, overall I think I'd personally stick with a corded iron.

I had a portasol for years when I was doing RC cars (another money sink - Yokomo YR4 FTW though). It was one of these: http://uk.farnell.com/portasol/portasol/soldering-iron-400-deg-gas/dp/148636 . This was enough of an experience that I wouldn't want to use any portable cordless soldering iron ever again. The thing was like soldering with a hot dog. The wire balances the iron quite well.

Apart from melting itself slightly, it also rolled of the bench, hit the concrete and exploded spraying a fireball over my feet. After that shit I got an Antex 12v iron. That was pretty good but it didn't have much "go". Made it hard to solder mangled packs back together.

[Specmaster]

The T12 is such a small unit and lightweight that you could tuck into a pocket almost and not know it was there so a cordless iron just to be mobile is not worth it unless you have no access to mains power, in which case you can get a much smaller version with no power supply in it has a barrel 5.5 x 2.1 plug connection so that you can run it from an external power supply of 12 to 24v or even a car battery etc.

[Specmaster]

Those gas powered ones are always a danger, you have so careful where you them as well, naked flame etc, hazardous areas, near plastics etc.

[bd139]

Those gas powered ones are always a danger, you have so careful where you them as well, naked flame etc, hazardous areas, near plastics etc.

Good if you give them a squirt with WD40 though. That'll wake anyone up around you

[Specmaster]

My T12 handle has cleared UK customs, other parts still appear to be in China though 

[BU508A]

Just arrived today: Prema 6040 S, 7.5 digit DMM

Hooked it up to my Geller Lab 10V reference. My Keithley DMM7510 reads 10.000112V,
the Prema reads actually 10.000589V and is drifting higher.

I'll wait for 24h to see, what happens.

Pictures from the inside will follow.

[bd139]

My T12 handle has cleared UK customs, other parts still appear to be in China though 

Or half way between 

[Specmaster]

My T12 handle has cleared UK customs, other parts still appear to be in China though 

Or half way between 

No you're OK, they come via air service.

[HalFET]

My T12 handle has cleared UK customs, other parts still appear to be in China though 

Or half way between 

No you're OK, they come via air service.

You never know what crashed into that ship? 

[bd139]

You never know what crashed into that ship? 

Hahaha 

[Ero-Shan]

Looking good 

I was just going through boxes of shite and found a copy of “music to Moog by”. This circa 1969 electronic music. All warm and fuzzy and analogue. This makes me want more scopes.

And I just watched an old film, which made me want more counters.

And smelled that wonderful chocolate. That made me long for some more power supplies.

I guess with serious cases of TEA, just about everything makes you want more stuff to play with ...