Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Cubdriver]

You know, I've found that eBay's Collections feature is an inexpensive way to collect interesting, neat, etc. things with no impact to the wallet and no precious space taken up. I know, I know, that's anti-TEA, but this was supposed to be a therapy thread.

It IS a therapy thread.  You've heard of retail therapy, right?  This is a specialized variation of that, involving evilBay.     New (old) test gear is the salve that, when applied, quells the itch.  Momentarily, at least.

-Pat

[Housedad]

Stop and say "Dinner with my wife" over and over and over for an hour.   Then say it once in front of her.   Your problems of where to spend that money will vanish and you will have missed the horrible parts of the withdrawal.

Wife? Wife? i see no "wife" anywhere in this house. 

Dang.  You're a lost soul then.  The only thing that has ever put the brakes on me is my wife.  I'll say a prayer....

[Cubdriver]

Stop and say "Dinner with my wife" over and over and over for an hour.   Then say it once in front of her.   Your problems of where to spend that money will vanish and you will have missed the horrible parts of the withdrawal.

Wife? Wife? i see no "wife" anywhere in this house. 

Dang.  You're a lost soul then.  The only thing that has ever put the brakes on me is my wife.  I'll say a prayer....

   I'm in the same boat, though there is currently much more house to fill thanks to the renovation embarked upon with the now ex wife.     (and for the record, the ex became an ex before my interest in electronics as a hobby reignited after being dormant for many years, so she was not displaced by boatanchors.)  The cats seem to like having new things to climb on, so they're cool with my acquisitions.

-Pat

[xrunner]

Surely there's stuff you need other than test equipment.

There was something ... oh I remember - food. I need food. And toilet paper, I'm running out of that. And new socks, all of mine have holes in the heels.

But before that, maybe another spectrum analyzer! Eating can wait. 

[SingedFingers]

To console myself over the narrow escape of a Tek 2235 auction to someone with deeper pockets than myself, plus the fact I just opened the electricity bill I got last week, I had to do something cheap today. So I spent the morning contemplating repairing the 8010A I got earlier in this thread. I took the unit to bits and have discovered that it is a royal bastard to replace the display in it due to how the display assembly fits together. It's actually much easier to fix the handheld units. So I stole the display out of my 8021B which works perfectly and stuck that in the 8010A. I'll build a new display module for the 8021B like I did with the other one as it's actually easier. Incidentally the displays are interchangeable despite being different part numbers. PHEW.

Also got out of the car this morning and proceeded to catapult my smartphone across the car park. Despite having screen protector, thick TPA case etc, it landed screen straight on a rock and smashed to bits. 

This is all DAMN ANNOYING as I wanted that Tek 184.

[iainwhite]

A nice E3610A supply arrived today. Only fitting that I check it with my recently purchased U1252B.

[xrunner]

A nice E3610A supply arrived today. Only fitting that I check it with my recently purchased U1252B.

Nice HP PS. I liked that pic (and numbers) so much I took one myself. 

[iainwhite]

lol I have an Instek meter too, but i was too lazy to use it.  Maybe I should do another pic so we can be identical twins?

[xrunner]

lol I have an Instek meter too, but i was too lazy to use it.  Maybe I should do another pic so we can be identical twins?

Yea try it, it's not all that easy to get that exact reading ... 

(The output voltage can be changed in .0001 increments even though there is no indication of it on the PS)

[bitseeker]

... I spent the morning contemplating repairing the 8010A I got earlier in this thread...

You know you've got TEA when you can refer to posts in this thread as your working notes.

[rrinker]

 Hmm, I already have an E3610, should I get another, or a GPD-3303S? I take it for the Instek I want the one with the 2.2/3.3/5V output spaced away from the two adjustable ones, to get one that doesn't have the turn on spike on the fixed output?

[bitseeker]

Correct. The 3303S with a gap between channels 1 and 3 doesn't overshoot.

Of course, if you don't really need a digital display, the older model with analog meters is even cheaper.

[FrankenPC]

Re acronyms:   You forgot BNP:  Brand Name Psychosis.   An obsession with test equipment from a particular manufacturer who is typically really expensive.

[xrunner]

Re acronyms:   You forgot BNP:  Brand Name Psychosis.   An obsession with test equipment from a particular manufacturer who is typically really expensive.

Ooh that's me too! I just never knew the specific disorder. 

[Cubdriver]

Re acronyms:   You forgot BNP:  Brand Name Psychosis.   An obsession with test equipment from a particular manufacturer who is typically really expensive.

Ooh that's me too! I just never knew the specific disorder. 

I have at least three strains of it, and possibly one or two more that are latent and simply awaiting the proper trigger to bring them to the surface... 

-Pat

[MarvinTheMartian]

HELP!!!!!

SOMEONE PLEASE HELP!

I'm finding I'm:

• looking for equipment to acquire,
• drooling over stuff I couldn't possibly afford,
• watching reviews/tear downs on stuff I can't afford either,

but not actually building anything! 

I need help FAST

[rachaelp]

Re acronyms:   You forgot BNP:  Brand Name Psychosis.   An obsession with test equipment from a particular manufacturer who is typically really expensive.

I totally have this disorder!!! I knew it wasn't just me that suffered from this!!!

The question is how prevalent is it? Is it part of the natural progression of GAS or does it only happen in a small percentage of cases?

For my lab if the brand name isn't Keysight (or HP/Agilent), Keithley, Rohde&Schwarz or Tektronix then it's not going to fit in!

[Cubdriver]

For me it's mainly HP followed by Tektronix, with Fluke and a bit of GenRad bringing up the rear.  No Keithley so far, and R&S is far less common on this side of the pond, so none of their stuff either.  I fear that given the opportunity either of those could trigger heretofore latent GAS.  <we really need a scared, nail biting smiley!  imagine one here>

-Pat

[Cubdriver]

HELP!!!!!

SOMEONE PLEASE HELP!

I'm finding I'm:

• looking for equipment to acquire,
• drooling over stuff I couldn't possibly afford,
• watching reviews/tear downs on stuff I can't afford either,

but not actually building anything! 

I need help FAST

Buy name brand, but busticated stuff, and repair it.  It's incredibly aggravating frustrating ...err... REWARDING to do, and can be an excellent form of mental torture exercise.

 

-Pat

[SingedFingers]

... I spent the morning contemplating repairing the 8010A I got earlier in this thread...

You know you've got TEA when you can refer to posts in this thread as your working notes.

This thread is terrible for that. It's a constant reminder of all the dead bodies I have lying around that need zombie surgery. Yet it makes me buy more zombies. I found a frequency counter in the cupboard while looking for parts last night that I forgot I even had.

[tggzzz]

Buy name brand, but busticated stuff, and repair it.  It's incredibly aggravating frustrating ...err... REWARDING to do, and can be an excellent form of mental torture exercise.

A damn sight better than vegetating while doing the crossword.

[SingedFingers]

Buy name brand, but busticated stuff, and repair it.  It's incredibly aggravating frustrating ...err... REWARDING to do, and can be an excellent form of mental torture exercise.

A damn sight better than vegetating while doing the crossword.

I actually said that to SWMBO the other day. My mother still doesn't understand it. She repairs and restores antique furniture. Doesn't get the parallel between that and this.

On the subject of mental torture and repairing brand name stuff, I wasn't happy with the bodged in display from the 8021 that I stuffed in the 8010A as the border wasn't clean and the contrast was poor so I spent 4 hours last night wiring a new one in with kynar. Annoyingly I have found that the power supply caps are shot at the same time as you periodically get dips in the readings. Will fix that tonight.

Before (as advertised on ebay):



After, at the pinnacle of the "tower of test":



Peeled off all the stupid RS rebranding stickers as well, scrubbed the whole thing and evicted the spider corpses. RS pisses me off when they stick branding over everything. Still got a Thurlby PL310 with an impossible to remove RS sticker.

[SingedFingers]

Here I go again.

Just scored a Tek 475 on ebay for £49 including delivery! \o/ YAY

[VK5RC]

... I spent the morning contemplating repairing the 8010A I got earlier in this thread...

You know you've got TEA when you can refer to posts in this thread as your working notes.

Wasn't that hard       - OK not a PSU and DVM   but I didn't recalibrate the Nixie DVM.

[VK5RC]

I recently moved quite bit of my stuff around - put all the Nixie gear in one "Tower of Nixie" esp for Cubdriver
All work fully except the 5216 which has a dead MSD - haven't got to it yet, not sure if driver chip or tube.
The 5245L second up from bottom (was my worst/most difficult repair - took me so long but I learnt a lot) I have about 5 plugs ins for her.