Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Berni]

Now that looks simply beautiful!

[xrunner]

... put all the Nixie gear in one "Tower of Nixie" esp for Cubdriver

Sounds like a Lord of the Rings Prequel. 

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.

Are those steel shelves flexing just a tad? 

[rrinker]

 BNP is definitely something I don't have - I have HP, Fluke, Bryman, GW Instek, and Siglent equipment. Plus some random no-name stuff like my knockoff logic analyzer and one of those $20 LCR testers.  I mainly look for interesting things that I don't already have but could possibly use - I haven't been able to justify something like a spectrum analyzer or even a decent ARB. Or a frequency counter for that matter - but maybe if I found a nice nixie one I'd get it just for that.

I have plenty of IDEAS of things I want to build - sometimes I even sit down and start building them instead of playing around with test equipment. Then I hit a milestone where part of my design is tested and works great and I go back to browsing for more test equipment to buy (not that it's actually needed to complete the project). Yes, I have a problem.

And to think - 2 years ago I had a Fluke 8012A and a bunch of Harbor Freight cheap meters and a soldering station, that's it.

[Cubdriver]

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.

A sight to behold!!      And it's nice to see that the 3490 at the bottom has the early LED displays with the dots.  Nice stack, Rob!!

-Pat

[bitseeker]

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

Good one! Added.

I also organized the glossary with letter groupings as the list was getting rather long.

[iainwhite]

I connected my E3610A to my Instek meter and left them for a while... they seem to have given birth to an E3611A.

Note to xrunner - I tried to get the 4.9905v but my finger dexterity isn't up to it.  Or maybe the 10 turn pot is worn.

[rrinker]

 Hmm, a second E36xx series would integrate into my stack much better. But the GPD-3303S has all those buttons and displays....

[bitseeker]

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

Then you should be looking at the good deals on GW Instek gear from the ITT liquidation resales. This thread can help you with that right now.

Meanwhile, try looking at some build videos to inspire you to make something, rather than equipment videos that aggravate your TEA.

[bitseeker]

BNP is definitely something I don't have - I have HP, Fluke, Bryman, GW Instek, and Siglent equipment. Plus some random no-name stuff like my knockoff logic analyzer and one of those $20 LCR testers.  I mainly look for interesting things that I don't already have but could possibly use - I haven't been able to justify something like a spectrum analyzer or even a decent ARB. Or a frequency counter for that matter - but maybe if I found a nice nixie one I'd get it just for that.

We are quite similar when it comes to variety. Most of my gear is HPAK and Power Designs, but I also have some Fluke, Keithley, Brymen (Greenlee), Racal, Tabor, ICS, IET, Rigol, GW Instek, FeelTech, Uni-T and no-name cheapies including the venerable $20 transistor tester and lots of microcontroller boards (Atmega, ESP, etc.).

I have plenty of IDEAS of things I want to build - sometimes I even sit down and start building them instead of playing around with test equipment.

Fantastic. I have more ideas than time, but I guess that's better than the inverse. I need to retire so I can get more things done.

Then I hit a milestone where part of my design is tested and works great and I go back to browsing for more test equipment to buy (not that it's actually needed to complete the project).

Not needed to complete the project, but definitely needed after completion of the project or before the commencement of the next one.

And to think - 2 years ago I had a Fluke 8012A and a bunch of Harbor Freight cheap meters and a soldering station, that's it.

Ahhh, the good old days.

[SingedFingers]

And to think - 2 years ago I had a Fluke 8012A and a bunch of Harbor Freight cheap meters and a soldering station, that's it.

Ahhh, the good old days.

It certainly gets out of control. I took a break from electronics between 2001-2011. Then a requirement turned up to fan the wife's tomato seedlings periodically as it improves their strength. I thought, hey that's a job for electronics! Next thing I know I've got more dead Teks than alive children and am dreaming about Pomona when I sleep. The kicking off point was a gumtree £10 scope (Telequipment S61)

And no I never solved the tomato plant problem; just created more problems.

[razberik]

Wonderful TEA thread. However ...the existence of eevblog itself has one negative, detrimental effect.
Significant prices rising of old equipment on ebay. Especially in EU, ebay.de. It is not easily possible to score some equipment for reasonable price anymore last years. Or european EE-involved are so damm rich ?

I LOVE good old equipment, but when I buy something, I can justify the need for the exact instrument. Not everybody can do it and this exact thread is confirming it constantly.
I also have confirmed that one user is scanning ebay.de constantly and he is hoarding equipment. He doesnt use it and never going to.

I love hoarding useless things and I do it, but doesnt make sense to me on test equipment.

[bitseeker]

Hmmm, would that be EPIC (EEVblog Price Inflation Conundrum)?

[xrunner]

Wonderful TEA thread. ...

Hey razberik, are you paying tribute to the Pink Floyd "Animals" album with your avatar? 

[xrunner]

I connected my E3610A to my Instek meter and left them for a while... they seem to have given birth to an E3611A.

This is getting weird!

Note to xrunner - I tried to get the 4.9905v but my finger dexterity isn't up to it.  Or maybe the 10 turn pot is worn.

I guess it's an acquired skill, I think it comes from tuning ham radios for many years. 

[Housedad]

Hmmm, would that be EPIC (EEVblog Price Inflation Conundrum)?

Nice one.

[Carl_Smith]

Then you should be looking at the good deals on GW Instek gear from the ITT liquidation resales. This thread can help you with that right now.

I wish I had one of those GW Instek meters.

Oh, wait.   I ordered one on eBay a week and a half ago.  The seller has not shipped it, and did not respond to my message several days ago asking what's up.  Seller has around 100 feedback, all positive but one from over a year ago, so I figured it was a safe purchase.  I figured maybe something came up and he was unable to get to sending out eBay packages.  But it might be about time to cancel the purchase and buy one from someone else. 

Or I could not cancel the purchase and buy one from someone else, and if he ships I'll just have two.  I think it would score more points for TEA if I had two of the exact same kind of meter.

[bitseeker]

I recently moved quite bit of my stuff around - put all the Nixie gear in one "Tower of Nixie"

That's a wonderful tower, Rob. Alas, mine is but a mole hill by comparison.

[Vgkid]

I messed my back up picking up my 4393 that sits behind my hp bench meters :/
I don't believe that it ways 40lbs.

[TiN]

Seems like that I saved some of TEA members from Keithley 6221... Oh, well, I was thinking it would go much higher price, but it didn't    .

[Cubdriver]

I recently moved quite bit of my stuff around - put all the Nixie gear in one "Tower of Nixie"

That's a wonderful tower, Rob. Alas, mine is but a mole hill by comparison.

Get thyself to eBay, post haste!   

-Pat

[Vgkid]

Seems like that I saved some of TEA members from Keithley 6221... Oh, well, I was thinking it would go much higher price, but it didn't    .

I put a bid on it(for fun) when it was in the $100 dollar range.
I was curious how high it would go.

[rrinker]

 I think the only thing that will save me from excessive TEA is my other TEA. See, I only have so much space for all of my toys, so if I have too much of this brand of TEA, I'll be encroaching on space for my other TEA (Train Equipment Acquisition). True that once I am far enough along on the trains I will have TONS of storage space for test equipment - however such hidden away stuff will never get used. One thing I do not suffer from in either hobby is SQS - Shelf Queen Syndrome. I don't buy anything to just sit on a shelf and admire (ok, I DID buy those Dallas Semi wafers...). So this is perhaps what is preventing me from breaking out into full-on TEO (Test Equipment Overload).

Or - maybe I am just fooling myself.

[bitseeker]

Space is the great restrainer. Hence, I have only two full rack width instruments, a Keithley 228A and HP 6032A.

Looks like some more good terms you've got there, rrinker. Adding.

[Berni]

Space is the great restrainer. Hence, I have only two full rack width instruments, a Keithley 228A and HP 6032A.

Looks like some more good terms you've got there, rrinker. Adding.

You just need to buy a rack. Soon after the number of full rack width instruments will shoot up. I got mine locally for under 100 bucks.

[tggzzz]

Space is the great restrainer. Hence, I have only two full rack width instruments, a Keithley 228A and HP 6032A.

Looks like some more good terms you've got there, rrinker. Adding.

You just need to buy a rack. Soon after the number of full rack width instruments will shoot up. I got mine locally for under 100 bucks.

Get thee behind me, Satan.

For a decade I have been able to resist based on the "My house is full; if I buy something, I have to throw something out" principle - in the knowledge that I'm, incapable of throwing things "that might come in" out.

So far my only 19" equipment is stored vertically when not in use Unfortunately I now have a second such piece Oh dear. Oh dear, oh dear.