Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[ManateeMafia]

I find that sending other members constant 'look what I found on ebay' links to be helpful as long as you can get them to bite. That means one less purchase for me.

It doesn't always work. They are also doing the same to me so my inbox and sent items folders are full of these links.

[xrunner]

This is the official TEA (Test Equipment Anonymous) house for everyone who has GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome). Share your stories of woe, trying to manage all the wonderful test gear you keep scoring.

Hello - my name is xrunner and I have GAS. I'm glad I found this group because I have nowhere else to turn.

I don't know why I keep buying test equipment. I have more than enough to support my hobby but I keep buying more. There must be a psychological explanation for it. Some of the threads on this forum do not help my condition, but I have friends here and I do not want to sign off forever. And there is Ebay ... I keep looking and looking and looking.

When I see a nice piece of the "good stuff" such as branded HP, Agilent, well, you all know the names - I can't stop myself. I don't know if anyone can help me, but at least I know I'm not alone.

xrunner

[xrunner]

What I would like to know is, is there some correlation between amount of test gear and project activity?

No, not for me. Well, it might be related to possible future projects, maybe that's part of the rationalization process.

It feels like I'm providing a home for abandoned children. I see this nice piece of test equipment on Ebay and think, if I do not provide it a nice home, somebody else might get it and trash it. I feel sort of protective of it. There is only so much I can do ...

[bitseeker]

GAS is a form of collecting, for electronics folks. Some people collect stamps and do so for many reasons: educational/historical interest, artistic interest, thrill of the chase, investment, buy/sell/trade, community involvement, etc. There are small collections and there are extremely large ones.

TE collecting isn't much different, although it does take up a lot more space per item. I suppose if more of your time goes toward acquiring equipment than building projects, then collecting may be more interesting to you than making stuff.

Buying, refurbishing, and then selling gear is a blend of collecting and building/fixing. Most of us are probably somewhere along the continuum rather than at one end or the other.

[VK5RC]

I tend to buy a mostly HP gear (great manuals) and if I 're-purposed' a piece of HP gear I wouldn't feel that good about it - unless it was gear that was designed specifically for one function - which was now completely obsolete. I have seen some communications gear like that.

There was website article I found advocating converting  an HP  Nixie frequency counter into a clock, I couldn't understand that. There are plenty of Nixies to be had for not crazy money and the HP counter may have been working or repairable and be able to be used as a counter!
To me that is a "TEA crime" HiHi.

Re-purposing some non-classic bit of gear - I have no problem with that - but I am not quite sure of what my definition of 'classic' is - it certainly is a classic if it has a Nixie.

[bitseeker]

Other purposes. Yeees. Of course. We shall hide everything in plain sight.

• Dual-channel digital thermometer -> Place on refrigerator door. One probe inside the fresh food compartment and the other in the freezer. It's for food safety, you know.
  
• SMD rework station -> On the bathroom counter. It's an adjustable, turbo hair dryer. Dial it down for fine hair. Crank it up for thick or unruly hair. We even have narrow nozzles for sideburns. Doubles as a nail polish dryer too.
• Precision power supplies -> One for each remote control in the living room. They're the ultimate, universal battery eliminator!
• Function generator + amplifier/power supply -> Ultrasonic cleaner for the wife's jewelry.
• Electronic load + DC power supply -> Programmable heater for the wife's feet.
• Variacs -> Convert ordinary floor and desk lamps into dimmable ones.
• Breadboards -> Hang them on the wall for pinning notes, post cards, and coupons.
• Alligator clip test leads -> Helps the kids to stop losing their gloves and mittens. Also saves hats on windy days.
• USB-powered soldering iron -> It's safer than a butane lighter for lighting your cigarettes. But there are other support groups to help you stop smoking.
• PCB pre-heater -> Keeps coffee and tea piping hot all winter.
• Thermal camera -> Are the kids faking another illness to stay home from school? Not anymore!
• Signal generators + FM radios -> Multi-channel, whole-house music.
• Multimeter test probes + banana-to-alligator clips -> Hors d'oeurves picks that won't get dropped all over the yard at the next family barbecue.

What else?

[Cubdriver]

Test leads and dangling oscilloscope probes - cat toys   

-Pat

[nctnico]

My wife just threatened me she is going to take pictures and note serial numbers from my test equipment so she can check whether I bought something new

[ManateeMafia]

Tell her you will do the same for her shoes. 

[tautech]

Which of you poor sick souls will be able to resist this ?
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/buysellwanted/free-to-good-home-(us)-tektronix-531a-oscilloscope/

[xrunner]

Which of you poor sick souls will be able to resist this ?
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/buysellwanted/free-to-good-home-(us)-tektronix-531a-oscilloscope/

I have taken a Big Step in addressing my addiction - I did not look at your link! 

[bitseeker]

Too late. I already looked before seeing your post. Fortunately, I don't live close enough to pick it up.

[GreyWoolfe]

Tell her you will do the same for her shoes. 

You can use a battery powered Dremel to serialize her shoes so she can't say, "Oh, I have had them for awhile.  Don't you remember when I got them? (while batting her eyelashes at you)

[bitseeker]

Tell her you will do the same for her shoes. 

You can use a battery powered Dremel to serialize her shoes so she can't say, "Oh, I have had them for awhile.  Don't you remember when I got them? (while batting her eyelashes at you)

RFID! You can log usage and compute $/use or $/hr. over every pairs' lifetime.

[xrunner]

I have updated my forum signature ...

[FlyingHacker]

That's why you quoted it to make sure everybody see it twice, in case one time was not enough?   

Let's hear how many people went to ebay to check on broken 3458A's, 2002's and 3245A's for 100$ ? 

Hahaha! I just did exactly that after seeing the photo!

I have a problem.

[Berni]

That's why you quoted it to make sure everybody see it twice, in case one time was not enough?   

Let's hear how many people went to ebay to check on broken 3458A's, 2002's and 3245A's for 100$ ? 

I have not because i tried to buy one of them before and found the prices to be truly insane.

...but eventually i did go and get a Keithley 2002, id rather not repeat that endeavor. But i did find a really nice condition Keithley 2015 with the protective foil still on the display on the cheap so i couldn't resist and bought it. Okay no more multimeters....but i wouldn't mind a 2001. or maybe a 2400 SMU too.

[bitseeker]

I nearly bought a 3458A last year and prior to that hunted for a while for a 2001 or 2002 to no avail (too much $$$). But I've calmed down since then. I'm content with several 6-1/2 digit DMMs (all different, of course).

A 2015-P would be nice to have, though, for THD.

[Berni]

I nearly bought a 3458A last year and prior to that hunted for a while for a 2001 or 2002 to no avail (too much $$$). But I've calmed down since then. I'm content with several 6-1/2 digit DMMs (all different, of course).

A 2015-P would be nice to have, though, for THD.

Il admit i still have a ebay search notification on 2001 in case one pops up for a reasonable price.

The THD features of the 2015 are not that great due to it only being able to measure down to about -65dB THD. For designing audio circuits i have a DIY sound card that can go under -100dB.

But i would imagine this multimeter being super handy for fixing audio amplifiers where you can feed the sine in to it and poke around to see if the signal gets distorted anywhere. I certainly wouldn't want to do that with my DIY sound card as it could quickly blow up the opamps in the front end.

[bitseeker]

The THD features of the 2015 are not that great due to it only being able to measure down to about -65dB THD. For designing audio circuits i have a DIY sound card that can go under -100dB.

Yeah, I still have to try using my Delta44 card for this purpose along with one of the many audio analysis programs out there.

Oh, and what does that have to do with GAS? Well, the need to measure THD originated when I bought a Tabor 8551 function generator. One of the adjustments in the calibration procedure is to minimize THD of the sine output at a couple of frequency settings. 

So, TEA would be better served by using the sound card and not getting a Keithley 2015, HP 334A, HP 339A, Audio Precision anything, etc.

[sibeen]

A very humorous thread, thanks to all.

As an aside I work as a professional engineer and have done so for over thirty years. Started off in the UPS industry and now days am in the game of data centre design, general building design, troubleshooting of the same etc. A list of my gear:

Multimeter - Fluke 8020B. Had this since the late 80s.

Oscilloscope - Yokogawa DL708. A eight channel cro/recorder. Not fast, but in the power game I don't need fast. Purchased this in about 98 - I think.

Power Analyser - Fluke 435. About 13 years old from memory.

I used to also own a Tektronix 720P handheld cro but someone stole that back in about 2001.


I somehow doubt that I'd be allowed into your clubhouse.

[Berni]

The THD features of the 2015 are not that great due to it only being able to measure down to about -65dB THD. For designing audio circuits i have a DIY sound card that can go under -100dB.

Yeah, I still have to try using my Delta44 card for this purpose along with one of the many audio analysis programs out there.

Oh, and what does that have to do with GAS? Well, the need to measure THD originated when I bought a Tabor 8551 function generator. One of the adjustments in the calibration procedure is to minimize THD of the sine output at a couple of frequency settings. 

So, TEA would be better served by using the sound card and not getting a Keithley 2015, HP 334A, HP 339A, Audio Precision anything, etc.

Tho a using little sound card  to do the job is just not as satisfying as using a huge heavy boatanchor that once cost a fortune when new

If you need to test the THD up in to the MHz range a spectrum analyzer also does a nice job. If you are looking for a heavy one a HP 8566B (100Hz to 22GHz)is just the fit with all 50kg (110lb) of it. And don't ask how much shipping i had to paid on that one... Oh and once you have that you also find a 20GHz signal generator usefull....Yeah it never ends

[testmode]

Actually there is a cure - international relocation. I've learned that optimizes equipment list in real efficient and fast way. Checking out international freight cost per kg helps too! 

I might probably get a taste of this soon...sigh, just thinking of the prospect of letting go is tough.

And here's what I have now:

Fluke 77AN
Fluke 87V
Triplett 2030-C
Uni-T UT200A
Agilent U1272A (with an incoming U1282A! )
DER EE DE-5000
Agilent 34410A
Agilent 33521A
2x Agilent 6236B
Agilent U8031A
Xantrex XBT 32-3FTP
FLIR E4 (got it since the E8 upgrade was probably the best TIC deal there is, even though I really didn't have any need for it)
Siglent SDG2082X (33521A alone doesn't count, you gotta have a dual channel arb)
Tek DPO2024B
Zeroplus LAP-C 16032 ("upgraded" to 32128)
Zeroplus LAP-C 322000 ("it was a good deal")
+ a bunch of other stuff

No, it's not addiction.  It's all about having the right tools for the job - or the job that you think you will have or will encounter....maybe...at one point in time...in the near future...oh well, your "lab" gotta be ready for anything

[bitseeker]

Tho a using little sound card  to do the job is just not as satisfying as using a huge heavy boatanchor that once cost a fortune when new

If you need to test the THD up in to the MHz range a spectrum analyzer also does a nice job. If you are looking for a heavy one a HP 8566B (100Hz to 22GHz)is just the fit with all 50kg (110lb) of it. And don't ask how much shipping i had to paid on that one... Oh and once you have that you also find a 20GHz signal generator usefull....Yeah it never ends

Hey! Have you been spying on all my saved searches? Security!

[bitseeker]

A very humorous thread, thanks to all.

As an aside I work as a professional engineer and have done so for over thirty years. Started off in the UPS industry and now days am in the game of data centre design, general building design, troubleshooting of the same etc. A list of my gear:

Multimeter - Fluke 8020B. Had this since the late 80s.

Oscilloscope - Yokogawa DL708. A eight channel cro/recorder. Not fast, but in the power game I don't need fast. Purchased this in about 98 - I think.

Power Analyser - Fluke 435. About 13 years old from memory.

I used to also own a Tektronix 720P handheld cro but someone stole that back in about 2001.


I somehow doubt that I'd be allowed into your clubhouse.

Welcome, sibeen. Looks like you've just become the model member for moderation and contentment.

Bummer about the Tek 720P. The handheld CROs are really cool.