Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[bitseeker]

With the right scope, it could BE the night stand.  Comes with integrated space heater option.

Integrated night lights, too.

Test equipment as furniture.  A new interior decorating trend.

It's not limited to test equipment. Have you seen the Power Mac furniture?

[Carl_Smith]

Dear TEA,

I finally got my GW Instek GDM-8251A meter.  But not from the first seller.  The first seller never sent the item, and did not respond to my messages.  He had only one negative feedback in the past and it wasn't for not shipping an item.  So I wonder if something happened to him such that he is unable to finish his eBay obligations.  After opening a case with eBay and waiting another week, eBay refunded my money.

I paid $10 more and got one from a different seller.  He shipped it Fedex, even though the auction said USPS, and I got it today, two days after buying.

I have to rearrange the shelves on my workbench to make a spot for it.

Right now it's just sitting there blinking away it's 6 digits of precision measuring my crappy Topward analog power supply and I'm wondering what I should measure with it.   

[Brumby]

... and I got it today, two days after buying.

I have to rearrange the shelves on my workbench to make a spot for it.

Ah, the joy of acquisition ... and the immense feeling of accomplishment when it is nestled in place.

Right now it's just sitting there blinking away it's 6 digits of precision measuring my crappy Topward analog power supply and I'm wondering what I should measure with it.   

Excellent.  Don't worry about what to measure - I'm sure something will come up in the next year or two... 

[MarvinTheMartian]

... what I should measure with it.   

Does it really matter?  Just enjoy the pretty digits and the precision of same! 

Is there anything better? 

You may need to purchase a pair of wrap-around sunnies once your gear starts wrapping around you!       [Just like Mr Carlson   ]

[Housedad]

You can always make it better.   Buy another one to keep it company.   I did.  I'm still setting up my bench and took Dave at his word that two or more multimeters are better.  They look really nice stacked on my table.   

[Brumby]

Two 120,000 count meters are always better than one.  You can use them to cross-check measurements.

[Cubdriver]

You can always make it better.   Buy another one to keep it company.   I did.  I'm still setting up my bench and took Dave at his word that two or more multimeters are better.  They look really nice stacked on my table.

No, no, no!  You need THREE of them.     If you have only two, and they read differently, how will you know which is right and which is wrong without a tiebreaker?   

-Pat

[Housedad]

My wallet will only go so far!!!   WAAAAA..   


2 oscilloscopes, 2 function generators, two bench DMM's, 1 BK 2609 Dmm, 2 Digital dual power supplies, 2 analog dual power supplies, a 858d Hot air unit, A dual arm Boom Stereo microscope, ring light and barlow lenses,  Probemaster probes for the Bench Dmm's, BNC cables, Banana jumpers, BNC connectors of all types, attenuators, Piles of other cables, tons of thru hole components, and more all in the last month and a half.   

I'm getting tapped out....  For now.   

[tggzzz]

Don't worry about what to measure - I'm sure something will come up in the next year or two...

Very true.

A while ago I picked up a very old HP counter/timer/frequency meter just because it was there and cheap. I wondered who on earth would want to display ^A/_B*10^N. Two hours ago I realised I could use it to see how well a PLL was tracking its input.

Unfortunately it doesn't average the results, so I might have to bodge something to capture the external output

[tggzzz]

My wallet will only go so far!!!   WAAAAA..   


2 oscilloscopes, 2 function generators, two bench DMM's, 1 BK 2609 Dmm, 2 Digital dual power supplies, 2 analog dual power supplies, a 858d Hot air unit, A dual arm Boom Stereo microscope, ring light and barlow lenses,  Probemaster probes for the Bench Dmm's, BNC cables, Banana jumpers, BNC connectors of all types, attenuators, Piles of other cables, tons of thru hole components, and more all in the last month and a half.   

I'm getting tapped out....  For now.   

You don't mention the probes for the scopes. You'll need some bog-standard *10 probes of an appropriate bandwidth, probably some low impedance Z0 resistive divide probes for digital signals, an EHT probe for debugging scope CRT problems (don't forget the >=3kV meter as well), maybe a current probe, and ideally some FET probes. Of course, since scopes have >1 input, you'll need a matching set of *10, Z0 and FET probes - unless you are satisfied by having non-causal displays

Now, how much did you say you had left in your wallet?

[VK5RC]

If you really want to empty your wallet, start looking at microwave RF gear! A measly 100K will get you a decent VNA into the GHz (giga-hurts).
I can't afford a 2.5mm RF connector let alone the device it attaches to!!!!

[SingedFingers]

You don't mention the probes for the scopes. You'll need some bog-standard *10 probes of an appropriate bandwidth, probably some low impedance Z0 resistive divide probes for digital signals, an EHT probe for debugging scope CRT problems (don't forget the >=3kV meter as well), maybe a current probe, and ideally some FET probes. Of course, since scopes have >1 input, you'll need a matching set of *10, Z0 and FET probes - unless you are satisfied by having non-causal displays

Now, how much did you say you had left in your wallet?

Thanks for cataloguing all of my current problems as well

I've just got enough Pomona 4mm leads in finally.

Now I'm working on replacing the two cheap Chinese probes and the knackered old Tek P6106 set I have.

Decided to build my own FET probe though. I built a Bob Pease one but it drifted all over the place. Now I'm building a clone of the Tek P6046. This has turned into a mire of building a curve tracer (based on Fairchild AN-6610) to match 2n4416 FETs though. Working pretty well so far though and a lot cheaper than a real P6046.

[AF6LJ]

If you really want to empty your wallet, start looking at microwave RF gear! A measly 100K will get you a decent VNA into the GHz (giga-hurts).
I can't afford a 2.5mm RF connector let alone the device it attaches to!!!!

Now we are getting to the Hard Drugs here.....

This is rapidly turning into my favorite thread.

[mmagin]

Trying to decide if I should try to get myself a working Tek 7000-series sampling setup amongst all the broken mechanical parts I seem to keep encountering, or just go for a relatively modern 11800-series.

[rachaelp]

Trying to decide if I should try to get myself a working Tek 7000-series sampling setup amongst all the broken mechanical parts I seem to keep encountering, or just go for a relatively modern 11800-series.

Both

[AF6LJ]

Trying to decide if I should try to get myself a working Tek 7000-series sampling setup amongst all the broken mechanical parts I seem to keep encountering, or just go for a relatively modern 11800-series.

You have to like the Post-Boatanchor Tek gear, Someday I will own a Tek 7K series scope.
Meanwhile the 466 and the 475 (with two for spare parts) will get me by. (I have four more scopes just in case)

[bitseeker]

Right now it's just sitting there blinking away it's 6 digits of precision measuring my crappy Topward analog power supply and I'm wondering what I should measure with it.   

Grab a rechargeable battery and hook it up for volts to measure its self-discharge over time.

[bitseeker]

My wallet will only go so far!!!   WAAAAA..   

...

I'm getting tapped out....  For now.   

Pace yourself. You'll be fine.

[bitseeker]

If you really want to empty your wallet, start looking at microwave RF gear! A measly 100K will get you a decent VNA into the GHz (giga-hurts).
I can't afford a 2.5mm RF connector let alone the device it attaches to!!!!

Now we are getting to the Hard Drugs here.....

This is rapidly turning into my favorite thread.

Hehe. Is that becoming a TEA addiction (TEAA)?

Aside: The current photo of your cat is my favorite one so far.

[AF6LJ]

She never cared much for test equipment, she did love to tune around on my HF amateur radio transceiver.

[bitseeker]

HF: HAM Feline

[xrunner]

You have to like the Post-Boatanchor Tek gear, ...

PBTG 

[mmagin]

Trying to decide if I should try to get myself a working Tek 7000-series sampling setup amongst all the broken mechanical parts I seem to keep encountering, or just go for a relatively modern 11800-series.

You have to like the Post-Boatanchor Tek gear, Someday I will own a Tek 7K series scope.
Meanwhile the 466 and the 475 (with two for spare parts) will get me by. (I have four more scopes just in case)

The Tek 7000 stuff is at least kinda boatanchory.   My 7904 (which needs some work) is up on a high shelf, and I'm a bit scared of getting it down safely.
But all the 7000-series stuff is just not as mechanically-solid as the 500 series. Lots more tiny mechanical stuff in the plugins.

Anyway, I have this existing 'investment' in 7000 series scopes (not-quite working 7904 and working 7613, and some awesome plugins like the 7A22 differential amplifier) and not enough space for gadgets.

[guido]

7000 series are addictive... got six mainframes (76xx, 7704A on a chart) and a number of plugins. The "more special" stuff is nice.
S4 sampler with 7S11/7T11, 7A13/7A22 and 7L5. 7612D digitizer. Those things take a lot of space. Note 3 mainframes are spare.

Next to that four more scopes, four 6.5 digit dmm's, 335 voltage standard, five logic analysers, two TIAs and more.

I have a huge rack housing four boat anchors and a lot more (~2 meters high). E.g. the 355 lives there. The digitizer doesn't fit, i have no place to put it   It now rests on a bottle crate and i use it as foot rest while i type this   Try that with a modern plastic toy!

Last weekend was the national hamfest. Two TM5.. modules came back with me. Bought a 5010 function gen, don't have a TM500x module to put it in 

Do i qualify?

[SingedFingers]

Yes. Welcome to the club

I'm avoiding the 7000 series, not because I don't want one but because I fear that it will be some serious trouble in the long run like yourself. I've promised myself a couple when we move next year. 400 series is good for me for now. I love my new 475. It's just the best thing I have ever bought. Triggers like a dream and as is pin sharp (if you drop the BW limit to 100MHz or less. The vertical amp noise at 200MHz is a little higher). Plus it gets nice and toasty.

Got my new (third) function generator, a Thandar TG210. I mugged the courier of it when I was doing the school run as he went past in his van.  When I got it home it was unexpectedly completely and entirely broken from an electronic perspective and was vomiting out steaming distorted death waves. This was a pleasant surprise as I like fixing stuff. After an hour or so of debugging one of the (latching changeover bastard) switches responsible for symmetry control was isolated, blasted out with WD40 contact cleaner (not the usual WD40) and all is good. Quick calibration run and a thorough scrubbing to remove all the old stickers and crap that you get off second hand test gear and it's entirely in spec and looks good as new! A fun evening