Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Brumby]

.... and then, after a while, you're going to feel there's something missing in your life.

The only treatment ... to build up your watch list again.


Face it.  You are too far down the rabbit hole.

[bitseeker]

The only treatment ... to build up your watch list again.

That happens almost automatically from having a fully loaded list of followed searches. Surely, your followed search list is maxed out and meticulously optimized (due to running out of space multiple times).

[bitseeker]

Use Deep Imaging. Stare at the displayed text and, using Deep Imaging's 3D neural network analysis of text spacing, meaning, and grammar, discern whether or not they are really a beginner.

Sometimes I am dismayed by the spelling and grammar of native speakers.

Well, yea, read the post real careful like and make sure they aren't faking it

OK!

[Cubdriver]

The only treatment ... to build up your watch list again.

That happens almost automatically from having a fully loaded list of followed searches. Surely, your followed search list is maxed out and meticulously optimized (due to running out of space multiple times).

   I seem to have to prune my followed searches list every time I try to add something else to it.  I don't know how many items they allow (too lazy to count), but it's not enough!   

-Pat

[bitseeker]

100 searches, 300 watchlist items. The watchlist used to be unbearably shorter. Now, they need to upgrade the search capacity.

[Cubdriver]

My latest evilBay acquisition - an HP 3455A digital voltmeter for $51 plus shipping.  Seems to work (the voltmeter part, at least) based on a quick checkout without letting everything warm up too much:





(Pardon the crappy iPhone pictures - exposure could be a lot better...)

-Pat

[Brumby]

My latest evilBay acquisition - an HP 3455A digital voltmeter for $51 plus shipping.

 


Never in Australia.

[gnavigator1007]

I managed to score 3 of them from eBay last month for combined $130 shipped. Luckiest I've been in awhile. All were listed as-is/untested. 2 of them are working fine, but the 3rd has at minimum display issues. Still not sure if I'll attempt a repair or end up saving it as a parts unit. My fear is that a repair will likely require finding a 4th 

[Cubdriver]

My latest evilBay acquisition - an HP 3455A digital voltmeter for $51 plus shipping.

 


Never in Australia.

Ugh!  Yeah, that is a big downside to living on the far side of the globe from the US, isn't it?  We're definitely spoiled here in the states as far as test gear goes.

-Pat

[xrunner]

My latest evilBay acquisition - an HP 3455A digital voltmeter for $51 plus shipping.  Seems to work (the voltmeter part, at least) based on a quick checkout without letting everything warm up too much:

Day-um! $51? That's a lot of footprint for the money. Now I'm off to check on that model ...

[bsalai]

I also have a zd 985 - I like it also - great price. I have had a bit of solder and stuff stuck in the main suction tube (the bit that gets hot) so reeming it out with the wire on a regular basis seems important. The solder trap in the back of the handgun also needs to be cleaned pretty often (after every 10-20 joints) I think.
Bits seem easy to get hold of in AUS as well.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[HighVoltage]

Ok, here is my latest acquisition:

A Lambda PSU 6V, 100A
And since I had one of these already, now I have two!

Well, the purpose of having two of these is obviously clear: I can put them in series and and have 12V at 100A = 1200 Watt.

I works really well, I got a 5 mm steel bolt to glow !

[Cubdriver]

My latest evilBay acquisition - an HP 3455A digital voltmeter for $51 plus shipping.  Seems to work (the voltmeter part, at least) based on a quick checkout without letting everything warm up too much:

Day-um! $51? That's a lot of footprint for the money. Now I'm off to check on that model ...

It was a bit of a gamble as it was being sold by someone with a feedback score of only about 10, but I figured it was worth a shot for that price.  There were several others listed by various sellers for under a C note, though.

-Pat

[gnavigator1007]

My latest evilBay acquisition - an HP 3455A digital voltmeter for $51 plus shipping.  Seems to work (the voltmeter part, at least) based on a quick checkout without letting everything warm up too much:

Day-um! $51? That's a lot of footprint for the money. Now I'm off to check on that model ...

It was a bit of a gamble as it was being sold by someone with a feedback score of only about 10, but I figured it was worth a shot for that price.  There were several others listed by various sellers for under a C note, though.

-Pat

The service manual has recently sold for more than that  User cncjerry has repaired quite a few of these & has left a good bit of helpful info in another thread if you come across any issues. That thread actually motivated my purchase. Kind of odd when a repair thread makes you want to buy the broken thing  I just had the bad luck of getting 2 working units.

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/repair/hp-3455a-repair-help/

[Cubdriver]

The service manual has recently sold for more than that  User cncjerry has repaired quite a few of these & has left a good bit of helpful info in another thread if you come across any issues. That thread actually motivated my purchase. Kind of odd when a repair thread makes you want to buy the broken thing  I just had the bad luck of getting 2 working units.

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/repair/hp-3455a-repair-help/

   We are definitely an odd bunch here in this thread.  Only one of us would buy several units that are advertised as 'broken, for parts or repair', and then be disappointed because two out of three WORK!  Normal people would be bitching because one of them DIDN'T.   



-Pat

[xrunner]

  We are definitely an odd bunch here in this thread.  Only one of us would buy several units that are advertised as 'broken, for parts or repair', and then be disappointed because two out of three WORK!  Normal people would be bitching because one of them DIDN'T.   



-Pat

LOL I know. 

[gnavigator1007]

Lol you guys should have seen how disappointed I was when I got my HP 130B oscilloscope and found somebody had already restored it!

[xrunner]

Lol you guys should have seen how disappointed I was when I got my HP 130B oscilloscope and found somebody had already restored it!

 

I just made an offer on an Oscilloscope {model withheld until transaction completed}.

Waiting on an answer ... 

[Cubdriver]

I just made an offer on an Oscilloscope {model withheld until transaction completed}.

Waiting on an answer ... 

Sometimes I think a nervous, fingernail-chewing smiley might be more appropriate for waiting on an offer.  I always have mixed emotions between 'oh crap, they're gonna reject it' and oh crap, they're gonna take it and I'll then have another (whatever it is that I probably need like a hole in my head)'. 

 

-Pat

[Cubdriver]

Oh, and good luck, xrunner.  Fingers crossed for you.  (And win or lose, you have to tell us what it is once it's over.)

-Pat

[Brumby]

Oh, and good luck, xrunner.  Fingers crossed for you.  (And win or lose, you have to tell us what it is once it's over.)

-Pat

Yes, please.  We in Australia don't get tortured nearly enough.

(I had a mental image of xrunner leaning over the keyboard, shielding it with one arm and looking over his shoulder as he entered this offer......)

[xrunner]

Oh, and good luck, xrunner.  Fingers crossed for you.  (And win or lose, you have to tell us what it is once it's over.)

OK got it - an Agilent 54622D scope for $239 + shipping. Dave's done a video on it. Beautiful high-res CRT.

I want to try and retrofit the floppy with one of those floppy-to-USB conversions. I see some for sale on Ebay. Does anyone have any experience with those?



http://www.ebay.com/itm/Slim-Floppy-To-USB-Drive-Emulator-Brother-ULT-2002D-Babylock-Ellageo-USA-Seller-/332248017840?hash=item4d5b866bb0:g:1wAAAOSwaeRZMMzk

[Berni]

Nice score.

I always loved these old Agilent scopes and i regularly use its more modern iteration in the form of a MSO6000 series, the old thing still has higher resolution than the MSOX3000

[alm]

xrunner, did you get the 2x 8-bit logic pods and cables? Getting them separately can be surprisingly expensive, although there is a third-party kit (though likely with inferior performance due to the standard ribbon cable instead of twisted pair) that is slightly more affordable.

I want to try and retrofit the floppy with one of those floppy-to-USB conversions. I see some for sale on Ebay. Does anyone have any experience with those?

I do not, but it has been discussed a couple of times on the hp_agilent Yahoo! group. You'll need a slimline version, there were some complaints about a particular slimline emulator still being too tall and the cable pin-out may non-standard. I believe the scope can also be controlled through SCPI over RS-232. Using either the Agilent IntuiLink software or custom software you could retrieve screenshots and captured data over RS-232. Depending on how your lab is set up, this may be more or less convenient than using a floppy emulator. It will definitely be cheaper. You could even tunnel RS-232 over some sort of wired or wireless network (LAN, 802.11, Bluetooth).

[xrunner]

xrunner, did you get the 2x 8-bit logic pods and cables?

No. 

I do not, but it has been discussed a couple of times on the hp_agilent Yahoo! group. You'll need a slimline version, there were some complaints about a particular slimline emulator still being too tall and the cable pin-out may non-standard. I believe the scope can also be controlled through SCPI over RS-232. Using either the Agilent IntuiLink software or custom software you could retrieve screenshots and captured data over RS-232. Depending on how your lab is set up, this may be more or less convenient than using a floppy emulator. It will definitely be cheaper. You could even tunnel RS-232 over some sort of wired or wireless network (LAN, 802.11, Bluetooth).

My Agilent SpecAn has a slimline floppy. I checked the dimensions they advertised and they match spot-on with that one (W & H). I'll ask the seller if I can return it if it does not work out.