Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Specmaster]

My 0-12 just stopped displaying a trace. Nothing catastrophic happened and the rear of the CRT still lights up, worked just fine last night.
Exact coarse of events, crt was loose and so it rotated when i moved it.
I open it and very carefully rotated it back.
I take extreme caution and tighten the clamp.
Quick test, still works and is even.
Back in the case it goes and to bed i went.
No trace this morning. 

Anyone got any hints or ideas? I hope i didn't screw damage it.

*FIXED*
Don't ask me how but all i did was i yelled, "Work you miserable cur!" at it.
Imagine my surprise when that worked.

Hmm and with that you plugged it in and switched on. 

[beanflying]

So threatening a good dropping or getting out the hammer is a valid repair method too then 

[neo]

*FIXED*
Don't ask me how but all i did was i yelled, "Work you miserable cur!" at it.
Imagine my surprise when that worked.

Hmm and with that you plugged it in and switched on. 

Was already plugged in and switched one. Green indicator on and tubes glowing and everything.

So threatening a good dropping or getting out the hammer is a valid repair method too then 

Yes, definitely. Just remember to not actually do it, if the thing doesn't work after you threaten it you might have to remove it from the bench to keep the others from thinking its a hollow threat. 

[BravoV]

BUSTED again  , for one of my dream handheld DMM for years, had been salivating and lurking for so long to find a good one with good price, and finally scored an used one with pretty good condition.

Reason I'm very fond of this particular 189 are its not too big like F28x as almost the same size as 87V which fits in my palm comfortably. With instantaneous boot time (really hate 28x's boot) , big & sharp LCD display (not that dot matrix rubbish like F28x), full packed with features, bells & whistles that are suitable for electronics use (not just crude basic ones like 87x which is more suitable as electrician's DMM), and finally it uses AA batteries, yay. 

[bitseeker]

+1 for AA batteries.

If I remember correctly, the battery life of the 189 is a lot better than the 28x, too.

[Mr. Scram]

+1 for AA batteries.

If I remember correctly, the battery life of the 189 is a lot better than the 28x, too.

That's not that hard, to be honest.

[bitseeker]

 

[BravoV]

+1 for AA batteries.

If I remember correctly, the battery life of the 189 is a lot better than the 28x, too.

The 18x (187/189) and 28x (287/289) have the ultracap that leaked like hell and draining power, we have a huge thread discussing this somewhere here.

The big difference is 18x is mechanically powered thru the main switch, so the leaking cap wont drain the batteries when off, while 28x is using soft power switch, and the batteries is somehow permanently connected, hence constantly drained by the rotten leaky cap even its fully off.

And yep, I have the spare replacement ultra cap ready. 

CMIIW

[TheUnnamedNewbie]

So I ordered something from france on the 23rd of Jan. After 3 weeks they finally shipped it, and I got a trace code from TNT on the 7th. On the 7th and the 8th it said it was "on schedule" and would be delivered on the 9th, or last friday. When it didn't show up on friday, it became Monday (12th). Yesterday it was still in the first distribution center, and I already realized it wasn't going to arrive yesterday. Calling them and they said that "yes it is on schedule and will be delivered on the 13th!" (this was at 10 AM, so even though they internally knew that it wasn't going to arrive yesterday, the track&trace code still said it would). Then this morning the tracking label changed to the 13th. And then an error popped up ("Shipment has been delayed") and when I called them again, they said that it wasn't on the truck it was supposed to be on (and if it was it would have been delivered this afternoon), and is still in France, so it should be here tomorrow. I'm starting to grow tired of this. It's one thing to take what is in my opinion a stupid amount of time to get something here from France, but I can accept that. But to, for 4 days in a row, say you will be able to deliver it on a certain day only to just postpone it a day when you fail is being very annoying. I'm trying to plan my stuff so I'm home when it arrives, only to find out that it was for nothing...

[bd139]

That is incredibly annoying. I had the same thing from a UPS delivery a couple of months back. It did the rounds around the UK. Was shown out for delivery three consecutive days in a row and turned up on the fourth when it said it wasn't coming and I was out anyway 

I think my HP 54602B is a write off. If you press hard on the attenuator then the relays click. Think the board is fractured. I've got no chance in hell of reworking a 6 layer board with no schematics or part layout. Boo hiss. On a positive note though, I've learned a hell of a lot about debugging and tracing and the thing is stuffed full of really nice quality parts that work which are easy enough to pick off. It has got a lot of high end LT, AD opamps, analogue multiplexers, 0.1% precision resistors, regulators and voltage refs galore on it. Not to mention a lot of nice logic ICs. Also the display assembly works perfectly. It's either that or ebay.

Interesting thing is one AD588K reference which works perfectly. 0.01% initial accuracy and 1.5ppm/oC. It is also aged already. Voltnuttery time

Total investment was £52.88 and I've had an average 8 in 9 success rate on scopes I've bought which is pretty good so I'm not going to beat myself up about it.

Edit: actually I'm going to strip it for parts I think and sell the working bits individually.

[VK5RC]

You guys ought to try living in Australia, NOT Austria.
About 2% of my OS ordered gear goes for a round the world holiday

[TheUnnamedNewbie]

You guys ought to try living in Australia, NOT Austria.
About 2% of my OS ordered gear goes for a round the world holiday

Oh yeah, I can imagine.
But what is mainly bothering me is that for 4 days in a row they said "you will have it tomorrow", I make plans, and then it doesn't get here. I'm ok with it taking a long time, but don't make promises you can't keep!

[bd139]

Quick T12 update ... this is the bodger's iron set up... 

MyDel 13.8V 22A power supply -> Chinese boost converter to 24V -> DC T12 -> hacked up 9501 handle wedged in a Weller TCP stand. Works really well although the Chinese boost converter makes some painful screams when it is initially heating up. I think it's the windings on the inductor vibrating. When in use it doesn't scream.

This thing is a joy to work SMD with the K tips.

[Specmaster]

I see on the OLED that you seem to be getting 24.1v then, so the booster does seem to work OK apart from the noise it makes. What is the output current of the booster?

[bd139]

Absolutely no idea what the output current is. It is apparently rated 150W but that's comedic. That would be about 6.25A at 24V. It starts sounding a little unhealthy and getting hot at around 5A in from the 13.8V source so around 70W.

That MyDel supply is nice though. It will quite happily kick out 15A continuous at 13.8V (200W) and barely get warm.

Edit: boost converter link: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/FREE-SHIPPING-5PCS-LOT-150W-Boost-Converter-DC-to-DC-10-32V-to-12-35V-Step/1886880830.html

Also I think we need a "crap I bought on aliexpress and ebay" thread (specifically not the here's what I bought today). That will be as long as the TEA thread

[Specmaster]

Absolutely no idea what the output current is. It is apparently rated 150W but that's comedic. That would be about 6.25A at 24V. It starts sounding a little unhealthy and getting hot at around 5A in from the 13.8V source so around 70W.

That MyDel supply is nice though. It will quite happily kick out 15A continuous at 13.8V (200W) and barely get warm.

Edit: boost converter link: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/FREE-SHIPPING-5PCS-LOT-150W-Boost-Converter-DC-to-DC-10-32V-to-12-35V-Step/1886880830.html

Also I think we need a "crap I bought on aliexpress and ebay" thread (specifically not the here's what I bought today). That will be as long as the TEA thread

That booster was cheap as chips, maybe to cheap and has fake parts installed? Power supply looks sweet enough though, shame it didn't go up to 30v, you'd be home and dry then.

Let me guess the first item in the new thread would be the booster, I bet?

I'm working my way through these meters and finding some issues with many being unreliable  busy trying the reason for it. 

[bd139]

Don't think the parts are fake. It certainly works, just the specifications are exaggurated considerably. It may be able to provide that power for maybe for a few seconds max

That doesn't surprise me with the meters - hopefully a working one or two will come out of it.

I have stripped the HP 54602B and listed all the working parts on ebay. I'm done with it. Board is damaged beyond repair. You win some and you lose some 

[Specmaster]

Don't think the parts are fake. It certainly works, just the specifications are exaggurated considerably. It may be able to provide that power for maybe for a few seconds max

That doesn't surprise me with the meters - hopefully a working one or two will come out of it.

I have stripped the HP 54602B and listed all the working parts on ebay. I'm done with it. Board is damaged beyond repair. You win some and you lose some 

You may have to relist it a few times before you sell all the parts. Like computer motherboards to many layers when it goes wrong. At least with computers it is easier to get another motherboard.

[bd139]

Yeah I've had stuff up there for a few years before. It went eventually

I'm hoping the relative scarcity of parts for these plus the fact that the scopes themselves sell like hot cakes on ebay already will result in a win.

[Specmaster]

Yeah I've had stuff up there for a few years before. It went eventually

I'm hoping the relative scarcity of parts for these plus the fact that the scopes themselves sell like hot cakes on ebay already will result in a win.

I might end up doing the same with the 408 boards etc, it even has a refurbished power supply.

[bd139]

Ooh now if the house move had gone OK I'd have somewhere to put this and would probably risk it. 500MHz Tek 7904 mainframe

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/253424957128

[ChrisLX200]

Well that was impressive LOL! (see pics). Connected a 48v input to the DPS5015 and a capacitor can hit the ceiling Yes, the polarity was correct - at least according to the silk screen on the PCBs - so need to look a bit closer at that. I'll put a new cap in DSP5015 and see if there's any life left in the thing, and this time check what the Chinese '48v PSU' is really putting out before connecting it...

[Specmaster]

Ooh now if the house move had gone OK I'd have somewhere to put this and would probably risk it. 500MHz Tek 7904 mainframe

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/253424957128

Easy to pick up as well.

[rrinker]

 Much like my dog's toys, once you let the magic fluff out, they don't work so good....

[Specmaster]

Well that was impressive LOL! (see pics). Connected a 48v input to the DPS5015 and a capacitor can hit the ceiling Yes, the polarity was correct - at least according to the silk screen on the PCBs - so need to look a bit closer at that. I'll put a new cap in DSP5015 and see if there's any life left in the thing, and this time check what the Chinese '48v PSU' is really putting out before connecting it...

Looks like the vent did its job well there then.