Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[xrunner]

So I reviewed the list of abbreviations in the first message of this thread and I can't find one that applies to my situation.

The situation where you know you have a piece of test equipment but you can't find it.  You've looked everywhere, you know you have it, you know it exists somewhere within a finite distance of where you are now, but you can't figure out where the dang thing is.

Well the word METER hasn't been used - I was thinking (I know you all thought you smelled smoke)


Missing but Existing Test Equipment R...

I am thinking of the "R" word.

[mnementh]

Anyway I stayed up late so I could escalate my Fluke 87IV claim (bastard!) so I'm going to bed now.

Edit: well that was quick. Refunded already due to no tracking provided. Well done eBay.

Yeah; probably could've had your money back a week ago if you'd called customer support. They've gotten a lot better since folks started bitching what a wasteland fleaBay is.

And then it shows up tomorrow.

*Snorrrrt* Yeah, imagine that. 

So I reviewed the list of abbreviations in the first message of this thread and I can't find one that applies to my situation.

The situation where you know you have a piece of test equipment but you can't find it.  You've looked everywhere, you know you have it, you know it exists somewhere within a finite distance of where you are now, but you can't figure out where the dang thing is.

Specifically, after giving up on repairing my first multimeter, the little pocket meter that I said would work only when I pushed hard on the case in one spot, I decided to move on to fixing my second meter.  A vintage Radio Shack Micronta meter, if I remember right.  I quit using it many years ago when it started doing strange things on some functions.  Don't remember the details over 20 years later.  I used it's malfunction as an excuse to get a better meter.   But now I'm curious if I can repair it, and it's no where to be found...

Sounds like textbook CRS to me... while hardly a condition specific to TEA, it does tend to run rampant in our ranks.   

mnem
*Toddling off to rest up for tomorrow's misery*

[Mr. Scram]

How about Missing but Existing Test Equipment Ruckus?

[bitseeker]

Majorly Elusive Test Equipment Relocation

Misplaced Equipment Temporary Elusiveness Reaction

Missing Equipment Torment Endlessly Recurring

[tautech]

Majorly Elusive Test Equipment Relocation

Misplaced Equipment Temporary Elusiveness Reaction

Missing Equipment Torment Endlessly Recurring

MET. 

[Mr. Scram]

No Unit To be Seen, or NUTS.

[bd139]

Anyway I stayed up late so I could escalate my Fluke 87IV claim (bastard!) so I'm going to bed now.

Edit: well that was quick. Refunded already due to no tracking provided. Well done eBay.

And then it shows up tomorrow.

Possible. If it does I will return it out of courtesy. Via Hermes! 

[med6753]

Been an interesting past 48 hours....

I nearly killed myself Wednesday morning due to lack of sleep the day before. I was driving home from work and I dozed off at the wheel and woke back up just in time to avoid smashing into a rock wall. Missed it by inches. No damage but it's gonna take a month to get the stink out of the car. 

Woke up yesterday afternoon about 1:30 PM and a text message from the woman. Just 4 words. "I'm in the hospital". Panic.      Tried calling. No answer. Finally...after about 20 tries, she answers. 2 girls got into a fight. A male officer attempted to break it up. She joins the fray in an attempt to break it up. She get's knocked down hard. Taken to the ER as a precaution. X-rays. Nothing broken but she's sore. And she has been put off duty Thursday and Friday and possibly Monday. I'm going to go visit her Friday morning after work. Her planned retirement in January can't come soon enough.        

[med6753]

Anyway I stayed up late so I could escalate my Fluke 87IV claim (bastard!) so I'm going to bed now.

Edit: well that was quick. Refunded already due to no tracking provided. Well done eBay.

And then it shows up tomorrow.

Possible. If it does I will return it out of courtesy. Via Hermes! 

You're too nice. I'd keep it out of spite. 

[Specmaster]

Anyway I stayed up late so I could escalate my Fluke 87IV claim (bastard!) so I'm going to bed now.

Edit: well that was quick. Refunded already due to no tracking provided. Well done eBay.

And then it shows up tomorrow.

That will be a win win then [emoji1787][emoji1787]

[Specmaster]

Anyway I stayed up late so I could escalate my Fluke 87IV claim (bastard!) so I'm going to bed now.

Edit: well that was quick. Refunded already due to no tracking provided. Well done eBay.

And then it shows up tomorrow.

Possible. If it does I will return it out of courtesy. Via Hermes! 

You're too nice. I'd keep it out of spite. 

Yep, I think I would as well unless you have to sign for it.

[bd139]

Woke up yesterday afternoon about 1:30 PM and a text message from the woman. Just 4 words. "I'm in the hospital". Panic.      Tried calling. No answer. Finally...after about 20 tries, she answers. 2 girls got into a fight. A male officer attempted to break it up. She joins the fray in an attempt to break it up. She get's knocked down hard. Taken to the ER as a precaution. X-rays. Nothing broken but she's sore. And she has been put off duty Thursday and Friday and possibly Monday. I'm going to go visit her Friday morning after work. Her planned retirement in January can't come soon enough.      

Humans! This nearly happened to me a number of years ago and I wasn't even a police officer. Two (female) acquaintances were fighting and I decided to step in and try and break it up before it got ugly. I got the point when an attempt to punch me in the face brushed the end of my nose. At this point I stepped down, let them finish off and went home with my other half. My wife got a text message later saying they had made up and were best of friends again. The next morning, one of my colleagues at the time informed me that this had escalated again after that and one had bottled the other one in the face resulting in "life changing injuries"

At this point we decided socialising was a silly idea.

Edit: also I decided never to socialise with people you work with.

Edit 2: True story. A medium sized software company I was working for about 15 years ago, someone fell off a boat at a boat party and drowned. Everyone in tears the next morning so I cheerfully said "hey we don't have to buy as many Windows CALs next refresh now". This stopped me being invited to any social events. Tactical move that played off well that.

You're too nice. I'd keep it out of spite. 

Yep, I think I would as well unless you have to sign for it.

The public record has to state that it will be returned 

[bd139]

No Unit To be Seen, or NUTS.

 

[Brumby]

True story. A medium sized software company I was working for about 15 years ago, someone fell off a boat at a boat party and drowned. Everyone in tears the next morning so I cheerfully said "hey we don't have to buy as many Windows CALs next refresh now". This stopped me being invited to any social events. Tactical move that played off well that.

You brutal bastard.

[bd139]

It was proportionate I feel based on my experience with the guy and the tears were for attention not for grief.

Anyway on to TEA, expecting an 8012A with a knackered display today. I wonder if it'll be a bleed out or bad contacts. Have roll of kynar and dremel so not a problem either way. New generic 3.5 digit displays are £4 here so retrofitting them isn't complicated or expensive.

[med6753]

It was proportionate I feel based on my experience with the guy and the tears were for attention not for grief.

Anyway on to TEA, expecting an 8012A with a knackered display today. I wonder if it'll be a bleed out or bad contacts. Have roll of kynar and dremel so not a problem either way. New generic 3.5 digit displays are £4 here so retrofitting them isn't complicated or expensive.

Are those generic displays simply "drop in" or are mods required to make them fit? And....can they be adapted for a backlight?

[bd139]

They are generic displays. Work to get them in requires quite a bit of re-engineering. Basically you remove the old bezel and cut it down so the new display fits then patch the display leads to the existing edge or the IC pins with kynar.

https://www.bitsbox.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=172_182&products_id=2354

I’ll demonstrate when I get all the bits together. It’s not pretty I warn you

Backlight might be an option. I may try that. I’m sure I can sneak 20mA off the 5v line.

Edit: here’s one someone else did: https://billingtonrepairs.wordpress.com/repairs/fluke-8010a-lcd-replacement/

[med6753]

The displays on both the 8010A and 8050A are in good shape but as you know they are hard to read. Been tempted to pull one apart to see if some sort of backlight can be adapted but I think their backsides are opaque which would make it a lost cause.

[bd139]

You might be able to light them from the side using bar LEDs. I’ll do some experiments with the faulty display in this one before I fix it and see what it looks like.

[med6753]

You might be able to light them from the side using bar LEDs. I’ll do some experiments with the faulty display in this one before I fix it and see what it looks like.

Okey dokey...good deal 

[bd139]

Well the 8012A arrived. Seems to be fully functional other than the display and in good cosmetic condition.





Weekend project. Ordering display now.

[Brumby]

It was proportionate I feel based on my experience with the guy and the tears were for attention not for grief.

Oh .... those kinds of tears.  I understand them well.

I'll revise my criticism to that of "shameless bastard".

You're all good. 


That Fluke display is uncomfortable to look at.  Please make it better.

[bd139]

Hahaha

Very uncomfortable. Fortunately good enough to determine it works and doesn't need any buggering around before I do surgery and then find out it didn't work due to some other reason

Edit: just checked out the low resistance measurements on the 8012A. It's pretty good. Measured a pomona B24 lead at 0.014 ohms. You can zero out the fixture first on it which is cool. Hopefully this will allow me to trace out some shorted tants in Tek kit a bit easier you see

Edit 2: This is interesting. This had batteries in it once. It also has a 240/110v line switch and 50/60Hz switch. Not seen that before!

Now AFAIK these things aren't supposed to work without batteries or modifications and I can't see either!

8010A:



8012A:



Hmm. Interesting.

[Specmaster]

Well the 8012A arrived. Seems to be fully functional other than the display and in good cosmetic condition.





Weekend project. Ordering display now.

That's just shows how good these Flukes are as I doubt that has been calibrated for years and possibly even never since it left the factory. Fix the display and you've a good meter there for sure, I'll be watching your progress with the display closely in case I ever need to the same thing.

[mnementh]

No Unit To be Seen, or NUTS.

 

True story. A medium sized software company I was working for about 15 years ago, someone fell off a boat at a boat party and drowned. Everyone in tears the next morning so I cheerfully said "hey we don't have to buy as many Windows CALs next refresh now". This stopped me being invited to any social events. Tactical move that played off well that.

You brutal bastard.

Beat me to it. I was about to say that was utterly BOFH-worthy. 

You're too nice. I'd keep it out of spite. 

Yep, I think I would as well unless you have to sign for it.

The public record has to state that it will be returned 

I would HOPE that I needed to sign for it... which I would do quite dutifully, in someone else's name.

If signature is required, then there HAS to be a tracking number, and the seller will know you got it. And since the seller failed, over the course of several weeks, to provide said tracking while the sale was open, if he dared to claim receipt of goods, I would then deny said alleged receipt and report his ass to eBay for fraud. 

Why would this normally mild-mannered tinkerdwagon be such an unmitigated Simon T. ? Making them pay the Assh'o Tax. 

mnem
“I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” ― Mahatma Gandhi