Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Specmaster]

..for bitseeker:

There's room on the bench reardless how crowded it is, e.g. on my bench there's now an inverted pyramid stack of TE...


...because I wanted to test the counter but wasn't eager for rearranging my bench/tidying it up.      
When I get back to the 6114A again I will have to do something.   

Well, I made some progress on rearranging stuff (still some junk in front of everything). At least I was able to get the listed-as-guaranteed-working 3456A into a new stack arrangement on my bench and plugged in. Unfortunately, it fails self-test #4 (A/D converter, inguard logic, input amplifier, or input switching). I haven't gone inside yet to narrow down the issue. Attempting to measure a small DC voltage makes the meter go into overload.



Another one for the queue!

It's very nice, cosmetically, though. And the buttons, although rubber rather than the old clicky kind, feel fine. Similar to the 3478A, but quite a bit larger and less wiggle when pressing them.

I still have to unbox the other 3456A, which was listed for parts. Maybe it'll be working, instead.

Let's hope that you opened the wrong box first, if not then make a claim, there's a world of difference between powering up and seeing displays come to life and fully working. If a seller states it has been powered up and no further testing has been done, fair enough. Likewise if you later found that a current range did not work as that is a bitmore difficult for novice to test but voltage and resistance not working is unforgivable.

[bd139]

That difference is still profitable 

Remember that 2225 I had with the bollocks’ed power supply. I think I ended up paying £25 for that due to the sellers inaccurate description and terrible packaging. Went for £150 

Am keeping the 2235 btw HV resistors due Thursday for that one.

[Specmaster]

... glitter ...

That's worse than sand. It gets everywhere, e.g. into Tek leaf switches

When I get a Christmas card from one relative, I always open the envelope over the bin, so that the loose glitter/stars/etc doesn't hang around and annoy me until the new year.

It is. Terrible stuff. Also major pollutant as a lot of it ends up in the water supply processing and sea.  Being to grumpy old grinch bastard I am, I usually throw cards in the paper recycling straight away after surveying them for interesting contents over the bin. That’s the ones I get my hands on first anyway.

I think it was a couple of years ago an acquaintance sent me a “vegan” card (wtf) which had organic biodegradable glitter in it and proudly said so on the evelope. Saved me opening it 

Yeh, people just don't think about what happens with glitter and the damage it can cause, especially to animals. SWMBO however loves anything that glitters, brought new top to wear to a family dinner and by the end of the evening she was sitting in a pool of the stuff in a restaurant, we haven't dared to go back there since[emoji17]

[bd139]

Hahaha I would have probably not gone back as well 

Need to source three HP knob caps. This is going to be not much fun hunting them down. The 6236B I just nabbed is in excellent condition but missing three of the things. As an OCD individual I have to have them. Picking it up next sat.

Wonder if anyone on the HPAK group will have any spare.

[Specmaster]

I know that a lot has been said on here about Hermes, but I have to say that ,my new Hermes delivery man is a bit of alright, why? because he is a she and she's not bad either Always greets me with a lovely smile and a glint in her eye and if I don't get to the door in time, she always tucks any parcel out of normal sight for me and if she is in her car when I get to the door I always get a smile, wink and a nod as she points to the parcel......... Now thats a vast improvement......

[bd139]

When you're not there she drop kicks it over your fence though 


Today's crap haul, for a reasonable £12 inc delivery, mainly because I want some old mullard pot cores to build some HT inverters with (to drive a scope tube's HT). Some bonus items in there including some Denco coils. I'll get a nice meal out or another Tek scope just from shifting those!

[Specmaster]

That's not a bad haul, some little gems in there alright.

I don't have a fence so she can't drop kick it over it 

[bd139]

She'll probably just chuck it on the roof then! 

[med6753]

I know that a lot has been said on here about Hermes, but I have to say that ,y new Hermes delivery man is a bit of alright, why? because he is a she and she's not bad either Always greets me with a lovely smile and a glint in her eye and if I don't get to the door in time, she always tucks any parcel out of normal sight for me and if she is in her car when I get to the door I always get a smile, wink and a nod as she points to the parcel......... Now thats a vast improvement......

Pictures or we don't believe you. 

[Specmaster]

I think SWMBO would highly disapprove of that I'm sure.

[mnementh]

... glitter ...

That's worse than sand. It gets everywhere, e.g. into Tek leaf switches

When I get a Christmas card from one relative, I always open the envelope over the bin, so that the loose glitter/stars/etc doesn't hang around and annoy me until the new year.

It is. Terrible stuff. Also major pollutant as a lot of it ends up in the water supply processing and sea.  Being to grumpy old grinch bastard I am, I usually throw cards in the paper recycling straight away after surveying them for interesting contents over the bin. That’s the ones I get my hands on first anyway.

I think it was a couple of years ago an acquaintance sent me a “vegan” card (wtf) which had organic biodegradable glitter in it and proudly said so on the envelope. Saved me opening it 

Shame on you for making their sacrifice in vain!!!  Didn't you know those cards are made from actual vegans?!?   





That reminds me; something I discovered while sorting through pictures on my camera card from my 3478A resurrection project to archive the raw pics. I didn't see it while I was actually WORKING on the flaky F/R switch, but look what showed up in a couple of the shots left on the cutting room floor... this pic was taken immediately after removing the switch core from the body. Just goes to show you... sometimes what you find isn't as important as following through with the procedure anyways. A thorough, careful cleaning fixed this switch even though I missed the culprit while I was in there.

mnem
*Merrily, merrily, merrily...*

[URI]

..for bitseeker:

There's room on the bench reardless how crowded it is, e.g. on my bench there's now an inverted pyramid stack of TE...


...because I wanted to test the counter but wasn't eager for rearranging my bench/tidying it up.      
When I get back to the 6114A again I will have to do something.   

Well, I made some progress on rearranging stuff (still some junk in front of everything). At least I was able to get the listed-as-guaranteed-working 3456A into a new stack arrangement on my bench and plugged in.

That looks perfectly stable, ready to stack up more 3456As!      

Unfortunately, it fails self-test #4 (A/D converter, inguard logic, input amplifier, or input switching). I haven't gone inside yet to narrow down the issue. Attempting to measure a small DC voltage makes the meter go into overload.



Another one for the queue!

If you're lucky it's just a weak cap in the power supply. I'd try that path first..

Nevertheless open a case and claim the not fully functioning device before.
If it's described as working and it's clearly not you could end up with a nice bargain.   

It's very nice, cosmetically, though. And the buttons, although rubber rather than the old clicky kind, feel fine. Similar to the 3478A, but quite a bit larger and less wiggle when pressing them.

I like those rubber buttons a bit more than the classic ones -if they are intact. If the classic ones begin to wear out I hate them.

I still have to unbox the other 3456A, which was listed for parts. Maybe it'll be working, instead.

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you!   

[bitseeker]

Well, I made some progress on rearranging stuff (still some junk in front of everything). At least I was able to get the listed-as-guaranteed-working 3456A into a new stack arrangement on my bench and plugged in. Unfortunately, it fails self-test #4 (A/D converter, inguard logic, input amplifier, or input switching). I haven't gone inside yet to narrow down the issue. Attempting to measure a small DC voltage makes the meter go into overload.

Let's hope that you opened the wrong box first

They're pretty easy to distinguish: the "good" one has rack ears and handles, the "bad" one doesn't. Ironically, I unboxed the for-parts one this morning, put it on top of the stack and, wouldn't you know it, it passes all self-tests. Just as I predicted. 

if not then make a claim, there's a world of difference between powering up and seeing displays come to life and fully working. If a seller states it has been powered up and no further testing has been done, fair enough. Likewise if you later found that a current range did not work as that is a bitmore difficult for novice to test but voltage and resistance not working is unforgivable.

Yep, did that last night and got a partial refund already. Great customer service in addition to awesome packing.

[bitseeker]

Well, I made some progress on rearranging stuff (still some junk in front of everything). At least I was able to get the listed-as-guaranteed-working 3456A into a new stack arrangement on my bench and plugged in.

That looks perfectly stable, ready to stack up more 3456As!      

LOL! Yes, in fact, I put the second one on top of there this morning. Nice and stable.

Unfortunately, it fails self-test #4 (A/D converter, inguard logic, input amplifier, or input switching). I haven't gone inside yet to narrow down the issue. Attempting to measure a small DC voltage makes the meter go into overload.

If you're lucky it's just a weak cap in the power supply. I'd try that path first..

Nevertheless open a case and claim the not fully functioning device before.
If it's described as working and it's clearly not you could end up with a nice bargain.   

I'll definitely confirm all the power rails before diving deeper.

Yep, got some money back already. Very nice seller to work with.

I still have to unbox the other 3456A, which was listed for parts. Maybe it'll be working, instead.

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you!   

Thanks, that helped. The "bad" one ended up passing all of the self-tests. Murphy sure has an odd sense of humor.

I suspect that the "bad" one was listed that way because when you power it up, the display starts counting down from zero into negative voltages. As we know, that's completely normal for high-impedance inputs. Shorting the input yields zero ± a few µV, as expected.

The "good" one, that's actually bad, displays a constant voltage close to zero with the terminals open, which is not normal.

[bitseeker]

That difference is still profitable 

Remember that 2225 I had with the bollocks’ed power supply. I think I ended up paying £25 for that due to the sellers inaccurate description and terrible packaging. Went for £150 

Wow, you sure turned that around. This one ended up costing me $75 including shipping. Not bad. Hopefully, it's not too hairy a fix. At least I have a working twin for comparison purposes.

[xrunner]

Yes, in fact, I put the second one on top of there this morning. Nice and stable.

You mean the readings or the meter. 

Good luck on the repairs. 

[bd139]

Talking of DMMs I did a silly. I was watching two 34401A’s on eBay and decided “hey these will go for too much” and removed them from the watch list and they didn’t. Idiot. I could be verging on voltnuttery now

Is there something from the TEA phrase book for this?

Edit: and then the guy I bought the 6236B listed a 34401A and I missed it. It only went for £220!

[Specmaster]

Bad luck on those 34401A's but are you really ready to go down that rabbit hole of voltnuttery that I believe really begins to kick in on 6.5 digit meters and higher?

Good news on the 6236B supplies though

[mnementh]

Baby steps dude. 

You and I both know know that to get the best snowball effect, you have to start with a small, tightly-packed workbench... errr, ball of ice.   

mnem
*Carefully-crafting custom-made crazy since Carter was in office*

[Neomys Sapiens]

Phew! First shock, then recovery.
My Anritsu Sitemaster purchase, which I described here:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/list-your-test-equipment-score-here!/msg1960637/#msg1960637
did luckily turn out to be ok. Especially as there is a plan connected with it, which should pay for the device AND complete it's accessories AND deliver some other gear (Tek ******* meter...) into my paws.

First I tried it with the included heavy-duty Sucoflex leader (blue). Calibration performed using R&S kit from the VNA, values and screen display appearing normal. Then I attached a 65m Ecoflex10 as test object, entered the constants, performed a distance-to-fault return loss measurement and got....100% bovine manure.
The curve seemed totally outlandish, hugging the upper limit and making excursions all over the distance. Fetched another cable of 6m - same result. Today I tried again with the (also enclosed) RG400 leader. Recalibrated and BAM! When I included the Nf-Nf adaptor in the calibration, the peak at 0m became noticeably smaller that the one at the end, as good as nothing in between, and a beautiful needle where the termination at the end of the tested cable sits. Now I can proceed with writing some training notes, assigning limits etc. and enjoy the fruits of my selfless service to my company!
Shame on you, Huber and Suhner!

And I found the DC inputs on my VNA. Somewhere in the manual it was mentioned how to measure a detector (for example). But none of the ports, and none of the BNCs at the back was accepting a DC signal. You have to dig through the complete specs to find the two 4-pin Mini-DIN connectors which do.
So, hopefully a slow day will provide for the detector test/characterisation fun.

Also, I seem to have luck regarding TM500 gear. A DC503, which is supposedly tested and refurbished and which sports a OCXO (Option 001) jumped into my lap for a laughable 40.-! This was quite unexpected, as the one going before did not have an OCXO, was not fully functional and yielded about as much! Yay!

[nixiefreqq]

188,888 blink of doom!


just zoorched my fluke 8810a.


fluke is very clear that when using an 80k40 high voltage probe you need to make sure the ground clip is secure:

"Notice that the divider depends upon a ground lead to complete the low side of the circuit path. Therefore, this connection must always be secure before attempting a voltage measurement. Otherwise, instrument damage or a shock hazard will result."


well it was secure...….just not to something that was grounded (or even conductive!).  really need to remember to put the bifocals on and check because sometimes plastic can look like metal.  (yes, i am dumb as a box of rocks).

would also have bet that the guard clip on the front was connected from "low" to "ground".  pretty clear from the pic that it was NOT.  so that did not ground things either.


when i stood back and flipped the power switch on the dut something inside the 8810 was arcing. (crack-crack-crack-crack-crack is never a good thing unless actual spark plugs are involved)

now the poor thing justs sits and blinks "188888".   it appears that the -18v supply is dead.  all of the descrete parts in the regulator appear to test ok, but the op amp gets too hot to touch.

have an ne5534 on order.  will pop it in upon delivery next week and see if the 8810 can be restored to life............or what other mischief trying to float 12,500v can cause.


maybe swmbo was right when she said i should never be without adult supervision?
 

replacement ne5534 op amp came in the mail today.  popped it into the socket I prepositioned last week.  AND ITS ALIVE!

am very happy that the op amp fixed it .....BUT......ordered the part on nov 20 from a guy who listed it as "ships from calif".  but when checking his profile later it said he was in hong kong.   so it looks like maybe he bulk ships stuff to the west coast and them someone there sticks them in an envelope and hands them to usps. 


14 days is not bad from china........but i was expecting the usual 5 days it takes for stuff from the left coast.  (and if i had entered the correct part number when checking digikey i'da had the damn thing in 3 days)


ok.........will stop whining and score it as a win.

[Specmaster]

Sadly, there is a lot of that shady shipping from xx on eBay, I say shady because it was probably shipped from calif as stated, but only once he received the item from Hong Kong or China. The way they list it leads one to believe that the item is actually in say calif and so you think, quite rightly so, that it will be a just a few days before you receive it which is technically misleading you and ought not to be allowed. 

[med6753]

replacement ne5534 op amp came in the mail today.  popped it into the socket I prepositioned last week.  AND ITS ALIVE!

Excellent and you got lucky the HV only took out the op-amp.  One of these days I'll get my 8800A back on the bench.

[bd139]

Funnily enough if there's ever a voltage incident on anything I've ever seen it always takes out the one and only ASIC made of unobtanium in the device and never the generic parts. You got lucky!

Have been Chrismassed here now. Fucking smelly candles. Whoever invented them should be shot. They smell like a horse abattoir.

[beanflying]

Sadly, there is a lot of that shady shipping from xx on eBay, I say shady because it was probably shipped from calif as stated, but only once he received the item from Hong Kong or China. The way they list it leads one to believe that the item is actually in say calif and so you think, quite rightly so, that it will be a just a few days before you receive it which is technically misleading you and ought not to be allowed.

My favourite is Australian based Evilbay wharehouses based in 'Darwin' I avoid them like the plague as they are all mainland China trying to mask the delay behind oh it will arrive soon because 'Darwin'. We are getting some legit drop shipped gear Creality (3d printers) have space in Sydney and it is cheaper to buy from them than ex China as I think they are playing funny with our taxes.

Geography lesson for non Aussies Darwin is 4000 km of almost Nothingness infrastructure wise from the rest of Australia. Hong Kong is only 7000 km.