Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Kosmic]

Filing it down may be a SIN! I know user TiN makes some nice custom Triax and so does YT'er MarcoReps (I do not know is forum Username)...hopefully they will come to the rescue.

Technically it should only affect the locking mechanism, right ? changing the connector is way more intrusive and could screwup the calibration of the instrument.

Will probably try it first on some cheap bnc 

[Inverted18650]

Filing it down may be a SIN! I know user TiN makes some nice custom Triax and so does YT'er MarcoReps (I do not know is forum Username)...hopefully they will come to the rescue.

Technically it should only affect the locking mechanism, right ? changing the connector is way more intrusive and could screwup the calibration of the instrument.

Will probably try it first on some cheap bnc 

I shouldn't "hurt" the instrument...and changing it is certainly a no-go...I'll see if I can find a nice set of Triax for you, 3ft good?

[beanflying]

The Postie dropped me off two meters today  Neither are suitable for high voltages and one has a minor issue with only having a fixed 200k range for resistance. Plugged it into my 5V Reference and it reads 004, 250 Ohm gets you a high quality 00.2 on the display with nothing else shown

More to say and do with both over the next week. The Lemon won't be staying in one piece 

[Specmaster]

And what about the LCR meter bean? I'm liking my Iso-Tech tweezers.

[beanflying]

The oposition Smart Tweezers took a leisurely 6 days to get to Hawaii from Erlanger but as of this morning are finally in Sydney. I sort of wanted to run them side by side in a thread for testing but I will have a play with these over the weekend 

WooHoo new Chair just turned up too 

[Kosmic]

I shouldn't "hurt" the instrument...and changing it is certainly a no-go...I'll see if I can find a nice set of Triax for you, 3ft good?

Yep 3ft would be perfect. Spare 2lugs triax connectors could also works since I found some cheap triax cable on ebay.

[bitseeker]

Actually, I just checked the glossary for definitions under TEA - and I would like to amend the title to:

TEASE   Test Equipment Acquisition: Score Extreme

Makes for a more consistent entry.

Funny you should mention that. I actually recalled it that way as it crossed my mind sometime last night. Updated, accordingly.

[bitseeker]

Welcome to the Triax club! And it's not the regular club either, with these brown boxes, but the even-more-of-a-headache two-lug club. Say goodbye to the wallet. The boxes are just accessories by comparison.

Did you manage to find some cables for your Keithleys ? I'm deliberating between 2 options, changing the connector for a 3 lugs connector or going the universal BNC way and filing one of the lugs.

After a couple years of watching, I've only scored a two-slot to three-lug adapter and a three-slot to alligator clip cable. The extra connector transitions aren't ideal, but the price was OK and enables me to measure stuff with my 614 and power stuff with my 220. Unfortunately, that's two instruments and only one cable solution. The hunt continues...

Note that there are some threads around about converting the two-lug connector to three-lug, but it requires some physical adjustments to the panel since the connectors don't exactly fit.

[bitseeker]

We need a drool emoji

okay, done. bitseeker, could you please add to the Post Icons section?   

Done!

[bitseeker]

Just bought Vision Engineering Mantis Microscope for 300$

I got it from a local dental workshop. With 2x, 4x and two 8x lenses plus protection glasses. I guess this is the first version since it still has 12V halogen lamps. There is also a bit of dust on and in it but nothing major.

No way!

That deserves a

[GreyWoolfe]

My 2nd HP 3478A came in today.   Here is a pic of them stacked together.  The new one has seen more florescent light than the first one.  I hooked it up to my DMM Check + after a half hour warm up time.  Here are the numbers.  I didn't figure % differences.  I am quite happy.

                        DMM Check +                  HP 3478A
DCV                    5.0000                             5.0000
DCI                     1.0008                             1.0001

100R                     100.089                  2W    100.257      4W 100.089
1KR                      1000.18                           1000.3               1000.18
10KR                   10001.3                            10000.9              10001.0
100KR                  99970                               99970                99970

ACV                      4.999                               5.0012
ACI                      1.0008                              1.740      not sure about this one, it may be the way I am measuring it

I have yet to peek under her skirt.  That will probably wait to next week.  I want to see if someone labeled when the battery has been changed and I want to look at the RIFA caps to see if they need replacing.  I may go ahead and replace the battery anyway if there is no date marked so both meters will be close to the same cycle for the next battery replacement.  If the RIFA caps need replaced, I will do all the electros at the same time, just like I did on the other.  When I have her skirt off, I will add feet at that time.

Speaking of battery replacement, stoopit question time.  Since the first battery was dead, I didn't worry about power.  Since this one is in cal, I will have a power cord plugged in that is plugged into a UPS in case of power flicker.  I will have my Hakko connected to an isolation transformer so nothing shorts out.  Does the meter need to powered up while changing the battery or just having it plugged in is fine to keep the calibration?  Stoopit question maybe, but this is new territory and I respect the opinions of those who have done this before me.

[bitseeker]

Nice score. I like the older ones with the alumin(i)um bezel.

You have to keep the meter powered on (switch in the on position) while changing the battery. When the power switch is off, the only power available is from the battery.

[beanflying]

About to go buy a Beer and sitting unannounced on the front verandah waiting for some loving was a box for collection by NOT me  Normally I would be 4-5 days delivery from Adelaide but somehow or another this one was overnight.

I think this will be the last TEA related delivery for the day. A very busy weekend coming up learning how to play with it all now 

[0culus]

@beanflying I opened your box; the two items look like they survived intact. Pics tomorrow!

[mnementh]

I Like it a lot, please post a photo to show how the screen aligns with the monitor as I'm not quite seeing it myself, the legs don't look long enough to me 

Here's what it looks like deployed with Extended Desktop in over/under mode. the nice thing with Win10 is it allows you to actually place the monitors in their real relationship. If you have them centered like here, it scales your cursor hand-off points against that map. If you left justify, it'll scale the cursor hand-off for that map. Very organic.

Just a quick note on the way down during a most critical HALO jump:

*Printing...*

mnem
*Back to the SWMBO Xmas Laptop Deployment*

Time to start 3DPA 

Deployment successful, under budget and no collateral damage; making my way to the extraction point for debriefing with SWMBO. I believe I may get off KP duty with this one.



Today's 3DP objectives not yet met; I keep having problems with lift-up, even with a full brim after scraping AND scrubbing with alcohol and fresh paper towels til it squeaks. I gave up and tried again with hairspray. We'll see.

mnem
*Toddling off to ded*

[tautech]

About to go buy a Beer and sitting unannounced on the front verandah waiting for some loving was a box for collection by NOT me  Normally I would be 4-5 days delivery from Adelaide but somehow or another this one was overnight.

What ? 
Delivery was faster than response to your initial inquiry ? 

Enjoy. 

[neo]

Today's 3DP objectives not yet met; I keep having problems with lift-up, even with a full brim after scraping AND scrubbing with alcohol and fresh paper towels til it squeaks. I gave up and tried again with hairspray. We'll see.

mnem
*Toddling off to ded*

It appears that my schmuck-hood DOES follow my projects, even if their in somebody else's hands.  ( )

[beanflying]

About to go buy a Beer and sitting unannounced on the front verandah waiting for some loving was a box for collection by NOT me  Normally I would be 4-5 days delivery from Adelaide but somehow or another this one was overnight.

What ? 
Delivery was faster than response to your initial inquiry ? 

Enjoy. 

Yep 3 days to order it from their disarray overnight to confirm direct deposit (expected) and second overnight to deliver. 

[bitseeker]

I think this will be the last TEA related delivery for the day. A very busy weekend coming up learning how to play with it all now 

This is a good problem to have.

[bitseeker]

I Like it a lot, please post a photo to show how the screen aligns with the monitor as I'm not quite seeing it myself, the legs don't look long enough to me 

Cool. I haven't used two monitors in this configuration before. Very design-coordinated desktop.

[beanflying]

All the fancy new TEA to play with and I am tooling around with a $10 former multimeter  Better quality leads from one of my Victor Loggers 4x250 ohm 50W resistors. Series/Parallel switch due Monday time to make a design and make a case for CapKilla ^{(c) (r)}

Time to peel the cover of the Siglent touch screen over a Beer 

[Inverted18650]

I Like it a lot, please post a photo to show how the screen aligns with the monitor as I'm not quite seeing it myself, the legs don't look long enough to me 

Here's what it looks like deployed with Extended Desktop in over/under mode. the nice thing with Win10 is it allows you to actually place the monitors in their real relationship. If you have them centered like here, it scales your cursor hand-off points against that map. If you left justify, it'll scale the cursor hand-off for that map. Very organic.

Just a quick note on the way down during a most critical HALO jump:

*Printing...*

mnem
*Back to the SWMBO Xmas Laptop Deployment*

Time to start 3DPA 

Deployment successful, under budget and no collateral damage; making my way to the extraction point for debriefing with SWMBO. I believe I may get off KP duty with this one.



Today's 3DP objectives not yet met; I keep having problems with lift-up, even with a full brim after scraping AND scrubbing with alcohol and fresh paper towels til it squeaks. I gave up and tried again with hairspray. We'll see.

mnem
*Toddling off to ded*

Request for KP push denied. Use a heat gun to warm the bed adequately and as long as its clean, you wont need anything else. I used painters tape for  along time, then saw the heat gun trick in a YT video. Next jump will be LALO so pack light and bring your fins, extraction will be 2.5k up the beach head. 

[Inverted18650]

All the fancy new TEA to play with and I am tooling around with a $10 former multimeter  Better quality leads from one of my Victor Loggers 4x250 ohm 50W resistors. Series/Parallel switch due Monday time to make a design and make a case for CapKilla ^{(c) (r)}

Time to peel the cover of the Siglent touch screen over a Beer 

I acquired a lot quantity of the 6R-50W resistors from the local "basket store". They were tied into the harnesses for LED headlight upgrade kits and I found several pairs. I built a small electronic load with some of them. Solid little cast parts.

[beanflying]

I have a bunch of low Ohm high power ones to put together as binary decades/loads (1,2,3,4 & 10,20,30,40) but the cheapy 150W dummy load sort of put it onto the backburner.

Siglent is really boring plugged it in switched on was able to drive it and change waveforms without RTFM while drinking Beer 

[tautech]

Siglent is really boring plugged it in switched on was able to drive it and change waveforms without RTFM while drinking Beer 

Then here's an exercise that you'll have to concentrate a bit to do ! 

With a month to Valentines day you should get enough time to get it right, maybe ? 



Instructions in this thread:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/a-valentine_s-day-activity-for-your-scope-and-function-generator/msg1137608/#msg1137608