Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[beanflying]

Lots of good info in there about measuring one ref to another even if you are not using Standard Cells. Certainly nerdy to the max but people who care about  you will just smile and talk about you behind your back even more 

[Specmaster]

Volt-nuttery is a depth of TEA that I'm going to try to stay away from. 


 

If thats the case then stay away from anything higher than 5.5DMM, better still don't go higher then 4.5DMM

Looks like you and me are on the same wavelength. Besides, volt nut is secondary to my primary TEA passion......oscilloscopes. 

Yes, I think we are. I have said before that in reality there is not that much that would demand that level pf accuracy anyway, I doubt any of us is ever likely to be developing the next generation of Sat Navs with ability to accurate to within a couple CMs, or similar where that level might well be required.

Given that a few years ago a HP3466A was was considered to be pretty much as close to the state of the art as you could get for most professionals and that it was considered to be within specification and therefore calibration if for instance on the 20VDC scale, 19V could read anything between 18.993V and 19.007V and that was calibrated.

As it happens, I do have a couple of 5.5 Fluke DMM's that actually agree with each other after they have warmed up is well excuse the pun, a fluke given the band on a 10VDC reading can be 10.003V or 9.997V and yet would be classed as being in calibration.

[VK5RC]

I limit my TEA to volt-nuttery, but then I do have a few oscilloscopes (about 9 I think)...... and you need a frequency generator or 2, 3, or more, so many different technologies to collect. Then a frequency counter or so - again Nixie, LED, LCD examples of each.
A few SpecAns, I only have a sdr VNA..... I need to fix that.

............. Dr it's not getting better is it.!

[Zucca]

Looks like there are only few low current nuts TEA ninja out there... that's why we need a

ZUCCA Bundle ALARM


For 800€ plus shipping you can have a K 2000... see here:

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/buysellwanted/fs-eu-400-keithley-2000-bench-dmm-6-5-digit-zucca-bundle-alarm/

and a K 220 with a lot of TRIAC puppies:

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/buysellwanted/zucca-sales-(d)-keithley-220/

It's used gear but good... tempting?

EDIT: Removed the hot girl, I don't want to irritate anyone.
Cheers to the guys who had a good laugh on it. 

[med6753]

The Keithley is out of my reach. 

The girl? Couldn't say and won't say.  She reminds me of my Daughter. 

Now I wouldn't own a used BMW even if you paid me. They may be fine examples of German craftsmanship and engineering but they are maintenance nightmares if something breaks. And unfortunately that happens quite often. And how do I know this little tidbit? My Son is the collision manager at the local BMW dealer.   

[xrunner]

About that girl - that comes to mind every time I get a used hp off Ebay. 

[GreyWoolfe]

Volt-nuttery is a depth of TEA that I'm going to try to stay away from. 


 

If thats the case then stay away from anything higher than 5.5DMM, better still don't go higher then 4.5DMM

That's where I stopped.  I can't afford to fall off the voltnuttery wagon.  I have my 5.5 DMMs because they were cheep!!!  The 4.5s were even cheeper!!

As it stands now my friends/family think I'm a little strange. 

Too late for that.  I am a ham radio operator.  That is quintessential strange according to Mrs GreyWoolfe, she jokes to people that I contact Mars from my office.  At least I don't drive a porcupine any more, though there are some funny stories from that, too.

PS: for those who don't know what a porcupine is, that is a vehicle with too many antennas on it.  I only had 4, I have seen almost a dozen on big SUVs.

[bd139]

Heading that way myself. Bought a 2m antenna mount the other day 

[Kosmic]

The sticker says: "Align Casette (=unit, plug-in) after mounting". So it means that the electronics in this box have to be aligned / adjusted after the unit is plugged into your SMPD.

Hope this helps....
regards, Gertjan

Thanks! In the end it was just a bad contact. I cleaned the dust and re-installed the FM stage in the SMPD and the error went away 

[mnementh]

A few pics from inside my bum 8568B RF unit. It's quite clean inside because the seller cleaned it up before attempting to troubleshoot it. At this point, I'm quite sure there's something going on either with the OCXO or related circuits because the "climbing noise floor" problem visible in max hold goes away with external 10 MHz ref.

Looks to me like the front panel is going to have to come out to get to the partially failed attenuator. Job for another day. 

And finally, the biggest WTF. Note the little metal cylinder? That should be attached to the OCXO...but when I opened it that nub was stuck in the decidedly not OEM hole in the rubber grommet and the OCXO was completely knocked out of place. Related to the noise problem? Who knows. 

That thing is fucking epic boatanchory... I do hope you get it working right.

That broken bit with the OXCO rubber isolator sure looks like drop damage to me. How do the other ones look? Is there evidence of impact damage elsewhere in the chassis?

The fact it's all clean inside suggests possibly another scenario, especially if there's no evidence of impact damage... that this unit was robbed for parts to fix another, then reassembled with the crunk parts and sold on fleaBay.    I do hope I'm wrong. 

Surprising what I thought would be a cloned Handle and Bumpers from evilbay for my 34401A turned out to actually be secondhand 'as advertised' ex China  Either that or it came from a very grubby factory 

Good to know. I've seen listings like that before and been suspicious, too.

Probably did come from a very grubby factory... where it was being used until some penis fingers dropped a pallet on it or tried to measure a CCFL ballast and caught it on fire.

mnem
I need to get out more.

[mnementh]

Volt-nuttery is a depth of TEA that I'm going to try to stay away from. 
 

If thats the case then stay away from anything higher than 5.5DMM, better still don't go higher then 4.5DMM

*Huggles his 189 close*

mnem
no. alternately, yes. maybe is just a little too far.

[Specmaster]

The Keithley is out of my reach. 

The girl? Couldn't say and won't say.  She reminds me of my Daughter. 

Now I wouldn't own a used BMW even if you paid me. They may be fine examples of German craftsmanship and engineering but they are maintenance nightmares if something breaks. And unfortunately that happens quite often. And how do I know this little tidbit? My Son is the collision manager at the local BMW dealer. 

Haha, there's another saying about BMWs it apparently means Back in Motor Workshop as they are always going wrong [emoji23][emoji1787]

[bd139]

Baller Moving Whores

[Specmaster]

Baller Moving Whores

Yeah never want one them thanks, stick to my Skoda, more reliable.

[0culus]

Volt-nuttery is a depth of TEA that I'm going to try to stay away from. 
 

If thats the case then stay away from anything higher than 5.5DMM, better still don't go higher then 4.5DMM

*Huggles his 189 close*

mnem
no. alternately, yes. maybe is just a little too far.

My biggest digit meter is my HP 3455A that I got very cheap. After fixing a small contact issue on the ribbon cable all the display sections work and it's spot on as far as I'm concerned (it agrees with other meters, which is enough for me). 

[0culus]

A few pics from inside my bum 8568B RF unit. It's quite clean inside because the seller cleaned it up before attempting to troubleshoot it. At this point, I'm quite sure there's something going on either with the OCXO or related circuits because the "climbing noise floor" problem visible in max hold goes away with external 10 MHz ref.

Looks to me like the front panel is going to have to come out to get to the partially failed attenuator. Job for another day. 

And finally, the biggest WTF. Note the little metal cylinder? That should be attached to the OCXO...but when I opened it that nub was stuck in the decidedly not OEM hole in the rubber grommet and the OCXO was completely knocked out of place. Related to the noise problem? Who knows. 

That thing is fucking epic boatanchory... I do hope you get it working right.

That broken bit with the OXCO rubber isolator sure looks like drop damage to me. How do the other ones look? Is there evidence of impact damage elsewhere in the chassis?

The fact it's all clean inside suggests possibly another scenario, especially if there's no evidence of impact damage... that this unit was robbed for parts to fix another, then reassembled with the crunk parts and sold on fleaBay.    I do hope I'm wrong. 

snip

No signs of drop damage. The other ones (two on the bottom (top) of the OCXO) are fine. I got this unit from the seller for the cost of shipping. He sent me a fully working RF unit as pictured somewhere above, so I do have a 100% working 8568B.

[Martin.M]

to the friends from russia + ukraine:

I want to buy for my collection of old test instruments a
ВК2-6 вольткилоомметр   

found that in a test eq. company there but they ask for a very lot of money.
bec. I am living in germany, there is also the postage, the "import sales tax" and the Zoll for Mrs. Merkel, impossibel to me I am not Donald Trump.

So, if you find anywhere this instrument to a price what I can give, please help me to get it.
It can be in not working condition, for restoration.

greetings
Martin

[Neomys Sapiens]

@mnemeth
I'm a bit flabbergasted about your computer. Is that really for some kid or why did you not use industrial components?

[mnementh]

Brain-picking time...

         

Okay... so, after futzing around half the day trying to realize my dreams of epic case moddery with this cheap Thermatake case, reality has set in and I'm now leaning towards just cutting my losses and plopping an internal hot-swap cage on my desk with 1m cables. Problem is, I haven't actually bought one in over a decade, and have no idea if any of the "economy" models are actually worth the cost of shipping. So... anybody who's actually used any of these, please speak up.

1) Kingwin 3-Bay "Internal" Cage: Appears to have all-aluminum extrusion exterior, and being essentially a passive architecture minimizes potential for failure; looks like great quality for price. Can be modded with a cheap USB 3.0 SATA adapter if I need that connectivity later. Downsides are SATA-type power connectivity will require custom cabling and SSDs will require slot adapter at extra cost.

2) Mediasonic 4-Bay "Internal" Cage: I like the price, and what appears to be all-metal construction. Similar passive architecture minimizes potential for failure as with the Kingwin above. 4 bays means I can sacrifice a bay for room to mod in stupid shit like maybe a USB3.0 Media Reader. Using actual caddies means SSDs will not require slot adapter, but probably needs screws, so less convenient.

3) StarTech 4-Bay "Internal" Cage: Not excited about the price, but they're one of the brands I remember. Their stuff always felt a bit cheesy but not overly cheap; middle-of-the-road China-direct quality.

Anybody know anything about these units?

mnem
*poit*

[mnementh]

@mnemeth
I'm a bit flabbergasted about your computer. Is that really for some kid or why did you not use industrial components?

Huh?

mnem
*Off to pick up the kids*

[bd139]

Test gear RIP today. A friend has a Tek 7603 with a bad tube in it which has outgassed through a crack in the anode cap. Figured, hey I've got a parts mule D83 here with a 7603 tube in it. Problem solved. Now this D83 has never been powered up as most of it is trashed inside. Alas I got the tube out and the heater is totally open circuit on this one (yes I checked it properly!) .... Noooooooooooooooo!

Quick picture of the marvel before degassing it with a beer bottle redneck style so I don't scare the shit out of the bin men when they empty it.



And the final resting place (I really need to get my bin cleaned).



RIP. Now a minute of silence please.

tggzzz: unfortunately the suggestion of doing what you did and turning into an ornament was declined vigorously 

[tggzzz]

tggzzz: unfortunately the suggestion of doing what you did and turning into an ornament was declined vigorously 

Usually I like it when people are one step ahead of me. Not this time.

[bd139]

Yes indeed. To cheer people up, I've given up on the other D83 now as well due to an HT transformer acing problem (another one!!!!) so I will be donating the (tested working) CRT out of that to the person in question so his 7603 can live again. Both remaining D83 chassis will be scrapped for parts now as they are totally BER.

[0culus]

That's a shame you destroyed that tube...I collect old tubes (working or not) just to look at them. 

[bd139]

I would have kept it for the same reason but they go with quite a bang and are quite hazardous when they do resulting in serious eye injuries potentially. Not good when you have small children around so unfortunately the "safety first" executive decision had to be made and it was destroyed and disposed of.

The only "safe" storage is in the original packaging or the scope chassis with graticule plastic on. The latter is not exactly complete (has a big hole in the bottom)