Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[bitseeker]

It is a dark day...

After many years of being measured and considered in my exploits with electronics, recent events have brought the planets into alignment and desires long suppressed have been stirred.  Dark shadows have begun to waver in long forgotten corridors of my mind and an uneasy air fills every laboured breath.

Now awakened is the beast that engulfs reason, that turns every available space into a mesmerising vortex, pulling me in, dragging me down the rabbit hole - not fighting nor in panic, but with a desperation that grows with each heartbeat.  The hole must be filled.

Blurred visions of eBay blearily drift into sharp focus.  Activity on the EEVblog's Buy and Sell board leaps skyward ... and the wallet cringes.

T.E.A. has now passed its incubation period...   

Enabled by the prospect of finding 15 units of 19" rack space on my bench, my vision has widened - and that spectrum analyser about which I often fancifully mused, is now a yearning that cannot be ignored.  Already, I have lashed out and spent $14 on eBay parts to make my own H field probes.  (Thanks Dave.)

I am ruined.

Woah, never have I seen you wax so eloquently fearful, Brumby. So dark, so serious. No, wait. This is the TEA thread. Sounds like the fun is about to begin. 

[bitseeker]

Man I had a TEA withdrawal due to the site downtime. 

It saved me from getting way behind on the thread, again.

[bitseeker]

Already, I have lashed out and spent $14 on eBay parts to make my own H field probes.  (Thanks Dave.)

Yep, I thought Dave said $10 should do it.. You'll go to the wall for that $4 over spend[emoji16]

I think Dave's been using the floor() function a lot during his calculations. In the video, it seemed to be around $12. But, what's a few bucks here or there in the TEA-scale scheme of things?

[0culus]

Man I had a TEA withdrawal due to the site downtime. 

It saved me from getting way behind on the thread, again.

Haha truth!

[med6753]

Man I had a TEA withdrawal due to the site downtime. 

It saved me from getting way behind on the thread, again.

I really didn't mind because I was fighting with the 465 most of the day. I would check every once in a while and....nope...blog still down. 

[bitseeker]

@Brumby about time 

... said one of the enablers.

It was only a gentle prod you were already over the point of no return by reading this thread

Let me fix that for you. (Click image to see original)

[bitseeker]

Decided to check the compensation on the Tek 465B. Months ago after I completed all the repairs I basically just did some quick waveform checks and called it good. So today more extensive testing.

Looks like Imageshack has an old SSL certificate (from 2017!) floating about breaking the loading of images.

[med6753]

Decided to check the compensation on the Tek 465B. Months ago after I completed all the repairs I basically just did some quick waveform checks and called it good. So today more extensive testing.

Looks like Imageshack has an old SSL certificate (from 2017!) floating about breaking the loading of images.

The images aren't showing up? They are for me. 

[Specmaster]

Decided to check the compensation on the Tek 465B. Months ago after I completed all the repairs I basically just did some quick waveform checks and called it good. So today more extensive testing.

Looks like Imageshack has an old SSL certificate (from 2017!) floating about breaking the loading of images.

I got the images OK

[Neomys Sapiens]

WTF, hope its nothing too serious Inverted 18650

Thanks mate, for you and all, I'm going to be fine. Its kind of gross but I'll tell ya...

Don't let them go all snippy on you. There is a alternate procedure (of which I know because it was developed at the local clinic and it got a industry award a few years ago) that involves tiny rubber rings.
Should be less bloody and reduce the risk of infections.

[beanflying]

Let me fix that for you. (Click image to see original)

Has been my wallpaper for the last few weeks  Adding the text version may encourage windoze issues so I wont 

Nothing wrong with the imageshack ones either but firefox doesn't love the sites security. 

[Mr. Scram]

From the "No Good Deed Goes Unpunished" Dept...



This is what I get for trying to fix one of those "Free" LED trouble lights from Horror Fraught. The plastic just crumbled in my hand, and I stabbed myself good and proper with my screwdriver.    I found the poor thing in the back-back of my toolbox, been sitting there for years. Fearful of the batteries, I checked and sure enough, rotten battery compartment, so I figured I'd take it apart for the LED array. 

Well, at least while I was doctoring myself I got a good show; I could see tendons moving back & forth inside the hole when I moved my fingers, like in that scene from the end of Empire Strikes Back with Luke's new robotic hand... 

mnem
That'll teach me to talk nice about Harbor Freight. 

A BLOOD OFFERING HAS BEEN MADE.

[0culus]

@Neomys PM me, I got that hardware you wanted.

[beanflying]

Anchor of the day eBay auction: #254108713834 @Brumby you need to populate that rack STAT 



Or jump to 21Gigity eBay auction: #254090438716

[bitseeker]

Decided to check the compensation on the Tek 465B. Months ago after I completed all the repairs I basically just did some quick waveform checks and called it good. So today more extensive testing.

Looks like Imageshack has an old SSL certificate (from 2017!) floating about breaking the loading of images.

The images aren't showing up? They are for me. 

This is what I get from their image URLs:

imagizer.imageshack.com uses an invalid security certificate.

The certificate expired on Tuesday, April 4, 2017, 15:10. The current time is Saturday, February 9, 2019, 16:52.

It could be that most of their servers have valid certs, but I'm hitting one that was missed.

[mnementh]

The Sleevening - Part... Whatever.

   Time for the wiringing 

Also need to drill some speed holes in the lower case for some air in for the twin fans to shovel out the stacks. Rough numbers plus a 1-10 50W decade.

As a Load
Series max voltage 35V @ 3.5A 10 120W
Series/Parallel 17.5V @ 7A 2.5  120W
Parallel 7V @ 14A 0.48  100W

Lookin' " Decidedly Doc Brown™ " there buddy!     I wholeheartedly approve!

It is a dark day...

After many years of being measured and considered in my exploits with electronics, recent events have brought the planets into alignment and desires long suppressed have been stirred.  Dark shadows have begun to waver in long forgotten corridors of my mind and an uneasy air fills every laboured breath.

Now awakened is the beast that engulfs reason, that turns every available space into a mesmerising vortex, pulling me in, dragging me down the rabbit hole - not fighting nor in panic, but with a desperation that grows with each heartbeat.  The hole must be filled.

Blurred visions of eBay blearily drift into sharp focus.  Activity on the EEVblog's Buy and Sell board leaps skyward ... and the wallet cringes.

T.E.A. has now passed its incubation period... 


Enabled by the prospect of finding 15 units of 19" rack space on my bench, my vision has widened - and that spectrum analyser about which I often fancifully mused, is now a yearning that cannot be ignored.  Already, I have lashed out and spent $14 on eBay parts to make my own H field probes.  (Thanks Dave.)



I am ruined.

"I am become Death... the Destroyer of worlds." But first, a little Foggy Mountain Breakdown... 

Looks like we are back. Did Dave forget to pay the electric bill? 

I tooted and blew eevblog off the internet.  Sorry y'all...

@mnem, you might want to ignore this one  That said, I suppose every once in a while everybody makes a rogue product, nonetheless an interesting review and as a matter of interest, only the KSGER one has a 5 pin system and also just happens not to have a grounded tip, but looking at the connection diagram, it should be grounded so that might explain some of the other findings on that unit. Both of my stations use the 4 pin system and have the same PSU as the other three in this review. A good review of the chinesium T12 soldering stations 

I saw this review months ago... even commented. He's not exactly knowledgeable about soldering; we'll call him a "gifted amateur". 

He doesn't know about the different PID loop profiles for different tips, or even why they're important, and he also doesn't even know that connecting the cartridge shell direct to GND is a HUGE No-no... those OTHER T12 controllers are not ESD-safe; ONLY the KSGER has the correct resistor/capacitor setup it should have between the T12 shell and GND.

As for the ball switch not working... meh. I've stated many times that QC on ANY of these is shaky at best, and you really need to double-check them yourself. That's one of the reasons I prefer to buy parts and build it myself. 

From the "No Good Deed Goes Unpunished" Dept...

   This is what I get for trying to fix one of those "Free" LED trouble lights from Horror Fraught. The plastic just crumbled in my hand, and I stabbed myself good and proper with my screwdriver.    I found the poor thing in the back-back of my toolbox, been sitting there for years. Fearful of the batteries, I checked and sure enough, rotten battery compartment, so I figured I'd take it apart for the LED array. 

Well, at least while I was doctoring myself I got a good show; I could see tendons moving back & forth inside the hole when I moved my fingers, like in that scene from the end of Empire Strikes Back with Luke's new robotic hand... 

mnem
That'll teach me to talk nice about Harbor Freight. 

A BLOOD OFFERING HAS BEEN MADE.

Exactly... my sword has tasted blood; I may sheath it now.

mnem

[Brumby]

@Brumby you need to populate that rack STAT 

I don't have a rack yet..... just the space to put one.  (I think)

[beanflying]

@Brumby you need to populate that rack STAT 

I don't have a rack yet..... just the space to put one.  (I think)

Drop one of those anchors on the floor and reserve the space quick 

[Neomys Sapiens]

Now that is interesting because I used to have one of those that was called a Hartley 13A and supposed to be made by Hartley in Shrewsbury and was in fact made for the military with 4 thumping great transformers in it and the thing weighed in at 75lb (34kg) and also Erskine Laboratories also claimed that they made it in Scarborough so I suspect that one of them was the original manufacturer and the other made it under license.

Now that's a beautiful and dignified name for a town! We endorse such practice! Rule Brittania!

[Brumby]

@Brumby you need to populate that rack STAT 

I don't have a rack yet..... just the space to put one.  (I think)

Drop one of those anchors on the floor and reserve the space quick 

It's at bench height - and the space is already reserved by the stuff that's been sitting there for 2 years or more.

[bitseeker]

Well done, Brumby. You were thinking ahead (or at least your stuff was).

[beanflying]

Shortened my repair list by one frequency counter today  Added it to the list of another TEA sufferer   

[Brumby]

Shortened my repair list by one frequency counter today  Added it to the list of another TEA sufferer   

He laughs.

I'm not sure if it's because he has freed himself from the pressure of having it around - or because he enticed me into taking it off his hands.

Is it cruel to toss a drowning man a brick - or is it just another way of saying "Come join us down the rabbit hole..." ? 

[beanflying]

It had been in 'the cupboard' for to long awaiting repair bench space and when I made the new feet for the recent two arrivals I made a third and I hadn't figured out where it belonged. So considerate of you to take in an orphan like that

[Brumby]

To complete the story, let me tell you about another item a member here "shared" with me recently....

It was an eBay auction for an old Tex 502A dual beam CRO located in Sydney (about an hour's drive each way for me).  It had crud all through it, the 5AR4 rectifiers had been removed and the upper focus control had the shaft broken off.  It did, however, come with the cover panels - a fact I only found out when the seller responded to my questions after the auction had ended.

It was listed as "Used", but without the 5AR4s it wasn't going to work too well.  It was presented as a carcass with lots of parts and should have been listed as "For parts, Not working".


While a little sad in one way (it was a dual beam scope), having dodged this boat anchor I feel I may still be able to restrain myself from diving headlong into the abyss.

At least that's what I'll be telling myself.