Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[beanflying]

Took a bit of a risk. Needed to measure HT and didn't fancy risking the 87V or the fuses on it so the free Brymen got the job.



Not bad for max 600V!

Yikes!    Get one of these..........

I’ve got one. Somewhere  (couldn’t find it).

I cleaned out and reorganised and it was a bit of a failure because I can’t find everything now.

Apart from working on CRT's where in the modern world are you going to need one? I have looked but they are always what I consider stupid prices. I could use one with my 13kV? Dodgy Neon transformer/Jacobs Ladder or testing an electric fence output but what else?

I do have a 500:1 differential scope probe so the reason to have one is even less again 

[bd139]

I’ve got one. Somewhere  (couldn’t find it).

I cleaned out and reorganised and it was a bit of a failure because I can’t find everything now.

Been there, done that. But not with a HV probe. 

 

[med6753]

Apart from working on CRT's where in the modern world are you going to need one? I have looked but they are always what I consider stupid prices. I could use one with my 13kV? Dodgy Neon transformer/Jacobs Ladder or testing an electric fence output but what else?

I do have a 500:1 differential scope probe so the reason to have one is even less again 

If you're an analog scope-nut (guilty) you definitely need one. Used it several times to set the HV. 

[tggzzz]

I guess it is oscilloscope week... I just bought a Craiglist 2465 with two P6131 probes, along with the original service manual and original operating manual. Passed all the self tests, along with all of mine and, cosmetically, its a nine plus. 140USD. I think I need to stop looking at CL and ebay for a week or two.

Don't forget to have a look at the delayed action smoke generators (and almost certainly replace them).
While in there, check the PSU electrolytics, replace if necessary (and realise the service  manual shows two in the wrong position).
If the A5 board has SMD caps, replace them before they leak.
Take a video of the contents of the cal ram (Test 02?), in case you need to replace it.

And then have fun, safely

You're a day late and a dollar short. See my immediate response to his post.

All 2465's are pin thru hole A5 board.

All 2465's use non-volatile EAROM for cal data. No worries unless the chip takes a dump.

I missed your post, but people frequently omit the A or B - hence the "if".

I'm presuming my two (gulp, must sell one) 2465s' EAROM's contents won't evaporate, but I'm a belt-and-brace guy.

[tggzzz]

Apart from working on CRT's where in the modern world are you going to need one? I have looked but they are always what I consider stupid prices. I could use one with my 13kV? Dodgy Neon transformer/Jacobs Ladder or testing an electric fence output but what else?

I do have a 500:1 differential scope probe so the reason to have one is even less again 

If you're an analog scope-nut (guilty) you definitely need one. Used it several times to set the HV. 

Yup, but for non-LCD scopes, whether digitising, digital, or analogue

Besides Tek 6013/5 look cool and are fun to wield.

[med6753]

The 475A up and running. Did the following....

Unjammed the focus pot. Had this on a 465B too. Not sure why the pot freezes solid but Deoxit frees it up without any issues.
Both Vertical position controls dirty. Even though these are sealed pots learned from experience if you spray the surface with deoxit it soaks in and cleans them.
Pulled the attenuator switch deck covers and hosed down the contacts with IPA. Blower dryer afterwards. Hoping they respond to just an IPA cleaning. (They did).
Checked power supply. The +50VDC reference was a few tenths low. Adjusted it. All supply voltages in spec.
Generated an extensive list of tants that will be replaced. Damn near 30. Gonna be an expensive parts order.

Here it is going through a burn in. Only thing I noticed is that the Trigger is real touchy but improves as it warms up. Once I replace the  tants I will give the attenuator decks a complete check and adjust as required. But so far looks real good. 



Tomorrow going to start on the 2430. Will spend rest of today going through the service manual. That guy is whole new animal. I will post pix of the tear down.

[mnementh]

Whuf... and that's why I don't like making videos; I'm so scattered most of the time I sound like a total tool. I either have to shoot a dozen takes, or I keep going back to revisit something I forgot like this guy does; only like 10 times worse. 
...
The guy really thought himself into a corner rather than properly leveraging what he already had, IMHO.

And that's why I rarely watch yootoob videos!

I suspect, without having spent an hour and a quarter of my remaining life watching it, that the information in it could have been conveyed in 10 minutes - or 2 minutes if I had been able to read a blog.

Cranking up the playback speed to 1.5x or 2.0x and judicious use of the J and L keys can help reduce the time commitment quite a lot.

Great... so now I can not only sound like a tool, I can sound like a chipmunk-tool as well...? 

1029 pages...   

Uff, I'm not able to keep up the last weeks. On page 1013 right now*.

Still alive but reading.   

--
*-feeling like sysiphos...

What are you talking about? It's 1068 pages and I'm on 1029!
But I managed to catch up around 35 since yesterday.

I took a day off so I might finally reach the end of this thread. 

https://youtu.be/U46Yo_6z_F4

*Places another boulder on your treadmill and runs away, cackling maniacally*   

mnem
*eebil psychopath chipmunk-tool from Hell on acid*

[bd139]

@med6753: Looking good 

Trigger is always touchy on the 475 units I found.

[med6753]

@med6753: Looking good 

Trigger is always touchy on the 475 units I found.

Really? That's good to know. Certainly not as stable as a 465. Good thing I didn't start chasing a ghost. 

[mnementh]

   Hey Mr You want to buy some dots?  Sika Temperature Calibrator just turned up thread to follow.

In all honesty... I'm content to just admire from a distance. While I've always had a "visceral joy" soft spot for Nixie and Panaplex displays, aside from my first digital watch as a youth, I can't think of a single bit of equipment with the the Red Dot display that gives me the warm fuzzies. My current appreciation for them has mostly been absorbed from this channel through osmosis. 

I guess it is oscilloscope week... I just bought a Craiglist 2465 with two P6131 probes, along with the original service manual and original operating manual. Passed all the self tests, along with all of mine and, cosmetically, its a nine plus. 140USD. I think I need to stop looking at CL and ebay for a week or two.

Good deal. Consider recapping the PSU as insurance. See here: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/tektronix-2465b-oscilloscope-teardown/msg1658102/#msg1658102

That was actually one of my questions. Thanks for the pointer.

And if the Seimens fan motor is noisy see further ahead in that same thread.

I am going to spend some time going through the forum posts on this one before I make a plan, order parts, etc. It looks like any question I might have is already answered in one thread or another. I appreciate the help.

Pretty much any question you may have about 24xxx scopes is answered in one way or another in that thread; it has become the de facto repository on eevBlog for all related knowledge on this family of scopes. Anything not explicitly posted there has a link to it somewhere in that thread.

My Seimens motor teardown/service (if that is what you were referring to, med) is more than a little further in that thread; it is several pages later. You'll need to get used to that; like with TEA, it is a huge thread and most peoples' internal map of the beast tends to be pretty expansive.

mnem
And so my 2465 Army grows... muahahahahaha!!! 

[bd139]

   Hey Mr You want to buy some dots?  Sika Temperature Calibrator just turned up thread to follow.

In all honesty... I'm content to just admire from a distance. While I've always had a "visceral joy" soft spot for Nixie and Panaplex displays, aside from my first digital watch as a youth, I can't think of a single bit of equipment with the the Red Dot display that gives me the warm fuzzies. My current appreciation for them has mostly been absorbed from this channel through osmosis. 

I really don't like the red dot displays. They're terrible to read. They only existed because it was easy to make smaller LEDs to start with without diffusers and encapsulation.

[mnementh]

Took a bit of a risk. Needed to measure HT and didn't fancy risking the 87V or the fuses on it so the free Brymen got the job.

   Not bad for max 600V!

Umm yeah... but how do you know that is even within 50% of actual voltage when measuring that far beyond scale?

   Yikes!    Get one of these..........

I’ve got one. Somewhere  (couldn’t find it).

I cleaned out and reorganised and it was a bit of a failure because I can’t find everything now.

Been there, done that. But not with a HV probe. 

   Yeah... it takes some doing to lose a tool THAT big. And pointy. It tends to leave an impression whenever one sees it... 
My Probulator hangs on the wall; mostly because it just wastes too much valuable real estate in a drawer.

mnem
"They say it's the amps that kills you, not the volts..."
"How many amps are there?" (across the third rail)
"Enough to push a fucking train."

[bd139]

I didn't need to know the absolute voltage, just whether or not it was changing in line with another event.

I got it to 2kv before the spark gaps went 

I'm really impressed. That is my hamfest only pocket "buggery detector" meter.

[tggzzz]

"They say it's the amps that kills you, not the volts..."
"How many amps are there?" (across the third rail)
"Enough to push a fucking train."

Yebbut...

I was once at a station with third rail tracks when there was a fire on the platform. The fire brigade crew stood in the tracks and played their hoses onto the buildings; water dropped everywhere. The third rail was still live (?750V?). When asked they were unconcerned.

[mnementh]

I loathe commercial broadcast; it exists solely to broadcast commercials, any actual that might come along is an afterthought.

Over here many "one hour" programs finish after 40 minutes

We cut the cord in '12 and haven't looked back. I didn't want my kids growing up thinking it was normal to be bludgeoned with high-volume, high-pressure advertising screaming for your attention 24 minutes of every hour. 

As opposed to (un)social media? That seems to have taken over the role of broadcast TV, and become a form of narrowcast entertainment.

Not in my home. The only one in the house with Furkbook is my wife; she uses it for her private music students. I pulled the plug on them years ago. Kids have no social media whatsoever; I don't even have online accounts for my son on his XBOX or Pokemon League (though this may change once I configure parental settings).

That aspect of the internet is toxic. I'm not letting them near it until they're old enough to actually understand the real dangers of communicating with strangers, and I've comprehensively trained them in bullshit-filtering and made them appropriately sensitive to that inner voice telling them "Danger Will Robinson, DANGER!!!".

Hell, the only (anti)social media I engage in is here and RCGroups. yoobToob I use only for entertainment/self-education; right now almost exclusively Uncle BumbleFuck & LTT to keep up on the current evolution of computer hardware. For someone in the IT industry, I'm a fucking Luddite. 

Others will say I'm depriving my kids; I say I'm acting as a much-needed firewall between them and the dregs of humanity.

I know just how dangerous the internet is: It has fueled the revival of the Neo-Nazi movement just as it was nearly dead and ashes; it has provided ISIS (and whatever other boogeyman of the week) and GOP terrorists alike broadcast channels for their sociopathic ideologies, and it is the primary avenue of commerce and communication for drug warlords, child molesters and slave traders the world around. The viral disease that is Corporatism uses it to individually target viewers with customized brainwashing content to promote its goal of global megalopoly, while at the same time engaging in the hostile takeover of entire sovereign nations. These and a thousand other horrific evils run rampant beneath the global communication waves, just waiting their chance to strike.

So no; I don't believe it it unreasonable to drastically limit my children's exposure to it, until they're old enough and I can equip them with the tools they need to survive in this dangerous space. As I said; use of the Internet is an ADULT-SUPERVISED ACTIVITY in my household. I see it as nothing less than mandatory essential parenting in the Information Age.

mnem
"Daddy; you need to log me into..."
"No, no I don't. There is NOTHING THERE that you, a small child, NEEDS."

[mnementh]

"They say it's the amps that kills you, not the volts..."
"How many amps are there?" (across the third rail)
"Enough to push a fucking train."

Yebbut...

I was once at a station with third rail tracks when there was a fire on the platform. The fire brigade crew stood in the tracks and played their hoses onto the buildings; water dropped everywhere. The third rail was still live (?750V?). When asked they were unconcerned.

Water is a poor conductor; it is its ability to increase conductivity of other materials that makes it dangerous in HV situations. Subways run just fine even on rails submerged under several inches of rain & snow. Also our bunker gear, particularly our boots, is composed of approx 10-30mm of layers of rubber & rubber-impregnated canvas, NOMEX & Kevlar.

Yes, there is still danger there in the case of power left on. But it is greatly mitigated by the gear we wear and essential fire-ground protocols wherein we are trained to always treat the third rail as if it were live, so avoid bridging any two rails at once with our person. Primary protocol is that all fire events on or near subway tracks are supposed to be coordinated with the local mass-transit authority (Alarms tripped from within the subway are routed TO the MTA for confirmation before even being sent to the Fire Dept), which should have turned off power to that section of track before firefighters ever arrive on scene.

mnem
*retired fire-dwagon*

[mnementh]

I didn't need to know the absolute voltage, just whether or not it was changing in line with another event.

I got it to 2kv before the spark gaps went 

I'm really impressed. That is my hamfest only pocket "buggery detector" meter.

Are you telling me the poor thing survived? 

mnem
https://youtu.be/E7WQ1tdxSqI

[bd139]

Yep fine. No damage.

Despite being a cheap job, it has spark gaps, PTCs and all sorts in it.

[mnementh]

Others will say I'm depriving my kids; I say I'm acting as a much-needed firewall between them and the dregs of humanity.

I know just how dangerous the internet is: It has fueled the revival of the Neo-Nazi movement just as it was nearly dead and ashes; it has provided ISIS (and whatever other boogeyman of the week) and GOP terrorists alike broadcast channels for their sociopathic ideologies, and it is the primary avenue of commerce and communication for drug warlords, child molesters and slave traders the world around. The viral disease that is Corporatism uses it to individually target viewers with customized brainwashing content to promote its goal of global megalopoly, while at the same time engaging in the hostile takeover of entire sovereign nations. These and a thousand other horrific evils run rampant beneath the global communication waves, just waiting their chance to strike.

mnem
"No, no I don't. There is NOTHING THERE that you, a small child, NEEDS."

https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/open_letter.png

This reminds me: STILL fucking relevant.

mnem
Danger Will Robinson, Danger!!!"

[mnementh]

Yep fine. No damage. Despite being a cheap job, it has spark gaps, PTCs and all sorts in it.

*poor little meter blinking and holding its groin*
"You wanna bet? Here... let me put 2KV across YOUR frontal lobe & chassis GND and see how YOU like it!" 

mnem
 

[bd139]

I don't think it was giving a shit

[Specmaster]

Yep, those Brymen meters are fucking tough I tell yeh, just make sure that when you're probing that kind of volts that you do so hands free with good clearance 

[Neomys Sapiens]

Took a bit of a risk. Needed to measure HT and didn't fancy risking the 87V or the fuses on it so the free Brymen got the job.



Not bad for max 600V!

Yikes!    Get one of these..........

I’ve got one. Somewhere  (couldn’t find it).

I cleaned out and reorganised and it was a bit of a failure because I can’t find everything now.

Apart from working on CRT's where in the modern world are you going to need one? I have looked but they are always what I consider stupid prices. I could use one with my 13kV? Dodgy Neon transformer/Jacobs Ladder or testing an electric fence output but what else?

I do have a 500:1 differential scope probe so the reason to have one is even less again 

What? A REASON to extend your voltage measurement capability by a factor of 20? Which thread is this? Who has taken over BEANFLYING's identity?

[bd139]

Yep, those Brymen meters are fucking tough I tell yeh, just make sure that when you're probing that kind of volts that you do so hands free with good clearance 

Honestly exactly this. I soldered the probe tips onto the pads on the board so I could go hands free (yes I know that's a sin)

[Specmaster]

Hmm, I love my Brymen, can't ever see myself parting with it TBH, reckon I'll be dragging it to the grave with me