Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[mnementh]

So it seems that someone robbed the entire battery board from my 8566A. No wonder it was complaining about battery...it's not dead; it doesn't even have one! On the bright side, this means no damage from a crapped out battery pack. Time to look into retrofitting a more modern battery.

Is it not more likely that someone discovered a scaly, flaky horror show of a battery, and that unscrewing/unplugging it and dumping the lot in the bin was the most expedient means of preventing contamination of the entire instrument?

mnem
When doing detective work, I always bet on "lazy".

[0culus]

So it seems that someone robbed the entire battery board from my 8566A. No wonder it was complaining about battery...it's not dead; it doesn't even have one! On the bright side, this means no damage from a crapped out battery pack. Time to look into retrofitting a more modern battery.

Is it not more likely that someone discovered a scaly, flaky horror show of a battery, and that unscrewing/unplugging it and dumping the lot in the bin was the most expedient means of preventing contamination of the entire instrument?

mnem
When doing detective work, I always bet on "lazy".

Either that or it got robbed to repair another 8566A with battery carnage. Either way, it looks like I may try to just bodge in the battery pack I got.

[beanflying]

Two posts in a row of shitty packaging. Not good    Genuinely feel sorry for you both.

The VTVM I posted earlier was really badly packaged as well. I don’t know how it survived. It was in two tomato boxes taped together loose with no bubble wrap or anything with a UK mains plug on it. Good inch around all sides rattling around.  Not a scratch. No idea how that worked out.

Hear hear! Good to know it's not just me this crap happens to...    But maybe I need to stop bitching so much about the occasional borked item from slAmazon. I think from now on, I'll just let them take care of it (which they always do, and with minimal hassle) and go on about my business. 

Speaking of eBay BS... on to my brand new AMD Octa-Core processor being 5 days late:

You wanna know what failure to meet that "Fast & Free GUARANTEED DELIVERY" date is worth? fleaBay gives you a $5 coupon applied to your account.

And these assholes wonder why Bezos is siphoning their customers away like a busted dam... 

And finally... let's get the gripefest all over in one shot: 

....Insurers and Insurance Sux...... 

mnem
"Progressive Flo" makes some cute ads... but she's a fucking no-paying bitch.

Amazon in Oz sucks and smells worse than a  sewage pumping truck! Limited inventory nearly zero access to external seller stores available elsewhere in the world and more or less a complete WOFTAM.

Evilbay sellers of TEanchors have been a mixed bag from obvious care, double cardboard or extra bubbles around the front panels to NFI and DILLIGAF I got what I wanted. I tend to pack stuff like it is still mine as I don't want it back if sold or have to suck up a partial credit and the customer is paying for the freight in most cases.

I was worried sending my precious small anchors away for Calibration earlier in the week. At least they won't rattle around in the box and our local postal system runs steel stillages so fingers crossed it doesn't get run over by a forklift 

[bd139]

I received today the HP5334B universal counter that I bought on Ebay. Unfortunately the instrument was poorly packed and two BNC have been damaged.
Hopefully, the instrument is working, at least channel A. Now I'm looking for BNC replacements.

Ouch that doesn't look good  , is one of those BNC's a special? as it seems to have a fuse incorporated into it. Hope you can fix it. 

Two posts in a row of shitty packaging. Not good    Genuinely feel sorry for you both.

The VTVM I posted earlier was really badly packaged as well. I don’t know how it survived. It was in two tomato boxes taped together loose with no bubble wrap or anything with a UK mains plug on it. Good inch around all sides rattling around.  Not a scratch. No idea how that worked out.

Luck more than anything else I guess.

I do hope I can repair the 6209A, but as the damaged control is a stacked one, it's probably not something I can easily find a replacement for. The box did come with the mark of the devil to warn me.

As most people seem to think it's fine to send stuff in inadequate packaging, I decided it was best to collect both the HP spectrum analysers myself, even though it meant losing most of two days spare (TEA) time driving to do so, much better than having another pile of delivery victims.

David

These guys will make a custom pot for you. If you’re lucky they might have a suitable one pre made.  All is not lost. Prices are reasonable and they are UK based:

https://www.blore-ed.com/

I got a dual one made up for my eldest’s guitar amp a couple of years back and it cost me £15 including delivery. That was one audio taper and one linear with different values.

[mnementh]

So it seems that someone robbed the entire battery board from my 8566A. No wonder it was complaining about battery...it's not dead; it doesn't even have one! On the bright side, this means no damage from a crapped out battery pack. Time to look into retrofitting a more modern battery.

Is it not more likely that someone discovered a scaly, flaky horror show of a battery, and that unscrewing/unplugging it and dumping the lot in the bin was the most expedient means of preventing contamination of the entire instrument?

mnem
When doing detective work, I always bet on "lazy".

Either that or it got robbed to repair another 8566A with battery carnage. Either way, it looks like I may try to just bodge in the battery pack I got.

Still falls under lazy, since they couldn't be arsed to gut the crunk pack & give you the remains to build a new one with. 

   Hope it gets packed better than my 6209A was, the current control got smashed inside. Guess I will never know if GSP removed some of bubblewrap or the seller couldn't be arsed, as there wasn't much in the box. 

David

I know I said this before, but this post deserves its own "Ouchies!!!" 



https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/test-equipment-anonymous-(tea)-group-therapy-thread/msg1471767/#msg1471767

Not sure if you saw this, but I did a similar repair on the CH2 timebase control on my Hitachi V-212. There is still hope for yours.

mnem
*tssssst*

[0culus]

I spent a little money over at Mini-Circuits and got myself a good head start on getting as standardized around SMA as I can. Impressed with the quality of everything for the prices. There's a few more things I want to order, and I'll probably be supplementing with Midwest Microwave stuff I can find on ebay. The SMA males on the coax are very nice, and the center conductor appears to actually be in spec and not too long like some of the shitty Amazon special cables I have (and will NOT be intermixing).

[bitseeker]

Two posts in a row of shitty packaging. Not good    Genuinely feel sorry for you both.

The VTVM I posted earlier was really badly packaged as well. I don’t know how it survived. It was in two tomato boxes taped together loose with no bubble wrap or anything with a UK mains plug on it. Good inch around all sides rattling around.  Not a scratch. No idea how that worked out.

I second that. Hate to see good stuff get thrashed.

In TEA news, I treated myself to an Agilent 6060B electronic load. It'll be a nice upgrade from my old Instek PEL-300. As it's being shipped cross-country, I specifically requested extra padding since it has the optional front binding posts that stick out quite far. Hopefully, it survives.

[worsthorse]

Well... I bought the 1503. How could I resist? The original CL ad listed a price of $150; two days later it was $90. I texted the seller before he changed his mind and two hours later I was sitting in a Starbucks parking lot, trying to explain to a very puzzled man why anyone would buy and fix old test equipment for fun.   

I loaded the 1503 into the truck, went home, shoveled open a spot on the bench and set it up to have a look:



The case is cracked in a couple of places and one of the dials is trashed, otherwise looks good. Open up the 1503 manual on the ipad and off with the case and shields...







No obvious problems, burnt components, bad traces, or poor repair work. I go through it board by board, looking for physical problems, checking to see that the transistors and ICs are all seated, etc. Check the power rails to be sure they aren't shorted to ground or each other. It all looks good, so I decide to see if it powers through the battery connector.

I set up the power supply to current limit, plug it in and see this:



Woo, a trace!   The power supply is showing 24VDC  and about 150mA current draw. Shut it down again, and turn to the initial setup procedure in the manual. Set that up, turn the 1503 back on, see the trace, and set the impulse width to wide, as instructed. As I do, I watch the trace disappear and the power supply drop to 5VDC, with a 500mA current draw.    

Power off, then on long enough to check the power supply board in the 1503. Yup, something on the 25VDC rail has gone funny and the rail is pinned to 5VDC. 

Do I dive in? It is in pretty good shape. Maybe the problem is easy.  Then I see the stack of TM500 plug-ins that I need to finish.  Sooooo... back in the case and onto the repair stack with a note so I don't forget why it is there. 

So I will put the manual on my evening reading list and, hopefully, get back to it in a couple or three weeks.  I am pretty happy though because it isn't trashed and whatever is going on, I can probably fix.   

[bitseeker]

Congrats on what looks to be a good find!

[bitseeker]

Two posts in a row of shitty packaging. Not good    Genuinely feel sorry for you both.

The VTVM I posted earlier was really badly packaged as well. I don’t know how it survived. It was in two tomato boxes taped together loose with no bubble wrap or anything with a UK mains plug on it. Good inch around all sides rattling around.  Not a scratch. No idea how that worked out.

Hear hear! Good to know it's not just me this crap happens to...    But maybe I need to stop bitching so much about the occasional borked item from slAmazon. I think from now on, I'll just let them take care of it (which they always do, and with minimal hassle) and go on about my business. 

Yeah, Amazon has great customer service, but their packing is as bad as, if not worse than, eBay slackers. A big box, throw your stuff in, a toss a pillow on top. It's shake-n-bake all the way to your house. Apparently, it's cheaper to refund your money than to pack things properly. Ah, the joys of large-scale statistics. I wonder if they have actuaries like the insurance industry.

Speaking of eBay BS... on to my brand new AMD Octa-Core processor being 5 days late:

You wanna know what failure to meet that "Fast & Free GUARANTEED DELIVERY" date is worth? fleaBay gives you a $5 coupon applied to your account.

And these assholes wonder why Bezos is siphoning their customers away like a busted dam... 

OK, good to know. I've never paid any attention to that guarantee. I wasn't missing out on much.

And finally... let's get the gripefest all over in one shot: 

Last 3 days I've been going round & round with Progressive (The adverse insurant's carrier)
...

Ugh! Insurance is such a pain. Can't live with it, can't live without it.

[Carl_Smith]

I'm Back, Baybee!!!

And today, March 28th, 2019, is the 20th anniversary of the first episode of Futurama.

[med6753]

Woo, a trace!   The power supply is showing 24VDC  and about 150mA current draw. Shut it down again, and turn to the initial setup procedure in the manual. Set that up, turn the 1503 back on, see the trace, and set the impulse width to wide, as instructed. As I do, I watch the trace disappear and the power supply drop to 5VDC, with a 500mA current draw.    

Power off, then on long enough to check the power supply board in the 1503. Yup, something on the 25VDC rail has gone funny and the rail is pinned to 5VDC. 

Do I dive in? It is in pretty good shape. Maybe the problem is easy.  Then I see the stack of TM500 plug-ins that I need to finish.  Sooooo... back in the case and onto the repair stack with a note so I don't forget why it is there. 

So I will put the manual on my evening reading list and, hopefully, get back to it in a couple or three weeks.  I am pretty happy though because it isn't trashed and whatever is going on, I can probably fix.   

Guaranteed a tantalum bought the farm. 

[Brumby]

My bank account says I need to sell my 8656B.  Even though it's been sitting on my bench for a while now, getting in the way of everything - I don't feel like selling it.  Everything seems to be working, but I don't have the gear to do full testing.  The only thing that seems to be missing is calibration, but if I get a GPSDO and it comes within spec against that, then I'll be happy.

But... but... I don't really need it and I'm not likely to get much real use out of it.

There again, it is the first bit of functional HP test gear I have owned... and it does look nice.

I feel there is something wrong in how my life balances are playing out.  Last night I took note of 7 jobs I could apply for and now I'm actually preparing to go down that road.   


What new hell is this?!!

[worsthorse]

So I will put the manual on my evening reading list and, hopefully, get back to it in a couple or three weeks.  I am pretty happy though because it isn't trashed and whatever is going on, I can probably fix.   

Guaranteed a tantalum bought the farm. 

I imagine you are right. I just hope it didn't take a lot of hostages with it.

[mnementh]

Yeah, Amazon has great customer service, but their packing is as bad as, if not worse than, eBay slackers. A big box, throw your stuff in, a toss a pillow on top. It's shake-n-bake all the way to your house. Apparently, it's cheaper to refund your money than to pack things properly. Ah, the joys of large-scale statistics. I wonder if they have actuaries like the insurance industry.

Well, remember though... everything THEY HANDLE is NIB. In packaging that already survived the trip in a shipping container on the slow boat from China. What they send YOU is minimum double-boxed, and MOST of the time there's enough CA Air pillows to minimize the shakes.
Agreed on all your other points though. 

I'm Back, Baybee!!!

And today, March 28th, 2019, is the 20th anniversary of the first episode of Futurama.

I know. 

...As I do, I watch the trace disappear and the power supply drop to 5VDC, with a 500mA current draw.    

Power off, then on long enough to check the power supply board in the 1503. Yup, something on the 25VDC rail has gone funny and the rail is pinned to 5VDC. (SNIP) So I will put the manual on my evening reading list and, hopefully, get back to it in a couple or three weeks.  I am pretty happy though because it isn't trashed and whatever is going on, I can probably fix.   

Guaranteed a tantalum bought the farm. 

mnem
"Stay on target... Stay on target!!!"

[Carl_Smith]

There's a 320V 6209B up on ebay UK as well for £70 if anyone wants it. I want it but I'm getting out of budget now and need some Kempton money still. Plus I'll never use it or kill myself with it.

There was.

This place is dangerous, I really have to stop coming here!

I listen to the Retrocomputing Roundtable podcast with a group of guys that talk about their old Commodore 64s and Apple II's and stuff.  They usually have segment about interesting eBay finds in the world of retro-computing.  And it's not uncommon for one of the guys to buy an eBay item that someone else is talking about, right while they are recording the podcast.   

[LapTop006]

Meh, when I worked in mainframe test I handled (and sometimes tore down) assemblies worth $500K USD and up. Yes, at first it was scary but you get used to it. Was just part of the job.

But if you screwed one up you faced at least decertification and all sorts of other unwanted attention.  No screw ups here. 

A few years back at $JOB we had a router explode (happens every now and again when you've got enough of them). Unusually this was in Sydney, and back then we didn't have local techs, one of my coworkers did the first batch of part swapping into a spare chassis we had sitting about, but then we needed to replace all the damaged linecards which became my job.

In one batch they were shipping me just four linecards, I made the mistake of looking up the price list, at the time that was US$870k list of hardware.

Of course telco equipment is one of those areas where nobody pays list. The "I called the distie on the phone" discount is something like 30%, and > 60% is not unusual for big customers.

[beanflying]

My bank account says I need to sell my 8656B.  Even though it's been sitting on my bench for a while now, getting in the way of everything - I don't feel like selling it.  Everything seems to be working, but I don't have the gear to do full testing.  The only thing that seems to be missing is calibration, but if I get a GPSDO and it comes within spec against that, then I'll be happy.

But... but... I don't really need it and I'm not likely to get much real use out of it.

There again, it is the first bit of functional HP test gear I have owned... and it does look nice.

I feel there is something wrong in how my life balances are playing out.  Last night I took note of 7 jobs I could apply for and now I'm actually preparing to go down that road.   


What new hell is this?!!

Shame about the 'real world problems' of needing to eat and live. I hopefully won't need to find a 'job' ever again as I would make a true bastard of an Employee after 15 years of being my own boss even if sometimes the $ are tight. 

Selling it with 'indicative' performance over anything resembling a 'calibrated' version is possibly more hassle than you want if it falls outside spec in the hands of a new owner. Like my PM Scope screenshots and even if you can make it work an FM transmitting video to prove it can output some actual power. Either that or at minimum you are going to need a several hundred MHz Counter and a GPSDO and then put up with a possible bitch fest later.

[0culus]

My bank account says I need to sell my 8656B.  Even though it's been sitting on my bench for a while now, getting in the way of everything - I don't feel like selling it.  Everything seems to be working, but I don't have the gear to do full testing.  The only thing that seems to be missing is calibration, but if I get a GPSDO and it comes within spec against that, then I'll be happy.

But... but... I don't really need it and I'm not likely to get much real use out of it.

There again, it is the first bit of functional HP test gear I have owned... and it does look nice.

I feel there is something wrong in how my life balances are playing out.  Last night I took note of 7 jobs I could apply for and now I'm actually preparing to go down that road.   


What new hell is this?!!

Unless you're really hard up, I'd say keep it. Never know when you might get rid of it then regret it later. Obviously, basic living should take precendence (bitseeker, are there rules for that?  ) but all things being equal I like my collection of classic HP test gear. Perhaps it's not the latest and greatest, but it's a throwback to an era when companies (especially Bill and Dave's) built good stuff.

I didn't *need* an 8664A signal generator, for example. My 8657A does just fine for the stuff I do now, but the 8664 is objectively much better and has a few features that the 8657 misses.

[Cubdriver]

My bank account says I need to sell my 8656B.  Even though it's been sitting on my bench for a while now, getting in the way of everything - I don't feel like selling it.  Everything seems to be working, but I don't have the gear to do full testing.  The only thing that seems to be missing is calibration, but if I get a GPSDO and it comes within spec against that, then I'll be happy.

But... but... I don't really need it and I'm not likely to get much real use out of it.

There again, it is the first bit of functional HP test gear I have owned... and it does look nice.

I feel there is something wrong in how my life balances are playing out.  Last night I took note of 7 jobs I could apply for and now I'm actually preparing to go down that road.   


What new hell is this?!!

Unless you're really hard up, I'd say keep it. Never know when you might get rid of it then regret it later. Obviously, basic living should take precendence (bitseeker, are there rules for that?  ) but all things being equal I like my collection of classic HP test gear. Perhaps it's not the latest and greatest, but it's a throwback to an era when companies (especially Bill and Dave's) built good stuff.

I didn't *need* an 8664A signal generator, for example. My 8657A does just fine for the stuff I do now, but the 8664 is objectively much better and has a few features that the 8657 misses.

I'll second that.  If you sell it (and only had one, so it's not a duplicate) you'll eventually come to regret it.  I can't think of anything I regret keeping, but more than a few I regret getting rid of.  This is TEA, remember?

Ramen Noodles are cheap eats...   

-Pat

[Brumby]

I do have a second one - but it's already been harvested for a few parts and can't see it being operational again.  I might check and see what is missing in case getting it up and running might be feasible.  Needs a mains transformer, fan and at least one capacitor (from memory) plus I will need to make a repair on one of the attenuator units, if possible.

I think I've just set myself up for a repair project that could end up being painful.


There's no floor in this rabbit hole, is there?

[0culus]

No, it's endless. It could be worse...we could have GLaDOS on a potato battery on the way down...





 

[Cubdriver]

And on another note, my second 6227B power supply arrived safely today, courtesy of everyone's favorite bank account draining internet site.  Both are in decent physical shape, fully shod and badged. 

For some additional data points in our earlier 'when did things change' discussion here, the older one with a toggle switch for the mains is a late 1971 engineering rev (1146 s/n prefix) with a late '75-early '76ish manufacture date (guess) based on the parts inside - I see a lot of third quarter 1975 parts in it - 7533, 7539, etc.

The newer one with the rocker switch is an early 1985 engineering rev (2507 prefix) with third quarter 1987 parts in it - 8730ish date codes.  Based on that, I'm going to guess that they went to the rocker switch no later than 1985, as I'd expect that would be part of a full fledged rev given it entails a completely different front panel with a square switch cutout and the different silkscreen.  Unfortunately the catalogs are no help as they kept using the old toggle switch unit's picture up until the 1992 catalog.  One difference I noticed in the newer one is that it uses the smaller form-factor plastic encased trim pots instead of the bigger, older round metal ones seen in the earlier power supplies.  I'll eventually post pictures when some space opens and they finally make their way to the bench...

Useless trivia, but there you have it.

-Pat

<edit 6227, not 6277.  D'oh!>

[Cubdriver]

I do have a second one - but it's already been harvested for a few parts and can't see it being operational again.  I might check and see what is missing in case getting it up and running might be feasible.  Needs a mains transformer, fan and at least one capacitor (from memory) plus I will need to make a repair on one of the attenuator units, if possible.

I think I've just set myself up for a repair project that could end up being painful.

Perhaps I should have qualified that by saying a second operational one, not the pillaged remains thereof...

There's no floor in this rabbit hole, is there?

Nope.  Whee!!  Enjoy the ride!

-Pat

[bitseeker]

Yeah, Amazon has great customer service, but their packing is as bad as, if not worse than, eBay slackers. A big box, throw your stuff in, a toss a pillow on top. It's shake-n-bake all the way to your house. Apparently, it's cheaper to refund your money than to pack things properly. Ah, the joys of large-scale statistics. I wonder if they have actuaries like the insurance industry.

Well, remember though... everything THEY HANDLE is NIB. In packaging that already survived the trip in a shipping container on the slow boat from China. What they send YOU is minimum double-boxed, and MOST of the time there's enough CA Air pillows to minimize the shakes.
Agreed on all your other points though. 

I guess I've been unlucky. All the packages I recall receiving have had the items inside the shipping box, granted each item usually in its own retail (not suitable for shipping) packaging, completely loose with a single air pillow thrown on top as a token gesture. The worst case, though, was when they shipped cartons of soy milk in the same box with bags of chips (a.k.a., crisps) and boxes of crackers, all bouncing around together. They must've come from a nearby warehouse since nothing was pulverized.