Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[worsthorse]

I had no plans to buy any test equipment at the hamfest. My goal, in fact, was to sell eight or ten pieces of gear.

I didn't sell most of the gear I took, though I did get rid of a 2M radio, assorted books, odd repeater parts, and a Type 109 pulse generator that was beyond repair, at least at my hands.  And I just couldn't resist buying a couple of things:



and these:



The impedance bridge is in very good condition and a quick test, using a bunch of resistor at hand, suggests it works. I had it open this afternoon and the inside is clean. Whoever owned it did not leave 4 D cell batteries in it to wreak havoc and a test of the precision capacitor indicates it is still in good condition. More tests on this later this week, after I finish a couple of other projects.  There were actually two of these at the hamfest; the other one went for $110, which was crazy expensive.

The 8840A and 8840a/AF are definitely a mess. One looks like it was left in a damp place and symptoms indicate a bad keypad but it lights up and passes all the self tests. That's the one with the banged up front. The display on the other one didn't light up. Opening it up revealed why:



Someone removed most of the interesting ICs. Now I have to figure out if they did so because there was something wrong with the meter. First stop, the power supply... all the voltage outputs appear to be within specification and I can't find anything obviously wrong with it.  That said, I was getting cross-eyed so I cleaned up the bench and called it a night. 

I paid fifteen bucks for the two Flukes, so if I can make one good one out them, I will have a pretty good deal. 

[worsthorse]

Yup... still have no idea what perverse sense of conservatism made you pass on the other half of that pot o' gold, but STILL...      

mnem

I understand. It is a weird habit. When I uncover a treasure like that, I always leave something behind for someone else to find. I guess I hope to keep the karma account in balance... 

[VK5RC]

I would be a little careful about leaving 'good stuff' behind - quite a few of the guys at ham fests are 'clearing out' - what doesn't get sold goes in the bin. I have had quite a few guys give me a bunch of pretty good stuff at close down time.

[bd139]

No one ever does that here. They all haul it home and shove it back in their damp sheds 

Must admit I’m getting thirsty for a hamfest. Haven’t been to one for ages. Next one is end of November here

[tggzzz]

Now I need to make myself a couple of pieces of Vegemite toast.

That shit sounds nasty.

Nasty is too strong a word. "Too sweet" is appropriate for those accustomed to The Real Thing: Marmite 

Marmite is very close in consistency to cigarette tar in any reasonable concentration. Doesn’t taste much better either. Best use for it was fucking up a rental we had. We decorated the place then he kicked us out because it was worth more. So we redecorated it again with marmite.

The mind boggles as to how and why you ended up tasting cigarette tar 

It is easier to imagine after reading number 1 in these amusing facts and factoids about Marmite: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-13541148

Number 10 is bollocks; there's too much salt in it for that to be valid.

Number 5 might or might not have a bearing on my contention that Vegemite is too sweet.

[beanflying]

Marmite made by the Seventh Day bike riders in Oz has nothing to do with Vegemite which until recently was owned by Kraft (now locally owned again after about 90 years). They taste completely different. So 

[bd139]

The mind boggles as to how and why you ended up tasting cigarette tar 

When I was a poor student I took a summer job in a lab testing furniture surfaces (here https://www.fira.co.uk/ ) for propensity of yellowing from tobacco smoke. I designed and built a machine that smoked pipes and flooded a vacuum chamber with smoke by pulling it through with a vacuum compressor. I also had to clean it out  . I also got more than my fair share of passive nicotine intake. I was buzzing like a bee for weeks and had withdrawal afterwards. Worst job ever.

[med6753]

Regardless, both of them look like they would be good for filling potholes in roads. 

[tautech]

FYI, Siglent are working on a manual Cal procedure so that owners can tweak measurements once their SDM's have aged. Not all measurement types will be tweakable AFAIK, just those for which you budding volt/ohm/amp nuts carry the typical standard references.
Actually, must check how things are progressing with this manual Cal ..................

That would be great! Keep me informed. Thanks 

The draft is finished and it's under final revision so shouldn't be very long before we have manual Cal tweaks for SDM's.
Gimme a ribbing in a week or two to check if it's finished.

[med6753]

And here's a similar item but in liquid form. The Puerto Ricans love this stuff. They even feed it to infants. My ex and her kids always had some on hand. It is definitely an acquired taste but this Gringo was having none of it. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malta_(soft_drink) 

[med6753]

FYI, Siglent are working on a manual Cal procedure so that owners can tweak measurements once their SDM's have aged. Not all measurement types will be tweakable AFAIK, just those for which you budding volt/ohm/amp nuts carry the typical standard references.
Actually, must check how things are progressing with this manual Cal ..................

That would be great! Keep me informed. Thanks 

The draft is finished and it's under final revision so shouldn't be very long before we have manual Cal tweaks for SDM's.
Gimme a ribbing in a week or two to check if it's finished.

Okey Dokey! 

[McBryce]

And here's a similar item but in liquid form. The Puerto Ricans love this stuff. They even feed it to infants. My ex and her kids always had some on hand. It is definitely an acquired taste but this Gringo was having none of it. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malta_(soft_drink)

Better (but still not good) if you add some alcohol to it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malt_beer

McBryce.

[Specmaster]

More volt-nttery. Today's mission is to certify the Siglent SDM 3055 as my “Bench 2 Standard”. I've had this Siglent for almost a year now and while I like it overall there are a few items that annoy me. First, it doesn't match up exactly with either AD584-M references. It's always measured consistently low as seen as the chart. It's close but no cigar. Sloppy factory calibration or are BOTH references off?  Who knows but to me 5.5 digits is overkill anyway.  Second, I found that there is no difference in warm up times from either a cold start (power completely off) or power up from standby. Takes at least 12 hours for both for best accuracy. That tells me that standby does not keep the internal voltage reference hot which makes it totally useless and just consumes power. Perhaps Tautech can confirm this.

For this exercise the Siglent was powered up for 48 hours. It has confirmed via cross checking that the Fluke 8050A is a valid bench 1 standard. And it further convinced me that for my needs 4.5 digits is more than enough. 5.5 digits is overkill and I'll never venture into 6.5 digit territory. Especially when I see these 6.5 digit and greater DMM's all stacked up and connected to the same source and all reading differently.  That would drive me to drink.   

When you get into 4th digits and above you will really need to start looking at spec & datasheets for long and short term drift plus a bunch of ethereal fudge factors. Your Siglent for example may now have NEARLY enough hours on it for the reference to have settled to a more stable number but I doubt your AD584's have.

My two Agilent/Keysight 6 1/2 digit meters have opposing temperature coefficients of seemingly similar numbers against an my ovenised references. At 20C they are within 2ppm. Still both within spec but something I recognize. If that same drift at 5C shift in temperature was applied to your meters for example it would be see a shift in your meter if they were similar shift a LSD or two. Add that to a cheap and cheerful but unknown reference (other than assuming it matches the datasheet) you could easilly slip several more COMBINED.

This is WHY YOU NEED 6 1/2 Digits to test your others to then be uncertain about it

Between that nasty looking vegemite and the 6.5 digit DMM's I swear you Aussie's are trying to kill me with either puking out my guts or having a stroke.   

How can that be after all you Mericans have one of the lowest food standards of the civilised world and you have chlorinated chicken as well   

[VK5RC]

A bit of a re-organisation in the 'shack', a bit of 70s HP stuff, taken about 6 months to get it all working, even managed to find a couple of spare pair of NOS 'matched' thermistors. I think I will include them in my Will and Testament!
Edit; add the photo! D'oh.

[Specmaster]

I had no plans to buy any test equipment at the hamfest. My goal, in fact, was to sell eight or ten pieces of gear.

I didn't sell most of the gear I took, though I did get rid of a 2M radio, assorted books, odd repeater parts, and a Type 109 pulse generator that was beyond repair, at least at my hands.  And I just couldn't resist buying a couple of things:

and these:



The impedance bridge is in very good condition and a quick test, using a bunch of resistor at hand, suggests it works. I had it open this afternoon and the inside is clean. Whoever owned it did not leave 4 D cell batteries in it to wreak havoc and a test of the precision capacitor indicates it is still in good condition. More tests on this later this week, after I finish a couple of other projects.  There were actually two of these at the hamfest; the other one went for $110, which was crazy expensive.

The 8840A and 8840a/AF are definitely a mess. One looks like it was left in a damp place and symptoms indicate a bad keypad but it lights up and passes all the self tests. That's the one with the banged up front. The display on the other one didn't light up. Opening it up revealed why:



Someone removed most of the interesting ICs. Now I have to figure out if they did so because there was something wrong with the meter. First stop, the power supply... all the voltage outputs appear to be within specification and I can't find anything obviously wrong with it.  That said, I was getting cross-eyed so I cleaned up the bench and called it a night. 

I paid fifteen bucks for the two Flukes, so if I can make one good one out them, I will have a pretty good deal. 

If you get 1 of those 2 working for $15 , you will have the bargain of the century I'd say, wish I could come across some more like those, I love my 2 Fluke bench meters. 

[med6753]

Started with the calibration checks of my collection of DMM's. I drew up a generic form that can be applied to all of them and will kept as a record. First up for cal is the Fluke 87 Series 1. Which took all of about 10 minutes to complete.    I've never had to make any updates to the 87 since purchasing it in 1997. It just works and stays in cal. Change the battery when needed and it's good to go. 


 

[Specmaster]

@med, your system works for me, if it works OK on the Fluke 87 and the others also agree then there must be an issue with the other one.

[McBryce]

For our German TEAs/voltnuts - 2x HP3437A at €60 each!: https://www.ebay.de/itm/333369970692  (I'm not the seller)

An absolute bargain, but I have neither a use nor space for one, and they have two of them for sale. But those HP displays are just sooo nice.... drool.

McBryce.

[capt bullshot]

For our German TEAs/voltnuts - 2x HP3437A at €60 each!: https://www.ebay.de/itm/333369970692  (I'm not the seller)

An absolute bargain, but I have neither a use nor space for one, and they have two of them for sale. But those HP displays are just sooo nice.... drool.

McBryce.

I remember someone calling them a source of replacement buttons for other HP gear. The instrument itself looks rather pointless today. Yes, I like these bubble displays too ...

[Black Phoenix]

Started with the calibration checks of my collection of DMM's. I drew up a generic form that can be applied to all of them and will kept as a record. First up for cal is the Fluke 87 Series 1. Which took all of about 10 minutes to complete.    I've never had to make any updates to the 87 since purchasing it in 1997. It just works and stays in cal. Change the battery when needed and it's good to go. 

That 8021B just chilling in the background, I really need to get one of those just because... Specially one build in the same year I was born!

[med6753]

That 8021B just chilling in the background, I really need to get one of those just because... Specially one build in the same year I was born!

Watch this space. It will be in the limelight soon enough for it's calibration (Which I expect will need no adjustments). 

[mnementh]

This is WHY YOU NEED 6 1/2 Digits to test your others to then be uncertain about it

Between that nasty looking vegemite and the 6.5 digit DMM's I swear you Aussie's are trying to kill me with either puking out my guts or having a stroke. 

YOUU’RE WELLLCOMMMME!!!

mnem
Are ya feelin’ tha lurrrvvve...? 

[AVGresponding]

I paid fifteen bucks for the two Flukes, so if I can make one good one out them, I will have a pretty good deal.

Definite serious candidate for a Jammy Git award, good luck!

Just recapped my 8840A this weekend, the 6800uF had a worrying bulge on its plastic top... tested out ok, well a bit high on capacitance, 8500uF or so, with what seems to me quite a high esr of 4R8 as well. Not sure on the brand, seen that triangular logo somewhere before, and not just in Zelda games   
The rest were Nichicon or Nippon Chemi-Con, and at least there are only 5 to replace 
All were 85C rated, replaced with 125C ones.


Oh, and Marmite is pure poison  (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻

[mnementh]

...The 8840A and 8840a/AF are definitely a mess. One looks like it was left in a damp place and symptoms indicate a bad keypad but it lights up and passes all the self tests. That's the one with the banged up front. The display on the other one didn't light up. Opening it up revealed why:

   Someone removed most of the interesting ICs...

Yeah, but at $15 for the two you just can’t go wrong. You can turn a profit just eBaying the body parts; I’d have jumped on that myself, without even thinking twice.   

mnem
And that’s how I wound up spending the last 6 months “divesting myself” of 16 carloads of similar “treasures”...

[Addicted2AnalogTek]

I paid fifteen bucks for the two Flukes, so if I can make one good one out them, I will have a pretty good deal.

Definite serious candidate for a Jammy Git award, good luck!

Just recapped my 8840A this weekend, the 6800uF had a worrying bulge on its plastic top... tested out ok, well a bit high on capacitance, 8500uF or so, with what seems to me quite a high esr of 4R8 as well. Not sure on the brand, seen that triangular logo somewhere before, and not just in Zelda games   
The rest were Nichicon or Nippon Chemi-Con, and at least there are only 5 to replace 
All were 85C rated, replaced with 125C ones.


Oh, and Marmite is pure poison  (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻

Based on description, I believe the brand you are referring to is Panasonic with it's older triangle-with-rounded-points logo.

EDIT:   I should have looked up the logo first. It's actually the triangle with bold diamond points.