Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Kosmic]

  I'm hanging way too much in here.

[25 CPS]

It's a secret.  That's how I make the most of the limited space I've got due to the insane cost of Toronto area real estate.

[mnementh]

It's those HP feet; they're full of antigravitons. Why do you think you can't find any of them...? They keep floating away. 

mnem
Damn skippy on the Mega$ Toronto real estate, tho...

[GreyWoolfe]

It's Aussie gear.

[bitseeker]

I guess I have some kind of obsession with high resistance meter and electrometer. Found this little puppy on ebay, advertised as broken for parts. Since it was broken I tried negotiating a bit. Worked pretty well and ended up paying less than the Genrad 1644a.

In pristine condition, HP instruments from that era are really quite a sight. The one I got is in pretty good shape, and still has his 2 feet 



...

Neat. I haven't seen one of these before. Added to the POI.

[VK5RC]

Don't know what you guys are talking about, looks fine here!

[worsthorse]

Yeah; I guess I'm trying to understand the WHY here. They already ARE a 4-wire Kelvin connection right to the base of the alligator clip; that 15mm or so of metal means precisely squat. The DE-5000 is accurate to nF AS-IS, and is as accurate at sub-ohm resistance measurement as my 3478A, only it doesn't take a week to settle down to a final measurement.

    So why fuck widdit?

I mean... I could understand making an EXTRA set of longer leads with alligators; to test against the shorties and for convenience' sake. But I certainly would NOT assume that any modification of the clip leads from what the meter was designed with is an "upgrade".

mnem

I am quite aware of the capabilities and limitations of the DE-5000, sir. The test leads are too short for my needs. The alligator clips are shitty. I have an extra test fixture. And you are asking why someone would f**k widdit? In this thread? Are you kidding me? 

Ahem, now back to my original question... any suggestions on suitable cable?  Yes, thanks, I've seen that vendor and I am trying to avoid buying a roll of the stuff. I haven't found it in smaller chunks yet.

Fair dinkum... 

In that case, (and since I've had some time to think about just such a hack myself) my suggestion would be to get another of the "tweezer" attachments and use that to make your "extra long" clip leads or hardwire the cable from that to your test fixture. ~$22 last I checked, so probably as cheap as you're gonna get the cable anyways & the connector end is already wired. You know the device can compensate for the cable they used therein, and the tweezer you remove becomes a spare. Seems like a no-brainer to me.

mnem
*Current mood: splat*

that is actually quite a good idea, mnem. mahalo!

[Kosmic]

@Xrunner did you bought an Agilent E4406A in the end ? Decided to unlock mine tonight. Installed the WCDMA, CDMA2000 and Wireless Lan personalities.

Increased the maximum span to 100Mhz

[0culus]

Wow, it's coming to us from the future too. 

[Kosmic]

Yeah not sure what's going on with the clock …

[mnementh]

This Morning's [RANDOM MODE]...



... brought to you by Hark! A Vagrant

mnem
[/RANDOM MODE]

[VK5RC]

A little FA 2 is on it's way down-under 👍

[beanflying]

Any Smurfs want a cheap Anchor for Christmas  eBay auction: #153750939174

[kj7e]

I guess I have some kind of obsession with high resistance meter and electrometer. Found this little puppy on ebay, advertised as broken for parts. Since it was broken I tried negotiating a bit. Worked pretty well and ended up paying less than the Genrad 1644a.

In pristine condition, HP instruments from that era are really quite a sight. The one I got is in pretty good shape, and still has his 2 feet 



...

Neat. I haven't seen one of these before. Added to the POI.

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/hp-4329a-high-resistance-meter-teardown/

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/test-equipment-anonymous-(tea)-group-therapy-thread/msg2473674/?topicseen#msg2473674

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/test-equipment-anonymous-(tea)-group-therapy-thread/msg2812298/?topicseen#msg2812298

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/test-equipment-anonymous-(tea)-group-therapy-thread/msg2813802/?topicseen#msg2813802

 

[Cubdriver]

Any Smurfs want a cheap Anchor for Christmas  eBay auction: #153750939174

That is for sure an anchor!  The bloody thing weighs about 75 lbs (34kg for you metrified folks ) and is a beast to move around and get on the bench!

-Pat

[tggzzz]

Any Smurfs want a cheap Anchor for Christmas  eBay auction: #153750939174

Surprisingly, for something with so many decades, the datasheet indicates the voltage accuracy is only 0.1%+25uV.

[beanflying]

Australia is going down the same shitter I understand. My uncle moved out there a few years back (Brisbane) and is moving back here because he says it's better. I don't know if he is an idiot or not. He used to be.

After much reflection this morning, I have decided to stay put. I'm going to sell up, cash in all of my investments and dig through some impending shit, then buy a small house somewhere semi-remote but accessible, attempt to get energy self-sufficient, dig a fucking moat and forget the human race exists.

Here you go @bd start researching  This came across my youtube feed today.Looks like a whole lot of hard yakka to me 

[tautech]

Australia is going down the same shitter I understand. My uncle moved out there a few years back (Brisbane) and is moving back here because he says it's better. I don't know if he is an idiot or not. He used to be.

After much reflection this morning, I have decided to stay put. I'm going to sell up, cash in all of my investments and dig through some impending shit, then buy a small house somewhere semi-remote but accessible, attempt to get energy self-sufficient, dig a fucking moat and forget the human race exists.

Here you go @bd start researching  This came across my youtube feed today.Looks like a whole lot of hard yakka to me 

It ain't so much if you don't have soft townies hands and can drive a chainsaw. 

Did a course on this years ago and you can learn the basics in just a week.

[bd139]

That smells like a whole load of "can't be arsed" to me. I did have grand plans to build something, to the level of having drawn up relatively detailed plans, but the whole planning nightmare here plus the fact I have to deal with vast amounts of other humans put me off. Also while it's a nice romantic objective, I do know someone who did it and it nearly killed them.

I also tripped over this doing my research which is what inspired me and put me off as well http://ludens.cl/paradise/paradise.html (some interesting projects elsewhere as well)

[beanflying]

Due to the somewhat early onset of Christmas movies on the idiot box  I watched the couple of hours of Log Cabin building. No voice over, excellently shot and edited, educational and inspiring 

[Specmaster]

That smells like a whole load of "can't be arsed" to me. I did have grand plans to build something, to the level of having drawn up relatively detailed plans, but the whole planning nightmare here plus the fact I have to deal with vast amounts of other humans put me off. Also while it's a nice romantic objective, I do know someone who did it and it nearly killed them.

I also tripped over this doing my research which is what inspired me and put me off as well http://ludens.cl/paradise/paradise.html (some interesting projects elsewhere as well)

Somehow I expected that, once the bugs come out to play, that you'd be hell-bent on getting back into city life again 

[bd139]

Nah. The only advantage of living where I am is pretty much the ability to buy an onion and laxatives at 3AM on Boxing day morning.

(yes that actually happened)

[Specmaster]

I'm back into TEA again, just snatched myself a handheld scope for £15, which I thought would ideal for poking about inside mains powered audio amps etc, less space on the bench taken up and less hassle then getting my differential probe out for safety reasons.

I don't know anything about apart from it works, does anyone know what make etc it is, so I can grab a manual for it?

[Specmaster]

Nah. The only advantage of living where I am is pretty much the ability to buy an onion and laxatives at 3AM on Boxing day morning.

(yes that actually happened)

The mind boggles at that mix of products, those little Asian (open all hours) corner shops do come in pretty handy at times though don't they.

[bd139]

I'm back into TEA again, just snatched myself a handheld scope for £15, which I thought would ideal for poking about inside mains powered audio amps etc, less space on the bench taken up and less hassle then getting my differential probe out for safety reasons.

I don't know anything about apart from it works, does anyone know what make etc it is, so I can grab a manual for it?

Velleman K7105. https://www.velleman.eu/products/view/?country=nl&lang=en&id=9373

Manual: https://www.velleman.eu/downloads/0/usermanual_k7105.pdf
Parts: https://www.velleman.eu/downloads/0/manual_k7105.pdf

Not a bad price . They're not that terrible for audio stuff and better than those horrid JYE things. Plus it's repairable and made of standard parts and you can connect it to your PC.

Nah. The only advantage of living where I am is pretty much the ability to buy an onion and laxatives at 3AM on Boxing day morning.

(yes that actually happened)

The mind boggles at that mix of products, those little Asian (open all hours) corner shops do come in pretty handy at times though don't they.

Yeah we've got one over the road. I'll have a bottle of Smirnoff Ice, a fidget spinner, some net curtains, some slippers, one duck egg and a tupperware mop bucket on wheels please!