Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[med6753]

This reminds me of this product which I fell over the other day:


Definition: https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=minger

An ugly person would wrap themselves in it. 

[Zucca]

Nutella is just the italian way to say nut. At least this is was crossed Mr Ferrero's mind, the Nutella father.

Anyway italians are now locked up in their home, if you call the italian 911 it takes 17minutes to get an operator.

The IQ population gaussian curve is playing hard now.

[med6753]

Even in good times Corona is donkey piss. 

[SilverSolder]

Even in good times Corona is donkey piss. 

With a slice of lime, on a hot day, while working on your car under the shade tree, they go down only too well...

[bd139]

I think I'd rather go "full Bear Grylls" than drink that

[BU508A]

I'd recommend this one:

[med6753]

Vertical gain........check
DC Balance.........check
Compensation.....check

1MHz square wave from the Heath IG-4244 Scope Calibrator. Given the 535A's bandpass of 15MHz looks damn good. At long last this one is complete.

[med6753]

Even in good times Corona is donkey piss. 

With a slice of lime, on a hot day, while working on your car under the shade tree, they go down only too well...

Exactly, you need the lime/lemon to kill the taste. 

[Specmaster]

Well my Gumtree bargain arrived today and it was just as the seller described but with one difference, it came with not one but two thermocouples. As you can see its branded Rapid 85-0716 and it was listed as new for just £15 which whetted my appetite although meters are my weakness  .

Digging a bit I discovered that it is now a discontinued line by Rapid but it is still available under its parents name, Extech as EX530 and as such is still on sale for anything between £180 and £240 and its been reviewed by M J Lorton and our own Joe Smith (although to be fair, he tested the EX540, essentially the same animal but with infra-red thermometer built-in). It seems to be a reasonable meter with DC accuracy of .06% + 2 digits by all accounts.

First impression was OK, it came with soft pouch to store it in, 2 thermocouples, set of meter leads, 2 sealing plugs and instruction manual, all in English. It feels very sturdy and indeed it is, Extech have released a video showing just how tough it is it is a good size but not as big as the brick of a meter, Brymen BM867.

While it looks to have a rubber bumper round the case, it is just made to look like it has. Anyway in the best tradition, I took it a part. The battery compartment uses 2 screws with metal inserts for the screws and takes a 9V PP3, all in a sealed compartment, it has a nice kick stand but it lacks the heft of the Brymen so while it can be switched single-handedly, it does sort of skate about on the bench while switching ranges.

Next after removing 6 self-tapping screws, the case splits into 2 parts and it is easy to see how they were able to get IP67 rating as the case on one half has a 10mm tongue and the other half has a slot that the tongue enters when screwing back together again. Screws have rubber o rings beneath them so its well sealed and also is well-designed so should anything go wrong internally, any explosion debris will be retained within the body. There is a 10 pin header as well as trimmer pots, so the header might be for software updates or it could be for calibration as well-being able to calibrate by hand as well if required., there is plenty of input protection and the fuses are not only HRC type but also 1,000V rated, well done there. The same cannot be side about the continuity tester, it is so slow, the screen reacts before the buzzer does and while it does the job and sounds nice enough, it is no speed demon. There is noway that it competes with the Brymen with which you can slide a probe along the pins of IC trying a find a connection, quickly.

The display is a 40,000 count and is pretty large number with a pretty good backlight, but the backlight is only on a for about 10 seconds, a bit longer would be nice. Accuracy on DCV is quoted as being .06% and 2 counts, which it seems to meet.

Would I pay full price for it, no, I'd rather buy another Brymen which would also cost less as well, but then, the Brymen was a really lucky find and has kind of spoilt me for other meters other than perhaps a Fluke, which is what Brymen appear to be competing with. Do I like the Rapid, yes I do like it and it might well find a permanent spot in my meter line up. I now might flip a couple of lower manual ranger meters and maybe a lower auto ranger as well. 

 

[bd139]

That actually looks half decent. Especially for that money. Nice one 

[Specmaster]

I think I'd rather go "full Bear Grylls" than drink that

Err, I'll let you have mine then, I'll risk the donkey piss 

[Specmaster]

That actually looks half decent. Especially for that money. Nice one 

Yeah, one slightly annoying thing with it though is the update speed, 2 updates a second, that is the same for the digits and the bar graph. Compare that with the Brymen at 5 updates for the digits and 60 updates a second for the bar graph 

[AVGresponding]

Wow, that's weird, I wonder if it's a fault in the FW?

After all the whole point of the bargraph is fast response...   

[Cerebus]

I'd recommend this one:

Personally I'd rather go with

especially on a miserable cold, wet day like today.

[Specmaster]

Wow, that's weird, I wonder if it's a fault in the FW?

After all the whole point of the bargraph is fast response...   

Sadly, it is true, even MJLorton mentioned it in his review of the EX530. I wonder if Extech ever issued an update on the firmware?

[med6753]

"Oh Lord, won't you buy me a 1A and 2...
My friends have HP's, I must make amends..."


I gotta stay off Ebay.

I'm still thinking, haven't pulled the trigger......oh Lord, won't you buy me.....

[Wolfgang]

I'd recommend this one:

Personally I'd rather go with

especially on a miserable cold, wet day like today.

In Bavaria, when beer gets alt (=old) it needs to be discarded. Not for human consumption.

[Cubdriver]

"Oh Lord, won't you buy me a 1A and 2...
My friends have HP's, I must make amends..."


I gotta stay off Ebay.

I'm still thinking, haven't pulled the trigger......oh Lord, won't you buy me.....

...you know you want it...  ...and it's not terribly big or heavy...  ...and appears to be in decent shape & complete...  <we need a stick-pokey smiley>

 

-Pat

[med6753]

I wonder if it's an early one with the nuvistors in the pre-amp or a later version with FET's in the pre-amp?

Guess I won't know unless I buy it....will I? 

[Cerebus]

In Bavaria, when beer gets alt (=old) it needs to be discarded. Not for human consumption.

Hah! You want to be carefully what you say about NRW's old-style beer, I think you're outnumbered by the NRW contingent hereabouts. Anyway, you Bavarians pioneered using all those lazy slow bottom fermenting yeasts, so the beer's old before its even finished fermenting, and then you insist on sticking it in the lager to age further before you drink it. And you've got the cheek to call NRW's beer old. 

[Wolfgang]

In Bavaria, when beer gets alt (=old) it needs to be discarded. Not for human consumption.

Hah! You want to be carefully what you say about NRW's old-style beer, I think you're outnumbered by the NRW contingent hereabouts. Anyway, you Bavarians pioneered using all those lazy slow bottom fermenting yeasts, so the beer's old before its even finished fermenting, and then you insist on sticking it in the lager to age further before you drink it. And you've got the cheek to call NRW's beer old. 

The best way to start a war between federal states in Germany is to make inappropriate remarks about the beer of the others and to forget the 

[Cerebus]

The best way to start a war between federal states in Germany is to make inappropriate remarks about the beer of the others and to forget the 

Yes, but at least you'll get your own kind of beer at your funeral.

[Cubdriver]

I wonder if it's an early one with the nuvistors in the pre-amp or a later version with FET's in the pre-amp?

Guess I won't know unless I buy it....will I? 

Guess not.  We need to know.  Get to clicking!  Dark blue button to the right of the price.   

-Pat

[salvagedcircuitry]

It seems the folks at Keysight are interested in making some gear shirts.
https://twitter.com/DanielBogdanoff/status/1232065832357744640

I figured I'd chime in with some designs.




I mean, who doesn't want a 3458a shirt? 

[GreyWoolfe]

Even in good times Corona is donkey piss. 

With a slice of lime, on a hot day, while working on your car under the shade tree, they go down only too well...

nuff said.