Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Neomys Sapiens]

Odin, far og klokeste av alle guder, gi meg veiledning, visdom og seier i mine anstrengelser.  Now I hope that I got that right, my norse is somewhat rusty.

Ifni, grant me the peace to accept the things I cannot change, the strength to change the things I can, and the wisdom to hide the bodies where nobody will find them. 

@mnementh I got rid of the 1054Z, I still have my 2 Keysights ... and no space ...

I know. Good riddance, good deal.



Spend the money on a Roomba; you'll get better service out of it, and when you get bored you can hack it. 

mnem
"Right now I'm in the middle of a dozen things, all of them annoying. Where would YOU like to be on my list...?!?" ~XO Susan Ivanova

Strange clip. The title made me think of Svetlana from Cn'C.

[bitseeker]

Catching up on the last 20 pages...

I know how you feel...

So, cyclin_al, Kosmix, mnem, et al, what's the story with the somewhat recent (a year or two?) surge in TE from eBay sellers in Canada? I don't recall so many before. Are there a lot of businesses/labs upgrading or something?

As Kosmic said, the government is doing some investment these days.  If you go back two elections, the government of that day was cutting programs.  Gear surplused at that time went in large batches.  The batches were too large and expensive for individuals, so resellers got most of it.  I acquired my HP PSU and AWG in 2019 from those sources and still have the government asset stickers on them.  Still, that cannot account for everything that is showing up.

Thanks, guys. It may not account for all of it, but interesting to hear nonetheless.

[bitseeker]

Dammit, I need to move to somewhere with cheaper shipping from the US   

How can no-one be bidding on this? It's beauuuuutifulllll     https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HP-3437A-System-Voltmeter/264698971453

These are rather useless nowadays. It's an extension to analogue oscilloscopes and you need one with Z-axis input.
I've got two cheaply over the years and also the necessary Triax Lug and some Triax cable to make an adapter for measurements, but it's in the TE stack still because every digital oscilloscope today has measurement functions that do better and are more versatile than this.

On the other hand, the display has a really nice look and because the pushbuttons are not plastic-welded to the pcb these systems voltmeters are good for spare parts..   

Another thing to do if you want to use them is the annoyingly loud fan that I instantly replaced on my first unit after I got it. A standard fan does the job, but one has to find a suited supply for it on his own because the original fan has a multiphase motor with external driver circuit.. (Don't remember what type of fan I used, 12V, 24V, no idea  )

I haven't even turned mine on, yet. I was thinking of using it as a measurement companion for one of my old Tek scopes. The setup for that described in the manual sounds pretty cool with being able to highlight the portion of the wave being measured. However, I'm not sure how useful it'll be in practice.

It's definitely good for lots of parts: nice project enclosure with power supply, lots of buttons (for future HP boat anchor acquisitions!), triax connectors, GPIB, neat numeric LED displays, etc.

[Brumby]

   bloody hell. Bid placed.

If I was in range, I'd be saying the same thing 

Odin, far og klokeste av alle guder, gi meg veiledning, visdom og seier i mine anstrengelser

now I hope that I got that right, my norse is somewhat rusty.

Google translate gives a very clear translation.

Good luck!   

[AVGresponding]

Just picked up my probe tips from the Post Office, time to make some temporary power leads for the active probe using my Wago 4mm banana plugs I got yesterday, and give them a go!

[drussell]

Oh, my....  Whaaaaaaaat the #@*% did I just watch?   

Geez, man...  Where do you find this stuff, mnementh?    LOL... 

[BU508A]

Geez, man...  Where do you find this stuff, mnementh?    LOL... 

He is watching TV with his son. 

Source:

D'OH!

mnem
*toddles off to watch some TV widda boi*

[capt bullshot]

A bit of STM32 Cube MX rant:
Wonder why an interrupt doesn't get called, though everything is set up, interrupts are enabled and the DFSDM clearly operates?
Because the darn generated code doesn't enable this particular interrupt due to a seemingly stupid bug ...
The necessary calls are there ( HAL_NVIC_SetPriority(DFSDM1_FLT0_IRQn, 2, 0); and so on), but don't get executed 
So never forget to debug the third party libraries when searching for an error.

[med6753]

Oh, my....  Whaaaaaaaat the #@*% did I just watch?   

Geez, man...  Where do you find this stuff, mnementh?    LOL... 

Ditto, I want my 5 minutes back. 

[tautech]

Howya making out with the scanner Med ?

[bd139]

A bit of STM32 Cube MX rant:
Wonder why an interrupt doesn't get called, though everything is set up, interrupts are enabled and the DFSDM clearly operates?
Because the darn generated code doesn't enable this particular interrupt due to a seemingly stupid bug ...
The necessary calls are there ( HAL_NVIC_SetPriority(DFSDM1_FLT0_IRQn, 2, 0); and so on), but don't get executed 
So never forget to debug the third party libraries when searching for an error.

LOL. This shit is why I stopped talking about STM32 recently. The thing went straight back to AVR. AVR-libc is considerably less of a pain in my arse than STM32 HAL and the native uC API.

Cocked up this morning. Sold some MC1350 IF amplifier ICs on ebay. Took me an entire hour to find the bloody things in all the crap boxes 

[med6753]

Howya making out with the scanner Med ?

I started working on it, did some troubleshooting and changed a few capacitors, then must be picking up bd's bad habits and sort of lost interest in it for now and put it away to work on another time. 

One day I'll get back to it.   

[bd139]

Yeah massive problem of mine. I found my Norcal 40A this morning while routing through the cupboard. That's missing half the RIT wiring. I have added the panel controls and the stuff on the board but haven't joined the two halves up. Thought hey I'll look at this over the weekend. Instantly followed by screw it I can't be arsed

Apparently I'll get my slightly less cheap than expected Chinese PLC today. So weekend job is "pikey illuminator" 

[Specmaster]

Progress report on the 4503, PCB board cleaned up and all battery juice removed, new battery fitted, 1 new transistor and a full re-cap done and DC calibration done, but resistance ranges will not play ball with me, all power rails are correct etc, resistors checked but still resistance shows either zero's or "OR" (over range) and calibration just fails for that range.

Photos of the meter, this morning after last nights session calibrating the DC volts, with voltages of 2.5v, 5v, 7.5v, 10v and 100v.

[tautech]

Howya making out with the scanner Med ?

I started working on it, did some troubleshooting and changed a few capacitors, then must be picking up bd's bad habits and sort of lost interest in it for now and put it away to work on another time. 

One day I'll get back to it. 

[AVGresponding]

My 4503 boots a little differently to yours Specmaster. It would be nice to know what all the messages mean...
I wonder if RS232 or GPIB would help resolve the issue.

https://youtu.be/p5JnEC6-qvM

[med6753]

Just picked up my probe tips from the Post Office, time to make some temporary power leads for the active probe using my Wago 4mm banana plugs I got yesterday, and give them a go!

At last! 

[AVGresponding]

Just picked up my probe tips from the Post Office, time to make some temporary power leads for the active probe using my Wago 4mm banana plugs I got yesterday, and give them a go!

At last! 

[bd139]

Comedy gold. Chinese PLC came with a nice USB / serial adapter. 



Actually the casing overlaps the normal built in connector as well so even a less lumpy cable won't fit either.

Options:

1. make a new lid with a hole big enough and 3dp it.
2. dremel a slot out of it.
3. dremel the side off the USB adapter

 

[med6753]

Fail. 

[beanflying]

@bd just buy one of these might squeeze in    eBay auction: #143256831252 Save the adapter if not for your 34401A 



Or one of these to mod the case 

[VK5RC]

Widlar-ise it! It will then fit!

[Saskia]

there is almost no problem that cannot easily be resolved by proper application of 50grams of CeeFour.

[mnementh]

Oh, my....  Whaaaaaaaat the #@*% did I just watch?      Geez, man...  Where do you find this stuff, mnementh?    LOL... 

That particular vid was a compilation of "robotics related" eps of We Bare Bears. Ice Bear is a tinkerer, and he has history. He's... complicated.

The show is one of Cartoon Network's most popular; hardly what I would call "outre". My 10-year-old daughter simply adores them, and honestly... it's some of the most creative (and alarmingly sqweaky-clean) programming to hit television in decades; an allegory for growing up minority in the "connected age".



mnem

[mnementh]

Oh, my....  Whaaaaaaaat the #@*% did I just watch?      Geez, man...  Where do you find this stuff, mnementh?    LOL... 

Ditto, I want my 5 minutes back. 

You know I love ya, man... but...

mnem