Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Cerebus]

Question is if this oil would hurt so much.

As it would very likely also carry contaminants from a 50+ years old compressor, I'm going to say confidence is high. It will most likely be mineral oil, so that is not necessarily a bad thing; however, it must affect the accuracy of the probe which specifies pure freon. One would have to create a whole new calibration chart; which if one could be arsed, might as well do so with something less hassle-factor like synthetic or even purified mineral oil if one doesn't need the full 40KV rating.

Remember; back when this probe was made, Freon was NOT the massive assache we've made of it since we discovered the damage it does to the environment. 

mnem
 

I'm curious: why did they use Freon? is SF6 too expensive?

I'm not aware that SF6 could work that way. This application with a liquid reservoir keeping the space, which is not filled by the liquid saturated with vapour, depends on the vapour pressure and is basically a non-pressurised container. I know of SF6 only in pressurized applications.

\$T_{crit}\$ for SF₆ is 45 Celsius so you could have it liquid at room temperature; I'm too lazy to work out what pressure it would have to be at. The stronger argument against it is that discharge in SF₆ can create highly toxic compounds (similar in toxicity to war gasses) so you don't want it in a probe that would be near people.

[tggzzz]

Well, I've had a little play with that new toy, and moved the ground lead from my p6013 to the p6015.

Everything about this probe is big. It has

• a 10ft (~3m) lead - good in the vicinity of 40kVpeak!
• probe plus handle is 350mm long with a diameter of 90mm
• even the tip is 5mm in diameter, so it isn't going to be used with ICs
• even the "compensating box" is large

So I think it can be reasonably classified as a "Real Man's Probe". My only other one in the same size range is on the A6902 isolator



Tweaking the very accessible trimpots and trimcaps on the "compensating box" gives this response to a 5V step input.




Very nice. The manual has a diagram showing that the ripple is to be expected with an input with a risetime that exceeds the probe's spec.

Now I have a choice: which do I keep:

• P6013: box, no ground strap (now!), 3D printed SLA handle
• P6015: no box, complete except for some accessories, probably worth more cash

[tggzzz]

\$T_{crit}\$ for SF₆ is 45 Celsius so you could have it liquid at room temperature; I'm too lazy to work out what pressure it would have to be at. The stronger argument against it is that discharge in SF₆ can create highly toxic compounds (similar in toxicity to war gasses) so you don't want it in a probe that would be near people.

The probe was supplied with a bottle of flurocarbon 114, so that the operator could refill the probe when necessary.

Not sure I'd want to do that with SF₆!

[bd139]

Ugh this picture gave me cancer. Molex for a bus?!?!?! 



SWTPC 6809.

Had flashbacks to that burned up 1740A for a bit there.

[Specmaster]

@Mr. Scram & @bd139 Cool, it seems that all our cars if given a little gentle treatment are capable of almost running on a gnats fart which just goes to show just how much more efficient ICE powered cars can be if designers can figure out ways of preventing traffic jams. I was particularly impressed with mine today returning those figures, given that is such a heavy car, automatic to boot and a 2.0L. Mr. Scram, I never realised that you sir had 2 cars, I only have the one and I could never have a city car given the fact that I'm, 1.93m tall and I have 3 sons equally as tall, and 2 of us are built like brick dunnies so we would never all fit in a city car together 

[bd139]

Also need to get rid of hills and idiots. Really the future is self driving electric cars that run in convoys a few feet apart at 100mph (lowest drag coefficient and highest traffic density)

[Specmaster]

Ugh this picture gave me cancer. Molex for a bus?!?!?! 



SWTPC 6809.

Had flashbacks to that burned up 1740A for a bit there.

I don't think that Molex are that bad really given that they have been the standard connector for peripherals on a PC for years without any known problems, its all down to the loading I suppose. Apparently those connectors on the 1740A was a known issue and in the main is more to with poor soldering to the PCB then anything else.

[Specmaster]

Also need to get rid of hills and idiots. Really the future is self driving electric cars that run in convoys a few feet apart at 100mph (lowest drag coefficient and highest traffic density)

The first is possible the second it seems will never happen as long as BS continues to baffle brains, the third they are experimenting with, but what happens when your battery runs flat, ouch?

[BU508A]

ok.  here is a question.

am thinking about acquiring a fluke 101 to use with a hv probe.

does anyone know if that little guy has a 10 Megohm input impedance?  (tried to google it but with no result)

why a 101 for this application? 

1. with no amp ranges it is almost idiot proof.

2. it is supposed to be a very robust meter.

3. if i do penis finger it......it is cheap and easy to replace.  (once toasted my fluke 8810a when the ground lead on the probe was attached to something that looked like ground, but was not.....freaking bifocals.  did manage to repair the 8810, but don't want to again risk blowing up one of my classics.  my hp 3466a is 10 Megohm on all ranges and works great with a probe.   but losing it would upset me.)


ps am also thing about an extech mn35.  would feel no remorse putting one of those in harms way.

I'd suggest to ask forum fellow joeqsmith, he'll probably know.

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/profile/?u=103672

Here he is testing the poor Fluke 101 against 13kV:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/hear-kitty-kitty-kitty-nope-not-that-kind-of-cat/msg704183/#msg704183

[bd139]

Also need to get rid of hills and idiots. Really the future is self driving electric cars that run in convoys a few feet apart at 100mph (lowest drag coefficient and highest traffic density)

The first is possible the second it seems will never happen as long as BS continues to baffle brains, the third they are experimenting with, but what happens when your battery runs flat, ouch?

AA comes out with a charger 

[BU508A]

@Mr. Scram & @bd139 Cool, it seems that all our cars if given a little gentle treatment are capable of almost running on a gnats fart which just goes to show just how much more efficient ICE powered cars can be if designers can figure out ways of preventing traffic jams. I was particularly impressed with mine today returning those figures, given that is such a heavy car, automatic to boot and a 2.0L. Mr. Scram, I never realised that you sir had 2 cars, I only have the one and I could never have a city car given the fact that I'm, 1.93m tall and I have 3 sons equally as tall, and 2 of us are built like brick dunnies so we would never all fit in a city car together 

I'm driving a Mercedes A-Klasse (W169, the latest model) and I'm 1.93m tall and not really slim (you can find me at the upper edge of the Gaussian bellcurve) ;-)

Edit: 
What I was trying to say: I can drive this car (it's the 180 Diesel) with 4l/100km, usually I need 4.5 - 5l on my daily basis. This car has enough room for me and for all the stuff I need to transport (e.g. my tools and parts for the Reparier-Bar). I'm driving with it also long distances, e.g. visitng some friend of mine near Dortmund ( 600km estimated from here where I live). What I like is: it is short. 3.99m outside
A very nice and compact car. It's a pity, that Mercedes doesn't it offering any more. The new A-Klasse is completely unusable for me and I hate SUVs. *sigh*

[Saskia]

hmm, our Skoda runs with 3.5 - 4 kg of cow farts /100 km (CNG), the Jaaaaaaag anywhere from 9.8 - 25 depending on the sensitivity in the right foot (my average is 11.5/100 over the past 25000 km, and the Ford citycar anywhere from 16 to 25l LPG /100. From a usability point of view the Ford is hard to beat. You can attach an 8m trailer with a 21' rigid inflatable weighing about 1100 kg and the Ford won't guzzle more gas than it is already doing. And I can stuff 2 pinball machines in there.

However from an economical point of view the Skoda cowfart is hard to beat.

[Specmaster]

Woot, my MAX134 has arrived at Heathrow Royal Mail have it now, lets hope that it gets to me a lot sooner than the estimated delivery date of Friday 5th June 

[Saskia]

congrats-
just got 32 GB of DDR4 3000 mem for 100 Brussels-Pesos ...

[Specmaster]

hmm, our Skoda runs with 3.5 - 4 kg of cow farts /100 km (CNG), the Jaaaaaaag anywhere from 9.8 - 25 depending on the sensitivity in the right foot (my average is 11.5/100 over the past 25000 km, and the Ford citycar anywhere from 16 to 25l LPG /100. From a usability point of view the Ford is hard to beat. You can attach an 8m trailer with a 21' rigid inflatable weighing about 1100 kg and the Ford won't guzzle more gas than it is already doing. And I can stuff 2 pinball machines in there.

However from an economical point of view the Skoda cowfart is hard to beat.

Wait a minute...., what 3 cars? Geez. Ok so the third car is a Škoda, snap thats what I have as well, mine is 2.0L TDI Super L&K sedan automatic 175BHP, whats yours?

Any more news on your husband yet?

[Specmaster]

congrats-
just got 32 GB of DDR4 3000 mem for 100 Brussels-Pesos ...

Wow, thats not a bad price. I'm keeping my fingers crossed now that the MAX134 solves the issue with my meter otherwise I'm to have to get heavy on its arse. 

[Saskia]

Husband: in bed next door, still with a fever and starting to cough. Went to the covid test this morning, awaiting result (PCR does take a day or 2). I picked up the sick slip a couple of hours ago and mailed it to his employer. We are basically waiting for the test results, apart from that there is not much we can do.
Thanks for asking, though.

as for the car situation, we are normally doing 80 - 100k km /year commuting. So we have a total of 4 cars even though the Jaaaag is pure luxury and we are not driving it that often.
Hubby has a 1996 Volvo S90 Sedan with 330 000 km on the meter, and I have the other ones. The Skoda is an Octavia TSI 1.4 G-TEC with 110 BHP. The good thing about it is the fuel economy as it is running on 3.5 kg of CNG /100 which translates to roughly 4€/100 at an extremely clean burn.  It thus only costs 62 pesos / year in taxes.

The Ford is a truck. and we use it as such. The Jag is used for long drives (Frankfurt to Vienna or similar) when we want a comfy car that is safe and where nobody would tailgate.

[mnementh]

congrats-
just got 32 GB of DDR4 3000 mem for 100 Brussels-Pesos ...

Wow, thats not a bad price. I'm keeping my fingers crossed now that the MAX134 solves the issue with my meter otherwise I'm to have to get heavy on its arse. 

I've seen GSKILL Aegis DDR4/3000 2x16 on NewEgg for CAD$149; that's about the same as 100€. Thought about it for all of about 3 seconds.

mnem
*poot!*

[0culus]

Did I need these four HP annual catalogs? No...did I want them? Oh yes...now have catalogs from 1978-2001 modulo 1981. Such wonderful places to build a TEA shopping list... 

 

[AVGresponding]

Ugh this picture gave me cancer. Molex for a bus?!?!?! 



SWTPC 6809.

Had flashbacks to that burned up 1740A for a bit there.

I don't think that Molex are that bad really given that they have been the standard connector for peripherals on a PC for years without any known problems, its all down to the loading I suppose. Apparently those connectors on the 1740A was a known issue and in the main is more to with poor soldering to the PCB then anything else.

They require too much operating force to ever be soldered well enough.

I remember a range of UPSs that used this system on a smaller scale, to connect power cards to the main board.

Given that we had to regularly remove the power cards to replace expired power semis, it wasn't unusual for the backplane/bus board to need stripping out every few times the power cards were, in order to reflow the solder.

Those only had 10 or 12 way connectors, I shudder to think how much force those 40 or 50 way connectors would need!   

[mansaxel]

Did I need these four HP annual catalogs? No...did I want them? Oh yes...now have catalogs from 1978-2001 modulo 1981. Such wonderful places to build a TEA shopping list... 

 

I have the 1984 one. It's bad enough with that one only.

[Cubdriver]

Did I need these four HP annual catalogs? No...did I want them? Oh yes...now have catalogs from 1978-2001 modulo 1981. Such wonderful places to build a TEA shopping list... 

 

Those'll help to feed your habit.  Now you need to get the earlier ones - they're where you'll find all the orange glowie things.   



This just prompted me to search the our favorite wallet drain and get a copy of the 1995 catalog that I was missing.  Damn, there are a lot of them out there now - it took about 5 years or so searching on the bay and Amazon for me to find all of the ones I now have.  It's a good time to be an HP catalog collector, it would seem.  They are certainly a TEA addict's crack!

-Pat

[URI]

In other news:

A man with one GPSDO knows the 10MHz reference, a man with two is never sure...      

Roughly twelve ours of persistence, channel one is a Samsung UCCM-LPK module, channel two (also trigger-source) is a Trimble Thunderbolt:



edit: on -> one

[bitseeker]

I don't get it.

There is a nice HP 3456A offered by this zhoefler seller which I've mentioned here occasionly (no affiliations).
But why do people go crazy about this meter? Current bid is 560 Euro!   

For this money one can get without any problems a 34401A in very good condition.   

Link to the auction:
https://www.ebay.de/itm/133396449233

Hey, it's the youngest incarnation with rubber keys! Glad I got my two for little money when no one was interested in them.   

Holy Sh*t!  Ended with a bid of EUR 586,83!   
Weird. Corona related? Someone with too much time and too much money?       

EUR 586.... what the hell.....   why...., we are talking bout a 3456A right, maybe they lost their glasses and read 3458A and thought bargain??

587€! That's nutty. Yeah, maybe they thought it was a 3458A. Oops!

Here, the pendulum swings to the other extreme: it seems hardly anyone wants a 3456. The older versions often sell for under $100.

[bitseeker]

Ugh this picture gave me cancer. Molex for a bus?!?!?! 



SWTPC 6809.

Had flashbacks to that burned up 1740A for a bit there.

I had the same flashback — was the first thing that came to mind.