Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[MathWizard]

Ok maybe 6-1/2d meters are not as expensive as I thought, but it was only a few years ago I was thinking a $50 DMM as a good idea.

The price curve gets pretty steep. But if I can afford the Keysight 34465A, is that really their 2nd best DMM (at least thats 2-ch??) The 33470A is 7-1/2d. And Fluke doesn't really have much at that level, but they own Keithley?, and just have them make them ??

So if you had the money, what are the actual best 6-1/2d meters ? If my budget is that close to the top level DMMs already, that's great.

I used to buy the 2nd-3rd best gaming CPU/GPU's. So I should not worry about getting a top level DMM

[beanflying]

Ok maybe 6-1/2d meters are not as expensive as I thought, but it was only a few years ago I was thinking a $50 DMM as a good idea.

The price curve gets pretty steep. But if I afford the Keysight 34465A, is that really their 2nd best DMM (at least thats 2-ch??) The 33470A is 7-1/2d. And Fluke doesn't really have much at that level, but they own Keithley?, and just have them make them ??

So if you had the money, what are the actual best 6-1/2d meters ? If my budget is that close to the top level DMMs already, that's great.

Lots of topics out there some extra long too.

Depends on what YOU need from a meter, not what Someone else TELLS you what you need  Very happy with my few including an Keysight 34461A and a 34401A. The 34401A is the more stable of the two. As to the 34465A make sure the $ spend is worth it FOR YOU.

[Neomys Sapiens]

Ok maybe 6-1/2d meters are not as expensive as I thought, but it was only a few years ago I was thinking a $50 DMM as a good idea.

The price curve gets pretty steep. But if I can afford the Keysight 34465A, is that really their 2nd best DMM (at least thats 2-ch??) The 33470A is 7-1/2d. And Fluke doesn't really have much at that level, but they own Keithley?, and just have them make them ??

So if you had the money, what are the actual best 6-1/2d meters ? If my budget is that close to the top level DMMs already, that's great.

I used to buy the 2nd-3rd best gaming CPU/GPU's. So I should not worry about getting a top level DMM

Keithley is owned by Tektronix.

[med6753]

I just realized it's Saturday evening and I completely forgot about Discord. 

See, when you're retired everyday is "Saturday".  I love not having to live by the clock/calendar. 

But there might be a touch of old age forgetfulness here too. 

[mnementh]

Huh. Tried the new PG502 again and it did not become better in the meantime.
But the one I got first as 'defective' is actually the one less shot up.
I took a fuse from the new one to replace the one blown and it did not blow.
No power light, but the amplitude controls work as advertised.
At 100MHz, it works in a way that is consistent with what one expects of a pulse generator.
At 250MHz, it outputs something with a frequency around 250MHz.
I think I will proceed with this one. That would mean that I can't complain about the recent one (which I bought as 'working'),because I need the parts.

Why on earth would THAT stop you from griping...? It is LITERALLY the REASON for this place!!! 

mnem
*toddles off to brew a jug of iced TEA*

Complain to the seller.

Okay... complain to the seller. He can join in the fun too! 

mnem
 

[beanflying]

Game Fiends

Doom Eternal is 50% off on Steam and Halo Master Chief is 20% off. Mmmm Food, 100W Laser Tube or Games ........ Couldn't find any TEA worth buying.

[TorinoFermic]

Game Fiends

Doom Eternal is 50% off on Steam and Halo Master Chief is 20% off. Mmmm Food, 100W Laser Tube or Games ........ Couldn't find any TEA worth buying.

There's a great sale with Sonic Generations Collection https://store.steampowered.com/app/71340/Sonic_Generations_Collection/

[VK5RC]

Tempted to buy this Heretical Text and hold a Solo Book Burning  eBay auction: #333627645618

Hmmm. Is it pro RPN or pro knuckledraerr I mean algebraic?   

I think it some sort of Ill conceived Conversion Text and as it deviates from BODMAS/BOMDAS I was Taught it is clearly a Heresy and needs to be shown the Instruments and then burnt at the stake 

So like the Gutenberg Bible of calculating... 

If you want to See RPN as Single piece hand cranked typesetting then yes maybe it is 

Doesn't that make a simple algebraic calculator the equivalent of hand written text on bound leather in Latin?

[beanflying]

Tempted to buy this Heretical Text and hold a Solo Book Burning  eBay auction: #333627645618

Hmmm. Is it pro RPN or pro knuckledraerr I mean algebraic?   

I think it some sort of Ill conceived Conversion Text and as it deviates from BODMAS/BOMDAS I was Taught it is clearly a Heresy and needs to be shown the Instruments and then burnt at the stake 

So like the Gutenberg Bible of calculating... 

If you want to See RPN as Single piece hand cranked typesetting then yes maybe it is 

Doesn't that make a simple algebraic calculator the equivalent of hand written text on bound leather in Latin?

Thus making it 'closer' to the Real Word unlike the bastardised translations and perversions that followed creating RPN 

[Ero-Shan]

Here we go ...

34 metric kilograms in a somewhat awkward to carry case that I needed to haul 2 storeys up first. My back is kaputt since 19 years already; this didn't really help. 

It's a Fluke 5101B, complete with the tape drive:


What it did not have, like so many of its TE brethren, were its feet. Amputated, as usual. This proper boat anchor (43 x 22 x 60 cm³) will not sit on my new workbench without feet! They're not perfect, but adequate for the job. ¹


DC and Ohms are working, albeit not spot-on. AC is completely dead. The knob for the error encoder is missing. As I'm not too concerned with everything being original, that's a non-problem. The fan grill is also absent, I'm sure I have something that'll fit.

Of course, there's no chance I will ever get that thing calibrated. There might not even be a chance I get the AC section repaired (lucky me, I already have that YEW AC calibrator!). But I do have stable DC voltages upto 1 kV now.

And a Y5000 interface/buffer (which I highly doubt I'll ever need).


---------------------------
¹ At its final resting place, it will not need any feet: the cart it is going to is only 76 cm wide. It can't really take to 43 cm wide instruments side-by-side. Unless they sit on their bellies, hanging over a few centimeters. The boat-anchor next to it is the Anritsu MG3633A signal generator. As it happens, also with missing feet.

[Brumby]

True boat anchor material!!

I admire your fortitude. 

[capt bullshot]

Here we go ...

34 metric kilograms ...

Yes, I remember lifting such a beast from the cellar to the new lab right under the roof. Don't mention that here, Saskia might ask for help moving Pinballs around Anyway, the Anritsu MG3633A are 29kg AFAIR, and we (DC1MC and I) did five of them

It's a Fluke 5101B ...

Well known to me (not yours), a boat anchor and piece of TEA one needs to have, the more modern ones are still not affordable, though a 5500A (what would be my next piece of TEA to dream of) is quite an old bloke today.

DC and Ohms are working, albeit not spot-on. AC is completely dead. The knob for the error encoder is missing. As I'm not too concerned with everything being original, that's a non-problem. The fan grill is also absent, I'm sure I have something that'll fit.

A known-good 34401A would be enough for checking the performance, and calibration of the DC 10V to a reasonable (not perfect) accuracy. My 5100B shows 10V within 40ppm on all my 6 1/2 digit multimeters.
You should check the > 20V (e.g. @ 100V) ranges for stability, mine has a way higher low frequency noise in these ranges than in the 10V range. Depending on what DMM one uses, this can be quite obvious (fast update rate and no filtering, the default setting on a 34401A doesn't show that). A 7A13 "comparator" plug-in for a 7000 scope can be quite useful here to show the stability e.g. @100V output.

[capt bullshot]

5101B - For the non-working AC:
Try to operate the 5101B with an external oscillator. You'd need to build an adaptor from the small analog ribbon connector at the backside to a single BNC. With such an adaptor, you can input a 1Vss AC (afair) signal (e.g. 1kHz or 50Hz) from an external function generator. As most of the internal circuitry is used for both the AC and DC output, this might give you a hint for troubleshooting.


Edit:
This is 100V (noisy): https://cb.wunderkis.de/wk-pub/mvi/100V.ogg
This is 10V (stable): https://cb.wunderkis.de/wk-pub/mvi/10V.ogg

Hope the videos work, with my Firefox they do. Don't nail me on the 40ppm @10V, the Keithley 196 doesn't do that and it's drifting anyway (and is on my repair stack), but it has a nice red LED starburst display and shows nicely the noise / unstability of the 5100B @100V.

[beanflying]

Here we go ...

34 metric kilograms in a somewhat awkward to carry case that I needed to haul 2 storeys up first. My back is kaputt since 19 years already; this didn't really help. 

It's a Fluke 5101B, complete with the tape drive:


What it did not have, like so many of its TE brethren, were its feet. Amputated, as usual. This proper boat anchor (43 x 22 x 60 cm³) will not sit on my new workbench without feet! They're not perfect, but adequate for the job. ¹

DC and Ohms are working, albeit not spot-on. AC is completely dead. The knob for the error encoder is missing. As I'm not too concerned with everything being original, that's a non-problem. The fan grill is also absent, I'm sure I have something that'll fit.

Of course, there's no chance I will ever get that thing calibrated. There might not even be a chance I get the AC section repaired (lucky me, I already have that YEW AC calibrator!). But I do have stable DC voltages upto 1 kV now.

And a Y5000 interface/buffer (which I highly doubt I'll ever need).


---------------------------
¹ At its final resting place, it will not need any feet: the cart it is going to is only 76 cm wide. It can't really take to 43 cm wide instruments side-by-side. Unless they sit on their bellies, hanging over a few centimeters. The boat-anchor next to it is the Anritsu MG3633A signal generator. As it happens, also with missing feet.

I have one and they aren't 'that heavy'  Mine has all voltage ranges dead and is in the Stack. Resistance is fine.

Mine here and some good links and advice from others just after it https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/test-equipment-anonymous-(tea)-group-therapy-thread/msg2931532/#msg2931532

This one in particular https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/test-equipment-anonymous-(tea)-group-therapy-thread/msg2923390/?topicseen#msg2923390

[Specmaster]

I just realized it's Saturday evening and I completely forgot about Discord. 

See, when you're retired everyday is "Saturday".  I love not having to live by the clock/calendar. 

But there might be a touch of old age forgetfulness here too. 

Yes, we thought that might have been asleep, you were missed on discord last night. But you're right, everyday feels like a Saturday when your retired, the clock/calendar is no more our lord and master 

[med6753]

I just realized it's Saturday evening and I completely forgot about Discord. 

See, when you're retired everyday is "Saturday".  I love not having to live by the clock/calendar. 

But there might be a touch of old age forgetfulness here too. 

Yes, we thought that might have been asleep, you were missed on discord last night. But you're right, everyday feels like a Saturday when your retired, the clock/calendar is no more our lord and master 

Nope, I was awake and actually quite busy with a bunch of assorted stuff including submitting the final capacitor order for the Type 106. Those parts should be here by Wednesday.

[Saskia]

just returned from trip with my daughter. Found that there is a new round of confiscations/expropriations without compensation coming up in Germany. They want to grab about 50k€ of my stuff.

So I will be trading my possessions (those that I can easily get rid of) for some rare metals and put plan "alligator islands" in motion.

[Specmaster]

Heads up for any UK members looking for a reasonable 4.5 to 6.5 digit bench meter (to get the 6.5 digit selected press the *.* and then the 5 1/2 button)

This is a manual switching, not an autoranger.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Thurlby-1905a-Multimeter/283929078082

[Ero-Shan]

Thanks to all for the tips regarding the 5101B. Still not sure whether I should even try to tackle this. I certainly should try to check out DC, however. The 3458A might come to help the 34401As. 
I read Marc Michalzik's Reparaturbericht months ago ... which just helped to fuel my interest in getting such a beast. 

My repair queue is already miles long, and before I start on that, I have to wash about 700 drawers of those newly acquired magazines (I manage to do about 60 at a time, which takes more than one hour) and do a grand re-sorting of all the components (where I had 3 values of trimmers - one decade - in a single drawer, I now need 1 to 4 drawers per value). Yes this is silly. Going at my current rate, I'll start working on it around my 95^th birthday. 

Need to stay away from the bay from a long while now.

[Specmaster]

Thanks to all for the tips regarding the 5101B. Still not sure whether I should even try to tackle this. I certainly should try to check out DC, however. The 3458A might come to help the 34401As. 
I read Marc Michalzik's Reparaturbericht months ago ... which just helped to fuel my interest in getting such a beast. 

My repair queue is already miles long, and before I start on that, I have to wash about 700 drawers of those newly acquired magazines (I manage to do about 60 at a time, which takes more than one hour) and do a grand re-sorting of all the components (where I had 3 values of trimmers - one decade - in a single drawer, I now need 1 to 4 drawers per value). Yes this is silly. Going at my current rate, I'll start working on it around my 95^th birthday. 

Need to stay away from the bay from a long while now.

You know your problem is being about the jammiest ever dumpster diver, you're a victim of your own success as they say

[Ero-Shan]

Thanks to all for the tips regarding the 5101B. Still not sure whether I should even try to tackle this. I certainly should try to check out DC, however. The 3458A might come to help the 34401As. 
I read Marc Michalzik's Reparaturbericht months ago ... which just helped to fuel my interest in getting such a beast. 

My repair queue is already miles long, and before I start on that, I have to wash about 700 drawers of those newly acquired magazines (I manage to do about 60 at a time, which takes more than one hour) and do a grand re-sorting of all the components (where I had 3 values of trimmers - one decade - in a single drawer, I now need 1 to 4 drawers per value). Yes this is silly. Going at my current rate, I'll start working on it around my 95^th birthday. 

Need to stay away from the bay from a long while now.

You know your problem is being about the jammiest ever dumpster diver, you're a victim of your own success as they say

Now I have a bad conscience. Thank you very much. 

[mnementh]

"Your conscience is the measure of the honesty of your selfishness. Listen to it carefully."

mnem

[Specmaster]

"Your conscience is the measure of the honesty of your selfishness. Listen to it carefully."

mnem

Not quite, he did help me out and I dare say a few others as well 

[Saskia]

Share and Enjoy !

[BU508A]

Do we have here some Tektronix fans?   
Just spotted in the German "ebay Kleinanzeigen" (no affiliations with the sellers):

A very nice Tek 7623A with 6 modules for 210.- EUR
https://www.ebay-kleinanzeigen.de/s-anzeige/speicher-oszilloskop-tektronix-7623a-plus-einschuebe/1440866205-168-2137


It comes with these modules:

• 3x 7A18
• 3x 7B53A

And one of these could be handy:
Some Tek scope carts, 50.- EUR.
https://www.ebay-kleinanzeigen.de/s-anzeige/tektronix-beistellwagen-diverse/1441476862-168-1512