Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Specmaster]

Put offer on something else. Going batshit this week 

Edit: oh I need a calibrated voltage reference. What’s currently in vogue?

Edit 2: offer accepted and I own an HP 6206B now which looks considerably less skanky than that last one I bought

I have one of these little units, pretty good value IMO https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/High-Precision-Voltage-Reference-Module-AD584kH-4-Channel-2-5V-7-5V-5V-10V-E5Y4/123288497969 or if your feeling slightly less of a cheapskate you could go for one of these, I can also vouch for this as I also have one and will also do DC current upto 24mA in 0.001mA increments if required https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MASTECH-MS7221-Voltage-Current-Calibrator-DC-Current-Loop-DC-Voltage-Tester/322099341828 or there is one of these 2nd hand in the UK complete with its metal carrying case etc https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MASTECH-MS7221-VOLT-mA-Calibrator-Measurement-Tool-With-High-Accuracy-Display/153757995297 .

[Neomys Sapiens]

On the topic of the magnetometer: it comes with one probe, which is, according to LSC systematics, an axial probe. So if anyone sees a fitting transverse probe offered as surplus or on Ebay, please drop me a note.
Also, I will need a calibration magnet and a zero-gauss alignment aid.

[Saskia]

I effing told myself "don't buy Samsung", could not resist this qled monitor, and now it is underperforming on the effing HDMI port.

Bloody deep guano.

Back to Asus.

Samsung: 

[bd139]

Put offer on something else. Going batshit this week 

Edit: oh I need a calibrated voltage reference. What’s currently in vogue?

Edit 2: offer accepted and I own an HP 6206B now which looks considerably less skanky than that last one I bought

I have one of these little units, pretty good value IMO https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/High-Precision-Voltage-Reference-Module-AD584kH-4-Channel-2-5V-7-5V-5V-10V-E5Y4/123288497969 or if your feeling slightly less of a cheapskate you could go for one of these, I can also vouch for this as I also have one and will also do DC current upto 24mA in 0.001mA increments if required https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MASTECH-MS7221-Voltage-Current-Calibrator-DC-Current-Loop-DC-Voltage-Tester/322099341828 or there is one of these 2nd hand in the UK complete with its metal carrying case etc https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MASTECH-MS7221-VOLT-mA-Calibrator-Measurement-Tool-With-High-Accuracy-Display/153757995297 .

Perfect. Will order the cheap one  . Thank you 

I effing told myself "don't buy Samsung", could not resist this qled monitor, and now it is underperforming on the effing HDMI port.

Bloody deep guano.

Back to Asus.

Samsung: 

Don't get me started on Samsung crap. HDMI port on ours has a broken fucked up HDCP implementation that means you can't connect a Roku or Apple TV to it. Fucking pile of shite!

[SilverSolder]

Put offer on something else. Going batshit this week 

Edit: oh I need a calibrated voltage reference. What’s currently in vogue?

Edit 2: offer accepted and I own an HP 6206B now which looks considerably less skanky than that last one I bought

I have one of these little units, pretty good value IMO https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/High-Precision-Voltage-Reference-Module-AD584kH-4-Channel-2-5V-7-5V-5V-10V-E5Y4/123288497969 or if your feeling slightly less of a cheapskate you could go for one of these, I can also vouch for this as I also have one and will also do DC current upto 24mA in 0.001mA increments if required https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MASTECH-MS7221-Voltage-Current-Calibrator-DC-Current-Loop-DC-Voltage-Tester/322099341828 or there is one of these 2nd hand in the UK complete with its metal carrying case etc https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MASTECH-MS7221-VOLT-mA-Calibrator-Measurement-Tool-With-High-Accuracy-Display/153757995297 .

Perfect. Will order the cheap one  . Thank you 

I effing told myself "don't buy Samsung", could not resist this qled monitor, and now it is underperforming on the effing HDMI port.

Bloody deep guano.

Back to Asus.

Samsung: 

Don't get me started on Samsung crap. HDMI port on ours has a broken fucked up HDCP implementation that means you can't connect a Roku or Apple TV to it. Fucking pile of shite!

Modern connections are getting unnecessarily overcomplicated...   Say what you want about the low quality of old style video connectors, but everything always worked as expected, off a standard signal...

[bd139]

Totally agree. The shot show of DisplayPort, hdmi, DVI and now usb-c is a nightmare

I couldn’t get my Mac to talk to my 4K iiyama over HDMI properly. Had to buy a USB-C to DisplayPort cable ffs.

[SilverSolder]

Totally agree. The shot show of DisplayPort, hdmi, DVI and now usb-c is a nightmare

I couldn’t get my Mac to talk to my 4K iiyama over HDMI properly. Had to buy a USB-C to DisplayPort cable ffs.

Right, and since it always just seems to be cables (with no electronics), one suspects it is "all the same sh!t underneath" but you end up having to buy another cable every f@cking time you want to connect something new...

[bd139]

Which results in the whole “large plastic crate full of display cables” problem i am suffering from. It’s all land fill. Perhaps EU should regulate that too as well as phone chargers.

[Saskia]

just wet their marketing and product design teams' nuts with some soapy water, attach some clamps and give it a go.
They should not be allowed to reproduce anyway.

[Specmaster]

Personally, I have had zero issues with Samsung monitors or TV's for that. Every time we decide to upgrade any of them, every one says, we have zero trouble and good picture quality, lets stay with Samsung, so all our TV's and monitors are theirs apart from my monitor and a spare one I have which are both LG simply because my old company got them and so I had to have one with my company PC and then I purchased another, so I could have a dual monitor set up running. 

[Kosmic]

Edit: oh I need a calibrated voltage reference. What’s currently in vogue?

I bought one of those: https://electron.plus/product/10v-precision-reference

+/-0.003% (30ppm), Made in UK, they are cheap and work fine.

[Neomys Sapiens]

Samsung: 

The Korean peninsula was never known as cavalry country. So let the dead horses r.i.p.

[Saskia]

well, this Samsung PoS is advertised as doing 3840x2160 on HDMI 2, and it does not do so when connected to that TP of mine.

It will probably do it when hooked up to one of those hyper RTX cards, but I cannot get them into the laptop. I need high resolution for all those fucking M$sheet windows that pop up on my Homeoffice machine which is our standard issue at work.

It worked at 2560x1440 or 4K with the Asus, it aint working with that PoS Samsung, mainly because it pnp as an effing tv, even tho it clearly states business monitor on the box.

[bd139]

Edit: oh I need a calibrated voltage reference. What’s currently in vogue?

I bought one of those: https://electron.plus/product/10v-precision-reference

+/-0.003% (30ppm), Made in UK, they are cheap and work fine.

Interesting product. Should have brought them on to the market myself 

[worsthorse]

Put offer on something else. Going batshit this week 

Edit: oh I need a calibrated voltage reference. What’s currently in vogue?

Edit 2: offer accepted and I own an HP 6206B now which looks considerably less skanky than that last one I bought

I have one of these little units, pretty good value IMO https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/High-Precision-Voltage-Reference-Module-AD584kH-4-Channel-2-5V-7-5V-5V-10V-E5Y4/123288497969 or if your feeling slightly less of a cheapskate you could go for one of these, I can also vouch for this as I also have one and will also do DC current upto 24mA in 0.001mA increments if required https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MASTECH-MS7221-Voltage-Current-Calibrator-DC-Current-Loop-DC-Voltage-Tester/322099341828 or there is one of these 2nd hand in the UK complete with its metal carrying case etc https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MASTECH-MS7221-VOLT-mA-Calibrator-Measurement-Tool-With-High-Accuracy-Display/153757995297 .

I have two different voltage references. This one: 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AD584JH-4-Channel-2-5-7-5-5-10v-High-Precision-Voltage-Reference-Module-15ppm/293191601569 

and this one

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-AD584-4-Channel-2-5v-7-5v-5v-10v-High-Precision-Voltage-Reference-Module/112752777462

both of them compare favorably with the Datel DVC-8500A, at least in my 5.5 digit world.  i haven't found a current reference that I can afford, so building one is on my to do list.

[capt bullshot]

Another update on the PM6654 

It's an intermittent failure now  - sometimes it comes up OK and some other times with that dreaded "E4" and various symptoms (like just working, working halfway or not at all)



So further investigation will be required.

Good news: If it works, apparently it does fine on all functions and ranges as far as I could check.

[Neomys Sapiens]

Does anyone round here own a Tek 2430/2440 AND a Tek 2445/2465/2467 (without DMM hump)?
My interest is whether the front cover of the latter does fit the former too.

[Kosmic]

Edit: oh I need a calibrated voltage reference. What’s currently in vogue?

I bought one of those: https://electron.plus/product/10v-precision-reference

+/-0.003% (30ppm), Made in UK, they are cheap and work fine.

Interesting product. Should have brought them on to the market myself 

The guy behind electron plus is hanging on the forum https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/new-test-equipment-manufacturer!/msg2793792/#msg2793792

[Cerebus]

Plenty of analogue computation happens near DC 

I actually want to test some simple Sallen-key filters i have designed with cut-offs around 20Hz. That's a little low for DMMs and analogue scopes

My HP 34461 would do it:

[mnementh]

   So... just to silence that little niggling in the back of my brain... I went to my favorite TE Recycler, Alltest, and looked in their stock. I found a dropped & abused 54645AN that still powers up with a bright crisp screen & nice square grid for $65... and another $65 shipping to the GWN. 

I don't need another project. But I feel sorry for the poor thing... 

I know these things had a problem with the soft keys wearing out and becoming unresponsive... any other gotchas, severe or otherwise...?

mnem
*wibble*

[bd139]

Plenty of analogue computation happens near DC 

I actually want to test some simple Sallen-key filters i have designed with cut-offs around 20Hz. That's a little low for DMMs and analogue scopes

My HP 34461 would do it:

(Attachment Link)

Yes the bust up pile of shit 8060a I just nabbed also does it reasonably well thus proving there is more than just madness involved



Cost a lot less. If it works and/or doesn’t cost too much to repair.

[bd139]

   So... just to silence that little niggling in the back of my brain... I went to my favorite TE Recycler, Alltest, and looked in their stock. I found a dropped & abused 54645AN that still powers up with a bright crisp screen & nice square grid for $65... and another $65 shipping to the GWN. 

I don't need another project. But I feel sorry for the poor thing... 

I know these things had a problem with the soft keys wearing out and becoming unresponsive... any other gotchas, severe or otherwise...?

mnem
*wibble*

Don’t do it. If one of them had been dropped which is likely it’s a write off. The front BNCs will fuck the board up.

I refer you to the shit show I bought:

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/hp-54602b-oscilloscope-problems-repair/

[mnementh]

That's actually exactly what I was expecting, honestly. A gamble on whether the BNCs had been damaged, and board repair if so.

Still... part of me wants to save the poor damned thing; if only the shipping weren't so fukkin' unreal to up here.

mnem
grr. arg.

[bd139]

You might break even on the CRT, power supply, knobs and main board. That’s what became of mine 

[mnementh]

Yeah... I'm gonna force myself to sleep on it. If it still niggles at me after lunch tomorrow I'll reconsider.

mnem