Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[bitseeker]

"Risky purchase" is an interesting concept - really, eBay owes its customers to define what that means up front!

Indeed, I can't think of a more blatant unfairness than to say "We won't cover 'risky' purchases, but we won't tell you up front which ones are 'risky'.".

I'm guessing here, but I think you'll find that the ones they consider "risky" are the ones where they require ePay. I almost never buy anything online without PP anymore; if a vendor doesn't want to accept PP, it's fair odds they are either such cheap-ass skinflints they refuse to give PP their cut (which is STILL considerably cheaper than any merchant CC processing account, FFS) or they're afraid of the customer actually having recourse when they don't fulfill the purchase.

Fuck 'em all.

I still use Paypal, since that provides protection as well. So, all is not lost, yet. However, it's good to be aware (especially if you buy items internationally) as it caught me by surprise. I would assume packages lost via GSP wouldn't contribute to this kind of ban, but I have no evidence of that either way.

[psykok]

Today arrival.    

cool, what are you gonna  do with all this nice res?

Some time ago I had the idea to build a little box with some nice resistors, capacitors, diodes, LEDs, voltage reference, current reference, oscillator etc. which I can carry with me. Could be useful when one is visiting flea-markets, e.g. the HAM Radio in Friedrichshafen. I got the idea from joeqsmith (forum fellow as well) when I watched some of his videos.

really cool idea.

Where did you purchased  these res?

[bitseeker]

Today arrival.    

cool, what are you gonna  do with all this nice res?

Some time ago I had the idea to build a little box with some nice resistors, capacitors, diodes, LEDs, voltage reference, current reference, oscillator etc. which I can carry with me. Could be useful when one is visiting flea-markets, e.g. the HAM Radio in Friedrichshafen. I got the idea from joeqsmith (forum fellow as well) when I watched some of his videos.

Great idea. I hope you'll make a thread for your reference box project.

[mnementh]

A mixed bag at $400-500 DOE: Ryzen 5 3550H (NOT Zen2), PCIe3.0, DDR4, early models NOT NVMe. But hey! a Ryzen "NUC"! 

mnem
 

[mnementh]

Public Service Announcement

eBay's Buyer Protection works, but you're not guaranteed to have it as a buyer on eBay. If eBay determines (the criteria for which is a secret, apparently) that your purchases have been "risky," then they'll revoke Buyer Protection on your purchases without warning.

I discovered this recently when an item from China was overdue by a month. Going to "Item didn't arrive" greets you with a message that Buyer Protection is not available on your purchase. Thanks, eBay, for punishing me for things outside my control.

Thankfully, the item arrived after all. I guess it's AliExpress from now on for buying goods from China.

Ouch. That deserves to be propagated widely.

Is there any "documentation" available, e.g. a screenshot showing the eff-off message?

Unfortunately, I didn't save a screenshot and the items have since arrived.

This isn't new, I found this out 8 months ago, for international purchases you only have 30 days to raise a INR claim, after that the dispute process is meaningless as it can't be escalated to ePay.

I had also assumed it was because it was too late after the estimated arrival time, so I checked another one that was within the range of the arrival estimate and it also returned the same message: No longer covered by Buyer Protection.

That's when I dug up many posts in the eBay Community forums complaining about not having coverage and some threads saying that eBay has revoked Buyer Protection before. Some cases were pretty clear-cut in that the buyer had very bad feedback history or waited too long to open an INR case. I don't fit either. So, the only conclusion I could come to was that I had triggered some limited due to orders from China not arriving. From memory, I think I've used Buyer Protection two or three times.

It seems they're TRYING to drive people away. 

WAG: You think Bezos bought off the board to run the whole thing into the ground so he could just absorb the whole stinking mess for hardware value and toss it out the airlock...?

mnem
 

[Saskia]

what for ?

for this kind of application it does not really need computing power.
It needs a PCIE-slot, 2 Sata slots, a gigabit ethernet, potentially WiFi even though it will perform a lot better using gbit ethernet.
And it needs to be as slim as possible and run as cold as possible.

The costly things for this kind of build are not the mainboard and the CPU, however the Case, power supply, slot in DVD or Blue Ray and the very specific sound card which in itself will set you back about 250€ ...

I am using old Haswell cpus for these builds because the boards are easy to get, have everything you need, are fully supported by the OS, do come in the right form factor and support heat pipe designs because there is just nothing in the way. No complex VRMs or other crap that would block anything.

I do have one Fujitsu industrial board sitting here which would also be suitable as it is built for an extended temperature range, but that is an industrial, and not a home appliance board, which they make you feel by attaching the industrial price tag.

So the best way to go about this kind of build is to use something that does not eat up too much juice (which is why I like CPUs with 35W TDP max).

[mansaxel]

Yeah, it's my birthday. Not an even number.

As I've written previously, I'm very happily married. This happened this morning:



(if the PHP shite is acting its usual randomness, you'll find the image at http://vvv.besserwisser.org/Public/Bilder/morning.jpeg )

What is in the packages? It is on-topic, that is as much clue that you'll get.

[BU508A]

Today arrival.    

cool, what are you gonna  do with all this nice res?

Some time ago I had the idea to build a little box with some nice resistors, capacitors, diodes, LEDs, voltage reference, current reference, oscillator etc. which I can carry with me. Could be useful when one is visiting flea-markets, e.g. the HAM Radio in Friedrichshafen. I got the idea from joeqsmith (forum fellow as well) when I watched some of his videos.

really cool idea.

Where did you purchased  these res?

It was one of these lucky findings one stumbles over occasionly.
I've bought them from this seller: zhoefler in the bay of evil.

This was the auction: https://www.ebay.de/itm/133490619724

I'm having always a close look at him, because from time to time he is offering interesting things to a reasonable price.
For example, these nice transformers can be used if you want to distribute a 10MHz reference signal through your lab:
https://www.ebay.de/itm/3-St-SMD-Trafos-HX5004ENL-Pulse-E1107-/132178369554



Or, this nice Spectrum Analyzer from Advantest:
https://www.ebay.de/itm/1-St-Spectrum-Analyzer-TR-4131-10kHz-3-5GHz-ADVANTEST-gebr-/402369334372



I do not have any affiliations with this seller and all the time I've bought things there, they were good to excellent. Fast shipping.
One time I've received an envelope with stuff in it. It had a hole in it. Took some pictures, send him an email and two days later I got a spare one for the lost item. No hazzle.

[factory]

What's that?:



That has got to be the biggest panel meter that I've seen outside a power station control room.

Are you referring to the RE IM6 Megommeter on the left hand side of the first picture or something else?

David

As I don't know what it is I can't say if it is the "RE IM6 Megommeter". If that's the device I drew a bright orange box around, then yes.

Anyway, I wants it; I loves big analogue meters.

I don't know why but I don't see an orange box in the picture.

Some better pictures of a RE IM6 Megommeter here;
https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/radiometer_megohmmeter_im6_im.html
Sorry to say it's now back in my van to go into storage for future repair & use.

David

Either you've got a unique kind of colour blindness, or more likely, the forum's playing silly buggers with images again 'cause it looks fine here. I'll upload it again as an attachment to this message and we'll see if that does the trick.

(Attachment Link)

The forum wasn't showing me the picture, now I can confirm it was the RE Megohmmeter in the orange box, the meter scale seems a little small compared with the overall size.



David

[BU508A]

Today arrival.    

cool, what are you gonna  do with all this nice res?

Some time ago I had the idea to build a little box with some nice resistors, capacitors, diodes, LEDs, voltage reference, current reference, oscillator etc. which I can carry with me. Could be useful when one is visiting flea-markets, e.g. the HAM Radio in Friedrichshafen. I got the idea from joeqsmith (forum fellow as well) when I watched some of his videos.

Great idea. I hope you'll make a thread for your reference box project.

Thanks.    I for sure will do this and let you know. I think this will be a nice project for the winter time.
But first I have to finish another TEA-related project which I will present here of course.
All I can say currently is: Nixie-tubes are involved. 

[BU508A]

[...]

The forum wasn't showing me the picture, now I can confirm it was the RE Megohmmeter in the orange box, the meter scale seems a little small compared with the overall size.



David

Why did they use this ON - OFF - ON switch for the voltage testing? I mean, a simple ON - OFF switch would do it as well? 

[mansaxel]

Kettle for my Trangia

It isn't properly used until the plastic on the handle has melted, and the molten plastic has thumb inprints, reminding the owner of the incident. They work finely on plain fires as well, and while I suspect you'll be using them for a typical "brew" (i.e tea) the only proper modus operandi is boiling coffee.

This is done thusly:

1. Obtain coarsely ground coffee. French press ground is quite OK. In Sweden, you'd buy "Kokmalet".

2. Fill kettle with cold water. Preferably from a stream, well, or if necessary, a tap.

3. Pour coffee grounds on top of water. They'll float first, but that'll cease. 

4. How much? More than naïvely thought, but no precise amount can be given. You'll learn through a process that people who talk about "frameworks" and "Software devlopment" call "continuous delivery", a method normal people call "trial and error" combined with "iteration through all possible variables until things happen to not break" .

5. Put on heating source. When coffee/water mix boils, remove from heat, allow to settle and pour carefully.

6. Drink, while observing rate of coffee grounds passing lips.

7. On rate threshold trigger, remove cup, allow a second settlement, and try again.

8. Do not remove boilt grounds from pot; instead re-use together with more water and some grounds. After some 3 boils, you're getting somewhere.

Hot beverage trivia: When the Swedish army bought Centurion tanks in the 50's, they of course came with a kettle. This was very well received by the tankers, who from then on insist that a tank is not worthy of their consideration unless it's got a kettle. Thus, one of the mods that turn the Leo 2 into a Strv 122 is "install kettle".

[factory]

looks like a couple of Smiths 400Hz test set there too. I might be interested in those if you arn't keeping them.

There are two small Smiths items which look to be part of something much bigger. I'll try and add some pictures later.

David

Random Smiths AC voltage injector teardown. 

Is it actually any use for anything or just a nice collection of parts?

David

[factory]

[...]

The forum wasn't showing me the picture, now I can confirm it was the RE Megohmmeter in the orange box, the meter scale seems a little small compared with the overall size.



David

Why did they use this ON - OFF - ON switch for the voltage testing? I mean, a simple ON - OFF switch would do it as well? 

One side is latching, the other momentary.

David

[bitseeker]

Yeah, it's my birthday. Not an even number.

As I've written previously, I'm very happily married. This happened this morning:



(if the PHP shite is acting its usual randomness, you'll find the image at http://vvv.besserwisser.org/Public/Bilder/morning.jpeg )

What is in the packages? It is on-topic, that is as much clue that you'll get.

Happy birthday! That's a very nice way to wake up, indeed.

[factory]

I finally got the TE unloaded from my small van yesterday, it's in a temporary space in a shed while I sort through it, anything I'm keeping will go to the storage unit I'm now renting.

There's some nice looking stuff there. Let us know what you aren't keeping.- regrettably one or two of those things might complement my stuff

What's in that big mahogony box at the bottom?

Here are some pictures of the Tinsley Phase Splitting & Changeover Board, the screws were already out (found inside the case) and some of the grey capacitors are loose.

David

[BU508A]

Yeah, it's my birthday. Not an even number.

As I've written previously, I'm very happily married. This happened this morning:



(if the PHP shite is acting its usual randomness, you'll find the image at http://vvv.besserwisser.org/Public/Bilder/morning.jpeg )

What is in the packages? It is on-topic, that is as much clue that you'll get.

Happy Birthday Mans! All the best from here.
I've booked this German musicians to sing you a little tune. 



Lyrics can be found here:

https://www.wiseguys.de/index-267.html

Enjoy! 

[bd139]

Kettle for my Trangia

It isn't properly used until the plastic on the handle has melted, and the molten plastic has thumb inprints, reminding the owner of the incident. They work finely on plain fires as well, and while I suspect you'll be using them for a typical "brew" (i.e tea) the only proper modus operandi is boiling coffee.

This is done thusly:

1. Obtain coarsely ground coffee. French press ground is quite OK. In Sweden, you'd buy "Kokmalet".

2. Fill kettle with cold water. Preferably from a stream, well, or if necessary, a tap.

3. Pour coffee grounds on top of water. They'll float first, but that'll cease. 

4. How much? More than naïvely thought, but no precise amount can be given. You'll learn through a process that people who talk about "frameworks" and "Software devlopment" call "continuous delivery", a method normal people call "trial and error" combined with "iteration through all possible variables until things happen to not break" .

5. Put on heating source. When coffee/water mix boils, remove from heat, allow to settle and pour carefully.

6. Drink, while observing rate of coffee grounds passing lips.

7. On rate threshold trigger, remove cup, allow a second settlement, and try again.

8. Do not remove boilt grounds from pot; instead re-use together with more water and some grounds. After some 3 boils, you're getting somewhere.

Hot beverage trivia: When the Swedish army bought Centurion tanks in the 50's, they of course came with a kettle. This was very well received by the tankers, who from then on insist that a tank is not worthy of their consideration unless it's got a kettle. Thus, one of the mods that turn the Leo 2 into a Strv 122 is "install kettle".

Excellent. A joy to read

Oh and happy birthday 

As a relatively lazy individual this kettle is a purely a "quick boil" device for coffee. I don't drink tea. So plan with this is going to be used as:

1. empty 3L out of my camelbak into a cup
2. chuck this in the kettle and boil
3. Pour on top of a coffee bag now in the aforementioned cup (thus avoiding complex coffee machinery and associated mass)
4. While it's going utterly rancid and offending you all, cook up some food 

First walk out with it planned now. Will go on a week day when there are busses to leverage so I don't have to do a circular route. Tring to Princess Risborough on Ridgeway, stopping overnight at Wendover for some illegal camping . A leisurely 22 mile job in 4 stretches. Day 1 breakfast=home... lunch=steak ... dinner=mushroom curry. Day 2 breakfast=fry up ... lunch= chorizo stew and mash ... dinner = home.

Will do another chunk another day once I've got used to doing this again (has been a while)

[mansaxel]

What is in the packages? It is on-topic, that is as much clue that you'll get.

Happy Birthday Mans! All the best from here.

Vielen Dank!

I've booked this German musicians to sing you a little tune. 

Heute ist ein Tag ganz genau, wie ich ihn mag – Geburtstag haben ist nicht schlecht!

/M

But noone dares guess what was in the packages..

[bitseeker]

I don't drink tea.

Just buy, use, and subsequently sell.

[bd139]

Correct 

[tggzzz]

Hot beverage trivia: When the Swedish army bought Centurion tanks in the 50's, they of course came with a kettle. This was very well received by the tankers, who from then on insist that a tank is not worthy of their consideration unless it's got a kettle. Thus, one of the mods that turn the Leo 2 into a Strv 122 is "install kettle".

A lifetime ago I saw an F4 Phantom close up, and asked what the door the size of a fag packet was for. The guard flipped it open and pulled out a credit card.

The credit card was used for accounting when filling up with fuel.

[BU508A]

But noone dares guess what was in the packages..

Based on the package paper it is a bit hard to tell what's inside. 

I'll try, starting with the big one, then clockwise ongoing.

1 - Handheld DMM
2 - DMMCheck Plus
3 - A nice Kit to solder something
4 - A NanoVNA

 

[Zucca]

Weekend plan: about 300km, 4000m climb on my bike.
From Germany to Italy in one night on a road bike.

If I don't see a post from me until Tuesday, it was nice to be a me member of TEA, please do not stop.

https://www.relive.cc/view/vrqD4Ax8wwq

Saskia tell Odin he helped well to reach the top of the mountain

[tautech]

But noone dares guess what was in the packages..

It's all about how pressies from the wife are wrapped.

Oh, sad. In paper and with a bow. 

Anyways, many happy returns......next year you might get that pair of socks and a .........