Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[bd139]

Ferengi rules of Acquisition #44: Never confuse wisdom with luck.   

[mnementh]

Item stated "Please study the photos for exact item condition". Thus return has been started.

Consumer law here is pretty hardcore so they don't have a choice but to accept the return.

That wording alone should result in good outcome for you. 

If that's the case then I would have to agree too. "Not as pictured"

Edit....hopefully it doesn't turn into a pissing contest like dragon had with that Fluke meter.

For those who don't know... med is referring to the Fluke 189 I bought from another vendor, before I discovered AllTest. I posted about it in my Used Equipment 101 article a couple years ago.

If you haven't read the article, it is here: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/used-equipment-101-taking-the-gamble-on-fleabay/

If you just want to jump to the part about the pissing contest, start here and read through the comments: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/used-equipment-101-taking-the-gamble-on-fleabay/msg1761197/#msg1761197

mnem

[Cerebus]

Ferengi rules of Acquisition #44: Never confuse wisdom with luck.   

I know several business owners that I have worked for/with who need to get that tattooed somewhere such that they see it several times a day.

[mnementh]

Ferengi rules of Acquisition #44: Never confuse wisdom with luck.   

Yeah; there's a lot of overlap, ie:

Ferengi Rules of Acquisition #3: I found it; it's mine.

Ferengi Rules of Acquisition #9: Opportunity plus instinct equals profit.

Ferengi Rules of Acquisition #14: Sometimes the quickest way to find profits is to let them find you.

Ferengi Rules of Acquisition #218: Sometimes what you get for free costs entirely too much.

Ferengi Rules of Acquisition #294: A bargain usually isn't.



Only tangentially related, but I like it:

Ferengi Rules of Acquisition #43: Feed your greed, but not enough to choke on it.

source: https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Rules_of_Acquisition

mnem
#112    Never have sex with the boss' sister.
#113    Always have sex with the boss.

[Specmaster]

Current mood: Ferengi

What do you mean with "current"?     

Oklayyy... I'll cop to being skint (broke-ass) most of the time; but that is not the same as being a skinflint (cheap-ass).

While I HAVE been trying to hone my Ferengi skillzz by studying bd's textbook example of the principles thereof, I must admit I just am not naturally that predatory. 

In my defense, I submit my recent purchases of the 54645A, MS8911, ESR02 Component Tester, 6022BL, and even my DE-5000; all of which I paid a very fair price for.

As for all my curb-scores and Thrift scores... I'll admit there was more than a bit of shrewdness there. But that really was more luck and being in the right place at the right time than Fereng-ity.

mnem
 

Nah, there is bugger all wrong in being a cheap-ass, if thats all you have to play with then you have to play the hand you have been dealt. The real secret is to know if what you're cheap-assing on is actually worth it, ie. Ferengi Rules of Acquisition #218: Sometimes what you get for free costs entirely too much.

I admit I'm a bit of a cheap-ass, but equally I also have many items that I also paid a pretty penny for, my AWG, LCR meter, Desoldering station, Smart Tweezers, Brymen 867, PM3390B, Microscope, clamp meter, and many of my bench meters and power supplies etc. 

[tonyalbus]

Have just sent in my Lab picture for Dave's mailbag, Guest Labs....

[BU508A]

Good luck with that, Tony. 

[tggzzz]

Ferengi rules of Acquisition #44: Never confuse wisdom with luck.   

I know several business owners that I have worked for/with who need to get that tattooed somewhere such that they see it several times a day.

... and, infamously, financial fund managers. 75% of them underperform the market!

[mnementh]

Recidivist muthafu**** morning coffee:



03:30 - MS Flight Sim 2020 is Massive/Epic/Will EAT your Gaming Rig Alive  (But I knew this)

17:45 - FurkBook now fully assimilates your Oculus Rift - Zuckerburg: "SUCK IT!"  (Time to abandon ship)

How badly will MSFS maul your gaming rig? https://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/microsoft-flight-simulator-(2020)-pc-graphics-performance-benchmark-review,4.html

RAMivore stats & Screenshots: https://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/microsoft-flight-simulator-(2020)-pc-graphics-performance-benchmark-review,5.html

55:00 - XBOX Series X Deep Dive - Console owners finally get SSD: (Welcome to 2010!  )

1:04:15 - NVidia RTX3090 Pics leaked

https://www.techpowerup.com/270986/nvidia-geforce-rtx-3090-ampere-alleged-pcb-picture-surfaces

Related: https://www.techpowerup.com/271312/microsoft-flight-simulator-expected-to-stimulate-billions-in-pc-hardware-sales

mnem

[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

It is useful if you play with old fashioned 400Hz syncro systems. I'm guessing the larger unit is a transmitter with a big dial.
I o ply with syncro stuff so if you want to dispose of them let me know.

I only have the two seemly identical AC voltage injectors from Smiths, the blue boxes that were behind these in the picture I posted a few days ago are some kind of servo demonstration/training box.
PM me for more info or to make an offer (I can send pictures of them if needed to show the condition).

David

[factory]

The rest of the stuff. 8082A pulse generator joining my RF and microwave experimentation "tower of power".  Got to wanting this after seeing CuriousMarc use two of them for his core memory demonstration video a while back. The killer feature for me is directly controllable rise and fall times...perfect for situations where really fast pulses will just ring. Should be very useful for the low-power radar experimentation I play around with sometimes.    Not pictured is another massive bag of Sphere free goodies, ranging from various ICs, to LEDs of many colors, diodes, switches, pots, capacitors....

I've recently acquired a pair of those 8082A's & a 8005B in a job lot of TE (mostly), I was thinking of reselling those but I may have to hang on to them after reading your post.     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.   Not in the picture are the remains of a HP 5245L & 8416A the guy had parted out.

   

David

Translation: All this plus about 2 more truckloads will be going into storage until discretionary fundage to fix it manifests.

mnem
Carry on, soldier! *salute*

Your half right, two loads have now gone into storage, plus a 6ft by 2ft shelving unit I bought from work few years ago, I accidentality smashed one of the strip-lights in the shed earlier moving parts of that. 
The other half is time to work on it before more TE purchases accumulate, I'm sure lots of us have this problem. Plus the fact the work area was turning into storage making it difficult to work on anything.

David

[mnementh]

On the Bench This Morning: Elenco TL-15 Test Leads from Amazon

   

I bought these recently as I really needed some new ones and they allowed me to fill out a minimum order on Amazon; the cheap Chinesium ones I got when I first arrived here in the GWN have been hacked & spliced a half-dozen times now.      https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B0002JJU46/

I've had these leads before; I was a repeat offender with both my Sperry and before that my OG Fluke 87. So when I saw them available as a add-on for CAD$9.51 (USD$7.26),  I dropped them in my cart because to me they were a known quantity that hadn't changed (aside from natural rubber to silicone insulated wires) for probably 2 decades.

Well... just soze y'all know... not so much any more. No longer the decent quality hard plastic probe handles (easily repaired as the tips were just a light press fit) but cheap Pliovic wires and molded vinyl handles (with square-oid fingerguards  ) that I couldn't pull apart at all; I had to give up for fear of breaking the probe or the screw-on alligator. 

   

I've decided to keep them, however; the tips are decent, sharp, and appear pretty heavily chrome-plated, and the alligators are better than average & do appear to have decent threaded inserts. I'm pretty sure I'll get $7 worth of use out of them, even if I can't repair them.    Not so much at CAD$20.60/US$15.73 as they show now.  

For those who are curious, the little magnets held in place with Kapton Tape is an experiment; they do seem to hold the alligators quite well, but I'm not sure how well they'll hold up vs epoxy or hot-glue.



That brings me to my last point... my horribly hacked old test leads. Both of them have been spliced inside the handle like the red one 2 or 3 times, and then there's the hastily-solder-patched tip that got broken off. We all know how these got this way; you "patch them up quick & dirty to get by" and then you forget to order new ones. Five or six times.

So... here's a call out to all our TEA members. Dig around in the back of "that drawer" or bottom of "that toolbox" or "that bag" and find your ugliest, most heinously & shamefully hacked, patched, booty-fabbed-back-together probes and post a pic. The only requirement is that you be willing to admit & describe how you actually used it that way... even if only ONCE.  Extra points for ridiculously long in-service like mine of over 6 months since the first patch.

mnem

[Saskia]

Recidivist muthafu**** morning coffee:



03:30 - MS Flight Sim 2020 is Massive/Epic/Will EAT your Gaming Rig Alive  (But I knew this)

17:45 - FurkBook now fully assimilates your Oculus Rift - Zuckerburg: "SUCK IT!"  (Time to abandon ship)

How badly will MSFS maul your gaming rig? https://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/microsoft-flight-simulator-(2020)-pc-graphics-performance-benchmark-review,4.html

RAMivore stats & Screenshots: https://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/microsoft-flight-simulator-(2020)-pc-graphics-performance-benchmark-review,5.html

55:00 - XBOX Series X Deep Dive - Console owners finally get SSD: (Welcome to 2010!  )

1:04:15 - NVidia RTX3090 Pics leaked

https://www.techpowerup.com/270986/nvidia-geforce-rtx-3090-ampere-alleged-pcb-picture-surfaces

Related: https://www.techpowerup.com/271312/microsoft-flight-simulator-expected-to-stimulate-billions-in-pc-hardware-sales

mnem

oh. I just bought a copy.

[med6753]

That brings me to my last point... my horribly hacked old test leads. Both of them have been spliced inside the handle like the red one 2 or 3 times, and then there's the hastily-solder-patched tip that got broken off. We all know how these got this way; you "patch them up quick & dirty to get by" and then you forget to order new ones. Five or six times.

So... here's a call out to all our TEA members. Dig around in the back of "that drawer" or bottom of "that toolbox" or "that bag" and find your ugliest, most heinously & shamefully hacked, patched, booty-fabbed-back-together probes and post a pic. The only requirement is that you be willing to admit & describe how you actually used it that way... even if only ONCE.  Extra points for ridiculously long in-service like mine of over 6 months since the first patch.

mnem

None of my probes are booty fab...so there! 

[med6753]

Suffering from withdrawal here. No TE activity for nearly 4 days.  Today was chore day. Groceries, laundry, etc, etc. It's all caught up.

Tomorrow I'll dig into something juicy. 

[mnementh]

Dee-Nile... not just a river in Africa anymore. 

mnem

[Neomys Sapiens]

Exactly that 

A point to note as well: are you sure you want a 10MHz distribution network? If you run it on shitty coax and connectors it'll radiate in the lab to the point you may end up with -40dBm signals everywhere...

RG 142-U PTFE coax cable and Spinner / Radiall / Amphenol / Telegärtner are your friends.   

Bloody Telegaertner doesn't belong in a sentence with the others. Huber & Suhner and Rosenberger do.

[med6753]

Dee-Nile... not just a river in Africa anymore. 

mnem

 

[mnementh]

mnem

[Ice-Tea]

Suffering from withdrawal here. No TE activity for nearly 4 days.  Today was chore day. Groceries, laundry, etc, etc. It's all caught up.

Tell me about it. I landed me an actual paying job and need to put TEA on the backburner.

I need to, you know, work for real now.

[bd139]

Someone want to swap their EE job for an IT job? 

That’s what happens when you red pill. Stupid bd139. Want to go back the cushy fake world of EE now 

[med6753]

Suffering from withdrawal here. No TE activity for nearly 4 days.  Today was chore day. Groceries, laundry, etc, etc. It's all caught up.

Tell me about it. I landed me an actual paying job and need to put TEA on the backburner.

I need to, you know, work for real now.

Not me. Retirement is bliss. 

[BU508A]

Exactly that 

A point to note as well: are you sure you want a 10MHz distribution network? If you run it on shitty coax and connectors it'll radiate in the lab to the point you may end up with -40dBm signals everywhere...

RG 142-U PTFE coax cable and Spinner / Radiall / Amphenol / Telegärtner are your friends.   

Bloody Telegaertner doesn't belong in a sentence with the others. Huber & Suhner and Rosenberger do.

*gnihihihihi*

I knew you'll spot this and going after it.      

[Neomys Sapiens]

Ahem. To order, please.

[BU508A]

Ahem. To order, please.

"YESSIR!"