Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Cerebus]

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/have-i-been-sent-a-used-or-refurbished-saelig-oscilloscope/

It's too bad Dave locked it before I saw it or else I would have passed him the Internet Butthurt Form to fill out. 

That’s a fairly large fail. Telonic always open my shit to put a U.K. mains lead in it and stick some annoying stickers on the unit.  It’s just how they roll 

And leave a mini-multimeter for you to sell, don't forget that.

Also, at least in the case of my Rigol scope, they put the latest firmware and the latest 'special offer' of Rigol options licenses on it - which was good because it meant that I didn't have to navigate redeeming the 'special offer' from Rigol. OK, so I immediately went and hacked it so it had all the options, but that's not the point. The service was appreciated and their price was no worse than anyone else's and no import hassles. I don't recall any stickers (checks scope) - no, nothing annoying, just a PAT test sticker (another bonus).

Yeah I think Telonic have stopped the free gift thing now though. Which is a shame as I was doing ok out of the BM22s meters. 

I assume yours was the aforementioned black and red beasty that was cracked?

No, pitch black 'goth edition' 5000 series - whatever number makes up 4 ports and 100 MHz (officially). Not sure what comes in black and red.

[bd139]

So you got the probes then cracked the rest? 

[tggzzz]

Also when you fire up a linux machine on a 4k display it loads 1:1 fonts into the framebuffer at full whack 4k resolution which means they are so small you can't read the damn console until X starts unless you plant your head 5 inches away from the screen.

When HDTV was a glimmer in people's eyes, it became apparent that there were two competing reasons companies wanted it.

In the west it was to get a good picture across the room.

In the east it was so you could sit near the screen and not see the pixels.

And are you really surprised that Apple wants to keep you in its (walled) garden of Eden?

[med6753]

Damn this is tempting. But too far (near Newark, NJ), too much, and that lame ass trace speaks volumes that it has issues. Plus the battery BS. I think I'll pass....but it is tugging at me. 

[tggzzz]

I like a wide screen as mostly I run tmux and PuTTY all day with the occasional browser. Gives me more real estate on the screen. Plus also better if you're watching media which this machine is used for.

Use two (or more) screens.

[mnementh]

   Yes that was cool.... bought a battery drill.... batrery screwer, what ever its called.. from Bosch... propper stuff   10,- incl local shipping
incl its case and charger.. because battery was death....   guess what.. if you apply 40 Amps for 30 secs...   fully working ))) 

Yeah, but when you try to actually use it you find it has approx 107mAH working capacity. 

For the price you paid, def worth spending 12-20 clams on a cheap 6-cell RC battery to bust up for cells tho.

mnem
*currently paused from moving for that illusion known as lunchtime*

[Saskia]

Ahh you got the manufacturer tools for it 

Some but not all and they didn't come from the factory. 
Also some key press sequences for 'special' tasks also that we share between distributors....they are official but secret. 

And you're saying that here?

OK lads (and Saskia), let's get the comfy chair and the colour telly out ...

I prefer the old ways ...
only few things beat the old water, soap, sponge, clamps, coil method.

For increased sensation, substitute with capsaicin in campher oil solution.

Hard to beat is the automated down feather under the foot tickler.

I charge 360€/hour 

[bd139]

I like a wide screen as mostly I run tmux and PuTTY all day with the occasional browser. Gives me more real estate on the screen. Plus also better if you're watching media which this machine is used for.

Use two (or more) screens.

No good for me. Tried that. Neck trouble. I had two 22” 1080p screens for a bit.

[med6753]

Ahh you got the manufacturer tools for it 

Some but not all and they didn't come from the factory. 
Also some key press sequences for 'special' tasks also that we share between distributors....they are official but secret. 

And you're saying that here?

OK lads (and Saskia), let's get the comfy chair and the colour telly out ...

I prefer the old ways ...
only few things beat the old water, soap, sponge, clamps, coil method.

For increased sensation, substitute with capsaicin in campher oil solution.

Hard to beat is the automated down feather under the foot tickler.

I charge 360€/hour 

Remind me to never, ever piss you off. 

[Robert763]

Awesome - I don't think I've ever seen an 8 decade box before! 

It is a bit OTT, isn't it

Mind you, I think the 7-decade Kelvin-Varley Dividers are more interesting. I have one of these https://www.eevblog.com/forum/metrology/teardownjulie_reasearch_labs_vdr1067_vdr307_kelvin_varley_voltage_divider/msg1103686/#msg1103686 and there's no way I'm tearing it down! Look at the specs: resolution 0.1 ppm, accuracy 1 ppm, stability 1 ppm/year.

Makes 300ppm look anaemic

I really like my ESI DB 655 and 877 becuse they are so compact and 0.01% 6 an 8 decades.
I've got a JR106/7 too, very nice and based on their precision decades.
I anyone wants a KVD that beats BU508A's decade box for size I have a Pye "Standard Potentiometer" KVD, Bridge, and other bits in big wooden box. about 4' x 18" x 12" It has Pye "6001" instrument switches with 0.7mOhm resistance.
£10, collection only from somewere near it's "birthplace" Newmarket Rd Cambridge UK.

[mnementh]

Ahh you got the manufacturer tools for it 

Some but not all and they didn't come from the factory. 
Also some key press sequences for 'special' tasks also that we share between distributors....they are official but secret. 

And you're saying that here?

OK lads (and Saskia), let's get the comfy chair and the colour telly out ...

I prefer the old ways ...
only few things beat the old water, soap, sponge, clamps, coil method.

For increased sensation, substitute with capsaicin in campher oil solution.

Hard to beat is the automated down feather under the foot tickler.

I charge 360€/hour 

Remind me to never, ever piss you off. 

Sandblaster full of pulverized pumice, followed by alternating squirt bottles full of vinegar and Sriracha.

For a more personal touch, just sandpaper 'is nutsack & set 'im down in turpytine.

And then there's the variac...

mnem
Depending on the customer, I may be convinced to do it for free.

[Electro Fan]

I just like my 1600x1200 screens. Didn't find anything more useful over long time. 16:9 or 16:10 is no good for me.

+1 Exactly

[Saskia]

Ahh you got the manufacturer tools for it 

Some but not all and they didn't come from the factory. 
Also some key press sequences for 'special' tasks also that we share between distributors....they are official but secret. 

And you're saying that here?

OK lads (and Saskia), let's get the comfy chair and the colour telly out ...

I prefer the old ways ...
only few things beat the old water, soap, sponge, clamps, coil method.

For increased sensation, substitute with capsaicin in campher oil solution.

Hard to beat is the automated down feather under the foot tickler.

I charge 360€/hour 

Remind me to never, ever piss you off. 

Oh, this is just child's play.

In MIRV we trust ...

[mnementh]

Yebbutt... that doesn't do very well at extracting information or cooperation... and if intent is to teach a lesson, well it's one that doesn't get a chance to be learnt.

mnem
 

[Saskia]

punish one, educate thousands.

Mao Tse Dong ...

[capt bullshot]

I just like my 1600x1200 screens. Didn't find anything more useful over long time. 16:9 or 16:10 is no good for me.

I like a wide screen as mostly I run tmux and PuTTY all day with the occasional browser. Gives me more real estate on the screen. Plus also better if you're watching media which this machine is used for.

That's kind of similar to my typical setup, and the reason why I have two (and sometimes three) of the 1600x1200 screens active.

Edit: A few days ago I tried a 27" 4k screen (that I got for free because it has some issues) - agree that high DPI stuff isn't that optimal. Works for watching TV.

[mnementh]

punish one, educate thousands.

Mao Tse Dong ...

Make an example, make a martyr. 

mnem
Martyrs never die.

[tonyalbus]

Best seller ever.... sells me his, very nice looking HP5334B 100 MHz counter for very reasonnable price..
i ask him to carefull packing it, because the nobs break easy duringg shipping when it bumbs..
sents me an email today its shipped with lots of bubblewrap...and 2 extra knobs  , not because of bad shipping, but he just had those.
great i needed those for the gorilla shippen other counter 
will arrive soon, hope its also the best shipper..

[mnementh]

I'll submit my PIXIO PX329 for consideration, but there's a lot of compromises (and just plain 'too hip for the room' headaches) they made to produce a proper 144/165Hz unlocked 32" gaming display for under USD$300. That price includes a very basic stand, so either you'll have to spend a few bux on a VESA stand from MonoPrice, etc or get the $59 bespoke stand which does offer height/tilt.

It's one of the latest gen high-speed VA panels; a great mix of 1440P, speed, and a 180° viewing angle. But it has weird motion artifacting if Windoze resets the advanced display settings for an update, which for some reason with NVidia installed it does EVERY. FUCKING. TIME.  So you have to dig through NVidia's utterly idiotic throwback to the 80s configuration UI to reset the bit depth, color space, YUV bit format, and refresh rates back to something decent. And then you have to go through and do ClearType optimization. Again. And again... And again...

Don't get me wrong... it's an amazing panel for $300, and the signal processing is fucking god-tier speed (sub 1ms with a ~2ms panel), but everybody's GPU drivers are optimized to make slow-ass IPS panels and their molasses-slow 10-30ms signal processing look good while minimizing all the artifacts created by overclocking the signal processor and overdriving the panel to reduce blurring with anti-aliasing on.  (The 'too hip for the room' part)

If you run it on a AMD GPU, it's a delight. The Catalyst UI is quick & easy, allows multiple profiles for productivity vs gaming (even down to per-game profiles  ) , and it store those profiles in space that Windoze doesn't fuck with, so at worst all your favorite settings are just a click away. A cheap RX580/590 and this monitor are an amazing bang/buck combo.

But with NVidia... it's been a chore. Thankfully, this rig's primary purpose is still VR. You can see the review full of technical gobbledy-gook which is what sold me on the display here:



mnem
 

[bd139]

Best seller ever.... sells me his, very nice looking HP5334B 100 MHz counter for very reasonnable price..
i ask him to carefull packing it, because the nobs break easy duringg shipping when it bumbs..
sents me an email today its shipped with lots of bubblewrap...and 2 extra knobs  , not because of bad shipping, but he just had those.
great i needed those for the gorilla shippen other counter 
will arrive soon, hope its also the best shipper..

Very nice counter. very upgradeable as well. I had one.

Upgrades you can do:

1. Add OCXO. There is a slot on the right for an HP unit.
2. Add channel C. The entire board actually has nearly all the parts on it. All you have to do is add two diode rings, a prescaler and a cable to the front panel. Details here:


https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/test-equipment-anonymous-(tea)-group-therapy-thread/msg2672937/#msg2672937

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/test-equipment-anonymous-(tea)-group-therapy-thread/msg2528652/#msg2528652

Don't forget the RIFAs 

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/test-equipment-anonymous-(tea)-group-therapy-thread/msg2510484/#msg2510484

Edit: still need to sort those knobs out for you - haven't forgotten!

[capt bullshot]

And now for something completely different:

Figuring out how the charger for this kind of electric bike battery works. We lost its original charger, replacement isn't exactly cheap. So I tried to charge the battery with a homemade universal charger, but the battery didn't like that treatment (BMS just turns off the charging path, no damage). Found some information in some biking forum, using this I could charge the battery at least. But there was still some differences in how the original charger behaves.



So now I've got temporarily access to an original charger, and yes, it looks rather simple and took me about half a minute to figure out. Pull up one pin of the battery using 10k from 12V and watch the voltage the battery controller sets at this pin. Use this information to set / turn off the charging current. I should end up with a simple LM393 circuit then. Apparently this is too complex for a biking forum doing electronics stuff, they had figured out some other way and apparently did not understood what "push some current into a terminal and watch the voltage" could mean. And yes, these guys had access to an original charger. 

[bd139]

I'll submit my PIXIO PX329 for consideration, but there's a lot of compromises (and just plain 'too hip for the room' headaches) they made to produce a proper 144/165Hz unlocked 32" gaming display for under USD$300. That price includes a very basic stand, so either you'll have to spend a few bux on a VESA stand from MonoPrice, etc or get the $59 bespoke stand which does offer height/tilt.

It's one of the latest gen high-speed VA panels; a great mix of 1440P, speed, and a 180° viewing angle. But it has weird motion artifacting if Windoze resets the advanced display settings for an update, which for some reason with NVidia installed it does EVERY. FUCKING. TIME.  So you have to dig through NVidia's utterly idiotic throwback to the 80s configuration UI to reset the bit depth, color space, YUV bit format, and refresh rates back to something decent. And then you have to go through and do ClearType optimization. Again. And again... And again...

Don't get me wrong... it's an amazing panel for $300, and the signal processing is fucking god-tier speed (sub 1ms with a ~2ms panel), but everybody's GPU drivers are optimized to make slow-ass IPS panels and their molasses-slow 10-30ms signal processing look good while minimizing all the artifacts created by overclocking the signal processor and overdriving the panel to reduce blurring with anti-aliasing on.  (The 'too hip for the room' part)

If you run it on a AMD GPU, it's a delight. The Catalyst UI is quick & easy, allows multiple profiles for productivity vs gaming (even down to per-game profiles  ) , and it store those profiles in space that Windoze doesn't fuck with, so at worst all your favorite settings are just a click away. A cheap RX580/590 and this monitor are an amazing bang/buck combo.

But with NVidia... it's been a chore. Thankfully, this rig's primary purpose is still VR. You can see the review full of technical gobbledy-gook which is what sold me on the display here:



mnem
 

Interesting - will read into that further. Thanks for the write up.

I'm not too bothered about gaming performance as my card (gtx 1660) can fill 60Hz consistently at 1440p fine. But something that works with G-Sync would be nice. I'm Nvidia through and through after that RX I had before which was a PITA.

[Saskia]

I could tease you into the 5700xt Strix that I have floating around and which is unused ?

[tggzzz]

Awesome - I don't think I've ever seen an 8 decade box before! 

It is a bit OTT, isn't it

Mind you, I think the 7-decade Kelvin-Varley Dividers are more interesting. I have one of these https://www.eevblog.com/forum/metrology/teardownjulie_reasearch_labs_vdr1067_vdr307_kelvin_varley_voltage_divider/msg1103686/#msg1103686 and there's no way I'm tearing it down! Look at the specs: resolution 0.1 ppm, accuracy 1 ppm, stability 1 ppm/year.

Makes 300ppm look anaemic

I really like my ESI DB 655 and 877 becuse they are so compact and 0.01% 6 an 8 decades.
I've got a JR106/7 too, very nice and based on their precision decades.
I anyone wants a KVD that beats BU508A's decade box for size I have a Pye "Standard Potentiometer" KVD, Bridge, and other bits in big wooden box. about 4' x 18" x 12" It has Pye "6001" instrument switches with 0.7mOhm resistance.
£10, collection only from somewere near it's "birthplace" Newmarket Rd Cambridge UK.

The only problem with the JR106/7 is the same as many of the Fluke/Datron calibrators: the weight.

I too have a 3+2 decade ESI DekaPot KVD; 1kohm only, so it does load my voltage references a bit. I also have an ESI 4 decade DekaStat - effectively half of your DB655.

I like them all; the mechanical feel of the switch mechanisms is a pure simple delight.

[bd139]

I could tease you into the 5700xt Strix that I have floating around and which is unused ?

No 

TBF if I was going to throw money at it, I'd have an RTX 2070 but I just don't need it. The 1660 GTX is probably overkill at this point but I can fuck up some shit in GTA effectively