Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Cerebus]

Ungh, that rusty knife scares me.   

And that poor ceramic knife with the missing knife point and the dents in the blade.   

What the heck are you doing with your knives?   

In Mnem's defence I think the "rust" is 2300ºK lighting reflected in a shot that was taken with a 6000ºK flash. The rest he'll have to make his own excuses for...

[McBryce]

I doubt that's rust, it's just the reflection of whatever the blade is facing.

McBryce.

[bd139]

Argh this week gets worse. Looks like car has decided to piss out half the contents of the radiator. Fortunately this only became an issue as I was parking.  No unicorn for me.

Thus if anyone wants a punt at my unicorn, Marconi 2022E with no output on a bunch of frequencies due to a bust 250-353MHz VCO, knock yourself out. Probably a very easy under £10 fix. Almost certainly a bad cap or BFR91A transistor rather than the usual irritating OM345 fixes.  I was going to go and collect it as I don't want to risk it getting munted in transit as the front panels on them are fairly fragile.

Gonna go and fucking sulk for a couple of hours now instead 

[med6753]

It gets worse. The REASON I'm suffering all this pwn misery... is because I'm giving him my old pwn for his B-day.

mnem

https://youtu.be/Ez1XvtyJnvg

Poor boy, for his birthday he gets Dad's old cast-off while Dad gets the nice shiny new one, don't forget it will him who gets to select what care home you go to when you get old and frail, I suspect that he's already plotting his revenge right now 

The boy's lucky he's getting anything at all; he's already on double grounding since before the move for being a Kevin and mouthing off at his daddy over video games... then sneaking off and doing video games on his laptop when he's supposed to be doing homework... then he almost got his birthday taken away for back-talking his momma the night before his birthday.

We actually had the mummeh-daddeh conversation aboot this (but not the knife; I know which of the two is really dangerous ) and decided together; we figured it'll last a week before he gets it taken away for bein' a little ass h'o, so no sense in buying a brand new pwn to sit in a drawer for half the next year.  And since my wife's pwn is the newest in the house by 2 years, it was time for daddeh to get the new shiny: https://bluproducts.com/devices/g90-pro/ 

We also considered getting a new cheapo pwn for him... but I learned my lesson the hard way. My old pwn is still better than 90% of the cheep-cheepies at 3GB/64GB/Snapdragon 425, so it got a fresh screen protector and a new manly-man black hardcase for him.

There has to be something going right here... the boi's current fandoms are Bleach and The Mandalorian. So he is showing some signs of becoming adult-ish. 

mnem

I knew it. Hate it when I'm right.  And in next week's edition of "Annoy My Parents" 

[bd139]

Advice from my past: pink hairy = mentally scary.

[FransW]

Bought another power supply. That's, err 5 now. I think I've got a power supply problem.

Farnell LT30/2 this time. Not HP or TTi for once. Some bugger bid me up £20 in the last 2 seconds of the auction  . Bought it because they are extremely compact, silent and will do 60V@2A, 2x30V@2A or 30V@4A and has analogue metering which I still prefer for power supplies if I'm honest. Watching that current needle bopping around when you're doing things is rather helpful.

Unicorn ending later today. Hope i win this one. I've already managed to diagnose what is wrong with and come up with a test and fix plan and it's not the usual semi-difficult to fix failures in these units. This one is a lot more cash and complexity than I usually throw at broken stuff though so it's a semi-scary . And it may get bounced fairly quickly if it comes out ok to make some cash.

Edit: Will likely need to mod the LT30/2 with a couple of diodes per supply as like the Farnell E-series they blow up if the line power fails and the load drives the power supply. Minor design flaw that is easy to fix though.

So you think you are alone with 5 PSU's?
Need another 10?
Can oblige.
Regards,  Frans

[bd139]

Hahaha so true.

Well fuck fuck fuckity fuck the 2022E went for only £53 

[Robert763]

Damm, just won  a broken Marconi 2022E
I only bid £1.23 more than it was at 

[Robert763]

Hahaha so true.

Well fuck fuck fuckity fuck the 2022E went for only £53 

If you still want it send me a PM

[bd139]

Hahaha. Enjoy.

Fair and square winner there so it's yours - I shall wait for the next one

If you fix it that's an easy £250 quid profit out of that 

In the mean time:

[mansaxel]

Damm, just won  a broken Marconi 2022E
I only bid £1.23 more than it was at 

And here I am, having been doing actual work all day and unable to read the forum. And I waneed (bad translation of swedish "villhöver") a signal generator.  Congratulations!

[Specmaster]

Argh this week gets worse. Looks like car has decided to piss out half the contents of the radiator. Fortunately this only became an issue as I was parking.  No unicorn for me.

Thus if anyone wants a punt at my unicorn, Marconi 2022E with no output on a bunch of frequencies due to a bust 250-353MHz VCO, knock yourself out. Probably a very easy under £10 fix. Almost certainly a bad cap or BFR91A transistor rather than the usual irritating OM345 fixes.  I was going to go and collect it as I don't want to risk it getting munted in transit as the front panels on them are fairly fragile.

Gonna go and fucking sulk for a couple of hours now instead 

Haha, looks like you gonna get a second chance of having the Marconi 2022E after all then. I guessed the unicorn was going to be something by Marconi and also guessed a frequency generator as the tinySA stops @350MHz 

Meantime, I'm still pulling my hair out with the PL310  . Calibration of the voltage is sweet as a nut and bob on, bloody current though is being a bastard. Set the current for 10mA as per sheet, fine, short the output and adjust VR8 for a reading of 10mA, it aint happening, 55mA is the lowest I can it set to. As for setting the current to 900mA on an external ammeter, nah, it aint happening either, 124mA is all I get out of it. 

Haha, I feel just like Basil Fawlty, going to get a branch from the tree in the garden and beat the PL310 with it 

[med6753]

Argh this week gets worse. Looks like car has decided to piss out half the contents of the radiator. Fortunately this only became an issue as I was parking.  No unicorn for me.

Thus if anyone wants a punt at my unicorn, Marconi 2022E with no output on a bunch of frequencies due to a bust 250-353MHz VCO, knock yourself out. Probably a very easy under £10 fix. Almost certainly a bad cap or BFR91A transistor rather than the usual irritating OM345 fixes.  I was going to go and collect it as I don't want to risk it getting munted in transit as the front panels on them are fairly fragile.

Gonna go and fucking sulk for a couple of hours now instead 

How often did you change the coolant in the car? Every 18 - 24 months like I do? Can't hear you. 

And I'm not talking this "Flush" BS. Just a simple the drain and top off. Flushing not needed if drained every 18- 24 months.

To wit: 16 year old Civic with 192K miles sitting in garage with original radiator. The water pump has been changed only because it's required with the timing belt. 

[25 CPS]

Argh this week gets worse. Looks like car has decided to piss out half the contents of the radiator. Fortunately this only became an issue as I was parking.  No unicorn for me.

Ouch.  I hear you.  I hear you.  I just got cleaned out yesterday for two new tires, upper control arm replacements, new brake discs and pads all round and a couple of other things.  Hopefully your mechanic will be able to get it back on the road for you without it getting too expensive.

[bd139]

Burns doesn't it

How often did you change the coolant in the car? Every 18 - 24 months like I do? Can't hear you. 

And I'm not talking this "Flush" BS. Just a simple the drain and top off. Flushing not needed if drained every 18- 24 months.

To wit: 16 year old Civic with 192K miles sitting in garage with original radiator. The water pump has been changed only because it's required with the timing belt.

Gets checked every 5k miles on routine service. Looks like a leak as it was checked 570 miles ago

This is 2014 Citroen with 23k miles on it.

[Specmaster]

Burns doesn't it

How often did you change the coolant in the car? Every 18 - 24 months like I do? Can't hear you. 

And I'm not talking this "Flush" BS. Just a simple the drain and top off. Flushing not needed if drained every 18- 24 months.

To wit: 16 year old Civic with 192K miles sitting in garage with original radiator. The water pump has been changed only because it's required with the timing belt.

Gets checked every 5k miles on routine service. Looks like a leak as it was checked 570 miles ago

This is 2014 Citroen with 23k miles on it.

Also of course, you have not had the car long enough to do what Med has outlined he does with his car anyway. My water pump was also changed because it was also part of the routing when replacing the timing belt as it involves stripping out the front end of the car and engine just to get at it so it is included as part of the timing belt replacement kit anyway.

[bd139]

Argh this week gets worse. Looks like car has decided to piss out half the contents of the radiator. Fortunately this only became an issue as I was parking.  No unicorn for me.

Thus if anyone wants a punt at my unicorn, Marconi 2022E with no output on a bunch of frequencies due to a bust 250-353MHz VCO, knock yourself out. Probably a very easy under £10 fix. Almost certainly a bad cap or BFR91A transistor rather than the usual irritating OM345 fixes.  I was going to go and collect it as I don't want to risk it getting munted in transit as the front panels on them are fairly fragile.

Gonna go and fucking sulk for a couple of hours now instead 

Haha, looks like you gonna get a second chance of having the Marconi 2022E after all then. I guessed the unicorn was going to be something by Marconi and also guessed a frequency generator as the tinySA stops @350MHz 

Meantime, I'm still pulling my hair out with the PL310  . Calibration of the voltage is sweet as a nut and bob on, bloody current though is being a bastard. Set the current for 10mA as per sheet, fine, short the output and adjust VR8 for a reading of 10mA, it aint happening, 55mA is the lowest I can it set to. As for setting the current to 900mA on an external ammeter, nah, it aint happening either, 124mA is all I get out of it. 

Haha, I feel just like Basil Fawlty, going to get a branch from the tree in the garden and beat the PL310 with it 

Haven't got the schematic handy but it sounds like the current sampling is fecked. Measure voltage (A) at the wiper of the trimmer across the 0.1 ohm resistor to + on the output and measure voltage (B) between the current control wiper and the + on the output. B should be greater than A as you slowly turn the current control up. I reckon something is up around that. Also check the max value of the wiper on the current control pot.

[mnementh]

Ungh, that rusty knife scares me.      And that poor ceramic knife with the missing knife point and the dents in the blade.      What the heck are you doing with your knives?   

These are my "beater knives"; bought specifically to abuse so my good knives stay in good health. I've kept a Mundial or Victorinox restaurant supply knife on my bench, in my toolboxes, and in my glovebox for 30 years for this purpose; their steel is just the right mix of hard enough to shave metal, flexible enough to not shatter easily, and strong enough to pry with even though you shouldn't without it breaking most of the time. When they do break, you don't feel bad about grinding a new point or just chucking them and getting a new one.

These are ALL destined for a life of misery and abuse once they get to me; the difference is these brands are MADE for such abuse. Like Zathras.

The ceramic one is a $4 cheapie from Dollarama; the tip was made that way, and the chips are from using it for scraping; this is what I bought it for, and it is one of the things a ceramic paring knife excels at.

mnem
The right tool for the job.

[mnementh]

...The boy's lucky he's getting anything at all; he's already on double grounding since before the move for being a Kevin and mouthing off at his daddy over video games... then sneaking off and doing video games on his laptop when he's supposed to be doing homework... then he almost got his birthday taken away for back-talking his momma the night before his birthday.

We actually had the mummeh-daddeh conversation aboot this (but not the knife; I know which of the two is really dangerous ) and decided together; we figured it'll last a week before he gets it taken away for bein' a little ass h'o, so no sense in buying a brand new pwn to sit in a drawer for half the next year.  And since my wife's pwn is the newest in the house by 2 years, it was time for daddeh to get the new shiny: https://bluproducts.com/devices/g90-pro/ 

We also considered getting a new cheapo pwn for him... but I learned my lesson the hard way. My old pwn is still better than 90% of the cheep-cheepies at 3GB/64GB/Snapdragon 425, so it got a fresh screen protector and a new manly-man black hardcase for him.

There has to be something going right here... the boi's current fandoms are Bleach and The Mandalorian. So he is showing some signs of becoming adult-ish. 

mnem

I knew it. Hate it when I'm right. 



And in next week's edition of "Annoy My Parents" 

I almost married that one. Twice. 

mnem
She bites.

[mnementh]

Advice from my past: pink hairy = mentally scary.

Cute but psycho. Things even out. 

mnem
 

[Cerebus]

Cute but psycho. Things even out. 

mnem
 

Try saying that when you're clutching the knife sticking out of your chest.

"It's OK. <Ngggh> It's just one of her <*Cough* *COUGH* Gurgle> moods."

[mnementh]

Been dere, dunnat, burned the shirt. While I was wearing it. 

mnem
However, the makeup sex was mind-altering. 

[med6753]

Burns doesn't it

How often did you change the coolant in the car? Every 18 - 24 months like I do? Can't hear you. 

And I'm not talking this "Flush" BS. Just a simple the drain and top off. Flushing not needed if drained every 18- 24 months.

To wit: 16 year old Civic with 192K miles sitting in garage with original radiator. The water pump has been changed only because it's required with the timing belt.

Gets checked every 5k miles on routine service. Looks like a leak as it was checked 570 miles ago

This is 2014 Citroen with 23k miles on it.

OK, but did they ever drain and refill the cooling system during one of those 5K mile checks? 6 years on original coolant is far too long, regardless of mileage. And don't believe these "100K mile" coolants. It's a bunch of baloney.

[tggzzz]

This is 2014 Citroen with 23k miles on it.

My algorithm for choosing cars, exercised once a decade if I'm unlucky:

• decide which class of car; usually a super mini like a Polo or Fiesta
• look in Which? see which types are reliable
• sit in examples of the 3 most reliable types, to see if they fit
• find example of reliable comfortable car, spend an hour in/round/under it
• if good, buy it

Currently my cars (don't ask) are 2003/50kmiles and 2004/120kmiles.

The latter had three problems recently: coil spring snapped sitting in the driveway (twice within a month!), ignition coil cracked. Apart from those, it hasn't seen a garage in a decade

[tggzzz]

Fleabay £1 selling fees again.